Using Smartwatches For Boxing & Kickboxing: How To Wear It?

As technology advances, the fitness watch market is constantly changing. Boxers and other trainers don’t just want a device that can keep them away from their phones yet make them feel connected to it, they also want something that allows them track their workout progress, while helping to monitor everything from their hydration levels to how intense their workout session is.

The addition of a fitness watch helps you identify where your training is lacking, or even where you may be pushing it a little too hard thanks to recording your laps and splits, as well as heart rate and oxygen levels. Plus, many fitness watches are also focused on optimizing your recovery to help you achieve the best rest and restoration so you can always keep healthy.

However, with so many options to choose from, and each fitness watch offering up so many different health and fitness options, it may feel overwhelming to narrow down which one you should go with. Which will suit your boxing or kickboxing needs and how to wear them conveniently during training.

I personally have the Apple smartwatch and I comfortably use it during my workout session successfully hidden below my hand wrap and it serves me just greatly. In the article, I will not just talk about these fitness-oriented timepieces that record laps and splits, I will also guide you on how to wear it for your sessions while under your wrap.

Can You Kickbox (Or Box) With a Smartwatch?

You can use smart watches while boxing and kickboxing. This is actually recommended because they offer everything from wrist-based heart rate monitors and GPS to sleep tracking, stress tracking, and various exercise modes. Most of these smartwatches are water-resistant and sweat proof and the occasional splash, therefore making them suitable for training sessions. 

You can monitor your heart rate while training by wearing a smartwatch. You can receive a reminder if you have to train more or a caution if you have gone too far and are putting too much pressure on yourself.

Due to their ability to detect everything from punching power to punch quantity, this makes it incredibly useful for boxers. However, while using a smartwatch for boxing, one ought to be careful by learning to guard it against direct hits on the surface. 

How To Wear Smartwatches When Boxing?

You can wear a smartwatch under your hand wrap or even under your boxing glove. Below are some tips to help you wear a boxing glove under any of these. This great video in Pinterest shows you how to wear a smartwatch under boxing glove.

1. Wear the smart watch on your wrist and make sure it’s tight enough so that it doesn’t move around too much but not too tight like a handcuff.
2. Put both boxing gloves on
3. If you’re wearing long sleeves, make sure they cover up your wrists to avoid any injuries from punching with the watch exposed.
4. Keep an eye out for scratches and other damage to the screen.
5. Use an app like “workout” to track your progress during boxing training.
6. Clean off any sweat that gets on the watch with a dry cloth or towel.
7. Make sure not to strap it too tightly. This could cause irritation or worse, bruising. There should be space for the smartwatch too.

These are all great ideas that will make sure the watch stays put no matter what kind of intense activity you are doing. 

Read Also: Should You Flex Your Abs When Boxing? Using Core Effectively

Benefits Of Wearing Smart Watches While Boxing

Wearing smart watches while boxing comes with a lot of benefits such as; heart rate monitoring, diet tracking, sleep improvement, steps tracker, calorie burn estimation, amongst others.

1. Monitor Heart Rate

Smart watches are good for trainers as it helps them keep track of their resting heart rate. The watch comes with an in-built heart rate monitor and with the help of this device, you just know when to stop in order to prevent a strain on yourself. It is important to remember that when you are doing cardio, you should slowly increase the effort. Doing it suddenly and at once can be harmful.

2. Tracking Diet / Calorie Calculation

Because the smartwatch may help them keep track of their nutrition, most individuals adore using them. Everyone enjoys eating unhealthy food, and it is simple to overindulge. However, with the best smartwatches, you will receive a message to remind you when to stop. The gadget also includes a feature that determines how many calories you consume during the day. These days, many gadgets have a feature that displays the number of calories in a certain food.

3. Improve Your Sleep

A lot of people claim that wearing a smartwatch has improved their sleep routine and pattern. The gadget records your overall sleeping patterns, including when you slept and how long you were in a deep sleep. You can review the facts and dispel any doubts you may have if you occasionally believe that you haven’t slept well. This will enable you to enhance your sleep routine by taking appropriate action.

4. Workout Monitor

When you workout, a smartwatch records the information and keeps track of your improvement over time. You are free to check on the progress whenever you want as long as it is recorded. You may make an informed decision about whether to raise or decrease your workout duration and effort after reviewing the statistics.

5. Smartwatches Comparison For Boxing

For a boxer, you might be needing just more than the basic features a smartwatch offers. Below is a comparison of these smartwatches and their native support for boxing workout to help enhance your training.

Read Also: 9 Benefits Of Punching Bag As A Workout (Vs Running)

	Apple watch	Samsung Watch	Fitbit	Garmin
Functionalities for boxing	✅GPS Tracker ✅Heart Rate Monitor ✅ Step Tracker ✅Accelerometer (For calculating calories)	✅GPS Tracker ✅Heart Rate Monitor ✅ Step Tracker ✅Accelerometer ( For calculating calories)	✅GPS Tracker ✅Heart Rate Monitor ✅ Step Tracker ✅Accelerometer (For calculating calories)	✅GPS Tracker ✅Heart Rate Monitor ✅ Step Tracker ✅Accelerometer ( For calculating calories)
Can Count Punches	Yes	Not exactly (It registers punches as steps)	Yes	Yes
Can Count Calories	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Native support for boxing workouts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Apple Watch: Smartwatch For Boxing

Apple Watches always look sleek, and they are a little more advanced than your average Fitbit. The device is a great workout accessory for many people who train in boxing and other forms of martial arts. 

By wearing the Apple watch while boxing, you can track your exercise and make sure you’re reaching your goals. The device can track workouts via GPS, which makes it perfect for boxing because you are able to track your performance during a workout.

It tells you when you have a prolonged, elevated heart rate and asks if you want to record a workout. It can track calories burned, count punch throw, measures heart rate, monitor daily activities (e.g. active minutes, hours standing), it is water resistant and has an ability to send reminders to breathe and breathing exercises.

For this device, it comes most times with a price ranging from; $100 – $800. It is highly recommended for any intense workout activities.

Samsung Watch: Smartwatch For Boxing

Samsung smartwatch also has a sleek look and premium features. For Android users, this seems to be the best fitness smartwatch currently on the market. 

As an accessory for boxers, it offers automatic sleep monitoring, continuous heart rate, stress and blood oxygen monitoring and built-in GPS to track outdoor activities. It can count calories burned, count the number of punches you throw through the step tracker. This means, it registers punches as “steps” and not exactly as “punch” as in the case of the Apple watch.

Besides, it makes it possible for accidental screen touches, which makes it possible to remove tracked activity. In order to prevent contact between your hand wraps and the watch during an exercise. For this, it is advised to use a pin or security code to lock the screen.

It offers a battery life of up to 40 hours and is water-resistant of up to 50 meters. Depending on it’s model, it’s price can range from $60 – $700.

Fitbit: Smartwatch For Boxing

Fitbit workout app is by far the easiest to navigate and one of the most useful especially for boxers since it can monitor their workout data. Like the others, it can also keep track of number of steps, calories burned, punch throw, monitor sleep, offer guided breathing exercises, daily stress management score, built-in GPS, 24/7 heart-rate tracking and can monitor oxygen level in your blood.

As in the case of Samsung watches, Fitbit also allows easy accidental touch on screen which makes it possible to accidentally delete tracked activities. This makes it advisable to use a pin or security code to lock screen in other to prevent contact with your hand wraps and the watch during workout session.

Any exercise that requires more than just steps, should be logged on a Fitbit, such as yoga or boxing, to increase the accuracy of the activity’s calorie contribution. However, there is absolutely no need to log activities that involve taking steps, because your tracker was basically designed for that.

These pieces have a daily readiness score that uses insight to determine whether you’re up for a strenuous workout or actually need a rest day, as well as water resistance up to 50 meters. They also have a battery life of 6+ hours. Depending on the model you choose, it might cost anywhere from $80 to $300.

Garmin: Smartwatch For Boxing

 

Garmin smartwatch can be used for boxing as it offers  impressive and advanced features of step counting, calorie burn estimations, punch throw count, sports tracking, stress tracking, menstrual cycle and pregnancy tracking, Garmin’s Body Battery energy monitoring and sleep monitoring. 

You can track more than 25 preloaded sports with this accessory. Additionally, it comes preloaded with animated cardio, strength, yoga, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) programs, which are akin to wearing a personal trainer. The Garmin watch is thought to be more accurate than Samsung and Fitbit watches since it prevents simple inadvertent touches. It has a battery life of roughly 10 days and is water resistant up to 50 meters.

Price range: Garmin watches can cost anywhere between $170 and $950 due to their variety of models.