How Many Calories Do You Burn While Boxing???

 

People often ask me this question. A cursory search over the internet will give plenty of different answers. If you were to look up what exercise burns the most calories, you would get many more answers still. Boxing is at the top of many of those lists but it's all very subjective. What kind of boxing are they referring to? Shadow boxing, mitts, heavy bag, sparring? And in what kind of format - rounds, rests, reps, etc.? Oh, and what about the intensity level?  You can go super light, super heavy, in quick explosive bursts with some rest in between, non-stop at more of a steady state clip and everything else in between. There is also such a thing as "afterburn", where types of  exercises (HIIT mainly) will continue to burn calories several hours after that exercise. While it's debated just how significant this afterburn effect really is, it does exist on some level but rarely factored into studies about how many calories different exercises burn per session.

What's even more subjective than that though, is YOU. We all have different body types, different metabolisms, different athletic abilities, different levels of accommodation to the exercise and plenty of other factors that will determine how hard we are able to work and how many calories we will burn in a given period of time. 

Most people who are curious about calorie burn are usually looking for some kind of weight loss. The original, basic metric was that humans need to create a caloric deficit (burn more than we take in) of 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of weight. We now generally believe that it's far more complex than this. Even ignoring all the scientific research, this has to be true, right? If you were able to consistently burn more calories than you took in for years and years, what would happen? You would drop down to your birth weight? Fade away into nothingness? Of course your body will not allow those things to happen. This is where the metabolism kicks in. If you have a lot of excess weight and suddenly start dieting and exercising intelligently, your body will likely follow the 3500 Rule relatively closely for a while, probably even for a long while depending how you are doing both of those things. But then your body starts to get used to it and metabolisms change. This is one reason why no matter how much weight you are looking to lose, I would never recommend cutting too many calories too soon. This causes the body to go into starvation mode, where it hangs onto every calorie it can. Could also lead to muscle loss, which doesn't help you lose weight healthily. Going way over the top with exercise can be problematic too. Eating a well-balanced diet and getting rid of empty calories to focus on nutrition instead is generally going to be the way to go but it may be more specific than that when it comes to your particular body. There is where getting professional help from a dietician/nutritionist may be the answer.

Your body will adapt to the exercise you do as well but this does not mean you need to keep changing up that exercise regimen completely to keep the muscular confusion effect going. As I mentioned earlier as it relates to boxing, there are many different ways you can train. If you've been going light for months, it is time to start intensifying. Hit harder, move faster, less rest, incorporate more footwork, head movement, feints, etc. etc. You can also always increase the duration of your boxing workout - like doing it for 2 hours instead of 1 hour - but I truly believe you will get much more bang for your buck with the above mentioned ideas. Your body has to stay challenged. A great thing about boxing and other sport-based workouts is that the better you get at the skill, the better workout benefits you can get from it. I often hear from people who join our club that after about a month or so of coming consistently, they suddenly find themselves very tired. When they ask me why this is, I usually say something to the effect of, "Because you're doing it right!", meaning that by learning how to throw punches and move more properly, they are now recruiting more muscles, generating more explosive force, and able to spend less time thinking and more time doing.

Speaking of muscles, how do they relate to all of this? Has anyone ever told you that muscle weighs more than fat? This is not really true, a pound is a pound, but muscles are denser than fat so if you are building muscle, even lean muscle (toning up), especially in areas you didn't have it before, your weight may not drop significantly as quickly. I have had those same people who box consistently for a month tell me that they have only lost a negligible amount of weight in that month but they are noticing their clothes fit differently. That is one reason I find the number on the scale less meaningful. Body composition, while less of metric, is more important to me. Something I like about boxing is that it is great for toning muscle, especially doing heavy bag work. You're getting significant resistance from hitting that 100-pound bag but it also moves so it's not akin to a heavy lift, where you are going to build bulkier muscle.

And speaking of heavy lifting, I did have someone ask me about this recently too so here is a quick note: If you are looking to bulk up as well as lose significant weight (like, 15-20 pounds at least) and/or body fat, I believe these goals are somewhat simultaneously incompatible, unless you are a serious body builder and have tons of time and resources to devote to training and eating. That is hard science right there and will require a lot of careful, thoughtful work. I would recommend losing the weight and/or body fat first in a reasonable, no-crazy-diets-or-meal-skipping way. Maintain that weight/body fat percentage for a little while, then you can attempt to bulk up. This will require more calories, which is one reason I say the goals are incompatible, so you will start gaining again but if you can maintain a good diet and take things slowly (along with, of course, a proper heavy lifting program that will work for you), you are more likely to maintain the kind of body composition you would like. Don't do it the other way around!

So... how many calories do you burn while boxing? The answer is that it depends on a lot of factors. So you read all this just to get an "I don't know" at the end? Well, sort of, but I have at least tried to explain some of those factors a little bit better. And here are several more salient takeaways:

1. Boxing is HIIT training and thus, one of the highest calorie-burning activities, including some calorie burn after the workout is over.
2. Boxing is a skill that constantly evolves, giving your body less opportunity to adapt to the workout and thus, constantly challenging the body.
3. That being said, this also means that you will need to work harder with that new skill, to continue pushing yourself to get better results.
4. THAT being said, someone who does intense exercise every day and is relatively fit is going to burn far less calories per session than someone who has a lot more to burn and doesn't exercise as frequently.
5. Paris is the capital of France.
6. Future posts will focus on Takeaways 2 and 3, as they are very important.