As many people who train at Gloveworx have noticed, our coaches love to incorporate into their sessions movements that involve core training for boxers through trunk rotation and stabilization exercises. This method of training helps to target stability and movement efficiency—two of the primary functions of the core. If you’re wondering what core stability is, read on for more information about stabilizing and strengthening your core.

What is Core Stability?

Whether you’re picking up a pencil from the floor or throwing a straight right hand, you’re using your core to stabilize and transfer energy throughout your lower and upper body. These energy transfers don’t always go smoothly, and they can often result in energy leaks that break the kinetic chain of your movements. Energy leaks make movements harder to execute and they can be the result or cause of injuries and poor posture.

If you aren’t sure if you’ve experienced an energy leak before, try a simple experiment that will allow you to better understand the movement of energy throughout your body.

The Energy Leak Experiment

Approach a pull-up bar and attempt to complete a single pull up with your legs and core completely relaxed. It’s pretty difficult, right? Now, try the pull up with your core engaged and your legs flexed. Much easier.

This is the perfect illustration of an energy leak. Instead of remaining contained within the kinetic chain—by transferring energy and strength from your legs through your core and into your back and arms—a pull-up with your legs relaxed forces your body to use the energy in your arms to complete the movement.

Instead, you were “leaking” the energy that should be moving through your legs out of your body instead of into your arms. Core training for boxers goes a long way to helping you correct these leaks.

Plugging the Leak

Whether it’s an obvious issue, like completing a proper pull-up, or a subtle problem, like improper posture, stopping energy leaks is crucial to efficient body function on a daily basis, injury prevention during workouts, and increased power core training for boxers. There are two major ways to stop energy leaks: improving your posture and using your core.

Better Posture

Paying attention to your posture while performing simple movements is the clearest indication of common energy leaks for your body, and it provides you with a roadmap that shows where you can make adjustments for more efficient movement.

Pay attention to your body the next time you get up from a chair or walk around your house, and write down the areas that are weighing you down. Are your shoulder’s slumped? Does your lower back hurt? Or is your stomach sticking out? These are common areas that leak energy all the time.

To improve your posture and get better core training as a boxer, stand in front of a mirror and align your shoulders, spine, and hips along a single straight line, as depicted in the image below. Flatten your shoulder blades along your back, tuck your chin in slightly, and engage your abdominals. This should be your position at all times—whether you’re sitting, standing, or working out.

Proper Core Function

Once you’ve properly aligned your body, you need to continue to complete core training for boxers to ensure that external forces have minimal effects on your body. Training your posture and plugging energy leaks mostly depends on your core.

The core is the conduit between the upper and lower parts of your body, and all efficient movement originates within it. As you go through your daily motions, train at Gloveworx, or work out on your own, make sure your core is engaged and active at all times. Your movements will become smoother and easier to complete and your punches will be more powerful.

Continued Core Training for Boxers

Good posture and core engagement is just the start to plugging up all your energy leaks. You also need to ensure you’re training your body evenly by working on more than just the rectus abdominis (your surface level abs) and correcting your gait. Strengthen every part of your body, complete core training for boxers, and find balance at all times to ensure your energy is being used to its fullest potential.

Come in to Gloveworx and get your energy back now!