Exercise for rainy days

raymj61

If you're like me and don't belong to a gym, and brisk walking/jogging is a big part of your routine, then you know there are days when you can't get out and walk either due to rain, sub-freezing temps, darkness, whatever.

I've found shadow boxing to be a good workout on these days. You get some of the benefits of jumping rope because you're bouncing on your toes half of the time, and throwing punches is good for your core muscles and it gives your calves a bit of a break. Just flex your abs when you throw punches but remember to breathe and go right back to bouncing on your toes between punch combos.

I do 3 minutes at a time with a 1 minute rest in between. Personally, I hold ankle weights in my hands when shadow boxing, wrist wts will do also but neither one is necessary.

A few tips I would have are, don't over extend or throw your punches particularly fast early on because it's easy to pull a chest or shoulder muscle if you're not use to it. Keep your punches short in the beginning, especially if you're using wts on your hands because extending your punches with the wts on can be hard on your elbows.

I'm right handed but switch to left handed stance periodically so that I'm working muscles on both sides of my body evenly. Also, throw your punches slightly upward (against gravity) for a more intense workout.

I don't know exactly how many calories are burned per minute doing this (don't own a HRM yet)and it will vary depending on your intensity but based on known calorie burners, I personally count this as 7.5 cals per minute.

donnak7

That sounds like a good work-out and a fun one. Great idea for a day with bad weather!

raymj61

Yes, I started doing it out of necessity but now do it about 3 times a week, sometimes instead of walking/jogging and sometimes in addition to it.