Are Pull-Ups Good For Boxing
“Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee”
MUHAMMAD ALI
One of the most famous boxing quotes to have lasted the test of time. It sounds poetic when used in conversation, but it’s also a golden piece of advice. And, the key to stinging like a bee is having a strong pull-up.
Pull-ups are crucial to boxers, especially lower-weight fighters, and are a must-include in your training program. Despite being a basic movement, they’re used at both a beginner and professional level. Some may argue they’re one of the best bodyweight exercises a boxer can do.
Take Floyd Mayweather for example. He’s one of the most skilled and technically advanced boxers to ever step into the ring. In the video below, we watch him perform pull-ups and tricep dips on EsNews Boxing.
Seeing one of the best boxers do pull-ups, you know it’s an essential exercise.
Let’s take a look in more detail at how it changes your fighting ability, and go through a pull-up workout for you to try.
Why Pull-Ups Are Critical For Boxers
We’re very close with boxers and have witnessed, first-hand, the improvements pull-ups made after incorporating them into their workout.
Even though they’re not a sport-specific exercise, they still offer significant benefits that amplify your fighting ability. The top three are they improve punch control and accuracy, make punches more snappy, as well as better your upper body muscle endurance.
Make Your Punches More Snappy
Pull-ups improve your relative strength; so, in the ring, your punches are more snappy and explosive. This is especially true with straight shots, such as jabs or backhands, since both movements are closely linked.
This is super beneficial from a defensive standpoint as the more snappy your punches are, the faster you can retract your hands back into guard. It prevents your opponent from being able to counterattack any punches you throw since you can quickly parry or duck anything that comes at you.
A snappy punch will also sting your opponent more, so; there’s also a benefit from an attacking point of view. Think about it like this – a heavy punch is like throwing a rock at your opponent; whereas, a snappy punch is like whipping your opponent. Different impacts but both are equally as effective.
Improve Punching Targeting
The efforts you put into pull-ups also improve punch control and accuracy. This enables you to pinpoint your punches more effectively. This is a game changer when punching through guards or counter-attacking your opponent.
The reason for this is they’re alike movements. Both pull-ups and punches use the shoulder joint and share the same muscle groups – the lats and rotator cuffs being the most significant. The more you condition your muscles through pull-ups, the more stabilized the shoulder joint becomes.
Many beginner boxers don’t punch where they intend because of a weakness in their shoulders. More specifically, they punch lower than anticipated since their shoulders aren’t strong enough to carry the weight of their arm. This is where they benefit from pull-ups.
Condition Your Punches
You don’t just throw one punch in a fight, it’s a repeated effort that can exhaust your arms and make you feel fatigued. Pull-ups are a great way to overcome this. They improve upper-body muscle endurance, so you last the full duration of a fight.
To get the most out of this, practice repping pull-ups until failure. Over time, you’ll be able to do more and more reps until complete exhaustion – and at the same time, your arms won’t feel as burned out after a fight.
How Many Pull-Ups Should A Boxer Be Able To Do
Now you know how pivotal pull-ups are in boxing, you may wonder how many you should aim for. Or, if you can already do a few, how many pull-ups are considered good?
It depends on what weight class you fight in. The more you weigh, the bigger the resistance. In general, lighter fighters should be able to rep up to 20 pull-ups in one set, while it’s acceptable for heavier fighters to only do 1.
To break it down even more, we have listed all 17 weight classes and how many pull-ups are an average amount in that division.
| Weight Division | Weight (pounds) | Weight (Kilograms) | Average Pull-Up Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atomweight | Less than 102 | Less than 46 | 15-20 |
| Strawweight | 105 | 48 | 15-20 |
| Junior flyweight | 108 | 49 | 14-19 |
| Flyweight | 112 | 51 | 13-18 |
| Junior bantamweight | 115 | 52 | 13-18 |
| Bantamweight | 118 | 54 | 12-17 |
| Junior featherweight | 122 | 55 | 12-17 |
| Featherweight | 126 | 57 | 11-16 |
| Junior lightweight | 130 | 59 | 11-16 |
| Lightweight | 135 | 61 | 10-15 |
| Junior welterweight | 140 | 64 | 10-15 |
| Welterweight | 147 | 67 | 9-14 |
| Junior middleweight | 154 | 70 | 7-12 |
| Middleweight | 160 | 73 | 6-11 |
| Super middleweight | 168 | 76 | 4-9 |
| Light heavyweight | 175 | 79 | 3-8 |
| Heavyweight | 175+ | 79+ | 1-7 |
Something To Consider
The data can often be skewed with heavier fighters as there’s a wider range of body types. They’re split into two:
- Fighters with lots of body fat, but little muscle – such as Tyson Fury
- Fighters with low body fat, but lots of muscle – such as Anthony Joshua.
While they may weigh in at a similar amount, and fight in the same division, they have completely different body compositions. Fighters with high body fat will be able to do a fraction of the amount of pull-ups fighters with high muscle mass can do.
Because of this, the range of pull-ups heavier fighters can do is far larger than those of lighter fighters.
Do Pull-Ups Increase Punching Power
Everyone wants to have a knockout punch. So, it’s no surprise one of our most frequently asked questions is will pull-ups increase punching power?
Pull-ups engage your lats, deltoids, and core which are all muscle groups used when punching. Because of this, you will notice an increase in punching power; however, it won’t be game-changing, and there are far more effective ways.
There will be an increase in punching power rapidly (beginner gains) if you have never exercised with pull-ups before. And this is to be expected from the muscle gain. However, it’s short-lived and will eventually plato the more conditioned you are to lifting your body weight.
Remember, punching is a whole-body exercise; whereas, a pull-up is only an upper-body, pull exercise. So, while they share muscle groups it isn’t like-for-like. For example, punching also engages the hips, quadriceps, and calves.
In fact, it’s in these muscles where the majority of punching power comes from – not just the upper body. So, since you aren’t working these muscles in a pull-up, the gains you get from how hard you hit will be minimal. Yes, there will be some improvement, but not a lot.
Because of this, we say pull-ups are a mediocre way to increase your punching power. But ultimately, if you are trying to increase punching power, pull-ups shouldn’t be your go-to. A much more efficient way is through punching-specific drills like:
- Throwing punches while holding a light dumbbell.
- Landmine punches.
- Shadowboxing drills.
A Common Misconception
Many people believe that because pull-ups are a form of resistance training, you’ll put on a huge amount of muscle mass. And this worries fighters as they think they will become slow and heavy in the ring.
This is true for some forms of resistance, like weight training, since you isolate individual muscles and overload them with heavy weights. Because of this, your muscles constantly are in a state of hypertrophy so you put on size.
However, it isn’t true with pull-ups. They’re a bodyweight exercise, so it’s harder to overload your muscles and grow slabs of meat on your arms! You could rep hundreds of pull-ups and they won’t slow you down.
Are Pull-Ups Or Chin-Ups Better For Boxing
Boxers need to consider small details, such as what grip to hold for a pull-up. Is it a traditional pull-up (palms facing away from you), or a chin-up (palms facing towards you)
Boxers should use a hybrid of both – the neutral grip pull-up. This is when you hold two separate bars that are parallel to each other, and lift yourself in between them. This engages both your biceps and lats – so you get the best from both grips.
We even see this in the same video of Floyd Mayweather that we linked at the start of the article. In fact, he goes one step more and leans his body backward too. This creates even more resistance for him, making the workout more intense and muscle-demanding.
As well as targeting more punch-specific muscle groups, the neutral grip is kinder on your shoulder and wrist joints. This is essential for longevity, specifically for professionals who dedicate their lives to boxing.
Best Pull-Up Variations For Boxers
Let’s take a look at some of the best pull-up workouts a boxer can do. Remember, it’s best practice to use a neutral grip where you can.
Pull-Ups Until Failure
We have already mentioned how pull-ups until failure build muscle endurance… It’s time you put it into practice! It’s very simple, do as many pull-ups as you possibly can.
Negative Pull-Ups
A negative pull-up is the same as a traditional one, except you exaggerate how slowly you take the downward motion. This increases total time under tension and ensures you engage the muscles used in the eccentric movement – rather than letting gravity work for you.
Explosive Pull-Ups
Punches are super explosive – so why not mimic this with explosive pull-ups? To do them, project yourself as powerfully as you can in the upward phase, but execute the downward phase (negative) with more control and stability.
Challenge: Muscle-Ups
For our challenge, we want you to attempt a muscle-up. You can’t use a neutral grip with them – but it’s more for a bit of fun than something to take seriously. If you’re unsure what they are, take a glance at the below:
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