An Old School Pro Boxer on the Over-complication of Strength & Conditioning for Boxing

[@FishersOfMen57]

Long distance running is to condition the mind, mental training is very important.

[@johnd.597]

You don’t want to run too slow though. Mix it in with hill sprints or else your legs will lose mass and you’ll lose power.

[@lefthook95]

Long distance running is to build the base for intensive interval training.

[@lefthook95]

@@johnd.597 naaaa,not true,its ALL depend of your diet.

[@johnd.597]

@@lefthook95 no, it is true. Slow, long distance running converts your muscle fibers from fast to slow twitch. Slow twitch fibers are less massive.

[@lefthook95]

@@johnd.597 Bro science i run 4x times per week and gained 3kg of Lean muscle 🤔

[@SurfingBullDog]

Some of the best boxers of all time have only used running, bag work, calisthenics, speed bag, double end bag , heavy bag, sparring. Mike Tyson, Joe Calzaghe, Manny Pacquiao. I think that says something...

[@sour3000]

I agree💯

[@kamalahmed5057]

Mate they all lifted heavy barbells

[@SurfingBullDog]

@@kamalahmed5057 nooo these fighters are not known for using weights

[@kamalahmed5057]

@@SurfingBullDog you watched them train? No, so stop

[@SurfingBullDog]

@@kamalahmed5057 no, but there are interviews and articles out there where these fighters and/or trainers have have talked about their training methods. And why are you so offended by my statement anyway. You are taking it way too personal, man. Lighten up

[@Tom_Framnes]

In my utmost humble opinion. “ Perfect practice makes perfect” “ Never Doing for the sake of doing, rather apply with comprehension, intent and meaning” I couldn’t agree more, and I’ve utilized the exact same approach not only within my own training regiment, but with my students as well in regards to implementing Skill Specific Exercise, to obtain desired results needed to suit the demands/ tasks at hand. Again another great lesson Sir. Sincere regards. Fellow martial artist. Tom Framnes. Norway.

[@BodyByBenSLC]

I studied exercise science in college. But as the years go by I am thinking these old guys had it figured out. Run, jump rope, calisthenics, strength has it place but its a supplement.

[@deathbunny3048]

if you really wanna do some strength training for boxing, focus on explosive squats for dashing and stepping, maybe some weighted lunges, legwork and back training and maybe a little shoulders but not too much or you lose your kinetic chain fluidity. That's why you see the whole, hit tire with hammer thing, it's great for the back and shoulders and that's where alot of power comes from as well as the weight shifting.

[@coachingconfidant2785]

@@deathbunny3048 the problem is people are focusing on strength and power with weights for boxing. They should be focusing on endurance. Lifting in bodybuilding rep ranges. Low reps make you stiffer, and tire out way faster. Making you only useful for lifting heavy weights for a few seconds. Weightlifting, and calisthenics are pretty much the same with compound movements which was done at high reps. You shouldn't really be going below 8 reps. You will still build strength, but maximise size and endurance. Then you want to lean towards endurance, and train your speed with boxing

[@vince11harris]

@@coachingconfidant2785 lifting in bodybuilding ranges cause hypertrophy which is the exact opposite of what a boxer wants. Strength training is only neural. That’s why you see guys who are 130-140 but can squat 400lbs. But for boxers you should only strength training once a week. Heavy reps with low reps

[@coachingconfidant2785]

@@vince11harris no you can do what you want gaining muscle weight isn't bad unless unless u want to be stuck in a weight class. Also strength training for boxing is mostly stupid will make u better at lifting not boxing

[@vince11harris]

@@coachingconfidant2785 that’s why I said once a week. The rest of the time should be focused on boxing. If you take 2 guys with the same boxing level and one is neurally stronger than the other, the stronger guy would most likely win

[@Clymax01]

Road work Skipping Ground work No excuses

[@johnnyharris2526]

@Alex Gemi any calisthenics or little weight but more calis

[@danilalutsenko4703]

@@johnnyharris2526 do weights to condition ur shoulders

[@leandrosanchez1212]

what is ground work?

[@danilalutsenko4703]

@@leandrosanchez1212 hundreds of push ups, sit ups, squats, chin ups ect

[@Clymax01]

@@leandrosanchez1212 body weight exercises Push ups Sit ups Burpees Ect

[@vincentcrowley8845]

Conditioning should be about conditioning to take blows and the endurance during a fight to keep throwing punches when tired. Rocky Marciano was a good example. He did run a lot though. But not the modern boxer techniques. He would throw punches underwater at a swimming pool for resistance and power

[@johnd.597]

Throwing punches underwater is, without a doubt, great for conditioning. It’s also good for the joints.

[@eveningstar7812]

But Rocky Marciano wouldn’t be able to compete with heavyweights after his time precisely because of this.

[@stardust-hr8wh]

@@eveningstar7812 why?

[@vince11harris]

@@stardust-hr8wh because at his peak he was only 5”10 185lbs and heavyweights in the 70s was 6”3 and 230

[@ruger845]

I love this.i watch all kinds of youtube videos on conditioning.but the back of my mind tells me hitting the bags more will condition you the best.

[@samvail8728]

Joseph Valtellini mentions this in an interview about running. When he trained for the fights that led him to win the Glory title he said he never ran a day for cardio training. He is a huge proponent of bag work for cardio and building skill set.

[@pinfold1000]

James Toney was not a road work guy he got in shape for fighting buy sparing rounds it’s really the only way you can get in fighting shape is by fighting.

[@sandman3881]

Boxing is still an anaerobic sport - been trained as aerobic. There’s a lot of power gains that can be made. End of the day - power comes in two ways (velocity - like bag work). And power. Power is produced from low repetition 5rm Max. Research also shows that eccentric for example can increase jump velocity. But I do agree with them some. End of the day - you need to train aerobic so the boxer can learn to be in state of relaxed state and not always exploding. But that doesn’t mean you can completely ignore the importance of power. End of the day - you need complex training. The power circuits don’t even need to happen so often. That’s the fuckup. Strength and conditioning coaches want to be too relevant. Most of the work will always be with the boxing trainer. And many strength and conditioning coaches don’t get that. I would help the boxing trainers by not working against them - but with them. I don’t need the athlete to have more than one session per week, to improve power/velocity ratio gains. You can do more based on fighters goals. But ultimately - yes - the boxing trainer is still king. But it’s an open secret that for many years boxers have undervalued the anaerobic component of boxing - and that absolute power and velocity you need to unlock for 2 seconds - 3 seconds or 5 seconds. Explosiveness can be trained. And boxers have always had the velocity angle covered. They just lack the power component at times - to unleash efficient and maximal use of the stretch reflex cycle - which is of huge importance.

[@ninpolife7749]

Love me some heavy bag work.

[@coachkitson2998]

Great to come across this and I agree guys I got to my personal best in boxing by hitting bags and sparring, I did a personal training course and wouldn’t use anything I learned for boxing. I use to do a lot of track work as a kid but swapped that for pool work as a adult. I wouldn’t do ground work at all but loved aerobics as it kept me up on my feet 😝 so many people nicking a living in boxing 🥊

[@coachkitson2998]

Oh yeah sorry big up Pete nuff love 💯❤️👊🏾

[@brettpaterson8042]

I believe stamina is naturally in built but the training develops it even more.. I agree with the roadwork, I just do sprints mostly now with the odd long run with old boots on. The best is heavy bag work and ultimately sparring, that gets that all round conditioning for a fight.

[@matthewpowell4845]

Great vids keep em coming

[@joshruehlig]

running or even swimming / biking is useful because it works the cardiovascular system (heart and lungs) without working the sport specific movements. If your muscles / tendons / ligaments are being overused in sport specific ways then doing another activity can give them a break. but ideally you build your cardio with as sport specific movements as possible. your muscles allocate glycogen and even determine mitochondrial density based on stresses. so stressing muscles with bag work is better than running but not always ideal if you cant recover from the structural stresses

[@justinians9367]

I told my strikeing coach that swimming is the best cardio he told me no bagwork is and i know alot of fit guys who run alot and have good cardio but 3 rounds of spareing or bagwork thay get gassed maybe that crazy basterd was on to something

[@carlosgomes902]

Bro. Fr the best workout for you is a good read. Jesus.

[@sportsaddict790]

it’s actually really simple , distance running is an aerobic exercise which develops slow twitch muscle fibres to allow you to carry out a moderate activity for a longe time , while bag work and sparring under 5 mins is anaerobic(short bursts of quick movement ) which develops fast twitch muscle fibres to allow your muscles to tense up quickly , so running will help you in the later rounds of the fight because you will build endurance , but in the earlier rounds you will be using your anaerobic system to generate short bursts of energy

[@theredninja2817]

@Nikolaij Brouiller Yes yes and yes so very true

[@JeffPenaify]

The point is, if youre a boxer that means youre going to be throwing punches with another live body, so working on punching the bag, and sparring a live body is gonna do more to condition you for it than activities that have nothing to with punching, pushing and pulling with a grown man trying to take your head off

[@nasiemrichardson]

Jeff Boxing right

[@Bodyworkatwork]

Interesting conversation! Andre Ward spoke aboit this after the AJ lost to Ruiz. "He is built all wrong" and George St Pierre spoke about doing weights for modeling only...

[@toomuch9762]

Jared Robinson Jared Robinson it has absolutely nothing got to do with lifting weights. It’s got to do with muscle mass with regards endurance. Muscle requires oxygen, and the more you have then the more oxygen you require. That’s why people who are muscle bound gas early. Hence why you will never see a muscle bound marathon runner or road cyclist. Secondly endurance athletes usually have long twitch muscles fibers. Olympic sprinter have fast twitch. Any boxer who does a lot of cardio should not be as muscle bound as aj. To anyone that knows what’s what, they know the guy is clearly juicing

[@carlosb1]

Just train like the old school boxers did, they had to last 15 rounds! I see modern boxers gassing out quickly, I'm like " Dude it is only the 4th round". Modern boxers are to much taken care off with a lot of weird conditioning and still don't have the grit of the old school boxers.

[@pinfold1000]

Boxers are larger now everyone is larger now because of diet. Fighters back in the day fought at TRUE WEIGHT FIghters cut weight more now

[@jmcantila9104]

Survivor bias. You only see the highlight reel made by promoters and sponsors(Goofy looking drills and exercises pique interest). I guarantee you that if you go to any gym you'll see how fighters really train without cameras, you'll find that boxers still training old school. The game's never changed, don't generalize

[@vince11harris]

That’s true but there was a lot more fatal injuries back then as well tho.

[@mr.bullionnaire9748]

Ide have these guys train me forsure. I like their outlook

[@artemisfowl9002]

top geezers, they talk like my dad

[@joeboo1983]

Pushups, core work some Isometrics. As well as surprise, surprise hitting shit, sparring, bag and padwork. Share those conditioning bag workouts mate!

[@jordanparsons7325]

One of my coaches once said "You cant fight in a lab coat" We've come along way in skill and knowledge of the sport. But college graduates people are coming in and over complicating fitness training, detracting and distracting the fighters from the drilling of technique and skill for their sport. Keep Strength and Conditioning simple stupid!

[@josipmarevic1964]

Great comment! Before boxers fought 15 rounds with no problems, today they struggle with 12 rounds.

[@AniWho268]

Yes, all of their exercises were directly related to boxing skills and/or specific conditioning. Bag work, roadwork, speed bag, skipping rope, sparring etc. All were related to boxing. Lifting weights isn't related. In his book, Frazier said that the only strength exercises he did was pushups and sit-ups. He directly spoke against lifting weights, because a lot of exercises, like bicep curls, bunch up the muscles. Boxing is the most physically demanding sport in the world, and there used to be 15 rounds. So, endurance-based exercises that incorporated the skills and mentality needed for boxing was essential. Weightlifting won't help with that. Some boxers have incorporated weights correctly, but it's not needed, and just as the title says, they've over-complicated it. Nowadays, an increasing number of people are associating raw physical strength with fighting, so people are using more and more bodybuilding exercises for boxing conditioning. The old school guys were far tougher, had a lot of longevity, and were way more skilled because their training routines only had endurance-based exercises that were boxing-specific. It was simplified and very effective.

[@Potbellypugilist]

Good video 👍Agree with what both saying.

[@stardust-hr8wh]

Good points

[@tabo01]

long distance running is only for steady state. Interval training is more like boxing.

[@noelmcallister9388]

Would navy seal burpees be any good thanks

[@dbrannick9585]

i think when you run, you have to have your arms up and out, so as the core is stressed as in boxing and you learn to breathe in these positions...

[@Odis78-w7v]

Good call

[@riandunneleavy4161]

Like how old school boxers used to hold a stick in front of them while running

[@eliezer4478]

@@riandunneleavy4161 hmm jack dempsey?

[@riandunneleavy4161]

@@eliezer4478 yeah. I've seen Jack dempsey do it

[@stardust-hr8wh]

People do well at things which they are used to

[@RAPEDBYBLACKS]

The best training for fighting is fighting, sparring. For fighting strength, heavy bag. Simple.

[@duchi882]

*Interesting* 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@seempeeson771]

Every one that says not to run are the one's that are not champions

[@W67w]

I believe you either are born with power or not. Every boxer wants to punch harder and they have perfect technique, exercise to increase power, punch heavy bag but why is it they are not all power punchers? Then you have wrestlers stepping into to MMA and they are knocking people out with one punch like Dan Henderson. Yeah I believe you are a natural power puncher and can't be developed to that level. Ernie Shavers, Wilder, Liston all had tremendous power and they all started boxing late. Even Ron Lyle.

[@toomuch9762]

Boxing is still in the dark ages with regards strength and conditioning and weight cutting. These old school guys haven’t a clue have either ever read a book

[@Bodyworkatwork]

The disrespect?

[@stevebb2915]

Nonsense. Anthony Joshua uses the most cutting edge S&C available. Look at all the good it did him.

[@toomuch9762]

Steve BB ya he makes use of all the medical advancements 💉💉💉

[@Bodyworkatwork]

@@stevebb2915 I am a fan of AJ, but I have to agree with Ward. Too much bulk doesn't serve a fighter.

[@toomuch9762]

Steve BB Aj is an average boxer with a limited skill set but you say look at all the good it did him? Tell me how many world titles did he hold??? Name them all go on! And then name how many you’ve won!

[@conorhulgraine]

it all boils down to the individual, some things work for some people and don't for others! do what motivates you and gets you excited! For me the road work is a way of cross-training upper and lower body! I think bag work, sparring and pads and actual fights are a lot more important than anything else for a boxer!

[@hate4breakfast681]

Marciano and Golovkin I mean two of the best boxers and heavy hitters never did strength and conditioning