I’m a sucker for a challenge, especially when it comes with a competitive edge so when 12RND Fitness‘ 6-week challenge popped up I jumped in headfirst.
The brainchild of world champion boxer, Danny Green, 12RND is the fastest-growing boxing and strength franchise in Aus and it is easy to see why. Pair boxing with cardio, strength and conditioning training, one on one coaching and flexible start times and you’ve got a match made in heaven.
So exactly why is boxing so good for you?
- It forces you to practise discipline
- It is great for fat burning and is even more beneficial when paired with HIIT
- Can increase muscle tone
- Can help to build strong bones and ligaments
- Increases your cardiovascular fitness
- Improves your core stability
- Is great for stress relief
- Improves your coordination and body awareness.
The workouts replicate the physical demands of a 12 round championship fight: with 12 x 3-minute rounds and 30 seconds rest in between.
Think early starts, rapid warm-ups, then nothing but high-intensity training, centred around boxing bags and gloves for 12 rounds.
It’s both the beauty and the challenge of the whole training method, which operates on the intermittent burns for maximum output with maximum input.
The 12RND boxing fitness challenge
Six weeks, four workouts per week and a dietitian-approved meal plan. Sign. Me. Up.
One of my favourite parts of 12RND were the flexible start times. With a new round starting every 3 minutes, pressing snooze (sometimes more than once) didn’t mean I’d miss my workout and could show up whenever I wanted.
Why do the 12RND boxing fitness challenge?
The focus of the challenge is becoming the best version of you. All of the workouts are targeted at making you fitter, stronger and leaner. There’s no competition within the gym it’s just you and your own personal targets and goals.
Sure, if you’re there with a friend or particularly fancy pushing yourself to throw-up point, then go nuts, but it’s as much about going at your own pace as it is about pushing yourself to be your best you.
They test you, too
The fitness tests gave me a personal goal to work towards and helped hold me accountable throughout the six weeks.
The trainers pushed me to my limits and at the end of the challenge, I was burpee-ing, lifting and ski-ergo-ing more than when I started. Literally. With three fitness tests in week two and the same again in week six, it’s a great way to track your progress.
I hit all three of my targets and not only that but my fitness and technique improved drastically, by the end of the challenge I was literally in fighting shape.
What did I want to achieve from the 12RND boxing fitness challenge?
The usual, mostly. Lose a bit of weight, get a bit stronger, learn to tough out the hard things they threw at me all with a fake smile on my face.
Getting there is no easy thing, but the beauty of boxing and the great thing about the 12RND philosophy, is that it’s all about a nice diet of diversity and options, meaning you’re never doing the same thing twice. And if you are, you plaster on that fake smile and go with it.
The results of the 12RND boxing fitness challenge
Look. I could be one of those fitness writers who’s all about the before and after – and I am – but truth be told, no amount of Facetuning would do the whole point of a B&A photo any justice and they were taken in bad light, so, you’re just gonna have to trust me on this:
- 3kgs down
- cardio fitness up – by the end of it, I could go a handful of rounds before needing a few extra seconds to catch my breath
- strength up – I put on about 200g of extra muscle. Come on beach body!
- and it was kind of therapeutic. I broke my finger a few years ago and have been struggling with its recovery since. I was apprehensive about slipping a boxing glove over it all again, but I managed, pushed through and I swear, it actually helped with my mobility. Win-win!
See more about 12RND Fitness at their website, and the Newtown studio here.
See you on the pads!