Shayne Lawrence

Regardless of your age, the idea of boxing might seem intimidating. The reality of boxing is quite different; a fun and fascinating sport with its mixture of strikes and strategy.

Fitness boxing isn’t about combat or competition, it is simply the best cardio gift you can give yourselves. If you’ve never thought about how much fun it would be to hit that punching bag? If words like jab, hook, and uppercut aren’t in your vocabulary yet, put on a pair of boxing gloves and start boxing. Bulldogs Fitness & Boxing Centre offers one complimentary lesson to newcomers to experience first hand what Active Aging is about.

Coaches at Bulldogs Fitness & Boxing Centre teach the techniques of boxing that truly showcase the beauty of the sport, especially the artistic athleticism it requires. As you age, it’s important to stay physically active. Boxing is an exciting sport that helps you maintain and even improve your physical ability. During training, you strengthen the muscles of your upper body, such as your chest, shoulders and triceps that help you punch. Your legs get stronger, developing the power for your punches.

Bulldogs Fitness & Boxing Centre, in Salmon Arm, offers a Shakers & Movers program that trains participants with Parkinson’s. If you have a lower-body injury or a neuromuscular disease like Parkinson’s, seated boxing is a modification option. Seated boxing training removes the risk of falling, while still throwing punches, working your core and upper-body muscles.

Here are three great reasons to start boxing:

Physical – From the first moment you throw a punch, you are breathing heavily, heart pumping, arms, chest, shoulders, core, and legs working in unison. Boxing builds lean muscle, develops stamina and endurance. With age there is a loss of muscle mass, strength, flexibility, and balance. Boxing reverses this trend, giving back what is lost, developing hand-eye coordination and entire body strength. Boxing is one of the most complete cardiovascular and resistance workouts and it is fun!

Mental – Boxing helps people out of their comfort zone and requires good mental concentration. It is demanding and strategic, stimulating new parts of our brain, challenging minds and bodies. The research on successful aging urges people to learn something new, strategic, and to keep testing themselves with new sequences and moves. Besides improving hand-eye coordination, boxing is steeped in rhythm and movement.

Spiritual – Boxing probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of meditation. It might seem paradoxical that something so physical can be spiritual, that stillness can be found in movement, but boxing, like meditation, focuses attention and calms the mind. When fully engaging your body and intensely concentrated on one thing, it’s hard to dwell on the nagging items on your to-do list.