Through the height of COVID, women’s professional boxing started to receive the recognition and appreciation that the sport deserves.

In addition to the professional side – the wave of boxing for fitness is riding even higher! Have you ever wanted to box? You aren’t alone – many women across the globe are picking up the sport – wrapping their hands and putting on gloves as their workout of choice.

So why are women drawn to boxing?

Boxing is fun cardio. They want to strengthen and tone their bodies at the same time. They want to learn a skill. They want to feel strong. They don’t want to spend hours at the gym; perfect because it is a full-body workout. They want to be able to train from home or a local gym. They want to improve their cardiovascular health, stamina, and endurance. They want to improve balance as well as hand-eye coordination. They want to feel confident in their body. They want to be in the best shape. And boxing is an exciting way to achieve everything above!

Boxing is the ultimate workout for both the body and mind. It offers just as much mentally, as it does physically! Above are more of the physical benefits of boxing, but the mental benefits can outweigh the physical (at least in my opinion).

5 mental benefits of boxing:

1. Improves mental focus – there is so much to learn and take in that you don’t realize how fast a 60-minute class goes by! There is much more to the jab than just the punch – the head, shoulder, elbow, hip, proper weight distribution and feet placement all take part in this 1 single punch.

2. Form of stress relief – nothing feels better than healthily releasing built-up anger or frustration on a heavy bag.

3. Builds self-confidence and self-empowerment – So many women have come out of my classes saying how amazing they felt and surprised they were able to produce such a strong punch with just their body weight; they never realized how strong they were until they had the opportunity to properly throw a punch.

4. Enhances strategic thinking (especially if you are sparring) – When putting head movement, footwork and punches together – skill and strategy work in harmony – hence why the sport is also called the sweet science. You must learn to be offensive and defensive at the same time (if you are in the ring or doing any partner work).

5. Form of self-defense – Women feel safer knowing they can better protect themselves if they are in an unsafe situation. Equipped with boxing skills and technique allows them to not only walk around more confidently but also fear less.

The other added bonus is you don’t need any equipment, a gym, or even lots of time!

Gone are the days where you have to spend hours at the gym to get fit – you can shadow box and achieve the same results. Shadowboxing can be done at home/outdoors, with just your body weight, and completed within 20 minutes (6-8x 2minute rounds, 5-minute warm-up and cooldown).

The final reason why boxing is the ultimate sport is that it is probably one of the most inclusive sports. Boxing has 11 weight classes for women to compete from light flyweight (up to 106lbs) to Super heavyweight (over 201 lbs). What other sport can say that?

So if you are thinking about trying boxing and haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and do it! You will be joining many others and it may just be the sport you have always been looking for.