Is boxing training good for football players? Well, according to Sports Casting “boxing is the best-kept secret of football players workouts” and we’ll tell you why.
Even the NFL, which is the National Football League in the United States, agrees that martial arts (including boxing) provide football players a unique way to stay in shape, especially if they are offseason, to help them improve their on-field performance. In other words, boxing and football can be a good match!
“Football is commonly referred to as a combat sport, but combat skill is not trained throughout the year. Basketball players can shoot jump shots daily and find pick-up games whenever they choose. Football players, however, are limited in the offseasons to training for their sport”, NFL says, which is why these athletes have turned to martial arts for cross-training.
Moreover, boxing is not the only option football players have in martial arts for their offseason training, hand combat and grappling are other popular choices as well.
Hand combat training for football players
Hand combat training will help the football athlete to sharpen his “weapons for battle”, as the NFL calls it. This type of training requires a partner which helps the football player focus on spacing, timing, accuracy and speed for their sport.
“Using hand combat training has helped my reaction. My hands and pass rush moves are quicker and more reflexive when going against offensive tackles during a game,” said Carlos Dunlap to the NFL, who trains hand combat once a week.
Hand combat training drills can be done in brief, focused and frequent sessions at least twice a week if you want to add this practice to your regular football training. The workouts should last from 10 to 60 minutes.
Grappling and football
Grappling, wrestling, judo and jiu-jitsu are also great ways for a football player to train balance, the push-pull relationship, leverage, body positioning, body endurance and hip mobility. These martial arts involve hand-to-hand wrestling and another benefit is learning how to fall by absorbing force and not rolling along the ground. “This skill can reduce the amount of wrist, elbow and shoulder injuries that can occur anytime a player hits the ground in a game or practice,” the NFL assures.
Why is boxing training good for football players?
Boxing is a great option for cross-training if you are a football player because it can help develop many skills that can be used in the field. Some of those skills are hand-eye coordination (which we have talked about before), quickness and stamina. You will be impressed by how your cardiovascular endurance improves after you begin training in boxing as a combination with football practice.
In addition, boxing teaches you how to strike, but also how to evade strikes effectively (great in football, we know). Check out this video where football meets boxing!
Benefits of boxing for football players
As you may have guessed already, there are plenty of benefits football players can get from including boxing in their training. We will mention some of them here, so keep reading, you will not want to miss anything! We will have you convinced in no time that boxing training is good for football players.
- More stamina
As a football player, you already know that this sport is very physically demanding and if you do not have enough endurance, your career will be short. Therefore, you will want to have the same stamina levels that famous boxing idols, such as Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and many more have.
Boxers do a lot of cardio and endurance training because they have to prepare for the worst-case scenario, which is a fight of 12 three-minute rounds. Believe us, you need to give it all and have enough to give.
2. Hand-eye coordination
As we mentioned above, hand-eye coordination is also another benefit you, as a football player, will get from boxing. If you look at something and want to hit it, but miss, then you need to work on this. Boxers will not win any fights if they can’t hit their targets and in football, if you are not able to catch the ball, you are done.
Pad work with your training is perfect for bettering hand-eye coordination since it helps improve your reaction times, which is crucial for football players (and any sport, as a matter of fact).
3. Learn defensive movements
Yes, boxing is about punching, but also much more. It is also about defending yourself from getting punched. In boxing training, you learn how to evade getting hit with many drills that teach you head movements and evasive footwork that can be applied to other sports.
Think about it, someone is coming your way on the football field to tackle you and your new boxing footwork knowledge allows you to easily get out of the way and avoid being tackled. It’s perfect.
4. Boxing makes you tough
Football players are already tough and intimidating but boxers are even more. “You’ve got to be a little crazy to want to get hit in your face, liver, and sometimes groin,” Sports Casting says, so boxing will give you, as a football athlete, more toughness.
You will be able to intimidate your opponents, have more confidence in the field, feel like you are invincible and really be able to be as prepared as possible for anything that comes your way.
Football vs. boxing
Maybe you are wondering, which sport is toughest, which one requires more stamina or in which are you more likely to get hurt. Well, to answer that we found an interview done to footballer turned boxer, Leon McKenzie by Four Four Two that we will share with you.
According to him, in terms of where do you need more stamina, boxing is the winner. As we said before, you need to be able to stand for 12 three-minute rounds and it is not like you are just standing around waiting to hit a ball, you are actively defending yourself and striking. In other words, even if you are tired, you have to keep going. In football, you can pass the ball and rest, you do not have to be running around all the time.
Mckenzie was then asked about which sport requires more power. To him, as a football player, you build a lot of power in your legs since you have to do a lot of deadlifts, squats, lunges and plyometrics.
In boxing, you do not have to lift heavy weights, you develop power through your punches when using the correct technique that consists of generating force with your legs all the way through your core, back, shoulders and arms. “Whacking a few balls into the back of the net is a lot more fun than whacking a heavy bag,” the athlete said, so boxing wins once more.
Both boxing and football involve agility drills and footwork, but McKenzie believes that in football you develop the ability to do explosive sprints that involve turning, twisting, acceleration and deceleration. Yes, boxing footwork is important for agility but in football much more is involved, so this time, when it comes to agility, football wins.
McKenzie was then asked about speed. He said that in boxing you need fast feet and in football, you are more focused on running as fast as you can. However, since football players need to be as fast as possible with a ball, which is sometimes at their feet, they win this round, according to the interviewee.
We have talked about how to eat like a boxer on this blog before and we will also tell you that football and boxing diets are very similar. Nonetheless, boxing requires to cut weight to be able to fit into the different divisions. McKenzie thinks that it is easier to stick to the diet plan that football players are given since the club will provide all of the meals. “You just had to stick to that to make sure your body was well fuelled and able to recover,” he said while giving this win to boxing since the diet can get tough.
Finally, he was asked about the psychology. In boxing, you are on your own and need to be mentally strong, but in football, you have team-mates to help you out and to rely on when you are struggling. If you are tired, someone can come in and replace you, so yes, once again boxing is the winner.
So, it seems that, according to McKenzie, boxing is a tougher sport compared to football. However, they are both great sports with a wide amount of benefits that you can enjoy, whether it is for fun or as a career.
Do you combine your sport of choice with boxing or other martial arts? Tell us about your experience in the comments!
