Bulking is the act of putting on muscle; Whether it’ll be using weightlifting or other resistance training, such as calisthenics. The entire point is to tear down the muscles using different exercises, such as bench press, so it can eventually grow stronger. Is boxing a suitable choice in this case?
Bulking while boxing is definitely possible and something most professional boxers will do. However, packing up muscle mass by only boxing—is problematic because it doesn’t tear down the muscles enough for hypertrophy (the muscle building process in the body) to commence. But, doing both—is possible.
Once you tear down a muscle using exercise, the body will send nutrients and blood to this area for it to heal. This is how hypertrophy happens (this is important to understand). Then, the body builds the torn area, but only stronger; hence, with more muscle mass.
The body knows that it needs for all its muscles to keep up. Eventually, if you successfully caused micro tears in your muscles, your body will ensure it won’t happen again, with the same intensity, that is. As a result, it’ll build the area, but only stronger this time.
Boxing, however, won’t consistently cause hypertrophy to happen. As a result, it won’t be enough to build muscle over and over. This is why lifting weights goes hand in hand with packing up muscle. Even calisthenics (street workout), isn’t as effective.
This article will discuss the connection between boxing, bulking, and lifting weights. Also, it’ll explain how you can control your training routine to do boxing and bulk simultaneously. Before diving in, however, if you want to become more stable in the ring, I highly recommend pairing yourself with high-quality boxing shoes.
Follow the link to see which are the best ones.
Will boxing make me lose muscle mass?
The first section of this article will discuss a common misconception about building muscle and boxing. First, let’s understand our motives; most of us don’t want to lose the muscle mass we currently pack. As a result, some folks will stay away from cardio, running, or any other type of aerobic exercise, boxing included.
Boxing will not make you lose muscle mass, if you compensate by eating more calories than what you burn daily. Thus, boxing will only help you burn more calories. As such, if you want to bulk up while doing it, you would have to eat more calories to compensate for the calories you burned during the session.
I hope you’re familiar with the concept of bulking up. If you want to successfully do so, you must eat more than what you burn. This can be counterproductive to everything our society preaches; hence, we must lose body fat by eating less and less.
So no, you shouldn’t eat less. If you do, you’ll actually end up losing muscle mass. Your body won’t have enough nutrients, so it’ll take them from the fat storage (which can be good), and from the muscles. As a result, you’ll end up losing muscle mass because you boxed.
Boxing, however, doesn’t directly correlate with losing muscle mass. If you don’t eat enough, then sure, you’ll lose size. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that boxing is to blame. Instead, you must compensate for the calories you burned by eating more; that’s how you can pack on muscle mass while boxing consistently.
Can I combine boxing and bodybuilding?
As we saw thus far, you can be in bulking mode while boxing. However, you must compensate for the calories you burn by eating more food. If your body doesn’t have enough nutrients to build itself back up, it’ll take them from the fat storage and the muscle. So, you’ll lose some size.
Bodybuilding and boxing go hand in hand, as you can do them simultaneously. To learn how to box, you don’t have to necessarily eat more or less; for bodybuilding, however, you are usually in bulking mode, which means you must eat more than what you burn. As such, both activities don’t contradict each other.
As we previously saw, the only thing that boxing will cause—is require you to eat more. If you’re currently bulking, I know it may seem difficult to eat more than what you currently do. That’s the barrier most people face, food.
If you add boxing to the equation, you’d actually have to eat more, which can be fatiguing. However, all professional boxers bulk up once in a while, as they want to become stronger.
If they can do it, you can too.
How to bulk while boxing
This section will focus on what you need to actually do to bulk up while boxing. The only thing that will change is how much you eat to ensure your body has enough nutrients to pack on muscle without touching its current supply.
To bulk while boxing, you must ensure to consume more calories than what you burn on a daily basis. A good rule of thumb is to eat 300-500 more calories. Hence, if you burn 2500 daily calories, it’ll be best to eat anywhere from 2800-3000 calories. Boxing will only make you burn more, so pay attention to that.
In your calculation, don’t forget to include the calories you burn in boxing. It’s not uncommon to see you burn up to 800 calories from an hour of intense box session. These will have to return to your body in the shape of food.
I know you might wonder to yourself, “why do I even need it?“. “I can just focus on weightlifting and that’s it“. While I do understand where you’re coming from, I also am a big fan of boxing.
If you need to eat more in order to pack up size while learning to fight and bettering yourself, I see that as a good deal. Sports and martial arts are more than a fitness asset, they’re a lifestyle. If you do any martial art, including boxing, you’ll become a different person.
As such, I would sacrifice present comfort by eating more to bulk up, for the countless benefits boxing can provide.
Would you?
Will boxing promote hypertrophy? (build muscle)
Now that we understand how to bulk up while boxing simultaneously, we can go ahead and move to a question many boxers may ask themselves at some point: “Can I build muscle by only boxing?” To answer that question, we must understand the process of muscle building in the body, and why it happens. You should be familiar with it at this point.
Boxing will not consistently promote hypertrophy, the muscle building process in the body, since it won’t cause micro tears in the muscles themselves. While it’s a tough and intense workout, it, alone, won’t allow you to build muscle, as it doesn’t provide enough resistance. Punching doesn’t build muscle.
Resistance is the key word in this section. This is what makes weightlifting the primary workout for increasing your size. It provides tons of resistance. Eventually, this is what causes micro-tears in the muscles themselves.
Boxing won’t consistently do that. Punching simply doesn’t provide enough resistance for it to start the process of hypertrophy. I’ve added the word consistently because sometimes it does. For instance, you might end up building muscle in a session where you did tons of push-ups or pull-ups.
That’s why I can’t say for sure. What I can say is that it’ll provide a solid and intense workout that will improve your aerobic shape, burn plenty of calories, better endurance, and grow your mental health. This is what boxing is good for, not for bulking, however.
Does boxing make you bulky or lean?
As we understood thus far, bulking while boxing—is possible. That said, doing boxing alone won’t necessarily lead to hypertrophy, the muscle building process in the body. That’s why weightlifting is the go-to workout for bodybuilders and folks who want to put on some size.
Boxing won’t make you bulky, but lean, since it can help you burn 800 calories in an hour without providing enough resistance for it to cause micro tears in your muscles. As a result, it can’t consistently ensure that hypertrophy occurs. If you don’t eat more than what you burn daily, you’ll also lose muscle mass.
We’ve already covered the myth that boxing makes you lose muscle mass, and why it’s wrong. To be exact, the opposite applies; it can help promote bulking up, if you make sure to eat more calories than what you burn.
But, many folks have a difficult time eating enough. So, if you add more calories to the equation, they’ll never be capable of eating enough to ensure their bodies always builds itself up again. So, the myth is true only in this case.
Concluding, boxing will make you leaner quicker than it’ll make you bulky. This is why professional boxers always have low body fat percentage; all they do throughout their days is box, run, and lift weights. As such, they’ll have an incredibly difficult time eating more than what they burn.
I wrote a complete guide on what to eat as a boxer. This guide explains two scenarios, one is you wanting to lose body fat, and the other—you wanting to bulk up; follow the link if you want to learn how to successfully do so while boxing.
Final words
To conclude this article, I want to ensure you understand what you need to do moving forward. You must first calculate how many calories you burn on a daily basis. Use this calories’ calculator to do so.
Here is what the latest research says. One 2020 meta-analysis published in the journal Nutrition Reviews found that protein intakes ranging from 0.5 to 3.5 g per kg of body weight can support increases in lean body mass
SOURCE
Next up, make sure to eat more than what you burn, considering you want to bulk up and pack on some fresh muscle mass. If you box weekly, you’ll burn more calories; meaning that you’d have to eat more to compensate for that loss.
Lastly, enjoy training as much as possible. The entire point of boxing is to enjoy training while always pushing your mental and physical boundaries. Frankly, you’ll become an entirely different person by showing up to training time and time again.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you’ll also enjoy reading whether boxers should take creatine. If you want to know the complete answer, follow the link to read all about it!