Am I Too Old to Train Boxing?

If  you are indeed reading this right now, without even knowing exactly who you are, I can say with some certainty that you are NOT too old to train boxing. You are likely not too old to compete either, provided you are matched up appropriately. I would not necessarily recommend the latter to most but I would recommend the former to everyone. Everyone can train in boxing, provided you have no pre-existing health issues that a doctor believes might preclude you from it.

This is because boxing training for fitness, skill-development and fun is relatively quite safe to do. It is high-intensity, yes, but everyone can go at their own pace. Even at a very high intensity level though, boxing does not put nearly the stress on your joints that other forms of exercise do. When people do something like jog for instance, their feet impact the ground thousands upon thousands of times. Surfaces may vary but either way, that ground is not going anywhere. It is solid so each step someone takes, their full bodyweight is absorbed as soon as that foot hits the ground. Eventually, that repetitive stress can wear them down, especially those with non-small frames. HIIT training may not have the same volume of stress but it almost always involves jumping, which can magnify the problem significantly. Weight-lifting, even with lighter weights, can also present a risk factor as you may have perfect form 99.9% of the time but that one, rare, instance where maybe you're tired, maybe you're coming down to the last few reps of set and something is just slightly off, that could be the rep that causes an injury.

Boxing training does not have these same kind of hazards. Whether you are punching a heavy bag, mitts, or just the air (shadowboxing), you are not striking an immovable surface and hence, aren't absorbing 100% of the impact. Nor are you as likely to encounter the problem of landing something wrong and causing serious injury because there is still some give to your striking surface. There is plenty of footwork in boxing and much of the power comes from the legs but the knees stay bent and there is no hard contact between your foot and the ground. And while you get great resistance training by punching the bag, it is not connected to your body the way a weight is, nor does it affect movement the way holding weight does so the chances of that one bad rep which causes injury is far slimmer than it would be lifting.

There are certainly other forms of exercise that don't pose big risk factors either but other than swimming, you are going to be hard pressed to find one that provides anywhere near the workout that boxing training does for cardio, full-body resistance and high intensity training. 

But that's not all! Boxing trains your base level physical skills like balance, coordination, agility and reaction time. When we're young and running around on playgrounds, climbing trees, playing sports, etc., we are constantly using these skills. As we get older and our adult lives take over, it is very hard to remain active like that. We may go to the gym for an hour every day or so but unless you participate in a sport, it is very, very unlikely you will train all 4 of those skills I mention. Even if you do a lot of sports-related drills, without the constantly change and real time adaptation, you won't be engaging those skills nearly as much as you would with boxing training. (Note: I have met many people who believe their lack of coordination cannot be improved, that they are just born that way. While it's true that some people are naturally more coordinated or better in certain ways than others, this is still a trainable skill that can be improved with practice).

The other big thing about skills like coordination and balance is that if you don't use them, you lose them. This is one reason that seniors face an increased risk of falling as they get older. Balance requires maintenance and finding a fun activity to keep you engaged is the best way to do it. General body coordination is required to do just about all the activities of daily life boxing will certainly help us here as it requires just about every body part to work in concert.

Boxing trains your brain too. It's not rocket science but it does require you to think and keep your mind active. Processing each move, each sequence of moves and changing patterns of movement keeps the neural pathways open and the neurotransmitters firing. This is why boxing can be recommended for people with Parkinson's, to either slow and sometimes help reverse symptoms of the disease.

Then there is stress. Even those who have never boxed in their lives know that it is a great way to relieve stress and while some of us mellow out as we get a little older and wiser, there is always stress to be released and this is probably the healthiest way to do it! 

These are all some of the reasons why I myself has chosen boxing as a training regimen. It is literally something I can do my entire life. It is a full-body, high-intensity workout that is easily scalable with less risk of injury and long-term wear and tear than most anything else. It will keep my skills sharp, my brain working, and even slow the process of my eventual transition into a grumpy old man. Plus if I ever have to throw down against some mischievous young whippersnappers, I've at least got a fighting chance!