Boxing Training Playlist for Women

Research on music and exercise performance shows synchronised music improves workout intensity and endurance. Spotify's sports playlist research shows women's boxing workouts trend significantly higher BPM than other fitness categories.

The generic boxing playlist does not work for women's training sessions. Not because women need different music in some fundamental sense, but because the sessions are often structured differently - more technique focus, more partner work, more circuit conditioning and less "lad standing at the bag for forty minutes".

This playlist reflects that. Twenty-five tracks that work across the full range of what a boxing session for women typically involves.

The Theory

A good training playlist has three phases: the build, the peak, and the cool.

The build takes you from arriving and wrapping your hands to about fifteen minutes in. You want energy that rises rather than explodes. Something that gets you focused and moving without spiking your nervous system before your muscles are ready.

The peak is the hard rounds. Bag work, pad work, circuits. This is where the tempo and aggression should be highest. Your music should be making demands on you, not soothing you.

The cool is the final stretch, the cool-down, the drive home. Something that sustains and does not crash you.

The Build

1. Confidence - Demi Lovato

Starts mid-tempo, builds, and the message is on point. Good for the first ten minutes of a session when you are still settling in.

2. Run the World (Girls) - Beyonce

The tempo is exactly right for warming up. Nobody warms up badly to Beyonce.

3. Fighter - Christina Aguilera

Obvious choice, for good reason. "Makes me that much stronger" is exactly what a training session should be doing.

4. Titanium - David Guetta ft. Sia

The build in this track mirrors a good warm-up. The drop hits right when you should be ready to work.

5. This Girl - Kungs vs Cookin on 3 Burners

Understated compared to the others but works as a groove-builder for early technique work. The rhythm is easy to move to.

The Peak - Bag and Pad Work

**6. Work B*tch - Britney Spears**

The tempo is perfect for boxing intervals. 128 BPM, relentless drive. Not intellectually demanding, which is a virtue when you are trying to think about your jab.

7. Boss - Fifth Harmony

Aggressive, driving, good for the moments when you need to empty the tank.

8. Level Up - Ciara

Does what it says. Good for rounds where you are pushing past where you normally stop.

9. Stronger (What Does Not Kill You) - Kelly Clarkson

Underrated as a training track. The intensity of her delivery matches the intensity a hard bag round demands.

10. MIA - Paper Planes

The gun sounds are disconcerting in context, but the rhythm is excellent for bag work and the pace holds up.

11. 212 - Azealia Banks

Aggressive and fast. Best for short, maximum-intensity intervals rather than sustained rounds.

12. Savage - Megan Thee Stallion

The attitude and tempo combine well for bag rounds.

13. Good as Hell - Lizzo

Sounds like an odd choice for hard training. Works better than it has any right to. The positivity in the track translates to sustained output rather than aggression.

14. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

This makes every list and every list explains why awkwardly. It is 116 BPM, it is defiant, and it works for rounds where you are tired but not finished.

15. Needed Me - Rihanna

Darker tone, controlled intensity. Good for technical pad work.

Circuit and Conditioning

16. Formation - Beyonce

Complex production that rewards sustained attention. Works well for circuit sections where you are doing varied exercises rather than sustained boxing.

17. Power - Little Mix

Driving and specific enough to maintain focus during circuits.

18. No - Meghan Trainor

The repetitive structure works well for repetitive conditioning exercises. Not asking anything of your brain.

19. Bad Guy - Billie Eilish

Slower but has the kind of groove that makes conditioning exercises feel more controlled than frantic. Good for technique-heavy circuit sections.

20. Shake It Off - Taylor Swift

Polarising choice. It works because the energy is relentlessly positive without being aggressive, which is the right tone for the moments in a session where you are trying to stay light on your feet rather than heavy.

The Cool-Down

21. Woman - Little Mix

Drops the intensity enough to start bringing you down without cutting the session dead.

22. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse

Cool-down music. The tone is different from everything before it - signals to your body that the hard work is done.

23. Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick

Slower and more reflective. Good for the stretch section.

24. Skinny Love - Bon Iver

If you can get your gym to play this during the final stretch without a chorus of complaints, your gym has good taste.

25. Lovely - Billie Eilish ft. Khalid

The perfect end. Brings the session to a complete stop mentally.

A Note on Our Women's Class

At Honour and Glory Boxing Club, the Saturday Women's Boxing session runs from 10am to 11am. We manage the music from the coaching side, and it is taken as seriously as the session plan.

If you want to know what music works in a real women's boxing session rather than just a playlist on paper, come in and find out.

Claim a free trial session at Honour and Glory Boxing Club.

Music helps, coaching matters more

A good playlist can get you through a solo bag round. It cannot correct your stance, stop you dropping your right hand, or teach you how to breathe under pressure. That is why music works best as support, not as the training plan.

If you are near Kidbrooke, Greenwich, Woolwich, Blackheath, or Eltham, try the Saturday women's boxing class or an adult recreational session from the timetable. Bring the playlist for the journey if it helps. Once you are in the gym, listen to the coach.

First session is available through the free trial page.