Stamina problems after 6th round

Truth is that some people are genetically capped at what they can do athletic wise. That’s why many athletes pump themselves full of drugs, or if they are natural they are just genetically superior and are better physically than others. It sucks to hear but it’s the reality of it.

 

My first thoughts when I read this, is that your are doing too much. You need to rest that body and come up with a proper program that addresses one thing at a time. Adding more and more exercises isn't the answer. Its about training correctly and addressing what is weak to strengthen that.

After about 1 year of training I started boxing about 5 days a week yet I had stamina issues too. I am short and stocky, very strong early but I faded and just tried to do more. What worked was backing off the boxing and adding running. I met some Olympians who were training in a group and would let people run with them. I saw what REAL intensity was, I also did weights with them and did the exact program that their strength coaches designed. One told me that don't even think of fighting until you can do a 5km run in under 20 mins and a 10km run in under 40 mins. Thus aiming for 1km in sub 4 min pace and doing this consecutively say 10 times on terrain that is not even. I eventually hit all those goals in under 6 months of running. Then when I went back to boxing my cardio base was very strong, I could just keep going and going. I wasn't the best boxer but I could work under hard conditions and so much of it was confidence. Running properly teaches you proper breathing and remaining mentally calm. Honestly for a non runner like me, I was more afraid of a 5km time trial than a spar, at least you can fight back and have a breather in boxing. In true intensive running there is no break, no excuses and getting angry doesn't make you any faster. For a 2 month stretch I ran about 100kms a week, but once I got the base I backed in way down to maybe 30 a week, sometimes less because I did more sprint work which was less overall time training but harder. The sessions we did were varied a slow run was 5min km pace, we would talk and chill and run about 11kms (sprinting the last 2km only), we did hill sprints (10X 50 steep hills) with say 2km jog warm up and down, he would do a 9km run and every 1-2 mins the guy in front would yell sprint (on and off) constantly (which develop explosiveness and very useful for boxing).

I train amateurs and many say I train so hard. Yet I put them through what I used to do. Most looked very average in intensity and their training consisted of lots of slow training (hitting a bag at their own pace or running on treadmills only). If you want to be fast you must train to be fast.

Back to the ring. Without a video - how are you boxing? Are you panicking in there and exerting lots of energy? How is your breathing? Are you using clinches when you feel tired to get breathers? All these things count. How is your defense? I find this to be a huge thing. Fighters with solid defense can relax, so they are free to power up and power down on punches, they can easily match the pace of an opponent and more importantly stand in front of an opponent without fear of getting smashed, that anxiety goes away which saps a lot of fighters energy. Message me I'm happy to give you some advice.

 

very good post! Thanks!

 

How many rounds is a typical spar? Whatever the time equates to then that's when your real work begins (whether it be a long run a body weight circuit), I'm assuming its pro rounds so 3 mins so 6x3 = 18mins, when you hit that 18 min mark of a workout its time to drive and build strength and endurance. I would design short 30 min circuits first with little active rest and build that cardio base. So over time your fatigue threshold is 30 not 18. One I get my guys to do is 10 push ups sprint 200m 10 back rows with a kettlebell run 200m again at a decent pace but not 100% maybe 80%. Rest a minute then continue the circut for a total of 30 mins. You will be fried. The last 5 mins those sprints should be strong no backing off, no slack running.

If your guard is dropping work on endurance. We did so much bag work and shadow boxing that I could hold my hands high for a hour no fatigue (its either that or get hit in the head). I trained hard and was very disciplined and was driven but only one thing - if I didn't the other guys I boxed with (who were really good) would smash me and I didn't want that to happen. Look at guys like Clottey, Mickey Ward, Winky Wright, they have the shield defense (two arms held up high like pillars) and those arms never fatigued even in wars. Some guys swear by shadowboxing with weights, I never did that, but if it works for you why not. I preferred push ups. If you can do 500 push ups in a single workout you are strong and blocking a punch isn't that big of a deal. One workout which I love is on the bag is a 2min round 15 seconds touch the bag, tap tap tap, very light then 15 seconds all out like a mad man, back to 15 off, 15 on. Go for 4 rounds etc then switch to something different on the bag. I saw Andy Ruiz doing this same workout before the Arreola fight.

 

Most guys use 1 kg hand weights for weighted shadow boxing. Nothing more as you don't want to screw up your biomechanics, because speed is power, more weight doesn't mean more power. More weight means you are now accommodating the whole body just to push the weight regardless of boxing technique.

Pushups are good. Start with an AMRAP (As many reps as possible) over 4 sets. Just regular ones with proper form. If you can hit 40-20-20-20 you are very strong. On off days I would do 200 pushups broken up over sets of 20. I might watch tv and every ad break I stop and do a set. Spiderman, dive bomber, Yoga, closed fists, 5 finger, 3 finger, diamond, wide grip etc just a different one each time.

Here is another circuit you can try to build your cardio. Set a timer of say 10 mins total start with 5 push ups, 5 jumping jack 5 squats (all bodyweight), then 6-6-6, 7-7-7, and see how high you can get util the time ends. On of my fittest boxers gets up to about 15 or 16.

 

I wouldnt swim for boxing, id run sprint intervals every third day. You are overtraining running everyday and swimming you are fatiguing muscles for sparring, tightening and building muscles you dont use. Your stamina problems are because your muscles are fatigued not cuz you need to do more.

 

stick to boxing stuff, jumprope, sprint intervals, core abs. If you want to build legs make sure you stop 10 weeks out from a fight and get back to sprint intervals. Legs need 48 hours to heal after you do sprint intervals. Your problem is overtraining my friend. 100 %

 

i used to lift weights and i would wonder why i couldnt hold my hands up when tired. I stopped lifting weights, never had the problem again. Also diet is a big factor in stamina. Your problem is over training.

 

Swimming is an excellent form of low impact cardio. Baby Bull Diaz switched from road work to only swimming when he won a world title. B Hopkins also did the same into his 40s, even shadow boxing regularly in the water to preserve his joints. I agree it only works when you have the base fitness to begin with and follow it with a proper swimming program.

 

Push ups are different kind and yeah, I never in my life had saw 500 full push ups in row.

For explosive power pushups should be done very fast, even till stuff like you do pushup and after this while being in air, shake hands and manage to start proper push up until you had dropped down and then repeat this process, it is one from brutal training methods for KB.

I had used for fast shadow box weights and had ceased this after I had get some collisions with 3 kg + weights, it is painful.
Later I had switched to use 18 oz gloves for fast shadowbox as maximal load. While I usually used only hand wraps for very fast shadowboxing.

Weighted shadow stuff too but this more to increase guard's durability. Lead in iron package allows to make heavier weight with lesser dimensions.

 

Long fight requires not only good gas tank.
You should calibrate gas tank usage. High level ams and pros are notable with this stuff. They might look slow and explode and repeat such cycles in long row.
6 rounds 3 minutes each is normal for ams.
I had some 3 6 rds sparring sessions before first am KB fight. They had changed lads : once 3 lads for 6 rds spar session, twice 2 guys for 6 rounds.
For am boxing debut it was like enough for 6*3min rounds fast hard sparring.

 

500 reps in total I meant spilt up into sets of 20-30 reps. Most push-ups I did in a row proper perfect form slow and controlled was about 76. I tried that 100 straight push up challenge. Over about 3 months I did just push up workouts with many sets of 40-50s as you try to build up to 100. I couldn’t get there. Was fun for a time though. I have noticed guys that have a strong grip and developed forearms tended to punch harder and had more posterior chain when they punched. There was a fluidity to the upper body movement.