Throw hands, burn calories, blow off steam.
Snap your punches back to guard fast and turn your hips, don't just arm-punch.
Boxing rounds are interval cardio in disguise, constant footwork keeps your heart rate parked high while every punch demands a snap of rotation from your hips through your fists. Because the intensity surges with each combination and settles between them, it conditions you in waves rather than one flat grind. It earns a place as the cardio session that never feels like cardio, plus a genuinely useful outlet on a stressful day.
No, shadowboxing counts and it's arguably better for learning technique. A bag adds impact and resistance, but rounds of focused shadow work with real intent will still leave you dripping.
You're probably arm-punching. Power starts at the floor, travels through hip rotation, and finishes at the fist, so practise turning your hips into every shot and let the arm be the delivery, not the engine.
The classic format is 3 minutes of work with 1 minute of rest, but 2-minute rounds are a fair start if you're new. Pick a number of rounds you can finish with your hands still up by the end.
