Want a full-body home workout to help you exercise while social distancing? Start with boxing.
Editor’s note: Part nine of USA TODAY’s Working Out From Home (#WOFH) series focuses on boxing moves you can use at home. Sign up for Good Sports, our weekly newsletter that will bring you more home workout tips + stories of the good(!!) throughout the world of sports:
That bottle of wine? That laundry detergent? Those canned goods? They’re more than household items these days. They’re also your free weights.
I can speak from experience as someone who has tried to stay on a daily workout routine from home, forced to share my living and working space with fitness during the coronavirus pandemic.
But in the month I’ve been sheltering in place, I’ve learned a productive and varied workout is possible — and so is all the love, good vibes and energy (shoutout, coach Jonathan!) one feels from going to the gym with friends and coaches whose goals are to push you to get better physically and mentally.
All it takes is 40 minutes and you’ll be burning more than 400 calories, dripping sweat and channeling your inner Muhammad Ali.
I can thank the group fitness experience at BASH Boxing in Arlington, Virginia, that is now streaming classes free on Instagram Live. Its rotation of coaches is still bringing passion and encouragement, accompanied by music that makes you shake it like you’re on the dance floor during rest periods.
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STAYING HOME? STAY ACTIVE:Tips, ideas to exercise while social distancing during coronavirus pandemic
It is possible to fuse boxing with a functional-body workout that improves endurance, strength or power — even from home.
“We want (people) to feel like they’ve had a full-body workout,” said Alex Trakas, co-founder, founding coach and CEO of BASH Boxing. “We want your entire body to be in that exhausted point, and also that you feel well-rounded.”
Fist bumping your neighbor after a difficult exercise is 100% still encouraged, albeit in emoji form during what becomes a big group chat during the workout.
