Another piece of equipment that you should be utilizing for your boxing and your overall fitness is the weighted training vest. Weighted training vests allow you to build explosive strength while really honing in on your core muscles and the stabilizing muscles in your back and abdominals. You'll build speed and power, and you'll do so without having to spend additional time weightlifting or bulking up with too much muscle.
Using Weighted Training Vests for Boxing
| J Fit 30-Pound Adjustable Weighted Vest |
 |
Overall Rating: |
| Retail Price: $99.99 |
| Amazon Price: $68.16 |
There are a variety of ways that you can use a weighted exercise vest for boxing training. To begin with, you can wear the equipment while you aren't actually boxing but are doing your road work or other stamina and cardio work as well. Wearing a vest while running will increase your work load and force your entire body to work harder.
Instead of doing this while jogging or completing roadwork, you could also consider wearing a vest while performing sprints. This will really help you build explosive speed and power, which will help you add leverage and power to your punches, as well as help you with your quick defensive work around the ring.
Try performing three 40 yard sprints with 30 seconds of rest in between. Alternatively, sprint for three seconds, jog for two minutes and repeat for a total of three times for an intense but quick burst of activity.
You probably won't want to be wearing your weighted training vest while you're sparring. Instead if you're using it around and inside the gym you should use it while working on the heavy bag or while shadow boxing.
Performing a few rounds of work on the heavy bag while wearing a weighted exercise vest will really kick up the level of the work putting in. Your abs will feel it, your legs will feel it, your lungs will feel it and your entire body will see significant strength increases.
| MIR Short Style Workout Plate weight Vest / Hold Up To 40LBS Weighted Vest |
 |
Overall Rating: |
| Retail Price: Varies based on product options |
| Amazon Price: $79.99 |
This type of training however won't take away from your main boxing goals, which are to avoid bulking up too heavily. (Read more on weightlifting for boxing).
Ultimately, you're going to see many different benefits from kicking up your training in this fashion. When you take off your weighted vest you're going to feel extremely fast and agile. You're going to be able to slip and avoid punches as you wouldn't have been before, and you'll see that your muscle stamina and cardio stamina have improved. With your added explosive speed and power, your punches will have extra oomph on them as well.
How Heavy Should my Weighted Training Vest Be?
Well, everybody is a little bit different with their own strengths as well as their own goals. I think for most people, if you've never used a weighted vest before, 20 pounds is a good start. You may want to get an adjustable weighted vest that will allow you to interchange how much weight you use at a time. This will allow you to add variation to your workout and will also allow you to upgrade your load with ease.
Browse for cheap weighed training vests here.
US $20.50
[...] Original post: Weighted Training Vests for Boxing Fitness | Boxing Equipment 24/7 … [...]
Posted by Weighted Training Vests for Boxing Fitness | Boxing Equipment 24/7 … | ExerciseItems.Com on May 19th, 2009.
I think percentages are better yardsticks for starting weights. If you’re a 200 lb man, then you’re going to feel 20lbs a lot less than a 140lb man.
10% of your body weight is a good place to start. However, going above 20% of body weight for high impact drills like running, box jumps and skipping might be a bit too hard on the joints.
The most important thing to do is to eas into it slowly, so your joints get conditioned to it.
Posted by Mark the Weight Vest Freak on May 21st, 2009.