How important is rest?

I think you’d agree with this. I think overtraining exists but I agree mostly with what Chris is saying.

"There's no such thing as overtraining - it's a state of mind. It doesn't exist. If you got a job as a dustbin man and had to pick up heavy dustbins all day long, the first day would probably be very difficult, possibly almost impossible for some to complete. So what do you do, take three days off and possibly lose your job?

"No, you'd take your sore, beaten self to work the next day. You'd mope around and be fatigued, much less energetic than the previous day, but you'd make yourself get through it. Then you'd get home, soak in the bath, take aspirin, and so forth. The next day would be even worse.

"But eventually you'd be running down the street throwing dustbins around and joking with your co-workers. How did this happen? You forced your body to adapt to the job at hand! If you can't strenuously and aerobically exercise for 20 hours a week, you're not overtrained, you're undertrained! Could a random person off the street come to the gym with you and do your exact workout? Probably not, because they're undertrained." - World Champion Chris Eubank Snr

 

I busted my ars 6 days a week, I never had any injuries until I closed my car door. Long story there.

Over training is just an excuse to train at certain levels that are never uncomfortable for you.

I will say that stepping up after training your ars off is a great way to answer those bells.

Let the beatings begin! (James Toneys words)

 

There is a real condition called “Overtraining” but if Olympians aren’t finding it well it might as well not exist!

 

I trained a guy in Texas and 'over training' was a real issue. He was 16, 17 years old and was one of those guys that was in the gym every day, showed up at the same time every day, and he worked hard. He listened and would do whatever you asked him to do and try hard at it. He had started boxing at 9 and had well over 100 fights at this point in time.
We had him on a solid training program- he was up early running every morning, doing his rounds in the gym and a solid routine of exercises after his rounds. My partner in the boxing game was putting him through the same routines that he had Nestor Garza and Bollilo Gonzalez doing when he trained them.
But his stamina was not improving and a lot of the time he looked exhausted. We were working 5 days per week, about 2 hours daily in the gym. We found out that, when he went home, his father made him work out for another three hours.

 

The old time strongman learnt when they needed to pull back after they went “stale” some would be doing gymnastics, grappling, odd lifts etc when there strength was declining and they constantly felt fatigued they’d drop off for a week and be stronger when they returned. Boxing isn’t “strongman” but it is biology.

 

Rest is extremely important, but boxing is a skilled sport, and skills thrive on frequency, and can be trained often.

Every day doesn’t need to be hard nor should it be a hard conditioning day with tons of hard bag work, or a hard sparring day… But there’s no excuse not to be working on your boxing skills in some capacity most days of the year… Unless you don’t want to be the best you can, which I don’t understand why you’d box competitively (as an amateur at least) if that’s not the case.


….IMO.

PS - I overtrained, underslept, and underate when I was fighting, I got injured a lot, and I think it shortened my career and related to the eye problems that caused my retirement.. I was the type of guy who my coach would call me during ice storms to make sure I wasn’t outside running risking a slip and injury “that’s what treadmills are for jackass!”

but I never doubted if I had paid my dues come fight time….

 

I get where you’re coming from, but I disagree. Olympians have access to a lifestyle and other factors that greatly increase their capacity for recovery.

I went to work early to run before work, turned wrenches for a few hours, skipped lunch to stay on weight and do a bit of strength work, turned wrenches for a few more hours, drove to the gym, trained, then got home already getting to bed too late for what time I ought to be up for work the next day. Oftentimes, I had to actually TRAIN at work.. I’m sure there are others who had it much tougher as well.

Can’t compare this to people who have a scheduled mid day nap and planned out meals.



Many fighters with great potential we will never hear of for differences like this.

 

I did two a day workouts when fights grew closer, while having a job after the gym.

 

I rarely use the word ‘rest’ with my athletes but prefer the term ‘active recovery’. Movement is medicine at the end of the day.

 

No. Sooner or later injuries will catch you. You have to train hard but also give your body time to rest. One thing you can do to improve fast is training everyday, alternating hard training with softer ones in which you focus on specific aspects you want to improve. This way you make the most out of your time and also have active recovery when going full speed

 

Rest is absolutely critical, especially if you're training hard.

You can push your body to work hard every day for a while, but without real rest, your performance will drop, your risk of injury will go way up and you’ll eventually burn out. Muscle growth, recovery and actual improvements happen when you rest, not during the training itself.

You can still train daily, but you need to structure it smart: hard days, light technical days, active recovery days. Going full blast every session without proper rest isn’t sustainable, especially in a high-impact sport like boxing where your joints, nervous system and cardio all take damage over time.

Rest isn’t weakness, it’s part of the training.

 

I'm applauding