i have heard marciano had awesome stamina, can anyone point out some important things he did. i have heard he did alot of hill running?
I heard he did endless rounds on a ridiculous sized heavy-bag (200-300lbs) and ran 365 days a year first thing in the morning (regardless of the weather).
i'm goy going to go out on a limb here, i THINK he hit the bag, jumped rope, sparred and ran, dont take my word for it though. seriously theres no secret to conditioning, work hard, bust your ass, try improve little every week, pick up your intensity and fight past fatigue.
He did a lot of different things. I saw a video of him on the floor kicking up a medicine ball at someone, going into a swimming pool and using the water as resistence for his punches, and hitting the heavy bag for a hour or more without a single break. The thing that caught my eye the most was that he was very devoted to nutrition. I read in his bio that one day he forgot to drink his vegetable mix at a certain time and acted like the world was ending. That being said I think his secret was he did roadwork, heavy bag, calisthenics,etc alot more than needed, probally more than needed for two fights.
He used to do 12 miles in his morning workouts at a fast pace, that takes some doing his condition was astounding sure, but there wasnt a secret he just did the basics harder than everyone else.
He did it all. Long distance work and short distance work. Interval training and consistency training. Sparring. Traditional boxing work. And he trained for long periods of time - he was not one that believed in over training. For his time he was a nutrition freak as well. Lean meat and veg and no crap.
Yeah I read somewhere he ate one big meal a day, in the evening. Large steak, large green salad, baked potato, loaf of bread ,plenty of milk etc. He was def a big eater.
The thing that stuck me most about Marciano's diet was the consistency. Supposedly he would stick to his training diet all year round, and he was particularly careful at Christmas when others were putting gravy on Turkey. He would insist on lean meat when eating out.
Interesting. To what extent was knowledge of the importance of proper nutrition widespread amongst professional fighters in the early 40s/early 50s?
the word on the street is he did alot of cartwheels and handstands. He also played alot of hop scotch for footwork and rarely hit a heavy bag or did roadwork. Its true i tell ya,
Marciano used to do endless rounds of shadowboxing in a cage with a low roof so that he would have to bend down using his legs, i've tried it for like a round and it's brutal.