Martial arts. We all know them. Some of us have seen Karate Kid a long time ago and that’s all we know about them. However, some of you may be active participants of one of the most popular fighting styles in the entire world, boxing. It usually comes with a large amount of physical pain.
Boxing can be painful, especially sparring and competing. When you get punched in the jaw, face, or the liver, you’ll feel a sharp burst of physical pain which can last for a few hours. The nociceptors, that are responsible for detecting pain, transmit information about the damaged tissues to your brain as soon as you get hit.
Its indicates that punch velocity affected on punch force and burnish height of punch holes. When punch velocity increased, punch force and burnish height of the punched holes increased.
SOURCE
According to basic physics, force equals the force times acceleration (F=m·a). For that reason, you can either increase the mass of the person throwing the punch, or the speed itself, to ensure the hit is more powerful.
And, the more force the punch packs, the more painful it’ll be. This is why it’s common to see boxers stopping training or a fight itself because of physical pain.
Before we dive into the article, if you’re interested in pain and boxing, you’ll also enjoy reading about whether boxing is bad for the brain.
How painful is a boxing punch?
Boxing can be extremely painful. Of course, there are a couple of precautions we can take to ensure we minimize the amount of pain caused in training. This section, however, will discuss the amount of pain you might feel from a single punch. I’ll mention some precautions later in the article.
A boxing punch can be extremely painful, especially if it hits a weak spot, such as your liver, jaw, head, nose, and even your abdominal area. The force of the punch depends on the mass and the acceleration of the punch itself. Sometimes, the force can be as high that it makes you unable to move your muscles.
Single Punch homicides have been on controlling the crime media in our current times. Yes, you heard that right. A single punch is sometimes all it takes to kill someone. Now that you understand that, you can see why a single hit may cause extreme pain.
Although it’s extremely unlikely for a single punch to kill someone, you can see that it has happened before. Well, if we take that a step further, we can understand that if the same punch were to be aimed at the nose, for example, it would most likely break it. This will lead to extreme amounts of physical pain.
I gave the case of Australia to demonstrate just how much force a single punch can pack. Now, if you work on your boxing abilities, you’ll also pack more force with your punches, leading to more physical pain.
Now, let’s discuss 3 precautions you can take in your boxing training to ensure you don’t feel as much pain. While avoiding physical pain is impossible in a sport that’s all about hitting the opponent, you can minimize it by implementing the following 3 ways.
#1 – Wear protective gear all the time
The first precaution is to always wear protective gear. Regardless of your current skill level, you must always ensure to wear headgear, hand wraps, and boxing gloves. It’s also best practice to wear boxing cups when you don’t trust your sparring partner’s abilities to aim his punches to the right spot.
Boxing’s injury rate—is amongst the highest out of all sports. That’s because you have two people inside a restricted area trying to hit each other as hard as possible in the face. Do you see why it can be an issue?
Of course, I forgot to mention the part where the two boxers are training for many months for just that purpose. They ensure they can pack as much force as possible before even considering entering the ring. As a result, it will get messy and painful real quickly.
I highly recommend buying these hand wraps, these boxing gloves, and this headgear. These are amongst the best ones currently available for purchase.
Wearing hand wraps, boxing gloves, and headgear, will minimize the risk you have of getting injured. First, you’ll protect your joints by ensuring they feel as little impact as possible.
Now, while the use of headgear is a controversial topic, it will prevent cuts and bruises, which are the most common injury in boxing. Of course, that will also ensure you don’t feel nearly as much physical pain.
If you want to learn more about joints injuries in boxing and how you can prevent them, follow the link.
#2 – Warm-up before any type of training
The second precaution will always to warm up before starting your workout. I know it may sound silly now, but it might be what eventually saves you from feeling enormous amounts of pain as a result of breaking a joint or over-stretching a muscle.
Three of the studies found that performing a warm-up prior to performance significantly reduced the injury risk, and the other two studies found that warming up was not effective in significantly reducing the number of injuries. SOURCE
Never give up on a normal warm up routine. Really, make it a ritual before any boxing workout. Of course, you should also warm up regardless of which exercise you’re performing. That will help you ensure you don’t feel any physical as a consequence of preventable injuries.
I’m a fan of the idea of making it a fixed ritual. If you do so, you’ll ensure you don’t feel any preventable injuries. Thus, you’ll save pain in the long-term.
#3 – Start boxing without using full force
When you’re first starting your boxing journey, you shouldn’t go full force right from the get go. Instead, it’ll be best if you start boxing by using 20% – 50% of your maximum force.
That will ensure you don’t feel as much physical pain from sparring and training. Likewise, it’ll boost your confidence, as you’ll see that it’s not that scary. Eventually, it might be what you need to ensure you’re starting out on the right track.
Moreover, starting without using full force will also warm up your joints and muscles. As a result, it can be a great warm up just before you start the real training. That will eventually prevent both short and long-term injuries.
Final words
Physical pain can be scary if you’re not used to it. Over time, your pain threshold will increase because of boxing training. You’ll accustom yourself to the many leads boxing has to ensure you feel physical pain.
If you get hit in one of your weak spots, such as in your liver, head, jaw, and nose, you’ll feel extreme amounts of pain if the punch carried a lot of force. As a result, it’ll be best to take the precautions I presented in this article, to ensure you prevent as many injuries as possible.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you’ll also enjoy reading about the best boxing shoes for your money. These will help be more stable in the ring and thus slip less. If you want to compete either in the amateur or professional scene, they’re a must-have.