BENEFITS OF TRAINING WITH PUNCHING RESISTANCE BANDS

In the short-term, training with punching resistance bands dramatically increases the explosivity of your punches without bands. In the long-term, they strengthen important muscle groups that directly impact your ability to punch effectively.

INCREASE THE EXPLOSIVITY OF YOUR PUNCHES

Explosivity results from a combination of speed and power. It’s the ability to hit hard and fast, to stun your opponents in the ring and quickly engage your muscles during HIIT training. One simple, yet effective trick for hitting harder and faster is to apply resistance to your muscles, then take that resistance away.

By training with boxing resistance bands, you force your muscles to contend with additional weight. As a result, each punch you throw is more challenging than without resistance bands. So, once you remove the bands after a 30 minute training session and begin punching without them, you’ll move faster and hit harder. It almost feels like cheating, it’s that effective.

STRENGTHEN IMPORTANT MUSCLES FOR PUNCHING

Punching is a full body movement. It involves many more muscle groups than merely your arms, including your neck, shoulders, chest, back, abs, hips, and legs. Each one of these muscle groups work together to stabilize your body during intense physical activity, and they are each responsible for your ability to throw a powerful punch.

To increase the power of your punches, then, you basically need to strengthen your entire body. Most boxing and punching resistance bands target your shoulders and arms primarily, and your abs and legs secondarily as you twist and lunge. This is good, though ideally, resistance should be spread more evenly across your upper and lower body. In the next section, we’ll explain how you can use multiple punching resistance bands with straps and handles to work out your arms, legs, and core all in one exercise.

As a fighter, your arms and shoulders are obviously important to train, but you should never neglect the rest of your muscles. They’re all important for fighting, and boxing resistance bands can be used to strengthen each of them.

HOW TO SHADOWBOX WITH RESISTANCE BANDS

There are many different exercises you can perform with punching resistance bands, but the one they’re designed for is shadowboxing. Shadowboxing is a tried and true full-body workout for boxing and MMA fighters that can be greatly enhanced with added resistance.

Resistance band shadowboxing adds weight to your upper body muscles, but with a full boxing resistance band set you can add weight to your lower body too. If, however, you only have one resistance band, you can still perform this exercise. Here’s how...

SINGLE-BAND SHADOWBOXING

For this tutorial, we’ll assume you have two handles attached to your one resistance band (one handle per end).

Begin by wrapping the band behind your back so that the handles are in front of you. Grab each handle firmly and enter a guarded position with your fists in front of your face. There should already be some tension in the bands as you hold them in this position, but not so much that you can’t fully extend your arms. Throw some punches and adjust the tension on your boxing resistance bands as necessary.

MULTI-BAND SHADOWBOXING

Shadowboxing with a proper punching resistance band set like the Power Punch Pro, which includes several bands, as well as waist and ankle straps, you can apply resistance to your upper and lower body simultaneously. This allows you to train your legs and ab muscles more efficiently than if you only had one band.

When setting up the Power Punch Pro for a shadowboxing session, first attach your waist and ankle straps, then connect four resistance bands to your waist strap. Two of the bands on your waist will attach to your ankle straps. The other two bands will hang freely. Attach handles to the freely hanging bands and grip them firmly in your hands. With this four-band set-up, you’ll be applying resistance to your arms and legs from your core.

Once you’ve adjusted your single band, or bands set, to provide an adequate amount of tension, go wild! Throw punches, kicks, high knees. Keep moving while maintaining proper form. Do this until you get tired, rest, and repeat. We recommend shadowboxing for about 30 minutes as a part of your training routine. This will ensure that you consistently improve your power, speed, strength, and endurance in both your upper and lower body muscles.

OTHER ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT FOR INCREASING PUNCHING POWER

Punching resistance bands are an excellent tool for increasing your power, speed, strength, and endurance, but they should not be the only piece of equipment in your gym bag. If you’re serious about maximizing your performance ability as a fighter or trainer, there are two more tools you should take advantage of.

Recovery is absolutely crucial for all athletes, but especially for those in combat sports whose bodies endure powerful hits from opponents. A Power Recovery Ball provides instant relief to your battered muscles by massaging them, and thus preventing toxic build-up in your blood. This increases muscle recovery speed and decreases your chance of injury.

Another tool worth incorporating into your training routine is a Boxaball. Boxaballs are designed to improve your hand-eye coordination, which increases the accuracy of your punches. Using a boxaball before a training session can also acclimate your muscles to the physical exertion they are about to undergo, making it ideal for warm-up and cool-down exercise before and after an intense session with your boxing resistance bands.

By applying resistance to your upper and lower body while shadowboxing, you’ll quickly notice improvements to your punching power, speed, strength, and endurance. More importantly, the muscles you use most heavily as a boxer or MMA fighter will develop more efficiently over time. This will ensure that you’re effective both in the ring and at the gym.