Improve Your Footwork in Boxing With These 5 Best Drills

If you are a beginner in boxing and planning to take it as a career, or as a self-defense skill, you may have questioned yourself. What is the importance of footwork in boxing ? And if this footwork is too important, how can you improve your footwork? The answer to the first question is that footwork is the most important thing to make your boxing better. Without proper and accurate footwork, you cannot box at all. You won't be able to throw punches effectively. It will be very easy for your opponent to knock you out of the boxing match. This is the reason you definitely have to improve your footwork in boxing if you are very serious about it. Regarding the second question, you also don’t need to worry about that, as this article is focused on all those drills to improve your footwork in boxing.

• Boxing footwork is the most essential part of boxing. It involves your movement around the ring, the movement of your legs and your feet, to make opportunities for the punches, defences, and offences, and to make it difficult for your opponent to throw punches at you.

• Footwork is all about how you move in a boxing ring in a professional boxing match. However, this movement has a significant impact on both your defense against your opponent and your offense. That is why learning footwork is the first thing you should learn in boxing.

• Everything starts with your feet. If your feet are not accurately placed, how do you expect to punch well? How do you expect to defend good if your balance is not correct, which starts in the feet? You know you are going to be knocked out because if you are off balance, you are not going to be able to punch fast and hard. If you get punched, you will fall over. So, that is one of the most important things. This is your base, the base of everything in your boxing game. So you need to get your feet solid.

• You may have noticed that when you punch, you use your feet for every punch you throw. If you are throwing a jab, you might step forward with the front foot. If you are throwing across, the back foot will rotate. If you are throwing a hook, the front foot will rotate. So, every single punch that you throw is all working with the feet. Once your feet and hand coordination get in sync, you will improve your boxing a lot.

• You should have a break. You are not going to stand there and get a breather, or you are going to get punched. You are going to move your feet, and when you move your feet, you can breathe. You can have the upper hand. This is going to get you out of danger. It is going to help you recover your feet also. It will get you into range to throw punches.

• The only way you can hit your opponent or your opponent can hit you is by stepping and getting your feet into range, and then throwing punches. Now, on the reverse of that, your feet get you out of range to defend yourself against the punches your opponent throws at you.

The following are the top 5 ultimate drills for improving your footwork in boxing:

The first drill you need to do is the switching of your stance, and then moving.

Follow the steps given below to do this drill:

• Stand in a boxing position.

• Select your stance for boxing.

• Then, whatever stance you are in, change it to the opposite stance.

• After switching the stance, move a little bit forward.

• Then again, change your stance and then move.

• Repeat it.

The reason for you to do it is that it provides a lot of benefits for you. It helps correct your balance. You learn how to maintain your balance in boxing while switching your stance or moving forward, as it is a common thing in boxing matches.

The second drill you need to do is the quick switching of your stance , and then moving. The difference between this stance and the previous stance is that you have to move quickly, do quick stance switching, and then move again quickly. Let's explore this further.

Follow the steps given below to do this drill:

• Get ready in a boxing position.

• Choose your first stance for this drill.

• After choosing and getting ready in a boxing stance, change it to the opposite of the boxing stance.

• Ensure you are switching your stance very fast.

• After switching your stance, start doing fast movements.

• Repeat it.

• Ensure you are making very fast movements and switching stances faster.

• The reason for doing this drill is that it helps you a lot in improving your foot speed. Your foot speed is very crucial in a boxing match. Sometimes, you have to be very quick, and other times you should be slow to execute your movements accurately.

• With a drill, you learn how to make fast movements . With the previous drill, you learn how to execute actions in situations that require you to slow down. So these two drills will help in both fast and slow situations to execute your actions while balancing your body with proper footwork.

The third drill you need to do is the shuffling in and punches drill.

Follow the steps given below to do this drill:

• If you are doing this at home, make a box with a marker on the ground.

• You can also use rope or any other material to mark a square-shaped box on the ground.

• Now, get ready in a boxing position.

• Jump into the box.

• After jumping, return to your boxing stance.

• Throw any particular type of punch you want to master.

• Jump out of the box again.

• Repeat this many times.

• The reason for doing this drill is that it helps you become very good at executing your punches on your opponent, and then go away. In boxing matches, you don’t only have to be good at offences. You also should learn how to defend yourself while punching your opponent.

• The best way to do this is to come closer to your opponent, strike them, and then move away from them. This way, you are punching at them, and you are also defending yourself. This can be learned by doing the shuffling in and punches drill.

The fourth drill you should do is the enter-and-exit drill.

Follow the steps given below to do this drill:

• If you are doing it at home, use any type of material to make a square or circle for you to enter.

• Treat that circle or square as your entry point.

• Enter at the point and make an exit.

• Repeat this.

• The reason for doing this drill is that it helps you become very good at playing with the distances. You can become a distance master. Your entry and exit again and again teach you how to close or increase the distance with your opponent.

The fifth drill you should do is the bounce and switch drill.

Follow the steps given below to do this drill:

• Choose your stance.

• Jump off the ground.

• In the air while jumping, switch your stance.

• Reach the ground with the opposite stance.

• Repeat this.

The reason for doing this drill is that it helps you become very good at your movement, flow, and executing your actions and techniques in a boxing match while making movements.

• Get yourself moving . Get yourself on your toes and dancing in the boxing ring with your arms down. Because dancing can feel very uncomfortable for a lot of people, but if you can move on your toes, keeping your lead leg forward, moving left with your left foot, moving right with your right foot, and with your hands down, it will become easy for you.

• It might not be perfect, but it is getting you into the habit of moving around and keeping on your toes. When you get comfortable with this, put your arms up . When your arms are up, concentrate on good form and good technique with continuous movement. When you get comfortable, stop the feet , throw the punches, and then move again.

• Stop the feet, throw a combination , get back on your toes, and move them. When you get comfortable with that, moving around with your feet, planting your feet, throwing the punches , and everything else will follow you.

Your footwork is fundamental in your boxing game. Without proper footwork, you won’t be able to win matches against your opponents. Follow all the drills given in this article and learn them one by one. Don’t rush. Take one drill and continue doing that drill until you feel like you have become a master at that drill.