I'm 20 yrs old, and have always loved playing football, but since I didn't get scouted to play college, I've decided to redirect that enthusiasm/aggression into boxing. My weight goes up and down, but I average around 150lbs (which I think is middleweight). Having played football alot in HS I can bench press 240lbs, but I was wondering if that was enough to really compete (not professionally or anything, I'll be boxing at the local park district in Chicago), or is the bench really not that important in this sport? If not does anyone know what I should really focus on? I know one thing is cardio, I tried shadow boxing full speed for five minutes, and I only lasted 2, but what else?

a lot of boxers stay well clear of weights. how much you can bench has little impact on whether you can fight or not.

Thanks, for the advice

To answer your question 240 for a 150 lber is well above average for a boxer.

240 for a 150 lbs boxer is damn good.

I wouldn't invest too much into bulking up, if you are going seriously into boxing.

I'm 20 yrs old, and have always loved playing football, but since I didn't get scouted to play college, I've decided to redirect that enthusiasm/aggression into boxing. My weight goes up and down, but I average around 150lbs (which I think is middleweight). Having played football alot in HS I can bench press 240lbs, but I was wondering if that was enough to really compete (not professionally or anything, I'll be boxing at the local park district in Chicago), or is the bench really not that important in this sport? If not does anyone know what I should really focus on? I know one thing is cardio, I tried shadow boxing full speed for five minutes, and I only lasted 2, but what else?

yeah 240 for 150 is good.hate to brag but at that age i was doing 300 then i stopped without seeing my true limit:banana:

how much you can bench has little impact on whether you can fight or not.

What he said. Benching is not punching. A big bench will help you in a clinch, and big shoulders and a heavy chest are intimidating, but that's about where its usefulness ends in the ring.

Throwing a heavy punch in boxing is a matter of coordinating many muscles -- the punch starts in your feet and travels all the way up your legs and acoss your back, engages your abs and obliques, and transfers the power down your arm; you even have to have strong, coordinated hands to keep your fist tight and get the "snap." Now, if ALL those muscles are strong (and you've trained them to work in concert by learning how to punch properly) you will have a hell of a punch. Boxing is a lot more like ballet than it is like football. Coordination and control carry the day.

Good weighted exercises for boxing are the squat, the deadlift, and the power clean, because they chain many muscle groups together and increase your coordination and balance, and therefore improve your explosive power. (It amazed me the degree to which my punching power increased a couple of weeks after I started squatting on my non-boxing days.)

No amount of weightlifting alone will make you a good puncher. You need to train in a boxing gym with a trainer, learn your fundamentals until you can do them reflexively with good form, and work on the weak spots of your physique with weights if necessary. Your trainer will tell you if its necessary.

Welcome to hell. Good luck.

Thanks again for the feedback. But I have got one more question if anyone's willing to answer: If I stop weightlifting and go full into boxing training won't I get much weaker, or are the things incorporated in boxing traning natural strength builders? I don't mind being lanky (which I am), but I don't want to be lanky and weak to make it even worse.

Your functional strength will improve as your coordination improves; what you don't need, will go away. Boxing builds a boxer's body. You can't build a boxer's body by doing anything else.

That's all Thanks.

For some reason (and I was one of those people) people tend to make a HUGE deal out of bench press. Everybody thinks your a big shot if you can put up a lot of weight. Dont worry about if your bench drops. I have gone from benching 270-280 to probably not even 200. Boxing will build your strength in different ways. The training that goes along with it: hitting the heavy bag, push ups, sit ups, dips, pull ups, etc. will build your strength. Trust me if you train consistantly, there is NO WAY you will be weak compared to the average person.

One million pounds.....

:nonono: I did 2 plates today 8-9 reps 4 sets. And I am 162, now I feel ambarassed that some 150 pound guy can do so much more then me

To answer your question 240 for a 150 lber is well above average for a boxer.

boxers should not do weights full stop..

take for example calzaghe..

hes a prime example of old school conditioning and training..

jeff lacy was the weight lifting and nu school guy..

no weights end of story.. u saw what happened to lacy

boxers should not do weights full stop.

I hate hearing this. I completely disagree. Weight training has its place in boxing, as it does in any sport. Every sport. It is not a substitute for boxing training, and I'm not referring to bodybuilding or powerlifting training, or "bulking up." Refer to any of my other posts on the subject; I won't get into this again, here.

I hate hearing this. I think you're wrong. Weight training has its place in boxing, as it does in any sport. Every sport. It is not a substitute for boxing training, and I'm not referring to bodybuilding or powerlifting training, or "bulking up." Refer to any of my other posts on the subject; I won't get into this again, here.

Exactly why I have stayed out of the Training and Nutrition Forum. This debate is like talking to a wall in this site. You can get by with out weight training that is evident, You will not be the best your body can be without it. And you can not use resistance training too much. Building max strength out of balance with your speed and agility will disrupt the harmony you need your body to be in for a fight. So yes sir it does have it's place. Although I wouldn't put too much emphasis on your bench press.

The King has spoken the truth. You can open your eyes to it or not, it's your decision and your loss.

I dont see why lifting is a bad thing. Bulking up is whats bad news. Unfortunatly Lacy is a good example. Shannon Briggs another.

boxers should not do weights full stop..

take for example calzaghe..

hes a prime example of old school conditioning and training..

jeff lacy was the weight lifting and nu school guy..

no weights end of story.. u saw what happened to lacy

You seem to look for every chance to take a shot at Lacy.

Weight lifting is rather bull****.

For example.

I havent benched for ages, went to my buddies, and had a hard time with 160lb. So I came back the next few days, spent 30min on the bench each day. And the next week I was at 200lb withouht problems. I spent another fews days, and 230lb was fine. Then I stopped. And I never bench press.

Dunno if its only me or its liek that with everyone.


Some days I simply cant bench for ****. Another Ill bench a lot.

Another thing. Cause you can bench a lot doesnt mean you are strong.

Uhh.. if you can bench alot then yeah, you are considered strong. Most just can't hit hard.

i also use to bench a fair amount
weighted about 180 hitten about 280
but after a while i realized its not very practical unless your goin into pro lifting
its a neat trick
but thats all
it helps with nothin
try other workouts the will help ya build muscles youll use for a fight
unless ya plan on benchin a guy ina fight

Weight lifting is rather bull****.

For example.

I havent benched for ages, went to my buddies, and had a hard time with 160lb. So I came back the next few days, spent 30min on the bench each day. And the next week I was at 200lb withouht problems. I spent another fews days, and 230lb was fine. Then I stopped. And I never bench press.

Dunno if its only me or its liek that with everyone.


Some days I simply cant bench for ****. Another Ill bench a lot.

Another thing. Cause you can bench a lot doesnt mean you are strong.

For me its usually means that I ate crappy food on that day, if I cant bench for ****.

Uhh.. if you can bench alot then yeah, you are considered strong. Most just can't hit hard.

Uhh sorry mate, but I call bull**** on that.

I know a lot of guys who can bench a lot, but are useless ****es when it comes to doing a task were true strength is required. Such as lifting a very heavy TV, carrying very heavy bags, moving heavy things.

My co-worker benches 350, and there are plenty of things that he has hard time lifting, and I do not.

Strength is about you core, your legs your entire body. Not your arms.

As been said, its a neat trick, but it helps with nothing.

Weight lifting is rather bull****.

For example.

I havent benched for ages, went to my buddies, and had a hard time with 160lb. So I came back the next few days, spent 30min on the bench each day. And the next week I was at 200lb withouht problems. I spent another fews days, and 230lb was fine. Then I stopped. And I never bench press.

Dunno if its only me or its liek that with everyone.


Some days I simply cant bench for ****. Another Ill bench a lot.

Another thing. Cause you can bench a lot doesnt mean you are strong.

There are many things when it comes to weight lifting that you need to remember..

First is once you bench a certain weight, if you ever stop benching and drop beneath that mark it will be easier to reach that mark again than it was the first time....

For Example, lets say you work really hard and reach a max of like 180 lbs...and you stop benching for a year....You go back and your bench is about 135....well if you work moderately for awhile you'll reach 180 because you've already hit it....



As fraidycat said Weight lifting has its place in boxing..

Uhh sorry mate, but I call bull**** on that.

I know a lot of guys who can bench a lot, but are useless ****es when it comes to doing a task were true strength is required. Such as lifting a very heavy TV, carrying very heavy bags, moving heavy things.

My co-worker benches 350, and there are plenty of things that he has hard time lifting, and I do not.

Strength is about you core, your legs your entire body. Not your arms.

As been said, its a neat trick, but it helps with nothing.

This happens when all you do is bench...Benching does alot, but when thats all you do, you won't see results in real life...

I cant tell you how many times I used to come across guys at the gym who could bench a horse but couldnt even squat two plates.

When I see a guy who can power clean a lot, I know hes a strong guy.

I cant tell you how many times I used to come across guys at the gym who could bench a horse but couldnt even squat two plates.

When I see a guy who can power clean a lot, I know hes a strong guy.

I can't squat alot, but thats because I never do it...Mainly because I always feel like if I try and do alot I'm gunna fall over and get hurt...:nonono:

That is a very good amount. You can probably expect that that number might even drop a tad as you focus more of your time and energy on roadwork and different reflex and stamina related excersise. But 240 for a 150 lb fighter is definately way above average for a boxer. Benchpress isn't particularly important for boxing. It isn't a bad excersise to do occasionally, but you are probably going to find yourself generally refocusing your fitness goals as you continue with your training.

my squat in h.s when i was 17 was 330lbs.and thats going all the way down to the last safety bar and standing there with the weight for 1 sec.and then coming back up.the football players did it half way and there squats were like 400 to 600lbs.talk about false advertisment.ahaha

My regular squat when I was a junior was about 450 then I almost tore my hamstring. So after a long layoff from squat I could only do 300s. But I could box squat just as much as anybody because you dont have to go down as far, and my quads used to be really strong.

I honestly hated squat so much though. My knees used to hurt so much sometimes. I had to do it if I wanted to play football though.

I'm 20 yrs old, and have always loved playing football, but since I didn't get scouted to play college, I've decided to redirect that enthusiasm/aggression into boxing. My weight goes up and down, but I average around 150lbs (which I think is middleweight). Having played football alot in HS I can bench press 240lbs, but I was wondering if that was enough to really compete (not professionally or anything, I'll be boxing at the local park district in Chicago), or is the bench really not that important in this sport? If not does anyone know what I should really focus on? I know one thing is cardio, I tried shadow boxing full speed for five minutes, and I only lasted 2, but what else?

If you weigh 150 and you bench 240 that means you didn't party very much.

Chest doesn't seem to show up on many fighters besides Holyfield and Mosley.

I guess you don't need it. It may obstruct punching.

If you weigh 150 and you bench 240 that means you didn't party very much.

Chest doesn't seem to show up on many fighters besides Holyfield and Mosley.

I guess you don't need it. It may obstruct punching.

tyson,briggs.

tyson,briggs.

That's true. Those guys have chest.

And they can hit!

This kid I grew up with had no chest, huge back, huge arms, and he was knockling dudes out in streetfights with jabs and ****.

Bruce Lee had very little chest too and he could wallop.

A huge chest is really not important to punching. There was a MMA/boxer awhile back who actually was missing his right pec muscles. He looked really weird, but he could punch hard with his right hand.

Any bench press ABOVE your natural bodyweight is good.

And to reply to the questions about chest and punching power - they dont go hand in hand. Punching power is all about timing, leverage, angles and speed ... actually a mixture of all 4.

One billion pounds should win you almost any title. Have you ever heard of a world champion bragging about how much they could bench press? Go to:

www.t-nation.com