Feeling a little shaky after an intensive boxing workout is very common and can happen for several reasons. If you’re wondering whether it’s just a beginner thing or a sign of a serious underlying issue, here’re the few things you should read first:
So, Why Is Your Hand Shaking After Boxing?
Incorrect fighting technique, muscle exhaustion, dehydration, and low energy levels due to intensive boxing training are common reasons for shaky hands after boxing. It can also happen due to tight fists, lack of conditioning, and inadequate nutrition.
In this article, I’ll go deep into the possible causes and tell you exactly how you can prevent them from happening naturally:
4 Reasons Why Your Hands Are Shaking After Boxing?
There are so many possible reasons for shaky hands and most of them are usually not a cause for concern. But it’s important to know, what’s normal and what’s not.
Here’re the most common 4 reasons why your hands might be shaking after boxing:
1. Overly Intense Training
Whether you’re getting started in boxing or getting back to the sport after quite a long break, it’s normal to appear such symptoms after a session of the heavy bag hitting, playing with speed bags, mitts, or even sparring can sometimes lead to shaky hands.
This usually happens because your body is just not used to the higher intensity of boxing workouts and you’re trying to disperse a lot of force through your arms.
When you suddenly jump into the intensive boxing workouts, you’re doing nothing but asking for a lot more than your muscle capacity. When you try to throw so many punches in one workout session, your body needs little time to get used to this new exercise routine.
Although most of the time there is nothing to worry about this but it’s important to go easy on yourself in the beginning phase and build endurance and strength gradually by slowly increasing the overall intensity of your workout.
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2. Low Energy Levels
Restricting yourself in terms of calories your take could be one of the potential reasons why your hands are shaking more than normal. Lack of energy not only makes you fatigued but also affects your overall workout consistency.
As a whole, contact sports demand a lot of upfront energy and that’s why it becomes very crucial for you to always be ready with your fuel (vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, etc.) and maintain your energy levels properly.
If you’re eating an unhealthy diet in any way or usually eat very less food, you might need to persist with the issue of improper nutrition and thus lower energy levels, especially after an intense boxing workout.
You can also go through this dedicated Fighter’s Diet System that put your body in fighting shape and offers you experience increased energy and higher performance throughout your boxing workout.
3. Incorrect Fighting Technique
This is another mistake that many boxers do is, they either keep their fists tight all the time or they tightened them too early before actually delivering the punch. It is one of the key reasons behind excessive shaking in newbie boxers.
That’s why you need to learn how to keep your arms relaxed and clench them just before hitting the target. Along with this, you also need to look at the way you’re throwing a punch. If your punching technique is improper in the first place, you need to fix it ASAP.
I saw many beginners that always try to throw solid punches while working out on a heavy bag. It’s important to mix some light jabs, punches, hooks, and harder crosses here and there while focusing on your correct footwork to get the most out of your training.
You may feel pride in yourself by beating down that punching bag hardly and seeing it dancing like a doll but at the end of the session, your hands need to pay the price. 🙂
Also Read: Why Does Boxing Have so Many Belts?
4. Muscle Exhaustion
When you start your exercise routine, your body elevates the heart rate and releases several hormones to withstand the intensity of the training. But, when the rush is over, you suddenly experience a significant drop in your sugar level and blood pressure.
While boxing training, you’re doing nothing but developing muscle memory and teaching your nerve cells to contract properly to make, let’s say punching technique smoother.
However, if you got involved in intense exercises and exhaust your muscles due to over-excitement, some of your motor units may temporarily stop working and resulting in jerky and shaky movements of your muscles.
Another reason behind the exhaustion of muscles is wrapping your hands incorrectly. If you tie the hand wraps too tightly, it reduces the blood circulation in your arms. This could also cause your hands to shake after removing the boxing wraps.
Although muscle exhaustion is a pretty common issue in the boxing world and usually gets settled down after taking the required amount of rest but you can reduce, if not prevent the shaking by taking smaller rest breaks in between your sets.
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How to Stop Hand Shaking After Boxing Workout?
Other than simply taking the rest, here’re some helpful tips that keep your hands from shaking after a satisfying workout:
1. Maintain Proper Nutrition
Staying hydrated and maintaining proper nutrition through a healthy diet is one of the main things that can quickly stop your shaky hands after an intense boxing workout.
In fact, many studies suggest that taking little snacks or small meals 2-3 hours before boxing training and also within the first 1-2 hours after a workout can significantly improve your energy levels and allow you to prevent fatigue.
Here’re some of the food items that work like magic for handshaking:
- Nuts: They are commonly known for their higher protein content but they also provide healthy fats that help you to maintain your energy levels for quite an extended amount of time. You can eat nuts either before or after your boxing training to get a boost in energy when your hands start getting shaky.
- Bananas: They’re considered one of the best sources of potassium and help you to de-stress your system and restore the electrolytic balance in your body. Eating 1 or 2 banana after a workout not only prevent you from getting muscle cramps but also reduces shaky hand movement significantly.
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Whether you like a turkey sandwich, Greek yogurt, or even fruits will do the trick. This is important because food helps you to maintain your blood sugar levels while replenishing the carbs that you burned off to eventually stop your handshaking completely.
2. Take a Break
After an intense boxing workout, your body required a little rest period to recover itself. Shaky hands are a clear sign that muscles are probably too tired and you need to take a break before jumping into the next session.
Dehydration is one of the major reasons for shaky hands and that’s why it’s very crucial for you to drink plenty of water, not only during the training but also throughout your day.
Water helps you to flush out the toxins from your muscles and maintains the electrolytic balance in your body. It not only increases your overall energy level bar but also allows your body to recover faster after your intense workouts.
If your hands do not stop shaking even after taking a proper meal and the required amount of rest, there might be a good chance that you need to work on your fundamentals:
3. Fix Your Fundamentals
It’s very important to keep your base foundation strong to possibly prevent any of such trauma before it happens. There are very things that most beginners tend to ignore like warming up your muscles for movement before getting into boxing training.
I am not only talking about the fundaments of boxing workouts but also in terms of your diet plan and other all sorts of things. Many beginners skip wearing boxing wrap inside gloves, which might seem to be a very basic thing but people do such mistakes.
Also, many peoples like to consume coffee, sports drink, or supplements before their workout. Though such energy drinks offer you power throughout the training session but can affect your arms if consumed too much.
Incorrect boxing technique is another very common mistake many boxers seem to do and It gets worse when they don’t know even the basic principle behind the boxing workouts.
If you’re hitting a bag with the wrong punching technique, regardless of the amount of nutrition you take or you stay hydrated, your hands are going to shake after boxing because there is no way around it.
All you need to do is, try to eliminate such mistakes, make your fundamentals strong and you’ll get set up for a very healthy future.
Here’s one nice video to check if you’re punching with the correct technique or not:
Is It Normal For Your Hands to Shake After Boxing?
It is completely normal for your hands to shake, especially after an intensive boxing workout. It generally happens due to muscle exhaustion caused by dehydration and lack of proper nutrients. The improper fighting technique is also one of the reasons for fatigue and shaky hands.
How Long Do Hand Shake After Boxing?
Mild shaking during and after an intense boxing workout is no cause for alarm but it usually stops after taking 2-3 hours of peaceful rest. But, if you notice dizziness, pro-longed shaking, difficulty in taking a breath, or fainting, It’s always better to concern with your family doctor.
Final Thoughts
As a whole, overly intense boxing workouts, dehydration, low blood sugar levels, and muscle exhaustion are some of the most common reasons for shaky hands after boxing.
You should stick to the basics and avoid pushing yourself extra hard just to get a few extra reps. Remember boxing is a marathon, not a sprint. Drink enough water, eat a healthy meal after your workout, take proper rest, and you’ll be fine!
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