Rocky Marciano training regiment

So what was the purpose of running 6-7 miles everyday? He’s not training for the Olympic marathon or 10,000m. All his movements in a fight will be in a small square ring. Long distance runners runners have great stamina and endurance but that doesn’t mean they would automatically have the stamina and endurance to fight nonstop for 12 or 15 rounds in a boxing ring? Seems like Rocky was overdoing it with the running especially when close to a fight.

 

Most great fighters run long distances

 

Yep, Rocky was doing stamina and endurance wrong…

Typical clueless Marciano

 

A fool. Dnwtfhwd! Running & walking miles for stamina. Stupid. Training for long periods. The ideas of a charleton. All he needed to do was like todays fighters. PUMP IRON AND LOTS OF IT. **** stamina and agility. Look like Stallone or Hulk Hogan or these current heavies. No stamina power agility etc. But boy look at those glistening muscles.

 

Wow. The SINGLE STUPIDEST MOST UNBOXING INFORMED LINE I EVER READ. NO USE TALKING ANY MORE. C'mon man, you're better than that. That's something Cornpop would say.

 

What Rocky did worked for him, obviously. That doesn't necessarily mean it would work for other boxers. In fact, I suspect it wouldn't for the vast majority of them.

 

I suspect it didn’t work for him either as he probably didn’t perform these legendary Olympian feats.

 

It is so hard to over train. Alot of people always use it.

 

I know. What I’m saying is timing. Important timing. He would have to get in that ring in absolutely perfect condition. He did. If he did all that training they say he did it would be fine to be in great physical condition for an every day person but surely he’d be burned out in the later stages of a fifteen round fight.

 

No I agree with you. I think if he did all of that conditioning his body will eventually adapt to it.
Now as he got older his body would be prone to breaking down.

 

I think maximum 16 miles of road work is a lot but not too incredible. If you wanna be capable to generate relentless attacks for 15 rounds in boxing you really need an absolute outstanding condition.
I know a few fit recreational athletes or soccer players, and I think that running over 2 hours wouldn't be such a big problem for them. Of course it is a difference whether you just run as much once or every day, but Marciano wasn't just any amateur athlete either.
I even knew a triathlete once. He was really incredibly fit, although he was only a semi-professional athlete because he still had another job. He was in the top 20 at the Ironman in Hawaii once (over 15 years ago). I guess 16 miles would be just peanuts or an easy warm up for him.
For example Jan Frodeno, currently the best triathlete in the world, runs over 110 kilometers per week, swims over 25 kilometers per week, rides a bike around 600 kilometers per week + additional strength training.

After all, Rocky Marciano was also known for his outstanding physical condition. It was one of his biggest strength. He was perhaps one of the fittest athletes on the planet in his day. Of course I don't mean in any specific sport discipline, but in terms of the overall constitution. I once read that he was almost obsessed with sports since his youth and often trained to the point of absolute exhaustion. In addition, there is no better endurance/cardio training than running in the fresh air (especially in Marciano's time). He probably also rested a few days before his fights.
I doubt though, that much heavier heavyweights (Andy Ruiz, Chris Arreola...) can run as much.

On the other hand, I once read in the Joe Louis biography that he ran only five kilometers every morning. Then he had shadowboxing and sparring, but always generous breaks in between. Wladimir Klitschko once said that he doesn't run at all. Running trains other muscle groups, is exhausting and doesn't work for him.
Maybe there are just individual differences. If it worked for Rocky I think it wasn't too much.

BTW, recently I started reading his biography "Unbeaten" by Mike Stanton, which so far is excellent and highly recommended. But I'm still at the beginning and will probably be busy with it for quite a while, as I'm not a native speaker and don't have that much time to read. Maybe there is also something written about his workout.

 

I wonder if Marciano ever did sprinting? I know even as far back as Fitz' era, sprinting was incorporated into some training regimes.

Roadwork obviously is important. But as said already, maybe not suited to every athlete. Can you imagine a Sam Peter pounding the tarmac? The strain on his joints must be quite significant. I know Tyson Fury hits the road, though he probably looks like a Buffalo wading in mud.

Rocky used to spar a little over 200 rounds for his fights. Yet, for Archie Moore, he sparred only 88 sounds. Rock said he never felt fresher or stronger. Probably at that stage, he didn't need as many rounds of sparring anymore. Interesting to note, nevertheless.

 

Here are some contemporary quotes regarding Marciano's training...

He ran 3-5 miles per day and ate plenty of food. His big workout apparently lasted around 90 minutes (from 3-4:30).


from Harold Kaese, “In a Game That’s Noted for Its Punks, Phoneys, Rocky Stands for Class, Boston Globe (Sept. 20, 1952), p.7


“[…] Marciano is satisfied if he has a few close friends and a pantry near him.

He is eating all the way, although Al Colombo, a pal, thinks Rocky’s knife-and-fork exercises have been exaggerated.

“He’s over-rated,” said Colombo, adding alertly, I mean as an eater, not a fighter.”

Colombo’s revelation that Marciano does not eat eight lamb chops for breakfast but only two or three was sworn to by Alfred Renault, the camp’s chef. […]

Marciano, who only skipped rope today, said he was not nervous, “only a little tense like I always am before a fight.” This he admitted, was his big opportunity and concluded, “I don’t intend to lose it.”

Each day for a month, Marciano has got up at 7 a.m. He then has a cup of tea (sugar and lemon) and usually runs between three and five miles.

At 8:30, it is a breakfast of fruit, cereal, two soft-boiled eggs, lamb chops, toast, and more tea.

He walks and naps until noon, when he has some tea.

Then he naps until his big workout at 3 p.m. After 4:30 he naps until dinner time at 5:30; after which he walks, plays ping pong, reads, or listens to the radio. At 8:30 he may have an apple or pear, and goes to bed.

According to Reinault, the meat is usually steak or roast beef—rare. Lamb, veal, and a little chicken for variety. Baked potatoes, green vegetables, and plenty of salads with oil and vinegar dressing. Oh yes—tea.

No Italian foods. No pork. No pastry. No ice cream.

Reinault, who came to this country from Germany in 1923, also cooked here for Joey Maxim before the Robinson fight. The difference he said, was “Maxim had to lose weight, so he ate less and ran more than this fellow.”

Marciano has not been training for a race. He wants to win only one letter against Walcott—in boxing, not track.”

 

Following details are culled from an article by Pete Couros who hung with Marciano during his camp before the second Charles fight. This was printed in the Omaha Herald on June 13 but took place at least one month before.

7AM - 6 miles run completed in over an hour. (That is pretty damn slow for folks who don't know.)

Hot tea, 5 eggs, dry cereal, lamb chops, toasted rolls

With that tortuous work out of the way, Time to nap until 3PM!

The next takes place over one hour:

5 minutes shadowboxing.
3 rounds sparring, 1 round with a different partner.
Heavybag work

Eat Some Steak!

Ping-Pong with Charley!

TV time!

9:30... Time for more sleep.

That is simply inhuman. No mere mortal could ever finish a day of such a regimen let alone a complete training camp.