Despite being what you might consider a small aspect of your technique, breathing and breathwork can have a massive overall impact on your power, speed and focus when you box. Sometimes when you’re in the midst of a high intensity exercise, it can feel instinctive to hold your breath, but breathwork in boxing is vital to maintaining effectiveness and optimising your recovery.
Whether you’re training at UBX or simply interested in improving your technique, understanding and controlling your breath could be the next step in elevating your boxing.
Why is breathing important in boxing?
- Stamina and Endurance: In all forms of physical activity, maintaining a consistent flow of breath helps to keep your muscles oxygenated, which helps to prevent fatigue and therefore maximise your endurance
- Power Generation: Coordinating your breath with your strikes allows you to generate more force and maintain form. When synced with your punches, exhaling sharply maximizes force and control, turning each strike into a powerful, efficient motion.
- Composure and Focus: Maintaining controlled breathwork will help to keep your heart rate steady, allowing you to stay composed, make quick decisions, and respond effectively, even under the physical intensity of your workout or fight.
The greater impact of effective breathwork
- Optimised Performance: Boxing is a high-energy activity; effective breath management ensures you stay energised throughout, allowing for stronger, more precise movements.
- Faster Recovery: Efficient breathing techniques facilitate recovery between rounds, clearing lactic acid and resetting your body to push harder in the next round.
- Mental Clarity and Resilience: Mastering breath control helps manage stress, keeping your mind sharp and your responses swift—an advantage in both boxing and daily life.
How to improve boxing breathwork
- Diaphragmatic (Belly) Breathing: Practice using your diaphragm rather than shallow chest breathing. This technique increases lung capacity, promoting better endurance.
- Rhythmic Breathing: Sync your breath with your movements—inhale during defensive actions and exhale during punches. This rhythm helps maintain energy and power throughout your session.
- Box Breathing (also known as “Four Square Breathing”): start by inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds, and holding again for 4. This method is great for mental focus and calming the nervous system, and a powerful way to center yourself before and during workouts.
- Recovery Breathing: Post-rounds, engage in slow, deep breaths to bring your heart rate down, improving recovery for the next set.
Tips to incorporate in your training
- Interval Training: In High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), you challenge your body to operate in a higher heart rate zone for a short duration, followed by an even short rest period. This give you rapid bursts of opportunity to mindfully activate your boxing breathwork, while utilising your rest period for recovery and returning to normal breathing. Overtime, this practise can boost your VO2 max and enhance overall cardiovascular endurance.
- Mindfulness Breathing Practices: Breathing exercises are a common method for practising mindfulness – focusing on your breath and the physical sensations of your body whilst blocking out interuptive thoughts and external factors to improve focus and reduce stress. By mastering your breath in a more relaxed state, it will condition your mind and your body to incorporate steadier breathing during exercise.
How UBX incorporates breath control
At UBX, the 12-round workout structure offers an ideal environment to practice and refine your breathing techniques. With a blend of boxing and strength exercises, split into high-intensity intervals, each 3-minute round tests your stamina, coordination, and power, followed by 30 seconds of rest.
During bagwork, members control their tempo and intensity, making it a great opportunity to experiment with rhythmic breathing. Then, during padwork with coaches, you have the opportunity to practise matching your breath with your movements. Coaches provide real-time feedback, helping you align breathwork with each punch combination to boost power output and maintain control. This tailored approach ensures members, whether beginners or advanced, learn and improve at their own pace while challenging themselves.
Why UBX is a great place to master your boxing breathing
Whether you’re new to boxing or a seasoned pro, UBX’s structure allows you to apply these techniques in a supportive environment. Our coaches work with members one-on-one to refine breathing during high-intensity rounds, guiding you through bagwork and padwork to find your rhythm and control.
Breathing isn’t just about survival in the ring; it’s about optimising performance, staying calm under pressure, and boosting recovery. Whether you train with us at UBX or elsewhere, mastering your breath is a game-changer for any boxer.
