Each great fighter finds a routine that makes them the best they can be. Calzaghes obviously doing something right.
wow, what a silly thread... sledgehammer work & chopping wood goes back to before John L Sullivan, yet they fall under the "evil weightlifting" proposed by Ross and Crossfit. Olympic lifts & kettlebell swings are the same thing as sledgehammer work, but in the opposite direction. bodyweight exercises are still weight training- your body only knows resistance, it doesn't know that the resistance is coming from a barbell. jogging with heavy boots (something old timers did), or heavy backpacks (Tyson) is also considered resistance training. heck "old school" foreman used to jog with a CAR strapped to his back :gasp: weight training doesn't build endurance? Try doing kettlebell swings, squat thrusts, or deadlifts for 3 minute rounds and tell me what that does for your wind. Not every fighter jogs for roadwork. Different sport, but Frank Shamrock (who's known for his stamina) & other mma guys do the elliptical crosstrainer instead of jogging in order to spare their knees. I used to do sprints on the elliptical crosstrainer before every boxing workout, avoided running coz it causes me a lot of injuries, and had no problem going all out in sparring for 3 to 6 rounds at the end of a 2 hour training session. For me, endurance in sparring has always been more about relaxing and not getting too tense, nervous, or excited; so I never got that whole "you need it to have wind" argument so much. Pacquiao wasn't knocking out all comers prior to training with Roach; so that's a pretty solid case for weights improving someone's game. BHop was much more athletic in his fight with Tarver - after adding shillstone; than he was in his prior bout against Taylor (direct cause and effect). Diaz out of houston says weights & swimming help him; so who am I to argue. In muay thai, the current king of the mountain so to speak, Yodsenklai, used to pride himself in "old school" training. He lost a close fight, changed his workout to more modern high intensity training, also changed up his diet and now he's pretty unbeatable. Training for maximal strength is definitely not for everyone. I am a big supporter of different strokes for different folks. Some people need to work out every day; other folks need more time off. Some respond well to squats with low reps and maximal weight; others to lifting for endurance, others to slow jogging, and still others to High Intensity Interval Training. Find what works for you and puts you in the best shape to step in the ring. Make sure your strategy & skills in the ring are appropriate for the tools you've got. This cookie cutter approach from either side that you need to train a certain way is really silly to me.
Used to, a lot of my friends back east are certified and i've got all the programs in pdf format on disk. Most of the time lately, since I'm too lazy to write down an actual crossfit workout, I just freestyle a crossfit-inspired workout, where I'll work like 5 exercises in a circuit. I also do Tabatas sometimes on the elliptical crosstrainer; though I kinda prefer mixing up my interval times (15s/30s, 30s/30s, 1min/1min, 1min/2min, etc).
brutal last friday i overdid it; though my "crossfitish" part was a little shorter than your's. kinda threw me into a burn out that i've been dealing with all week. started with a hypertrophy workout at gold's gym: total body, 10 exercises, 2 sets per exercise, 10 reps Got a protein drink and went to the muay thai gym. Stretched a lil and then did this crossfit-ish kinda workout (i'm sure it breaks their protocol): 10 slamball* slams left arm (southpaw stance) 10 slamball slams right arm (orthodox stance) 10 suicides up and down this ramp 20 slamball slams both arms (overhead/square stance) 10 suicides up and down this ramp 20 slamball lateral/twisting slams left 20 slamball lateral/twisting slams right 20 squats holding slamball overhead 20 laps (little longer than a ring) clutching a 45lb dbell to my chest (our sandbag was missing) 10 laps of lunges all of that wearing a 25lb weight vest * - a slamball is basically a rubber medicine ball with a rope through it. I added a washer so it can withstand slams. I use it like a portable sledgehammer & tire. I think it weighs 16 pounds. You can get them online from target. after that, I had another protein shake and did an hour plus muay thai class, literally till I collapsed. It was poor planning on my part, because by the time sparring came around I had nothing left (was also already banged up from earlier in the week). Ended up just hitting the heavybag and feeling like a failure till I couldn't go no more. Hypertrophy lifting + crossfit-type workout on the same day = bad idea.
Some good, some bad, just hate the name-calling. We can all learn from each other. I have a lot of respect for old school training and try to use really old school methods whenever I can. I just can't run on a regular basis due to some structural problems with one of my legs. I wish I could, but every time I try, I end up injuring myself & requiring time off. It's not that I'm lazy, I'll do 30 minutes of jump rope as a replacement any day of the week, my body just can't handle much jogging. As a result I've had to find other methods to use as workarounds. That's why I'm such a big proponent of a tailored, personalized approach.
I think sprinting and lifting weights are excellent ways to build explosive power, speed and endurance. but so are push ups and plyometrics. Running distance will not only help conditioning but decrease weight as well. Sprinting is good for conditioining the central nervous system for the rigors of the rounds, but it provides less overall fat loss than distance running. The bottom line is there is a peak condition, and there are many different ways to reach that condition. We may each have the one we prefer, but they all have a place in the development of a fighter overall. Also training methods have a psycological value to the boxer. If you train in a new and different method it can shake your confidence come fight time. IMHO. VK
