fuel for training

I work in the afternoon so train in the morning. An hour before I train I have a bowl of oatmeal, some new creatine formula I bought recently which gives me tons of energy and a banana a half hour before. Lots of water as well. :bbb

 

mash potatoes and sweet corn

 

I thought it sounded good. I haven't had mash in ages.

 

Just curious why do you guys take creatine and all this protein shake **** as a boxer? the point of being a boxer is to cut out all the bulk and turn into very learn cut muscle, you want to be light so you can be fast. If your bulky, your slower and less coordinated.

 

30g of protein won't make you "bulky".

And being big doesn't mean you'll be slow.

 

I don't fight anymore, haven't for years. Though I still maintain the training regime to simply stay active and fit. I take whey protein because I tend to do a lot of cardio and I don't want be ridiculously skinny like when I used to do cross country running. I used to weigh 7 stone 12lbs as a fully grown adult!

Creatine is not designed to make you bigger at all. It makes you train for longer. In fact I have noticed it has a bigger effect on my cardio than when I do workout with weights or any boxing related workout. So whatever your aim is being more muscular or running further it can help, it depends on what you are training for. I actually lost 2 pounds since I started taking this latest cycle of creatine, which is my aim, I have put to much excess weight on recently.

Though you are right. Having too much muscle is definately a disadvantage as a boxer. Look at Lacy, all muscle, poor coordination and lack of explosiveness.

 

Look at Mike Tyson. Need I say more?

Large muscles don't necessaryily mean slow muscles. It depends on how you build them.

 

True. If you focus on explosive workouts then you'll have fast explosive movements like Tyson but he was naturally very stocky, he wasn't over muscled. Bruno would be a good example. He added too much mass in the 90's and it wasn't lean, explosive muscle. It made him even slower and less mobile than before. Boxing isn't just about strength and power though, stamina is also a very important attribute which excess mass will inhibit.

 

So how do you turn large muscles into lean cut muscles?

 

Lose body fat.

 

So do boxers who are trying to move up a divison gain muscles by doing heavy reps while running and keeping down the body fat?

 

Protein helps repair your muscles after you damage them in training. It also helps your body burn fat by retaining the muscle you've got, which burns more fat while you're working out. Speaking out against protein is silly.

Even Marciano - a heavyweight that cut in order to be the faster guy in the ring, STILL drank a ton of milk (high protein source) and ate steak (though whether he swallowed or not in training camp is unclear - he was vegetarian).

I have a friend who swears by creatine between rounds (this is kickboxing). I think it does have endurance benefits. It also makes your muscles retain water, so if you're doing a cutting program this can seem counter productive, but it may help you retain some strength/pop/endurance when you're cutting a lot to make weight. Dehydrating muscle is bad mmmkay? That's why they have sodium cutting these days - sodium retains water in the skin and other tissues, potassium retains water in the muscles; lose too much water from muscle and you get sluggish. There's even "potassium sparing diuretics" that I've been reading about that some fighters are using to be able to cut a lot of water weight without losing strength.

Funny how there's a whole science these days about trying to be the biggest guy in the smallest weight class. In the old days a lot of fighters seemed to want to fight the biggest and baddest guys possible (see Langford & Fitzsimmons). I think Jake Lamotta was one of the first guys that really cut a ton of weight on a regular basis to fight in as low a weight class as possible. Now you got guys like Pacquiao fighting at 130, walking to the ring at 140-something.

I think I have a problem when the goal of dieting goes from "being able to perform at the highest level" to "being as light as possible".

 

the words of a big guy