My boxing coach told me to not lift weights anymore

Of course I do. You do know there's something called "recovery time" right?

Of course it does but that's 100% irrelevant to my point, because there's still a point where someone overtrains. That it differs from person to person and even from time to time, does not matter one iota.

That's all fine, and like I said it's possible and for some beneficial. But not all, and it always comes at a cost, time spent lifting (and recovering from it) can not be spent on other things. Most people aren't as skilled as olympic boxers, so their time could be better spent learning their trade (boxing, you know punching things instead of picking them up) and improving ALL aspects of fitness in the process instead of isolating just the one randomly deemed the most important by some of you.

I don't know about you (actually I do) but when I trained for fights, spending a whole week on weights (periodizing) was not an option. I had to be at the gym for boxing related work four or five times a week. You know, learning to box. But if you have all that taken care of, go ahead man periodize. You'd have Mayweather skills already so who cares.

 

Exactly. The sentence in bold should ring true for 99.9% of amateur boxers IMO.

 

I think this is where you're misunderstanding what most are saying. Nobody said weight training is extremely important. A boxer can get stronger and or build muscle by using weights if he/she feels it's required for a certin period of time, not do it every single week for their entire boxing career.

Have you ever actually lifted weights as a supplement to your boxing and felt the benefits? I'm guessing no.

 

I'm not misunderstanding anything, what some are saying is that it's no problem to simply add it to your existing routine. This is what you are making of that, not what they were saying. What most here are talking about is not periodizing it but adding it to a routine.

Like I have said about a million times, I'm not against it but it can not be simply added without giving something up. That is all, I have no idea how or why people can deny that. Read this and the many other threads on the subject, people basically deny the existence of recovery time and overtraining to justify their lust for pumping iron.

I've done a lot of manual labour, and while boxing I never really had the time to add weight training as it conflicted with my intense boxing training. The few times I did strength work were beneficial to my strength (duh) but not to my overall training as it conflicted and kept me from the gym to work on skills. Which is the only thing I am interested in, and I got stronger from that as well (and faster, more agile, more balanced, etc).

Your guess is not really a guess, as I've made clear many times that I don't see it as beneficial for me. I find sports specific training far more beneficial.

 

what would you give up?

the olympic team i was talking about train 3 times a day, they lift 3 days a week, each lifting day they do ONE exercise, e.g monday 3x5 dead lift, wednesday 3x5 squats, friday 3x5 push press, how does that get in their way?

and overtraining is a term too commonly used, its not easy to overtrain, the effects of overtraining aren't so simple where you can brush under the carpet, "oh i overtrained!" you will literally feel it, you will feel sick, have a irregular heart beat, feel lethargic, feel ill.

soreness is not overtraining.


btw when i was training i never lifted (well not always) as i couldn't be assed, but thats a different story!

 

Something else that conflicts with it, like sparring, bag work, pad work, etc. Anything that uses that same strength, otherwise it would not benefit boxing (no conflict = no benefit). Could you add an 8 mile run without sacrifice to an already maxed out schedule? No you could not, and lifting isn't magic so it's no different.

To them it doesn't. They're top athletes, already highly skilled. I already gave my reaction to this example in my last post and said to them it's very possible and it might be beneficial to do so. For most amateurs on lower levels (almost everyone) it would not outweigh the negatives. Which is giving up other training for it, no matter how hard you try to deny that. Unless of course they're severely undertraining.

Thank you captain obvious.

A different story indeed because you did not fight. Incorporate it in your routine when you decide to fight competitively and we'll talk again :good

 

I'm not even saying you can't or you shouldn't, the argument is over not being able to add it without sacrifice. And to me that sacrifice is not worth it. I have no idea how you can even argue that it won't add extra stress on your body, and that said stress doesn't cause extra recovery time. It's a plain fact.

 

starting to pull rank are we?:hey

fair enough but what about my friend Ahmed (no really!) who does box and incorporates weights too?


edit: i dont know how your gym works but at mine training used to be from 6-8, you could do what ever you want before and after it.

 

No mate not at all, that's not how I meant it. When training for an actual fight you train a lot harder than when there's nothing on the horizon. I found that out when I quit competing, I could do weight lifting now if I wanted to because it doesn't matter much if I miss boxing training because of it, or feel sluggish while doing so. It does matter if you're about to get your head smashed in

:rofl

More power to him that's his choice. It does cut back on the boxing training he can do unless he wasn't doing enough in the first place. To me that trade-off isn't worth it, and it's up to other people to decide if it is worth it for them. I'd disagree with them unless they're highly skilled and can afford to miss it, but my point is there is a trade-off.

Style also matters, I want to box instead of brawl. For a brawler type of fighter strength could be more important than for me for example.

Of course, so did mine but again that doesn't factor in recovery time. I did more than one activity a day, check my log. But I can't lift in the morning and properly box in the evening, unless I do one of them half arsed. Note that my "training" also meant cycling 15 to 30 miles a day, not by choice but by necessity, so that also limits other things that use those same legs. Again, a trade-off.

 

Research Ross Enamait (www.rosstraining.com) to see if incoropating weight training is useful for combat athletes.:good

He is a former amatuer boxer who after breaking his hands several times decided to dedicate his love of boxing to helping fighters improve their strength and conditioning in addition to their skill set. He is a beast!

 

Yes, exercises such as bicep curls and leg extensions are not very useful for boxing, but exercises like (DB snatches, Squats, Kettlebell Swings, etc...) are very beneficial.

Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones, Shane Mosley, etc.. have all benefited from weight training. If a boxer/MMA fighter feels that just bodyweight and roadwork is all the conditioning training they need, then thats cool, they should continue doing that. But personally, the old school way of training to me are no longer the best methods. Fighters like Pacquiao are embracing new ways of training and the results speak for themsleves. Yes Floyd doesn't use weights (other than shadow boxing with dumbbells) but he was raised from a family and tradition of throwback fighters, train for hours upon hours with just bodywork and skill training. Very few fighters these days would be able to get by on that alone. Just my opinion.

 

Iv got ross's book using it at the moment. its fantastic and i dont mind using weights .... ross is a beast.... hes also not a competitive fighter by his own admission due to hand problems. Therefore yes it is benificial but he says several times in his book nothing is more important than skill work on your chosen martial art.

Im not a competitive fighter either so at the moment i have plenty of time too incorporate his routines for conditioning , endurance , strength training. ect ect following his program

WHAT RDJ is saying is if you are a competitive fighter something somewhere has to be reduced or knocked on the head to make room for skill work! And if that was the case for me i would rather drop the max strength ( or reduce) max strength training and try and keep endurance, explosive, conditioning and skills training!
How can people argue with what he is saying ... you cant do everything?

 

Do you not know what ripped means? Low bodyfat. atsch

 

Over 100m. He is. But, this is about boxing. What on earth are you on about here? What point are you trying to make? Do you believe in the ancient alien theories? atsch

 

LOL @ "my friend Ahmed"
I flicked through the thread and got to that hahaha