What type of weight lifting should I do for boxing?

weights should be done no more than 3 times a week, i do 2 days a week at the moment but am gonna cut it down to just 1 day

weights should be done with the goal to increase power and strenght not to increase muscle mass or hypertrophy training as its known, an increase in muscle mass will ultimately lead to a decrease in stamina, speed, coordination, agility and mobility, hypertrophy training consists of a bodybuilders routine which is 6 to 12 reps on each exercise and strenght and power training consists of 1 to 5 reps range so never do more than 5 reps per set, anymore than 5 and you are tearing your muscle fibres too much which will then repair and grow back bigger

limit your exercises to ones that concentrate on full body movements or that will be beneficiary to boxing
exercises such as

deadlift
clean
clean and jerk
snatch
dumbell snatch
squats
lunges
bench press

there is no point doing exercises that only focus on one muscle group such as your biceps or forearms, when throwing a punch its a full body movement so try mimic this with your weights

a big argument for this type of low rep strenght training is that because the reps are low the weight is high (which it should be) you can only do these exercises at a slow pace which will in turn diminish your speed as your muscles will become used to operating at this slow speed, so to develop explosive speed with this strenght do plyometric exercises that mimic the weights exercises directly after set

examples include

weights squats followed directly by squat jumps
deadlift followed by med ball slams
bench press followed by press ups with claps
clean and jerk followed by pull ups with claps

the exercises such as clean, clean and jerk and the snatch require so much explosiveness power that your body has to complete the exercise at a high pace and most of the time a plyo exercise is not needed

based on personal experience and amateur boxing clean and jerk, clean and snatch's are my best recommendation, however unless you have a weight lifting background i would stringly advise you seek one on one help to teach you these exercises as learning them on your own is a big no no for the majority of people, if these exercises are performed wrong they can be very harmful to your knees and vertebral column

research plyometrics too if you consider them as they are also extremely stressful on your tendons, and should only be done 2 to 3 times per week and should never be completed past the near point of failure

to bypass all of these problems with weights and plyo's to increase strenght and power the best way proven is by using the medicine ball, cheap to buy and if you have a big area to throw around a ball its the best way to condition your body for strenght and power and you can mimic all the punches in boxing into medicine ball exercises

 

The above advice is very good, but I wouldn't personally advocate it at this stage in his development. Before undertaking any form of plyometric training, you need a good 'base level' of strength, you also need to ensure that tendons, ligaments, joints and such like can handle these demands. If we look back to an earlier post, Wizard suggests that he is already feeling pain in certain areas during his workouts - this is a warning to stop training - this could be for several reasons.

Wizard, by all means aim to spend 4 or 5 days in the gym every week, and sure, 2 or 3 days weight training won't do a seasoned athlete any harm provided there are sufficient rest periods, but you are simply not ready for this yet... not by a long shot - the pain in your thighs and hips tell us this!

Like I said earlier, think quality, not quantity. Do you think that you will perfect your technique if you train it when your muscles are tired? Do you think that you will get the best out of a strength workout when you have little energy from the previous conditioning work? Do you think that you will get the full benefit of your run if your legs are cramping up? In case you hadn't guessed, the answer to all of these questions is no.

You my friend, need to go right back and start from a blank page. Never mind suggesting that "i've been told this exercise is good", or " i've been told I have to lift weights 3 days per week" etc. Let me tell you something, one of my fighters is in the top 5 amateurs in the uk in his weight class - he never does a specific strength workout. We do some bodyweight calisthenics, lots of stretching and lots of boxing specific conditioning - this lad has had over 120 fights, and he's won over 100 of them - so no one can tell me that "you need to lift 3 times per week".

You need to tailor your training, to your current ability, and target it to your specific goals. Not trying to crap on you, but your current ability can't cope with your current training protocols, so don't be looking to add to your workload, look to prepare your body for the workload that you are aiming for.

 

You haven't listened to any of the suggestions previously given to you. Why are you not eating for 4 hours in a row? Do you think people around everyone else here have good diets? :huh

You are still eating garbage, and you're still surprised that your energy levels drop rapidly. If you don't want to believe what we told you, fine. Stop asking or listen to what people tell you, the choice is yours. Eat your candy and sugar and **** up your tendons overtraining, despite the top level advice you got from people like Bodi, scrap and others.

You ask for advice and then completely ignore it, which is annoying. Many people will simply stop giving you advice and I can't blame them.

 

As regards most things the sense of feel is the Bodys Defence system major player and early warning system of most things Sport. The problem is understanding it

 

I think his eating habits are affecting his ability to think rationally. All the good advice cannot help him anymore. :-(

Some people train professionally but eat like bums, this is an ugly equation really.

 

ok i have just read over wizards posts and seen he is a raw novice

wizard all that advice i gave was based on what i would advise guys in my club who have been fighting for 10 years plus and could have over 100 bouts

if you are experiencing pain, dont have a correct diet and have little experience in any sort of training ignore those tips i gave especially deadlift, clean snatch etc

as the guy says in the post i quoted some fighters never lift weights and i prefer not to advise weights, im cutting my weights down to 1 day a week which will concentrate on legs and nothing else, i found it detrimental after a certain amount of time, weights are best done in programs of say 6 weeks and then a 6 week lay off, what the post said above about calisthenics is very good also, this with med ball work and light plyo's i think from my own personal experience is far better than any weights

 

I think the collective advice so far in this post from pretty much every poster pretty much covers the a-z of performance enhancement, without going into the science of it all. We have spoken of diet, rest periods, preparation for training and touched on the progressions that enable an athlete to perform excercises that have the best carry over to boxing (squats, plyo's med balls, bands, cleans etc).

Wizard - you need to spend time absorbing this information, and formulate a plan with realistic, timed goals. Forget rushing in at the deep end, focus on increasing your flexibility through stretching, your health through cleaning up your diet, your body structures and conditioning through high repetition bodyweight exercise (air squats, mountain climbers, burpees, pushups, running, skipping etc). You can also look to include boxing technique work by practicing footwork and shadowboxing, even a light heavybag workout wouldn't do you any harm, but be sure to go lightly and focus on proper form.

I'd also just like to touch on what RDJ said. You need to heed the good advice that has been given or don't ask. What we don't need to hear is "I can't eat healthy because others around me don't" after you have been given solid diet advice from RDJ; likewise, I wouldn't be to impressed if you came on here next week saying that you hurt yourself squatting after running for 5 miles, skipping and 6 rounds of shadow boxing. All of the information you need is right here in front of your eyes - use it.

 

If you keep running miles before your strength training and doing technique before that you will soon be in overtraining hell. Believe me, it's not pleasant. If you need to run in your same workout or day as boxing and weight lifting, do it last. It is okay to run while fatigued, you are after all building endurance and stamina. Running also requires a much lower level of movement coordination and accuracy like boxing and strength training do, which both tire out your nervous system and decrease excitation.

 

Wizard - your logic is so far off it is laughable. You have been given the best advice that you are ever likely to come across in this thread, and a couple of others of note, yet here you are saying "I want to do this, that and the other". Fair enough, go your own way, because I for one, would rather spend my time helping people that are going to listen.

I'll give you one final piece of advice - find a good physio because you will be spending a lot more time in rehabilitation than you will in the gym.

 

wow...not too seem rude but u have just been given great advise then u come out with some crap like this which makes everyone think their advice has gone in through one ear and out the other.

 

I'm done with you boxingwizard. Future threads repeating these same questions will be locked, you're not listening anyway.

 

You should check out Kerry Keyes weight training for fighters.... I tried it and liked it alot.

 

didnt he have hatton doing stuff like leg extension and 4 sets of 10 reps