Padwork​

While martial arts and combat sports are still practised today as forms of self-defence and in competition, they are also used by many to improve fitness.

Padwork is the use of training mitts or boxing gloves and pads as the basis for a workout programmed around the use of combat skills training and techniques.  My padwork qualification also covers Muay Thai combat techniques, so knee and kick strikes can be included, making for an even more varied, challenging and effective workout.

A padwork-based exercise class is demanding.  There is a reason that rounds in professional bouts last only three minutes each, and that there are only twelve of them in total (assuming the fight is still going that long).

A comprehensive padwork training programme incorporates all elements of a basic general training session.  The principal exercises themselves will challenge the cardiovascular system, muscular endurance and interval training/recovery time simultaneously.  Sessions are not spent entirely working with pads, but also performing exercises and training relevant to the skills and muscle movement patterns required for proficient padwork.

Many of the techniques required in padwork training are unlike those used in any other kind of training, so you are sure to feel the effects of the workout in places you may not have trained intensively before.

As with any workout, it can be as hard as you want to make it.  There is no limit on how combinations can be sequenced.  Bring in the MMA or Muay Thai techniques and then in come the kicks and ground-and-pound and it is a struggle to get it all done without letting the gloves drop.

There are numerous benefits to padwork training, whether as an individual personal training client or in a group exercise format.  These include:

• a total body workout, in addition to improved fitness;
• improved coordination, motor skills, reaction time, agility, balance, speed and power;
• feeling empowered and improved confidence;
• stress-busting;
• no data comparisons - nobody is looking to see how much weight you are lifting, what speed you are going or how many repetitions you are doing;
• excellent for training people with disabilities as this can also be trained intensively from seated or a wheelchair;
• most important, it is great fun!

And it looks cool.  Let's face it, who doesn't look awesome when they are throwing some hands quickly at pads and making some huge smacking noises as the strikes land?  That can be you!

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Boxercise® and Kick Boxercise®

I am a qualified Boxercise® and Kick Boxercise® instructor.  Boxercise® classes share some similarities with circuit training, but in mine the focus is on padwork and boxing-related training, e.g. using skipping ropes, medicine balls and short, high-intensity bodyweight exercise sequences.  (I hold weekly traditional circuit training classes – also great fun! – so please come to one of those for a broader, non-boxing workout.)

A Boxercise® class is a highly aerobic total body workout.  Power moves and combinations are used to punch up your heart rate.  Every hook and jab puts your rectus abdominis ('six pack'), obliques and mid and lower back to work.  Just punching alone works the biceps, triceps and deltoids to give that upper body a toned look with great definition.

The cardiovascular work ensures a high calorie burn and the time flies as you work on movement, agility and controlled momentum.  Correct technique takes practice and good instruction, but soon you will become more comfortable with the punches, so enabling you to punch faster and torch even more calories.

​Kick Boxercise® adds further striking techniques, such as knee and elbow strikes, as well as a variety of kicks.  These increase the mobility, skill, balance, agility and coordination required to sequence the strikes and remain technically accurate.  All this ramps up the intensity and fatigue as well as providing a fun, addictive and more varied workout.  Some of these techniques are incorporated into my Boxercise® classes while others are also included in private one-to-one padwork training sessions.

If you stick with the Boxercise® workout you'll get cut, you'll get definition, but you won't gain bulk.  Boxercise® pulls all the pieces together.  Hitting the pads and bag is a fantastic release for aggression and anger, and it is a phenomenal workout.  Best of all, it is fun!  I provide all equipment required (but feel free to bring your own gloves or mitts).

​So, are we going to stand around here all day, or are we going to fight?

Get involved!
Use the contact form to enquire about personal padwork training or group classes.

​"I have been attending Olly's Wednesday evening Boxercise class for the past two months.  I have to say it is fantastic.
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It's a really fun class and a great way to meet new people.  I was a bit nervous at first but the group are all fab and we have a laugh along with a great workout.

​Olly is the most committed, motivational and knowledgeable trainer I have met.  I would highly recommend Boxercise to anyone of any age or ability."
Carrie