Ever had one of those days where you could quite happily punch someone in the face? Then this class could be for you!

Last week my usual Body Combat instructor was off sick, so we had a last minute substitute in the form of Boxercise. Unlike combat, boxercise involves using gloves and pads and actually hitting something. After a warm up, we were divided into pairs and took it in turns to work through punching sequences – jabs, crosses, hooks and upper cuts. It really helps here if your partner is of a similar height!

We also did some mini circuits involving punching and some other moves like burpees, bear crawls and weird squatty walk things which frankly made you look like you’d shat yourself. As you take it in turns to be the puncher or the person holding the pads, you do get a bit of downtime between sets, which is just as well because punching is HARD. My heart rate was through the roof after a couple of minutes of jabs and crosses. I think there’s a tendency (perhaps more amongst the women in the group) to be a bit cautious of punching as hard as they can initially, but I say go for it – the pads absorb the impact of being punched. Also, when you have someone hitting seven bells out of your pads, you really have to engage your core to absorb the force, so there are definite ab gains possible even when you’re resting. Win.

I found that when I was getting to the end of a long set and slowing down a bit, picturing the face of someone who had really wound me up that day was helpful for that last little bit of motivation!

Next day I felt quite stiff in my arms, I’d definitely worked hard and it made a nice change. Personally, I probably prefer combat as I like the fact that it’s to music and the kicking element to feel like more of a balanced workout. However, I’d definitely do boxercise again – particularly after a bad day 🙂