Is sprinting in any way helpful for boxing?

Also mate you could maybe make some adjustments to suit both your style of training .Race each other etc man or just push each other .I hate running so I like to mix it right up so it isn't as boring .Sprints are quality mate .Say a 100 metre track with 3 markers 1 at 30 metres 1 at 60 and 1 at 100 etc .Race your mate to 30 metre back then to 60 back then to 100 back all 3 etc .It works agility as well .You have to turn fast as f--k if you want to win .Just use your imagination man so it benefits your mates sprinting and your boxing .Sprint backwards as well man .

 

Quality mate :good Never seen your posts when I posted the last one .

 

My team and I do sprints up a hill.
So we do a full sprint until we reach the top, which takes us roughly 30 seconds.
At this point we are gasping for air.
Then we walk down while recovering and catching our breath, which takes about 1 minute.
Then we repeat the uphill sprint again.
We do this about 6 times. Then repeat up a flight of stairs 4 times.

I'm no expert, but from personal experience, nothing gets me in better anaerobic shape for a fight than this one exercise alone. You are basically forced to recover fast...or else.
The difference after a week of this exercise is immediately noticeable in the ring.

So my vote goes to anaerobic conditioning. Anything you do that involves running will absolutely build strength in your legs, but I consider that to be a secondary benefit.

 

You may want to research Tabata intervals a little further before using them. They produce very quick results, but those results last 3 weeks and research suggests they slow/stop shortly afterwards. In addition, training with these for extended periods of time have shown that it raises the likelihood of overtraining, performance on the Tabatas themselves, and other negative outcomes. Look at some studies over several months comparing moderate levels of intensity exercise vs. Tabatas for the duration of the studies.

Unfortunately, another less talked about thing is that intense type of interval training such as this done over many weeks can have detrimental effects on moods, specifically dopamine in the brain.

Of course sprints can be helpful if used properly and scheduled properly into the training week. What you have to remember is what is the dominant energy system that you are attempting to target in doing these sprints?

For a sport such as boxing, even amateur with shorter rounds, most energy expenditure charts show that 70% of energy used falls below anaerobic threshold. Of the 30% above AT, the athlete has much slower work output because the body is shifting to the anaerobic-lactic system, which cannot sustain energy for long at all. Therefore, the predominant energy system is the aerobic energy system. To curtail intervals for an aerobic based sport such as boxing, an 8 to 10 second sprint(hills would be ideal) followed by a rest or active recovery(walk/slow jog) period where the heart rate drops to 130-140 beats per minute would be ideal. Given this, the heart rate should not raise above anaerobic threshold. If one were to train intervals in this manner, the benefits would be better oxidative properties and efficiencies of the Type II(fast twitch fibers) as well as of course better cardiac efficiency. While the Type II fibers do not have the oxidative capabilities of the Type I fibers, they can be trained to be more oxidative to an extent.

 

Once a week mate - intervals, plus one long run. My recommendation dude

 

Probably not. But Having the ability to thrash 10 cylinders will definitely help keep it all together it also gives you what you might need to have a qualitive effect on your progression

 

I disagree with a bit of this. The anaerobic lactate/glycolysis system can be the dominant energy system for up to 120 seconds. That is the dominant energy system of amateur boxing. The aerobic system supports recovery between punches and rounds. In a boxing match your blood lactate levels are very high and your heart rate will be in the 170-200Bpm range. You need to mimic that intensity in training. Using an 8-10 second sprint will primarily target the ATP-PC system and letting the heart rate drop that much in between will provide some benefits to the aerobic system. There is a difference between type IIb fibres and type IIa fibres, type IIa fibres are developed by longer duration anaerobic work. Boxing is 70% anaerobic, 30% aerobic they say.
Say you fire a quick combination and move out, you've used your ATP-PC system, if you need to fire off another combination again soon you're moving into the anaerobic glycolysis system more and the lactic acid builds up. You need to be able to tolerate that lactic acid because your fight is going to be at that intensity. You develop that energy system and you can sustain higher intensities in a fight.
Which is why if I was recommending sprint intervals I'd make sure they have short breaks in between work sets. Or use 400 metre sprint intervals. Aerobic fitness is important for recovery but that comes as a by product of more intense work anyway. You wouldn't want to do intense intervals more than 2-3 times a week max, as you mentioned they are tough on your body/mind.
I'm curious as to how you came to the opinion of boxing being an aerobic sport, 11 minute duration with blood lactate levels at 10mmo/L + and heart rates up to 200bpm, I don't understand how you reached that conclusion.... A 3 minute round isn't the same as a 3 minute run, a 3 minute round of boxing uses intermittent bursts of energy, a 3 minute run is consistent.

 

Dealt with, thanks for your reply and also giving some rationale for your post. :good

I typed a super long post answering my rationale and it completely kicked me off before I could send itbecause the computer logged me off somehow. Therefore let me summarize because now I'm tired.

First, let me refer you to a seminar given by Joel Jamieson. The slide show of the seminar is on his website www.8weeksout.com. It is called "A New Perspective on Energy Systems." It shows how predominant the aerobic energy system is in exercise. Even during an 800m run, with a duration under 2:00min, the aerobic system contributes 66% of the energy and the anaerobic 34%. In the 200m at 22 sec, 71% from anaerobic and 29% aerobic. I encourage anyone to look at this presentation as this is quite different from what research even from 5-10 years ago suggests. I can't remember if he discusses it in the presentation but having a functional working knowledge of Anaerobic Threshold as it pertains to sports is necessary to understanding the concepts. Anyways, Joel Jamieson and Lyle McDonald www.bodyrecomposition.com. have some of the best understanding of sports performance and helps a simpleton like me understand the role of energy pathways in sports. Lyle also posts on the 8weeksout.com forum often. I think that the presentation should answer the last question you proposed more fully, but hopefully the statistics illustrate to a small degree my thoughts.

In addition, modern research shows that lactic acid is not what is responsible for the fatigue burning felt, and although the exact mechanisms for muscular fatigue is not fully understood(some scientists say hydrogen ions are responsible), it is pretty clear that "lactic acid" as a substance doesn't really exist in the body for any real meaningful levels.

While a better developed anaerobic lactic system(capacity and power) can help an individual throw more punches/kicks/whatever in flurries, the nature of the Anaerobic Lactic system has a capacity to provide ATP just over a minute or so, breaking down blood sugars/glycogen for a minute before leading to fatigue.

I strongly but respectfully disagree with the idea that one needs to mimic a certain intensity in training to get results. There is much research showing various benefits of LSD training and cardiac adaptations that happen that simply do not happen when the heart rate goes above 150bpm. One of these adaptations is how much blood the heart can pump with each beat. In addition, there are certain methods to increase greater oxygen utilization and increased endurance in the fast twitch fibers, some that increase power output at anaerobic threshold(subsequently called threshold training), as well others that increases mitochondria(less fatigue at higher heart rates). Another thing that is almost impossible is to sustain a heart rate between 170-200bpm for any length of time. MOST anaerobic thresholds are not in the 170s and if their heart rate went into the range you described for any sustained period of time, you would have two fighters with some very gassed fighters who would be leaning on each other.

I hope this post came across in a manner as it is intended, which is to be respectful. I just want to share what I truly believe to be the best information on this matter. As I said, please look at the website and slides as they clear up a lot of misconceptions and backdated research.

 

Well, from my personal subjective experience, the only road work I ever did was interval sprinting type stuff (running or jump rope). As a result my matches look exactly like that: 30 seconds of furious activity, 15 seconds of recovery on defense or back tracking, 30 seconds of furious activity, etc. Against amatuers I found that you really don't need to be running miles and miles or even necessarily have to be able to if you could start explosively and put furious pressure on them with speed and power to hurt them right away.

For the amateurs, I think sprinting is ideal because you don't have much time. If you can hit 3 thirty second furious spurts per round sprint style you have a good chance of winning that round over the "slow and steady" type distance runner. Pro is a bit different.

I have a feeling in the pros it would make you like Zab Judah, though - a fast front runner.

 

Out of curiousity, I read a fair amount of sports science journals, a bunch of blogs etc (often feels like a mistake with the endlessly contradicting views). I have read on a number of occasions that hard intervals should be saved for before an event rather than used in training all of the time - kind of cycled like people do with supplements.

I'm interested because right now for roadwork I do basically what you've posted there:

1 session of sprints - I start by doing the full length of an alley near my house twice, then use the lamp posts as progressively smaller markers for a total of about 8 sprints with the time spent walking back (takes about a minute) as rest.

1 session of intervals - I use a relatively hilly road near me, set a timer for 2 minutes and run hard for that 2 minutes, throwing a few flat out sprints intermittently sort of like fartlek training, 30 seconds rest and then go again 6 times.

1 long run at a slow pace.

Should I change this up or am I putting too much stock in articles that are based upon studies on professional athletes who train at a far higher intensity than myself?

Cheers.

 

That doesn't demonstrate anything to be honest. My point was that a 3 minute boxing round is nothing like a 3 minute run of any sort. Running is a linear activity, boxing is 3 minutes of intermittent work. Running at a certain intensity is adding and adding. Boxing is adding, then subtracting then adding again if you get what I mean.
I don't know where you got the idea that those adaptations don't happen at higher intensities, increased stroke volume can only be increased to any significant extent by those higher intensities. The increased mitochondria is perhaps the only training adaptation that is best targeted by aerobic lipolysis training but that doesn't equate to increased endurance in boxing because it's a peripheral adaptation that is associated with slow twitch fibres. I don't see boxing matches going for three hours with lots of slow and weak punches being thrown so until that it happens it's neither here nor there.
It's a matter of sports specificity, it's 101 that you train the energy system your sport uses. There is no training that isn't using all the energy systems simultaneously, it's just a matter of proportions.
Fatigue is pretty well understood, lactic acid is a substrate to produce ATP so it is helpful actually, it's the build up of hydrogen ions which lowers the ph in the blood and muscles causing acidity, that interferes with the release of calcium which stops muscles contracting properly. It's a lot more complicated than that and central factors can be involved as well (neurotransmitters etc.).
Studies on international amateurs show that they do tolerate those intensities during a boxing match, 11 minutes isn't a long time. They are getting their heart rates up that high, above their anaerobic thresholds then they drop back below, a well developed aerobic system is still needed for faster recovery in breaks between rounds. No boxer is doing it easy while they are fighting, it's not a comfortable sport. You can desensitise your body to the acidity and increase that anaerobic threshold but you are meant to have large build ups of lactic acid after every bout. That's the sport, it's anaerobic in nature so you have that build up of lactic acid. You don't train for a weightlifting competition by riding your bicycle for 2 hours, that's what sports specificity is.
When your heart rate drops down a bit during your breaks between combinations of punches or between sprint intervals that's your aerobic training right there, there's no need for long runs. Those repeat, high intensity efforts develop the type IIa fibres and condition your body to deal with the inevitable lactic acid build up more efficiently.