The muscles in your underarm include your triceps on the arm side and your latissimus dorsi on the torso side. You can work these muscles individually with weights and calisthenics, or you can get them all simultaneously by training with punches on a sufficiently heavy punching bag. As with any workout that tones and strengthens muscles, the key is to approach your workout methodically and with your final goal in mind. A pyramid workout of punch combinations is one of many methods to do this.
Step 1
Wrap your hands with boxing hand wraps. Without these, the punches that will tone your arms may be hard enough to damage your hands and wrists.
Step 2
Put on your boxing gloves. For this kind of workout, gloves with elastic wrists are preferable to laced gloves.
Step 3
Assume a strong boxing stance within range of your bag.
Step 4
Deliver 10 solid jabs with your lead hand. With this and all other punches, drive your hand forward by pushing with your body instead of reaching for the bag with your hand. This puts more power in the punch, and creates more resistance to build your muscles. Switch sides and deliver 10 jabs with your opposite hand.
Step 5
Deliver 10 straight punches with your rear hand, then switch sides for 10 more with the opposite.
Step 6
Deliver 10 hooks on each side. When you throw the hooks, keep your arm close to your body and drive with your hips. Wide, sweeping "haymaker" punches put most of the force on your shoulder and biceps.
Step 7
Start over at Step 4, doing nine punches for each step.
Step 8
Start again at Step 4 doing eight ... then seven. Count down until you do one final set of one punch of each type.
Tips and Warnings
- You can turn this into a full-body workout by adding front, roundhouse and crescent kicks to the repertoire.
Things You'll Need
- Punching bag, 50 to 80 lbs.
- Hand wraps
- Boxing gloves
References
- Bill Packer; Kickboxing Coach (dec); Bad Company Kickboxing Team; Albuquerque, New Mexico
- "The Art of Expressing the Human Body"; Bruce Lee; 1998
- Protective Strategies; Heavy Bag Training; Randy LaHaie
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