Gentlemen,

I put my first post on this board about 5 months ago when I was just starting out. Now I have my first fight - a white collar amateur bout - in April.

Just wondered what your thoughts are on alternatives to roadwork. I'm 28 now, but between ages 23-26 I had serious back problems (herniated discs, resulting in 2 rounds of surgery - complete nightmare),and basically I don't run because it's heavy going on the back.

Instead I do pretty intense interval training on a cross trainer machine - usually 30 - 35 mins, which equates to about 2km in distance (or, in terms of calories consumed, between 800 - 1000, depending on the intensity). I've been doing this 5 times a week, in addition to all the other boxing training, weight training and sparring. My weight has come down quite a bit and my cardio fitness seems to be good for my weight (105KG) - I seem to be fitter than a lot of the lighter guys at my gym.

But am I kidding myself thinking that this is as good as jogging for the cardio fitness? Will this end up being an obstacle to me going much further in boxing than novice amateur? It's maybe less of an issue at heavyweight, but could be more of a problem as I'm aiming to get to cruiser - I'm only 6', which isn't that big for a HW so I'm aiming to drop a division.

Thanks guys.

Swimming. I can't stress it enough.

Swimming is also something I've done quite intensively, and lost a ton of weight doing it, but I switched to the cross trainer because I found the cross trainer to be a harder, sweatier work out.

i might have to disagree even though i dont swim very often. could just be my own opinion but any training outside of the water unless your limiting your oxygen intake to intensify your bodies thirst for oxygen then i believe youll benefit more from swimming because you have to control your breather unless you wanna chug some water into your lunges. when i do my cardio/conditioning i usually use a double mouthpiece from everlast that has a little hole to breath out of to limit my oxygen intake. know some friends that train with a gas mask which doesnt sound fun at all. ive always believed that if im not feeling the cardio pain then im not working hard enough because it has never been an appealing style to fight at a slow pace for me when i spar. goodluck

do you box?? if so up the rounds you're sparring.

Thanks guys. I spar two or three times a week. When it's supervised, the coach usually limits it to about 6 rounds. If unsupervised, I can happily go 12 rounds (3 mins rounds). Like I said, my cardio isn't bad at all for a heavy.

The message I'm getting is that it's OK to substitute running with other forms of cardio (x-trainer, swimming, whatever), so long as you're putting yourself through hell with it.

The idea of training with gum shield is interesting - I'll try that.

The idea of training with gum shield is interesting - I'll try that.

yeah i got the idea from an MMA fighter named Wanderlei Silva. His conditioning is nuts. he has his nose taped off and breathes through a snorkel and does his cardio/conditioning. i did my complex condition for the first time with the gum shield and i had a headache for 3 hours after because of oxygen deprivation. wasnt fun but still very challenging with my heart rate at 180-200+bpm for 15-20 minutes straight and my body screaming for oxygen it couldnt get hah. heres a video of his training below.

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take care on the fight ,....










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A lot of folks on boxing forums have hate for the elliptical crosstrainer.
I think it's because they're too used to hearing peoples' excuses why the don't want to run, so they don't have patience for people who actually CAN'T do roadwork regularly.

The elliptical crosstrainer is how I get my cardio in as well - gimp leg keeps me from running.
The only real difference between elliptical crosstrainer and running is that you replace the jarring of your foot striking the ground with the less-damaging but more exhausting resistance of the machine.
It's like an aerodyne bike, but harder because you're not sitting.
MMA fighter Frank Shamrock was one of the first to admit doing it instead of roadwork and his cardio's famous for being off the charts.

Just make sure you actually use some resistance when you're going for distance and crank it up for the occasional sprint session.

high intensity interval training can do the trick.

Thanks guys. I spar two or three times a week. When it's supervised, the coach usually limits it to about 6 rounds. If unsupervised, I can happily go 12 rounds (3 mins rounds). Like I said, my cardio isn't bad at all for a heavy.

The message I'm getting is that it's OK to substitute running with other forms of cardio (x-trainer, swimming, whatever), so long as you're putting yourself through hell with it.

The idea of training with gum shield is interesting - I'll try that.

Dumb idea, Rocky.

MMA fighter Frank Shamrock was one of the first to admit doing it instead of roadwork and his cardio's famous for being off the charts.


It's not the item, its how you use it.

Im pretty sure the woman sitting next to me has never used one, shes been here breathing 1 foot from my ear like she just ran here for about 15 minutes and Im close to ***** slapping her. Breath Fing normal dammit! /rant

Gentlemen,

I put my first post on this board about 5 months ago when I was just starting out. Now I have my first fight - a white collar amateur bout - in April.

Just wondered what your thoughts are on alternatives to roadwork. I'm 28 now, but between ages 23-26 I had serious back problems (herniated discs, resulting in 2 rounds of surgery - complete nightmare),and basically I don't run because it's heavy going on the back.

Instead I do pretty intense interval training on a cross trainer machine - usually 30 - 35 mins, which equates to about 2km in distance (or, in terms of calories consumed, between 800 - 1000, depending on the intensity). I've been doing this 5 times a week, in addition to all the other boxing training, weight training and sparring. My weight has come down quite a bit and my cardio fitness seems to be good for my weight (105KG) - I seem to be fitter than a lot of the lighter guys at my gym.

But am I kidding myself thinking that this is as good as jogging for the cardio fitness? Will this end up being an obstacle to me going much further in boxing than novice amateur? It's maybe less of an issue at heavyweight, but could be more of a problem as I'm aiming to get to cruiser - I'm only 6', which isn't that big for a HW so I'm aiming to drop a division.

Thanks guys.

The cross trainer is very good but I think you could be pushing yourself more. 2km in 30-35 mins isn't very far. It's just under 1.5 miles. You should be aiming for 3 miles in 30mins. I know how hard it is, I'm a Super Heavyweight too weighing in at 118kg. What level are you putting the cross trainer on?

The cross trainer is very good but I think you could be pushing yourself more. 2km in 30-35 mins isn't very far. It's just under 1.5 miles. You should be aiming for 3 miles in 30mins. I know how hard it is, I'm a Super Heavyweight too weighing in at 118kg. What level are you putting the cross trainer on?

The mileage on those crosstrainers is bogus - it's nowhere near an accurate distance and doesn't reflect how long you're on or how many revolutions you've had.

I say worry more about revolutions per minute.

On a cybex elliptical crosstrainer, you should be going over 100 rpm when it's on a light setting, and around 70 when it's on a difficult setting. High setting on cybex is 60~75% resistance, long distance I'll set it around 50%. You also benefit more from a level 5 to 7 incline.

On a Lifefitness elliptical crosstrainer, even on a high setting your rpms really shouldn't dip below 50 unless it's a warm up/cool down interval. High setting
on most is 17~19 out of 20, with a warm up & distance setting of 15. On the machines with a max of 23, 18~20 - any more and the motors can burn out; I'm speaking from experience. Warm up & distance for those is okay around 16.

Thanks for the comments.

Regarding the distance: I know 2K isn't much, and I question the accuracy of that reading. What I focus on more is (i) calories burnt, (ii) revolutions per min, and (iii) total time on the machine.

In terms of calories, on a good day I'll burn 1000 in 32-35 mins. As I said, I find that this works out roughly 2K in distance. I am exhausted by the end. I've recently cranked up my training and have been doing this 3-4 times a week on top of boxing and weight training and sparring. I've lost quite a bit of weight and am now 105KG (just over a year ago I was 137KG), aiming to get down to the cruiser limit.

I've taken a major leap forward by changing my x-trainer work out by doing interval training: 30 seconds on, 1 minute moderate pace. I've progressed in the past few weeks and increased it to 35 seconds on, 55 moderate, but after 25 seconds of the "rest" period, I have to get the machine back up to over 100RMP. This results in a much tougher work out and a high rate of calorie burn. During the 30 second on, the machine is going at 170RPM and no less than 160RPM, but I assume different machines give different readings. I always do my workouts on the heardest resistance settings available.

I'm seeing the cardio benefits from the x-trainer transfer over to other activities: firstly, in sparring I find I'm fitter than lighter guys I often end up with (due to lack of heavies in my gym), secondly, on the weekend I jumped on a row machine and did 2K in 7.35 which I'm told is a respectable time.

Sorry for the anal detail - it's good to hear that there are others out there who use the x-trainer. I was aware of prejudicies against them from the boxing purists, particularly if people are using them as a way to get out of roadwork, but for someone who can't do roadwork, I'm getting a lot out of them.

Sounds like you're doing awesome! :)
When I'm keeping up with my crosstrainer workouts, I really don't get gassed in sparring by anybody, boxing or muay thai.