6 At-Home Boxing Drills To Train (Using DIY Boxing Equipment)

Starting to learn how to box can be difficult when you don’t have any equipment, and boxing equipment can get expensive quickly. At-home boxing equipment such as gloves, hand wraps, weights, bags, and more can easily cost hundreds of dollars, but it's possible to make your own boxing equipment for training at home using household items. When you start to train, you may have questions such as:

• What do I need to box at home?
• How do I make at-home boxing equipment?
• How can I learn boxing at home for beginners?

Anybody can start developing boxing skills from home with little equipment. Using just a few common household objects, it’s possible to create your own homemade DIY boxing equipment and start training today.

Step 1: Set Up The Equipment

Items Required:

• Scissors
• Non-residue duct tape
• A pool noodle

Once you have those supplies, you can begin building your DIY boxing training setup. Start by cutting the pool noodle evenly in half and set one of the halves aside for now. To suspend the pool noodle, follow these steps:

1. Put the pool noodle at head height, perpendicular to a wall.

2. Tape the back of the pool noodle to the wall vertically.

3. To secure the tape, horizontally lay two pieces of tape across the vertical line of tape.

To know if you’ve completed this step successfully, stand next to the pool noodle. It should be directly next to your head on either your left or right side. If you’ve done this right, then it’s go-time. You’ll now be able to start working on some boxing drills that can help you develop your skills.

Step 2: Training Drill

Bob and Weave

One of the fundamental tools any aspiring boxer needs to develop is the bob and weave. Proven to be one of the most effective ways to avoid a strike to the head, this movement can help you improve your reaction time, as well as your agility.

Set yourself up in your boxing stance with the pool noodle to the right of your head. Envision a hook being thrown at your face and, in one fluid movement, perform the following move:

• Drop your back leg low
• Allow your hips to drop down
• Move underneath the noodle in a “U” formation and return to your boxing stance
• The pool noodle should now be to the left of your face

Practice bobbing and weaving underneath the pool noodle until the movement feels like second nature. As a reminder, when the pool noodle is to the right of your face, your back leg should lead the movement. When it is to the left of your face, your front leg will lead the movement.

Got it down? Good. We’re going to take it up a level. 

Remember the other half of the pool noodle from earlier? It’s time to use it.

Step 3: Set Up The Equipment (Part 2)

Pick up the other half of the pool noodle and tape it in the exact same way as you did the first. If you are using a wall that protrudes, add the other pool noodle perpendicular to the other side of the wall. However, if you are using a flat wall then leave about one foot of space between the two pool noodles. Ensure both pool noodles are at the same height.

Step 4: Back To The Drill

Practice the same bob and weave movement, but return to center each time so that the pool noodles are on either side of your face. Mix up which side you move to and try to make the movement more spontaneous.

If you feel comfortable enough, consider switching your boxing stance for an added movement challenge.

Adding Strikes In

Movement training helps develop your agility, but it doesn’t help as much with your striking skills. To accomplish this, let’s add some simple hooks to this movement.

• Get set in your fighting stance between the two pool noodles
• Slip to your right side
• As soon as you rise into a standing position, throw a right hook into the bag
• Slip back to center and repeat the same movement to the left

The most important aspect of adding this strike is not having a delay between the time you stand up from your slip and when you throw the strike. You don’t want to allow an opponent time to recover from their miss.

Step 5: The Workout

Now that you’ve made an effective piece of training equipment entirely out of household items, as well as practiced some simple movements and strike drills, it’s time to tie it all together into an effective workout. Two common questions asked by beginner boxers are:

• How can I do boxing training at home?
• How do you train like a boxer?

Now that you know you don’t need equipment, you can train at home. Follow this 3-minute, multi-part boxing workout. There are no breaks, so be sure to pace yourself:

Roll Rear - Roll Center (30 seconds)

• Get in your boxing stance in the center of your two pool noodles
• Drop your back leg and roll to the right
• Return to center with a roll to the left
• Repeat for 30 seconds

(To get the most out of this workout, ensure you are coming to an upright position after you roll.)

Roll Lead - Roll Center (30 seconds)

• Return to your boxing stance at the center of the pool noodles
• Lead with a roll to your left (or right if you are a southpaw)
• Return to center by dropping your back leg and rolling back
• Repeat for 30 seconds

Roll Lead - Roll Center - Roll Rear - Roll Center (30 seconds)

• Perform the previous two movements but tie them together in one fluid motion
• Repeat for 30 seconds

Roll Rear x 2 - Rear Hook - Roll Lead x 2 - Lead Hook (30 seconds)

• Start with a roll to your rear side
• Throw a hook after performing the slip
• Slip back to center with your lead leg
• Slip again with your lead leg and throw a left hook
• Slip back to center with your rear leg
• Repeat for 30 seconds

Roll Rear - Lead Hook - Roll Lead - Rear Hook (30 seconds)

• Roll with your rear leg while simultaneously throwing a hook with your lead hand
• Roll back to center using your lead leg while throwing a hook with your rear hand
• Continue alternating sides for 30 seconds

An easy way to think of this exercise is that the hand throwing the hook should be opposite to the leg that is leading the movement. In this particular instance, don’t wait to rise before throwing the hook. Your punch should be thrown at the bottom of your “U”.

Roll Rear - Roll Lead - Pull Back (30 seconds)

• Drop your back leg and roll to your right
• Return to center by rolling with your lead leg
• Pull back at center as if an opponent is throwing a straight punch at you
• Repeat this process, but start with a roll to the left this time
• Continue alternating sides for 30 seconds

Great work! You absolutely crushed one of your first at-home boxing workouts using DIY home boxing equipment. Practicing these drills in your free time, or even running through the workout a few times a day, can have you training like a champion in no time. While boxing equipment helps you improve your training, you can start right now with these drills.

With dedication to the craft of boxing and continually training the movements and skills, anyone can become a boxer. To learn more engaging and impactful workouts, tips, and tricks subscribe to FightCamp's YouTube channel or visit the FightCamp blog.

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The Author: PJ Sheridan is a FightCamp Founding Coach who claims that boxing wasn’t his first love, but it saved his life. PJ grew up in the Philadelphia area and played football as a young athlete. After a life-changing event, he found boxing as a way to heal, escape, and, ultimately, rebuild his life as he became a competitive fighter. PJ came to Los Angeles and continued to hone his skills as a boxer and as a NASM and TRX Certified Personal Trainer. He began to train other boxers, UFC fighters, and athletes using a holistic approach. This included mental and physical training, nutritional counseling, and empowering his clients with his hallmark motivational style. Today, he is known throughout the FightCamp Team as the go-to person to close out company-wide meetings with the same optimism and positive messages he delivers in his FightCamp workouts. When PJ isn’t filming workouts, he’s enjoying a great burger with his wife, Lindsey, and living his #BestDayEver. Coach PJ is also USA Boxing Coach certified.