Cycling

You think you're going to build muscle from cycling?

 

Compared to running, it's probably less wear and tear on your joints.

 

Like anything that gets your heart rate up it improves your general fitness. Apart from that it has little benefits for boxing. It will not slow you down or build much muscle if any at all so if you feel like doing it knock yourself out.

 

My legs have gotten so much bigger since i started biking. Makes me lighter on my feet, imrpoves balance etc.

 

It can be great for cutting weight, everything starts from your feet when it comes to punching power, I honestly think it COULD end up being better than jogging/running so long as you try to incorporate intervals of sprints into your cycling regime.

Tabata protocol is supposed to be a way to increase your aerobic and anaerobic capacity based on simple sprint principals which burn glycogen and force you into an oxygen debt. We may find that doing things like 5 and 10 mile runs for boxers is pointless considering you can attain the same aerobic capacity with sprint intervals, and increase your anaerobic capacity to boot.

Aerobic is your basic wind, long distance endurance.. Anaerobic is the muscular endurance you have for short powerful bursty energy. Likely not something that will be tested by old school trainers, but there is some interesting evidence to back it in Japanese olympians.

 

Can build strength in the legs via cycling. There is a difference in power lifters and body builders. One is lifting mostly for aesthetics, the other for numbers, and the physiques look very different. You can build your legs via cycling, look at virtually any pro or semi pro cycler. It's not the fastest avenue by any means, but the combo of endurance and bursty strength isn't something I'd bet against. Also, being someone who cycled quite a bit when I was younger, I did actually have very good foot speed when I was cycling, as I was playing baseball and had very good explosive speed for stealing bases. The problem with cycling is the amount of dedication needed just for cycling.. You want to run five miles, you are going to need to find long stretches of road if you are going to train on a bike, I think it has some clear advantages, but also a very clear, and monumental disadvantage... That is the amount of time you are going to be on the bike vs. the amount of time you will be in the gym.

The problem being most of the time we want to train our muscles in such a way that is practical to the sport we are doing.. Cycling conditions the legs for cycling for certain, I would bet it would give you great leg strength and endurance overall for boxing, and a good long stable source of power.

 

Make sure you put stress on your legs with something apart from cycling aswell if you're going to do it, cyclists often have less bone density than a regular person due to the lack of stress placed on the bones during cycling. Just something to think about.

 

Very, very good point.. Didn't even consider this.. The process of breaking down and rebuilding bone, stronger.. Osteogenisis is something that should be taken seriously.. Building stronger, denser bones isn't something worth forgoing.

 

thats probably the main reason to cycle.that and the fact that getting up hills is a good cardio workout

 

Yup...the same reason it's milder on your ankles and knees. Now that you've brought it up, I might try cycling too. That and rowing...we'll see how it goes.

 

have you seen a cyclist legs, they are huge, cycling may make your legs stronger which may help you but other then that, i dont think it will increase your cardio all that much, but cycling is better then sitting on the couch. so i say go for it mate

 

Yeah that's right, cycling would be good to maintain your cardiovascular fitness but if that's all you do it may become a problem later on, same way if you're running constantly you're gonna put too much stress on your joints. Like most things in life it's about balance, sounds like you understand that. You say you are after strength so don't be afraid to add in a weights session every now and then with some plyometric exercises to keep your explosiveness. If you can't do that or afford it then try wrestling with one of your bigger mates, I credit my beastly strength to a childhood full of wrestling