I'm looking to gain some lean muscle mass, whilst maintaining my boxing skills during a prolonged off-season from fighting. Any advice on training and diet would be appreciated. I'm aware of the argument that excessive muscle mass slows fighters down, but I only intend to increase muscle mass within a small bracket. I'm about 5"9 and have fought at 66/67kg in the past (which I felt was too light). The guys I fought were actually a division heavier than me and one of them was too divisions heavier, but I felt comfortable, so I think it's time to put on some weight and fight somewhere between 68-70kg (a more natural weight for me).
Keep eating healthy foods, but more than you do now. Every day shadowbox, do roadwork, calisthenics and lift light weights high reps every other day. Listen to your body and rest whenever absolutely necessary. The more/harder you train the more you eat. Sleep alot as this is when most of the muscle repairing takes place. If you have any light dumbbells lying around, shadowbox with them.
I'm also 5"9' and when I was training I was advised that middleweight is the optimum weight or ceiling for that height, as nowadays guys are fighting taller and thinner, - I wanted to fight at 79.3 Kg, but the traditional optimum height of a LHW is 6"2', so unless you have exceptional ability enabling you to overcome the height and reach deficit I think MW is a good move. Most MW have an average height between 5"7-6"0'. It also depends on whether you're fighting as an amateur or professional. I only have experience as an amateur, so I hope this helps. In amateur boxing, there is more emphasis on offence and points scoring with little to no recognition towards a defensive style. So: Fitness and conditioning trumps technique in amateur boxing. I have had experience in amateur boxing and found what improved my speed, conditioning and lean muscle was, surprisingly, sprint work. My trainer had passed on to me a version of a technique that originated from the Cuban amateur system. The way it works is after warming up, do 1x200 metre sprint followed immediately by 3 min intense shadow boxing. after 20-30 seconds rest, do 1x150-metre sprint followed by 2:30 of intense shadow boxing. Repeat with every rep decreasing by 50 metres and 30 seconds until you reach 50 metres and 1:00 of shadow boxing. This routine ought to only last not much longer than 20 minutes, and obviously, make adjustments according to your body's intuition. This routine improved my speed and stamina incredibly in a very short time. My advice regarding diet would be to consult a professional sports nutritionist, even if for only one consultation, as everybody has a different metabolism, genetic make-up, etc. You would probably agree that nearly everybody has an authoritative opinion on nutrition based on THEIR personal experience. I tried to keep my philosophy around food as simple as possible, otherwise, I'd open myself up to becoming overwhelmed, over-informed and ultimately confused and conflicted.
Do it bro. Im 6'3 and a jacked 227lbs at 14-15% body fat. I fight under 201 in the amateurs because those mother****ers are 3 inches taller than me and often have 40lbs weight advantages. I rehydrate up to about 213.
Wow. People still throw out this low weight high rep bull****? Complete waste of time as is doing road work and calisthenics every day. Don't shadow box with dumbells, it'll only **** up your punching mechanics and increase the chance of injury.
My usual rep range is between 5-8 on a moderate-high weight, mainly compound lifts (squat, bench. deadift, military press, row etc.) Thought road work and calisthenics is important, no? What would you do instead? I've seen GGG shadowboxing with dumbbells, but I can't say it's helped me in any way so I don't really bother with it anymore.
I believe Michael Spinks ran sprints for roadwork when he went from LHW to heavyweight for his roadwork and Evander Holyfield did barbell complexes when he was training for his fight against Mike Tyson.
Here's how you find your fighting weight. Go to the gym and train your as off. Get into the best possible condition you can. Whatever weight you are at is your fighting weight. (Ray Corso, a renowned amateur trainer on the east coast now retired, told me that and it works).
