What Equipment Is Used in Boxing?

By Kasim Javed Boxing Equipment

Boxing at its core is a simple sport involving hand-to-hand combat between two participants, however, in the modern day with our knowledge of physical health, we see a lot of equipment involved in the sport. From boxing gloves to punching bags and even clothes, there is plenty of equipment used in boxing to practise different boxing skills as well as help keep boxers training safely.

Let’s look into what boxing equipment there is, and what it’s used for, so you can decide what you need to start boxing!

Boxing Equipment

There is an endless list of equipment used by boxers in each aspect of their training regime, from skipping ropes to shoes, but not every element is necessary for beginners. If you’re just starting out boxing or wondering how to get into it, here are the fundamental pieces of boxing equipment.

Boxing Gloves

When you move from shadow boxing to sparring, hitting focus mitts with a partner, or punching punch bags, it’s important to protect your hands and wrists. When your hand makes impact with a cushion, it sends shockwaves into your body; the best boxing equipment absorbs most of this shock, so the boxing glove will take away the impact from your knuckles, the ligaments and tendons in your hands, and all the while supporting your wrists.

It’s as important to have your hands wrapped under your gloves to further support the small bones and ligaments in your hands when striking punch bags or focus pads. Hand injuries can take a long time to heal and prevent you from boxing for a while, so hand wraps are essential to reduce risk.

Focus Pads

Boxing pads, focus mitts or focus pads, are a cushion that a boxing partner can wear on their hands as a moveable target for the person training. Boxers use focus pads to practise their speed and accuracy, as the targets are small, as well as more accurately replicate a real fight with an opponent who would be moving around, which allows boxers to practise footwork and switch their fighting stance from offensive to defensive, as well as improve their mental performance by focusing on their opponent and thinking tactically.

You need a bit of prior knowledge of boxing to learn how to be a great pad holder, as the boxer needs you to move naturally and smoothly so they can practise their combinations to a rhythm to improve their muscle memory and agility.

Focus pads are great for honing boxing skills, but they’re also the best first step for beginner boxers after shadowboxing, as well as a great way to stay fit and have fun with a friend.

Punching Bags

Punching bags are iconic pieces of boxing equipment, with bags of all shapes and sizes hanging around the vast majority of boxing gyms.

Types of punching bag:

Straight heavy bag
Free-standing punching bag
Wrecking bag
Speedball, or speed bag
Body bags

Each punching bag has a different purpose, however, the most common are the straight heavy bags, free-standing bags and speedballs.

Straight bags hang from brackets and are usually filled with sand so they can be very heavy, which makes them great for maximising the power in your punches as well as adjusting your footwork to the swinging bag.

Free-standing punch bags swing a lot more than straight bags as they’re lighter and have a small punch bag at the top of a pole, so they’re great for practising shot accuracy as well as a good alternative punch bag for people renting their houses and thus can’t install anything permanently.

Speedbags are attached to a bracket from the top and move rapidly from side to side after strikes so they’re great for boxers to improve their speed, hand-eye coordination and muscular endurance by repeating movements for extended periods of time.

Boxers don’t just have to protect their hands and wrists when training, they also have to consider being struck by an opponent when sparring or in a real fight.

Being struck in the head is a real possibility when boxing so when training, you should have cushioned head gear to absorb the shock and prevent head or neck trauma, as well as a mouthguard to protect your teeth, tongue and jaw from any heavy strikes.

As strikes below the belt are off-limits in boxing, it’s unlikely you’ll need a groin protector, however, for men taking part in other martial arts and combat sports, groin protectors can be handy for any misplaced strikes from your opponent.

If you’re coaching or sparring with a powerful opponent, you can also benefit from belly pads which protect your abdomen from regular or powerful belly strikes.

Boxing Clothing

You’re unlikely to need a boxing robe if you’re just boxing and sparring at home or with friends for fitness and fun, so you can stick to your normal sportswear for most boxing workouts.

However, if you’re competing, or you just want to look awesome while you train, you can buy specialist boxing and martial arts shorts and look the part while being comfortable and flexible.

If you’ve been boxing for a short while and want to increase your muscular strength to improve your boxing, you can try weight-lifting and resistance exercises such as squats, sit-ups and press-ups to increase your muscle mass, known as muscular hypertrophy. With stronger muscles, you’ll be able to pack more power in your punches and improve your boxing performance.

If you’re a more experienced boxer and want to find specialist boxing equipment that will help you achieve your boxing training goals, you’re probably already using focus pads and punch bags and want to know how to take your training to the next level.

Weighted jackets are useful pieces of boxing equipment for pros as they allow you to perform your normal training routine with added weight, helping bring extra cardio and even muscle-building into your workout. By strapping additional weight to your upper body and hitting the focus pads, using skipping ropes or doing pull-ups, you’re demanding more from your body and simultaneously increasing muscular power and endurance.

Boxing At Home

Boxing gyms have many benefits to boxing enthusiasts as you have access to a multitude of equipment and boxers can inspire and assist each other with their training routines, however, if you’re just getting into boxing, they can seem like intimidating places.

Some people prefer to exercise at home for the sake of privacy, or simply to save time and money going to a gym when you can just go into the garage or push the dining table aside and bring out the standing punch bag.

When building an at-home gym or investing in boxing equipment for your home, it’s important to think about the space you have available and how and where you can install something permanent.

If you’ve got plenty of space and strong walls, straight hanging punching bags are a great addition to get you boxing in your house, or if you can’t put anything permanent up, standing punch bags are easy to move out the way and bring out when you’re going to train.

However, the smallest and easiest boxing equipment to have at home, is, of course, a durable focus pad and boxing glove set, so you can train like a boxer safely with a partner and work on those boxing skills.