lifting and boxing...

i use to box about a year ago and i stoped because i got lazy..a few months later i got into body building..i gained about 10 lbs of muscle..now that im almost done with my goal i wanted to get back into boxing..but im not sure on how to mix up boxing with weight lifting..im scared im going to lose muscle..i still want to put on a good 5-10 more lbs of muscle..but i dont want to get all big slow and bulky..i also have a fight coming up in 2 months..

can some one please give me a good routine ..

:cool:
 
You'd be better training for strength not bodybuilding if you don't want to get slow and bulky. You can try this old routine:

Day 1
Squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Barbell row 5x5
Full contact twist 3x8

Day 2
Deadlift 9x1
Dips 5x5
Chin ups 5x5
Hanging pike 3x8

Don't train to failure or it will hinder your recovery for boxing. Eat plenty and this should pile on mass and strength.
 
deae1 said:
i use to box about a year ago and i stoped because i got lazy..a few months later i got into body building..i gained about 10 lbs of muscle..now that im almost done with my goal i wanted to get back into boxing..but im not sure on how to mix up boxing with weight lifting..im scared im going to lose muscle..i still want to put on a good 5-10 more lbs of muscle..but i dont want to get all big slow and bulky..i also have a fight coming up in 2 months..

can some one please give me a good routine ..

:cool:

That is a solid routine from Man Of Steel and he is right on about going to failure hindering your recovery for boxing.

I think that when looking to implement a strength program for boxing, you should adhere to a few rules.

First, keep your time in the weight room limited.No more than 2 days per week (even one day is fine, especially when your boxing training is especially intense because of an upcoming fight).

Keep the sessions in the weight room short but intense.You can get an excellent strength program done in 30 minutes if you know what you are doing and you apply yourself.

Because boxing primarily involves the extensor muscles (calves, quads, chest, shoulders, triceps) you should focus about 2/3 of your weight room work on the pulling muscles and especially the muscles which comprise the posterior chain (hams, glutes, hips and low back).This is good not only to balance out all the work being done by your extensors in regards to injury prevention, but also because many people are notoriously weak in the posterior chain.

In keeping with abbreviated workouts, keep the rep range fairly low, 4-6 is a good place to start and don't go overboard on the sets.After a set or two to warm-up, no more than 3 work sets for any given exercise would be necessary IMO.Keep the weight moderately heavy, but stay away from super-heavy weights and definitely no 1 rep maxes.Also, because you want your muscles to be explosive (as they are required to be in boxing), perform MOST of your exercises at a fast but controlled tempo.

Some good exercises would be deadlifts, glute/ham raises, dumbell swings, push presses, pull-ups or chin-ups and full-contact twists.If you have experience in the olympic-style lifts, power cleans and snatches from the hang position are definitely recommended.If not, be sure to include the dumbell swings.They are easy to learn, work the posterior chain well and require an explosive hip snap which has the potential to make your punches more powerful.

As your fight draws near, move the emphasis away from strength development to strength maintenance.And I would drop all weight work in your last week.Sparring and conditioning is much more important and should be your primary emphasis.

Here is a sample program just to get an idea of what I am suggesting:
Day 1(Monday)
push presses 5 sets of 5 reps
deadlifts 5 sets of 5 reps
glute/ham raises 3 sets of 5 reps

Day 2(Thursday)
dumbell swings 5 sets of 6 reps (per arm)
full-contact twists 5 sets of 5 reps
weighted pull-ups 3 sets of 4 reps

I'd also include bodyweight squats, unweighted pull-ups, push-ups, and some form of ab work.The goal for these exercises is muscular endurance so be sure to implement some high volume here.Also, these exercises provide a great warm-up or cooldown to your boxing sessions, so they don't need to be done on the same day as your weight work.

Finally, I'd suggest an active recovery day once per week in the form of another sport or activity, especially one that emphasizes bursts of speed and relies upon quick forward and lateral movement.Tennis, basketball, handball and hackeysack are all good suggestions.The goal here is to get a good workout while taking a break from boxing and weights but still emphasizing the skills necessary for your sport.European atheletes have been doing this for some time and it works well.
 
deae1 said:
what kind of training should i do on my off days?

Something to facilitate recovery.The point being, you should be doing something every day.Even a session of yoga or brisk walking can be beneficial in keeping your muscles active without overtaxing them.This way, you are able to recover properly which prepares you for your next concentrated effort in the gym.

If you have a bout coming up in 2 months, then I assume you are back in the boxing gym preparing, correct?If so, let me see what you are doing now in terms of training, skills and conditioning.

Also, what is your coach like in regards to resistance training?Is he for it or against it?
 
last week i went 7 minutes on the speed bag i went a few rounds with the heavy bag i jogged about a mile i did the punching mits jope rope i practiced slipping punches and foot work..

i dont really have a coach at the moment im training my self..i have a little gym set up in my basment and i train there..a few freinds of mine come over and help me train..
 
If you have a fight in two months, you should really consider getting back into the gym as soon as possible under the supervision of a qualified coach.What you need now is lots of sparring and though your friends may be willing to help, they are probably not the caliber of boxers you will be facing in competition.When I was fighting in Toughman Contests way back when, I was part of a group of guys who put together a garage gym and we would all get together and train and spar.While this was fine for Toughman, it was nowhere near adequate for real boxing.I got a real wake-up call the first time I set foot in an actual boxing gym.I have to drive 75 minutes to the closest boxing gym in order to train, but I feel this is worth it in regards to the environment and the type of instruction available.Hopefully, you have access to a gym which you can use to your benefit.Let me know how your fight goes.

Also, check out
There are a bunch of amateur boxers and a few pros who talk shop and the resources are excellent.I'm one of the moderators over there and in my opinion, it is probably the best boxing discussion board on the net.There are some great routines you may be able to use.Do a search or check out the workout logs.Good luck.
 
Ballast,

I think you have some good, sound advice. The only part that I disagree with is the moderate weight. I think he should periodize his training into blocks of maximal lifting to increase his absolute strength and work strength-endurance in with it and blocks of power which will increase his explosiveness. Of course both can be worked together. From my experience in the fighting arts, if you put two guys in the ring of equal skill the fight usually goes to the strongest one.

I think the lifts you suggested are excellent ones, however I would throw in 1-2 more for each lifting day. I would also have one day of GPP (which will serve as active recovery like Ballast suggested) which is where I would throw the db swings and do some sledgehammer swings. Throw in a couple days of roadwork and you'll have an excellent training system.

And I would definately get yourself a trainer, skill training will make your lifting sport specific. There is no substitute for skill drills such as bag work, focus pad work, and actual sparring.
 
Right.But keep in mind, I recommended a moderately heavy weight, meaning between 80-90% of his 1rm.Any heavier and you are taping into maximal strength.I don't think anything heavier would benefit a boxer much, especially an amateur boxer because they are much more dependant upon conditioning and strength-endurance.I see guys using super heavy weights and they are moving the bar at a snail's pace.That is teaching the muscles to move slowly.Boxers must be explosive and by training with fast movemenst like swings, cleans, snatches and especially medicine ball work, they are teaching their muscles to explode.

In regards to pure strength, I think that is more applicable in grappling, though a solid base of strength is necessary to build upon in order to develop explosive strength.I think when two opponents are evenly matched, the more powerful opponent wins.Just my opinion.

I agree about the GPP work and sledgehammer training is an excellent recommendation.
 
I'll go with the 90% but I'd up it to a 6X3 for some of the exercises and for all of them I'd work towards decreasing rest time to right about 45 seconds since we've both mentioned strength-endurance. The second lifting day I'd move towards a 45-60% of 1RM at around a 5X4 parameter and just lift that damn bar as fast as humanly possible. In both cases I'm sure we'd agree that tempo should get thrown out the damn window.

I'd definately go with a hybrid oly lifting/power lifting style program to maximize strength and speed. I don't work a lot with medicine balls but I do know they are great for developing explosive speed (which you mentioned) and some ballistics should be integrated intermittently throughout the year under the careful eye of a knowledgeable coach (I promise guys-for those that were interested-I'll have the deal written up on ballistics within a week as soon as midterms are over).

I'd put technique over pure strength in grappling maybe even more so than I would in boxing. However, this is not to say that skill and technique shouldn't be a number one priority in boxing or any combat sport--just since you mentioned grappling, thought I'd throw my thoughts in there. I will give you that pure strength will benefit the grappler more than the boxer though. But I think we'd both agree that strength, strength-endurance, and speed-strength should be the foundation of any athlete.

This almost sounds like a roundtable discussion. ;)
 
evolution said:
I'll go with the 90% but I'd up it to a 6X3 for some of the exercises and for all of them I'd work towards decreasing rest time to right about 45 seconds since we've both mentioned strength-endurance. The second lifting day I'd move towards a 45-60% of 1RM at around a 5X4 parameter and just lift that damn bar as fast as humanly possible. In both cases I'm sure we'd agree that tempo should get thrown out the damn window.

QUOTE]


I like this idea of combing strength work with explosive work.Very similar to Westside, which I think is an excellent system.Good suggestion.

And I do agree that strength, strength-endurance, and speed-strength should be the foundation of any athlete.Well said.
 
thanks alot guys..

i dont have money for a gym a trainer or weights to do only 6 reps with.the barbell i have now i can bench press 15 reps its 110 lbs..i also have two 15 lbs dumbells..thats about it for the weights..then i have a speed bag heavy bag and targe mits..

can you please define some of the exercises you were saying..
and can you tell me how often i should train..should i do it every day..or just days that im not lifting..
 
deae1 said:
can you please define some of the exercises you were saying..
and can you tell me how often i should train..should i do it every day..or just days that im not lifting..


yeah what are dumbell swings and full-contact twists? i'm not sure what those are

and how do you strenghten your hips? :)
 
Last edited:
Swings:

Cleans, snatches:
(on the left hand side in the directory, go down to videos and you will be directed to a page which has some great demo lifts.However, I am suggesting you do the hang version, where the bar starts at the waist, not the floor.You dip down till the bar is at knee level and then do the snatch or clean)

Full-Contact Twists (from T-Mag site by John Davies):
Full Contact Twist — This is an extremely simple movement that has some tremendous sport specific carryover for athletes in need of rotational work. There are a few variations of this lift and I prefer using one with more of a full hip turn.

Place one end of a barbell in a corner and grasp the other end with your left hand pronated (overhand) and right hand supinated (underhand). Pull the bar up using the torso and hips and square up completely to the wall. In this manner, movement is generated with a simultaneous pull of the torso and hip drive.

Reps should be kept low (around six) and I'd suggest not to advance with the weight too fast as you'll want to make sure your body is working in harmonious fashion and not simply pulling across with your arms.

Also, consider the overhead squat:


at the bottom of the squat references is the overhead squat.Click on it.


For a program, I would do your skills work atleast 4 times per week.Heavy bag punch-out drills and mitt work with an aggressive partner should be done atleast 3 days per week.Try to spar atleast one day if not two.Get some anaerobic conditioning in via interval running if possible.400 and 800 meter intervals with a 60-second ret interval are a good place to start.
For the weights, no more than two days per week.Keep it simple.
Some GPP like evolution suggested is good, especially the sledgehammer training if you have one available.I'd take sledgehammer dills with a 16ib sledge over freeweights any day.You wouldn't believe how difficult it can be, especially when you intersperse it with exercises like medicine ball tosses and burpees.
 
soaringxh3n said:
yeah what are dumbell swings and full-contact twists? i'm not sure what those are

and how do you strenghten your hips? :)


Full-Contact Twists:
(not sure why they call them wrestlers twists, but ...)

Another one for swings:


Lots of ways to strengthen the hips.Lunges will definitely do it, as will squats and deadlifts.So will quick movements like snatches and cleans and especially swings.
 
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