While it may not be an actual fight, boxing training can be very rigorous, and you should always ensure that you give your body what it needs to recuperate.
Boxing training recovery, much like other sports, is vital for giving your body the best possible chance to heal and regain full strength. Although you may be eager to get right back into training, doing so without healing first runs the risk of injuries and exhaustion that impacts your daily life.
In this post, we’ll highlight a few of the critical aspects to consider and good practices to adopt regarding body recovery.
Make Sure to Drink Water
When we exercise, our body sweats in an attempt to return to its optimal temperature. Remember, the human body is about 60% water, which means it’s vital to replace expelled fluids to ensure that it works as it should and gives you the best possible chance to recuperate.
Failing to hydrate yourself sufficiently after boxing training can lead to muscle fatigue, headaches, tiredness, and coordination loss. Water is essential for energy and prevents muscles from cramping, which will most definitely prove to be a benefit if you want to get back into the gym sooner rather than later. Also, high water consumption aids weight loss, so if you train with this goal in mind, you need to be gulping down that H2o..
Eat the Right Foods
Your food choices dictate much more than weight loss and gain, and what you eat plays a vital role in boxing training recovery. Especially when you consider that good food helps you to minimise injuries and also improves recovery time. Your body requires adequate amounts of protein, fats and carbohydrates to perform at its best. Meaning an abundance of junk food isn’t the solution, unfortunately.
Protein is crucial for recovery as it helps to repair damaged tissue. This means that any injuries or fatigued muscles will benefit massively from an intake of foods that contain high levels of protein. This is why lean meats such as chicken breasts and fatty fish are often a key part of a healthy diet, especially if your goal is to lose weight.
Stretching & Foam Roller
You’ve heard it more times than you can remember, but we’re here to remind you one more time — you’ve got to stretch after your workout. As your body will already be warmed up thanks to your training session, it’s the perfect time to warm down with a good stretch. While it may not be the most appealing thing to do compared to resting on the sofa, you’ll thank us in the long run. Stretching helps to boost flexibility, decrease muscle tension and reduces the risk of injury. All of which will prove to be vital for both boxing training recovery and future training sessions.
Moving onto the dreaded foam roller! You will have likely either seen a foam roller before or have one at home. Foam rollers are renowned for their painful yet incredibly beneficial healing effects. It’s a chunky, solid foam cylinder designed to put pressure on knots and trigger points to promote healing. And it really does work! Releasing trigger points is crucial for ensuring proper movement patterns, efficient blood flow, and overall performance. If you’re unsure how to use a foam roller, you’ll find all the workouts you need and more online.
Tend to Injuries
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with boxing training recovery is to ignore any injuries you pick up during a session. At this point, many people would be quick to assume that we’re talking about damage to your hands or the occasional black eye. But because of the movement, flexibility and explosiveness required in boxing, there’s a lot of potential for injuries.
For example, it’s easy enough to roll your ankle or damage your shoulder as you throw a punch. Regardless of what the injury is, it’s vital to tend to it properly. This may be a simple case of icing it and immobilising it at home, but if it’s causing prolonged pain or if you’re unable to move it properly, you should always get it checked by a medical professional. Injuries hinder the recovery process and can cause more severe problems for your health and everyday life.
Rest Days
There will always be people, maybe even high profile boxers, who promote an image of having ‘no days off’. Trust us; everyone needs rest days to recuperate and get back to 100%. A key aspect of boxing training recovery is resting, as it allows you to reap the rewards of your hard work. While resting, your muscles heal, adapt and get stronger while your nervous system regenerates. Yes, all of this benefits your training, but more importantly, it aids your overall health, wellbeing and fitness.
Ensuring you get appropriate rest is a huge advantage for avoiding overtraining and experiencing a ‘workout hangover’. This can cause severe muscle fatigue and a sense of exhaustion, among other issues. You don’t need us to tell you how detrimental this will be for future training and can harm the progression you have enjoyed up until now.
Check out our blog for more boxing advice and insight regarding recovery, techniques and much more. Also, you should always be using the best boxing equipment available to avoid injuries — we have hand wraps, head guards, gum shields and a range of other equipment designed to keep you safe and injury-free.