We know how exhausting boxing can be when you have to balance a full-time job as well.
Some of your favorite boxers have balanced full-time work with earning world titles.
What’s their secret and how did they make it work?
Keep reading for our tips on how to balance boxing with a full-time job!
Tips For Boxing With A Full-Time Job
Follow these tips if you’re boxing with a full-time job:
- Make It An Easy Habit To Follow
- Mix Up The Kinds of Training You Do
- Plan Your Meals In Advance
- Let Your Employers Know Your Boxing Schedule
- Take Rest Days
The common theme of these tips is to balance yourself so you don’t burn out physically and mentally.
These tips are especially important if you’re an amateur boxer earning little pay and need the work to support yourself before you make it pro.
Though balancing both boxing and a job is tough, you’ll gain lifelong time-management skills and discipline.
Make It An Easy Habit To Follow
First, make it an easy habit to follow.
Prepare everything you need for tomorrow’s workout the night before:
- Gather your equipment (wraps, gloves, headgear, shoes)
- Have a bag for your workout clothes
- Prep your meal in advance
Doing these things will make it so that you don’t have to scramble around the day of your workout.
Schedule your training sessions so that they work best with your job; perhaps go on the way to work in the morning, or go on the way home after work.
(On the other hand, if you want to break a bad habit, make it as difficult as possible.)
Mix Up The Kinds of Training You do
Next, mix up the kinds of training you do.
This is important if you’re in the gym for more than 4 days in a week.
Nothing will lead to physical and mental burnout faster than doing the same exact exercises every day.
The key is not to train randomly, but rather to cycle through different kinds of workouts.
For example, on one day work all the bags, on another do pad work and spar, and on the next only do footwork drills.
Following a schedule like this will give one muscle group a chance to rest while you train another.
More importantly, training this way will keep boxing fun for you.
Plan Your Meals In Advance
Next, plan your meals in advance if you’re boxing with a full-time job.
Proper nutrition for boxing is essential to having enough energy to workout regularly.
You also need to consider your long-term diet if you’re aiming to make weight for an upcoming fight.
One of the worst things you can do after a workout is refuel with junk or drive-through fast food.
You also don’t want to worry about what you have to cook day-to-day.
To solve this, we recommend that you spend some time on your rest days preparing meals in bulk.
If you don’t like to cook, there are a variety of meal plans available that will deliver prepped meals to you door.
When the time comes, all you have to do is take a Tupperware out of the fridge and warm it up in the microwave.
Let Your Employers Know Your Boxing Schedule
Next, let your employers know your boxing schedule.
This applies more if you’re training for a fight and have a set deadline or training schedule to meet.
Assuming you have a good working relationship with your employers, they’ll allow you to shift your schedule so that boxing can take priority for a month or two.
An added benefit is that many companies nowadays have incentives for employees to stay healthy and fit.
Through these internal programs, there’s a good chance that your company will pay for your gym membership and training sessions.
Take Rest Days
Lastly, take rest days if you’re boxing with a full-time job.
This is the most important tip we have if you want to box with a full-time job.
Recovery, sleep, and diet are big parts of your growth in boxing.
We know it’s tempting to max out your time training and sprint towards your boxing goals.
However, prolonged overexertion leads to common boxing injuries and getting sick.
Even though you’ve taken two steps forward, getting injured or sick will set you three steps back.
We like to think of it this way: if you don’t take rest days, your body will force you to do so.
Even your favorite boxers like Floyd Mayweather Jr and Muhammad Ali made sure to take at least one rest day a week. If they took rest days, then you should too.
It’s important to remember that you have a life outside of boxing that needs care and attention as well.
However, if you’re one of those people who needs to stay active everyday, we recommend doing a functional workout like swimming, yoga, or sauna sessions.
With an active rest day, you can still work your lungs, balance, or cardiovascular system while you give your mind and body time to rest.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve read our tips on how to handle boxing with a full-time job, you’ll be better able to handle this challenge.
You aren’t the only boxer out there who is grinding day and night; many amateur boxers are going through the same thing as you.
There are even some professional boxers who became title challengers while working regular jobs:
- Anthony Nieves (fought for the WBO bantamweight title while working as a banker)
- Joe Smith Jr (fought Bernard Hopkins while working construction)
Though balancing both is tough, it’ll set you miles ahead of the average person because of the discipline and time-management skills you’ll gain.
If you’re having trouble deciding what boxing equipment to get, check out these articles: