Hi all, so I'm 28, male, and have followed boxing and UFC for some years. I've sparred a few times, got in fights quite a bit when I was younger, and love to shadow box. I also need a way to vent anger as I get worked up quite easily due to being autistic. So boxing seems like a natural sport to take up. I am somewhat fit but want to improve my base fitness before joining a dedicated gym. My basic training plan is below. I'm a believer in listening to your body, and training lighter but every day so it's probably not as intense as to what some of you may be used to. Anyway any advice, red flags to avoid, etc, would be most appreciated. The aim is to take on a few amateur fights when the time is right. For reference I'm 6"1 and vary between 160 and 175 lbs, orthodox, and have slight scoliosis (irregular curvature of the spine) so building core strength is critical to prevent that getting worse. 'A' Day: feeling tip top. 15 rounds, a mixture of reflex ball, shadow boxing, shadow boxing with light weights, squats and moving around as low as possible (to work all the muscles in the legs). Followed by 15 minutes weights (dumbbells and kettlebell) and finishing up on 5-10 mins core (haven't decided which exercises for the core yet) 'B' Day: feeling OK but not perfect. 12 rounds as above but lower intensity, so more reflex ball and shadow boxing. 10 mins strength and then stretching. 'C' Day: not feeling great. 6-9 rounds at a low intensity OR some other cardio; e.g. running, swimming 'D' Day: sick/injured, at most stretching. Never two 'A' days back to back, to ensure recovery. For nutrition I'm looking at mostly a balanced diet but with extra protein and carbs, particularly on 'A' days. P.s. please don't recommend skipping; I know how good it's supposed to be but it bores my arse off! haha. Cheers, Joe
Seems like you need to gain weight a bit. I don't want to give bad advice, some slight scoliosis is sometimes considered not even as such, it's like with the nose - practically no one has a straight line septum, but that doesn't mean it's deviated in a sense it's problematic. So rather concentrate on swimming and bar-hanging exercises. Core strength - then spare one day for deadlift, one for squats. Stretching, shadow boxing and other activities can be added to those trainings, except I suggest the swimming day. What amateurs fight, dude? Maybe I am getting it wrong, but you haven't train anything related to martial arts so far. If you want to, then go for some boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling or Sambo classes. Can give e try to Judo, BJJ, Kickboxing. Then combining the strength and muscle gain to a martial art is a bit different.
One thing I'll say is that your day rating idea isn't good. It may seem like a good idea but some of the best days I've ever had in training were days where I didn't feel like training at all and pushed through regardless. If you're going to train you need to set out a schedule that goes by days not how you feel at the time, it makes it far too easy to slack off end up being lazy. And I ****ing hate skipping.
Thanks for the replies guys. The scoliosis is enough to be painful at times but since losing weight after becoming ill a few years back, I haven't trained hard so not sure how it will affect me now. Why would you not swim and s.box on the same day? Too much cardio? I'm aiming for boxing. I've sparred some kickboxing as well but as you say, nothing serious. Hmm. I used this system whilst playing badminton and it worked but this is a good point. For combat sports I guess you need to minimize the opportunities to cut corners. Maybe I'll use this to get me locked in to working out every day and then switch to something more solid.
As a fellow fan of the sport, I totally get why you're drawn to it for venting anger and improving fitness. And I love that you're thinking about taking on some amateur fights - that takes some serious guts.
As for the scoliosis and proper weight-gaining exercises, check with a professional, it's wrong if I suggest whatever it is. Swimming is good, I've no doubt saying it, but as for doing swimming and shadow boxing on one day - doable, but only if you do nothing physical the entire day, have proper rest and food. Depends on how much you swim, but I assume that when you've your swimming you do the best you can.
