Speed Kills: Becoming a Faster Boxer

Setting your gloves on fire with blazing speed.

Speed in boxing is always a sought after skill. Who wouldn’t want to blind their opponents with lightning speed and disappear before the counter even gets thrown? It’s a great way to wow fans and win fights as proven by some of boxing biggest names. Manny Pacquiao is one of the first names that spring to mind, using super-human speed and multiple punch combinations to pick his opponents apart.

That being said, speed in boxing isn’t all about throwing fast shots. It’s about being fast in all aspects of your technique in the ring.

Here are some ways to become an all-round faster boxer.

The Stance

Try to keep a balanced, agile stance. Don’t plant your feet for too long and plod toward your opponent like a super-tanker. You should try and remain on the balls of your feet and utilise constant micro-movements, always ready to change direction. Imagine boxing on hot coals, you have to stay in motion and bounce just slightly, staying light on your feet. This will make you harder to hit, harder to read and faster in both attack and defence.

Stay Relaxed

Think of the kinetic chain for throwing punches, the power coming up through the legs into the shoulders and eventually down the arms. Keep your shoulders relaxed and whip your punches, don’t push them. This is a faster way to throw your shots, reduce telegraphing and conserve the energy in your arms, shoulder and back. Look to sting your opponent with a shot that comes out of nowhere, it might not be as powerful as loading up on your strikes, but with accuracy and speed, you can snap your opponent’s head back time and time again.

Getting Equipped

As far as using supplementary equipment goes, you could try shadowboxing with running weights in your hands. The weight of the dumbbells will build explosive muscle fibres in your arms and shoulders, increasing muscular endurance too, so you can stay fast for longer. If you don’t have weights to hand, no problem. Strap on your heaviest pair of Boxing Gloves and practise some speed drills on the bag or mitts as well as shadowboxing, as I mentioned before.

Having a versatile glove that works in all aspects of boxing training is great for this. ROOMAIF’s Combative Boxing Gloves, for example, provide a good option for boxers to use one type of glove for all their training needs. They come in many different weights, but their 16oz option would be great for building up your hand speed and strength like mentioned before, with the option of also sparring or hitting pads in them too. 

Having just one type of glove for everything is convenient, but the drawback is that they might wear out a little faster through so much use. ROOMAIF Combative Boxing Gloves are designed with that in mind. They use high-quality material to make sure that your hands are protected at all times, whether the gloves are brand new or thoroughly broken in. This is important as speed can sometimes facilitate sloppy form, don’t let your early mistakes keep you out of the ring for too long. 

It’s a smart move to use brands that can be trusted, so you know that you can have confidence in the safety of your equipment. German sports and fitness brand ROOMAIF was established in the early ‘90s and have been providing high-quality products to the boxing world ever since. They manufacture all of their boxing equipment with premium materials and sponsor world champions and Olympians from around the globe.

Conserve Energy

Don’t just start out fast, you have to stay fast! Keeping your speed into the deep rounds requires a good knowledge of energy conservation and physical fitness. When you are moving around the ring, stay light on your feet and don’t tense up, this will not only make you slower but also fatigue your muscles. Practise your fast, bouncy style in sparring whenever you can, as this will make you more confident getting out of trouble with agile evasion and limit how tense you become.

You can also practise this through dynamic pad sessions with your coach or a friend. Don’t just stand there and bang out combinations, practise advancing, retreating and pivoting out of danger all whilst ripping quick, multiple punch combinations.

Take off the heavy gloves when it’s time for competition and you’ll be amazed at the difference. Your arms will feel weightless and your hands will be as fast as lightning, all fight long.