My boxing club closed down after I went for a couple months, got to spar and realized I had to get in way better shape. When it closed down my coach told us 3 miles or more a day. I've been doing 5 instead of 3 since the gym closed. I also hit the heavy bag for 6 rounds / shadow box and accuracy ball for 3 rounds each. Should I be pushing myself harder? I wasn't sure if doing 10 or 12 rounds on the bag would be more beneficial without anyone to correct technique.
Forgot to mention, a new boxing gym will be opening in about a month. Want to be the best I can be for when that time comes.
Well, in the absence of additional work in the gym, I suppose the extra distance will benefit you. In my opinion, 3 is good enough. At least that's what I stick to and my conditioning is pretty good. Distance matters less, than the actual intensity of your workout. I have seen guys that run miles and miles and work out for hours - more than the average boxer does - and expect to have amazing results. Yet wonder why they can't last a couple rounds without gassing. Cuz they have no intensity. You have to be breathing hard and fast when you are doing conditioning exercises to get the anaerobic conditioning you need for boxing. If you're running or working out at the same pace as a jogger jogging through central park - then you'll only be fit enough to fight or spar at that same relaxed pace. So what you do, and how long/far you do it, matters less than how much intensity you put into it. Good luck, and be ready to show em' up at the new gym.
Running for distance is the most overrated form of training for boxers. I've seen guys that participate in marathons gassed after 1 or 2 rounds. Distance running is useless when it comes to sparring. The only thing the odd distance run is good for is recovery on an easy day.
Ok, I'll try to do a fast 3 mile run instead every second day and see how it helps. Am I doing enough bag or should I do more rounds?
Ditto. Distance running is easy aswell. I would not class myself as in condition at the moment but..? i could easily, run 5 miles non stop. But could i easily do a high intensity interval session..? No.
Yea, once you get to a certain point, whatever you gain from LSD running just isn't worth the time you invest in it.
There was a time I praticed 5 miles three-four times a week, no accelerations, just even jogging, no height variation. Right now, I must admit it was just stupid.
If you are an amateur, your sport is 3 x 3 minute rounds ( I think that was the change after the 2012 Olympics??). So at most 9 minutes of action. So call it 10 minutes. If you can go balls to the wall for 10-15 minutes of some sort of intense endurance training, it will probably serve you better than slow 3-5+ mile runs. A 3 mile run for an amateur should be to loosen him up and take it easy, it won't really make you much fitter for the actual fighting and sparring, but it will help you recover between rounds a little and things like that. If you were a pro fighting for up to 36 minutes, then that's a different game, you'd need to be going fairly steadily for up to an hour almost, so there is probably some benefit there. But as an amateur, stick to being close to your sport's requirements. A 400m sprinter wouldn't train the marathon would he? This is almost the equivalent.
One of my favorite ways of Running, to get fit. I do it on the track, with just one at a time, [ Runner]. You can get so much work done, ticks all the Boxes.
Like the other posters mentioned if you are a amateur fighter, then my trainer told me to just run hard for 15~20 minutes on the days when you don't go to the gym. Other than that when we don't do roadwork we do conditioning with plyometrics with intensity to mimic the short round of amateur fights including boxing as well.
