Jim Jeffries "drying out" before the Jack Johnson fight

I'm not saying these guys walked around chugging beer during training. And I'm not saying NO ONE drank water.

I'm just saying water was dangerous at the time so they drank other things. And eliminating alcohol entirely (drying out), improved their balance and speed and timing, because that's what alcohol impairs. So it only made sense.

Water doesn't impair speed or timing. It never did. Nobody ever thought it did.

The term "drying out" back then referring to abstaining from alcohol, not water, because that's what "drying out" means - abstaining from alcohol.

That' all.

I don't want to argue this. That's what it means. If you don't choose to believe it, that's on you.

 

Don't be an idiot.

"A little water with lemon juice." Lemon juice helps you cut weight. I don't know how, but it does. I drank lemon juice when I boxed.

Again. I didn't say nobody drank water. But pointing out one guy who drank water mixed with lemon juice doesn't prove water was the STAPLE OF THE DIET.

It wasn't. Especially in the DESERT. And RENO was in the desert.

"Drying out" meant not drinking alcohol. Still does. Look it up.

Jesus.

Why are we even arguing this? That's what it means. Sorry if it didn't register in your brain until yesterday, but that's what it means.

 

YES!!!!!!!!!

Do you think LEMONS and WATER were easier to find in the Reno desert in 1910 than BEER?

Good Lord. How many bars were in Reno? How many LEMONADE STANDS do you think there were? I missed the article where Jeffries brought cases of Lemons with him to the Reno desert. Be sure to post ALL THOSE articles to.

While doing that, point me to any definition of "drying out" where it means "abstaining from WATERED DOWN LEMON JUICE."

I'm done.

Believe what you want.

If you thought the term "drying out" in 1910 meant abstaining from drinking watered down lemon juice ... you're wrong.

Seriously, you're just arguing for the sake of arguing now.

 

I think the key words are a little cool water. He does not mention a lot of water. Also, I think this was his training for the Fitzsimmons fight, not the Johnson fight.

 

NO, that's how YOU interpreted it because you were thinking of "Drying out" in terms of water.

Drying out in 1910 meant ABSTAINING FROM ALCOHOL.

Not drinking alcohol before a fight HELPED YOU with your timing and balance and everything else.

WHICH MAKES TOTAL SENSE ... because that's what alcohol impairs.

You don't have to wonder "why they thought drying out helped" if you knew what the term drying out ACTUALLY MEANT when they said it!!!!

Bye.

 

I find myself agreeing with a lot of your posts ,but not this time Mate.We know Jeffries and Johnson both cut their WATER intake down to a minimum for this fight.We know this because they both expressly said so in statements to the press.Statements that Adam Pollack diligently tracked down and included in his biographies of both men.
We know Louis did the same for the Conn fight ,again because he specifically said so in his autobiography,there is no talk of cutting out alcohol ,just of limiting water intake to a bare minimum.I don't know why you are so fixated on this ,but I'm afraid I must go against your opinion here.

 

I’m not sure your right but it makes far more sense and is a very interesting argument for sure. I think there is a lot to this point. I cannot imagine men fighting dehydrated.

 

Weirdest thing I've read about the "drying out process" is Jeffries had to stop having baths for the last few days of training. Presumably on the grounds that he might soak up the water like a sponge.

 

He used to siphon it up through his sphincter! They had to cork him.

 

Here's one for you @McGrain

Ray Arcel dropped almost 40 pounds off Charley Phil ********* getting him to the bantam title. He had 3 months to drop him from 155 to 118.

He ran, sparred and walked 10 miles a day. He put him on an extreme diet that included limiting water intake. Arcel slept in the same room so he didn't cheat and lost heaps of weight himself.

He had him so dried out and parched he had to let him gargle water to cool his throat and he actually watched closely to make sure he didn't swallow any. At night he gave him a couple of spoons of calf jelly to cool his throat. Apparently it isn't fattening.

He says it didn't appear to affect his health, only his temper.

Arcel said taking weight off a fighter is generally bad (with a lot depending on the build of the man) and an art.

 

Jeffries did not take care of his body. The press said he was red as an Indian from the amount of time he spent in the sun. His training camp was run by Corbett. It was a disaster outside of him doing his own exercises.

He would have been much better off hiring the people he worked with in the past and getting younger sparring partners.

 

Its water. One can argue there is some water in beer, but I think most of us get it.

 

There was a reality TV show in the 70's where 15 people lived in iron age conditions for a year, I don't believe any got really sick other than an infected cut, and they drank untreated water from a well.

For the vast majority of human history people survived drinking untreated water, the problem comes about when you have crowded cities, and the water gets really polluted.