I know Tyson and Jones did some forms of weight lifting during their boxing career and i was wondering if anyone had a link to their workout routine...thanks all!

I know Tyson and Jones did some forms of weight lifting during their boxing career and i was wondering if anyone had a link to their workout routine...thanks all!

prime tyson didnt do weights.. except for shruggs. and i think roy only did weights when looking to move up to HW.

but to anwer your question, yea shruggs for tyson, and u can find clips of what roy did in a documentary (i think its still on youtube) were they followed him and his training leading up to the ruiz fight.

dont have the exact routine, sorry.

Holyfield was notorious for weight lifting in his post Douglas fights with an emphasis on incline bench-press and front dumb-bell raises. The result of which were an awesome looking body, but dramatically lower punch outputs the rest of his career, stamina problems, and repeated shoulder injuries. Think twice about pursuing this one.

most top boxers do, nowadays

ross boxing has plenty of weight programmes etc.

tyson did more then just shrugs. tyson did squats and most likely deadlifts. as natural as his body was he built what we saw in the mainstream with hard work. i dont think there is a place that will say what he did exactly for his weight training. there is a possibility that it could be in one of cus'ds book but not 100%. jones did a pretty basic weight lifting routine. it wasnt anything geared towards boxing movements. it was mainly to promote muscle grown evenly around his body to put on raw weight instead of fat or water weight.

most do weights. the only reason not to is if you may then sturggle making weight.

of course there is sometimes too much of a good thing

Most of the greatest fighters ever never did weights so dont do them if you fight.

Most of the greatest fighters ever never did weights so dont do them if you fight.

wrong.


most if not all of the recent good fighters do some form of weight lifting..

wrong.


most if not all of the recent good fighters do some form of weight lifting..

If you actually read what i wrote then your wrong. "The Greatest fighters" Such as Duran, Robinson, Armstrong, Ali. probably 95% of the rings 100 greatest fighters never lifted weights, whatever they do after there prime shouldn't even be mentioned for example Mike Tyson, in his prime he never lifted weights and actually was a firm believer there was no good to come out of it.

If you actually read what i wrote then your wrong. "The Greatest fighters" Such as Duran, Robinson, Armstrong, Ali. probably 95% of the rings 100 greatest fighters never lifted weights, whatever they do after there prime shouldn't even be mentioned for example Mike Tyson, in his prime he never lifted weights and actually was a firm believer there was no good to come out of it.

um.. Ali lifted weights... Tyson lifted weights throughout his whole career... If you want to get recent freddie roach said manny pacquiao lifts 2-3 times a week for endurance.

Do you seriously think Tyson got 16+ inch arms from not lifting? lmao

I read somewhere that before Alton Merkerson became Roys head trainer, when he was still with his father, he was lifting pretty heavy. Most were bench presses and squats. When he joined Alton, he started lifting much lighter weights and did more reps.

Mosley was a weight lifter in high school according to Lampley, i think he said it during the Margo-Mosley bout.

people are just funny these days. they try to stay true to the olden days of training but it doesnt cut it anymore. as much as i stay true to my opinion and the true science behind weight lifting will always benefit majority of athletes i respect what others believe in even if its right or wrong. if you had 2 fighters in equal talent and skill and they did all the same drills, cardio, technique work and the same fighting styles but 1 of them did weight training as well i would put my money on that guy without a doubt. the guy who weight trains will have greater explosiveness and muscle endurance compared the guy who doesnt weight train. you cant deny the science no matter how much you believe in the old ways of training. i know that by not weight training you limit your physical ability. people complain that some guys cant weight train because they will put on too much weight. nope. youll only put on the muscle weight if your lifting the incorrect weight doing the incorrect sets and reps and your diet doesnt fit what your trying to achieve.

oh and by the way you talk about the greatest fighters of all time didnt weight train.. look at the fighters today? weight training or not i agree with what they were saying in the mma vs boxing debate that boxing is a dieing sport. i love boxing but whens the last time we ever seen anyone as great as ali, duran, tyson, jones jr, leonard, whitaker? we havent seen a devastating heavyweight since tyson. the crapko borthers are good boxers but why are all the viewers captivated by the lower weight classes. the upper weight division arent what they used to be. i love the great talent we have now like pacman, cotto and mayweather but they arent even half of what they were back in the day. when you guys find the next devastating mega boxing star please be sure to spread the word lol. long post sorry

um.. Ali lifted weights... Tyson lifted weights throughout his whole career... If you want to get recent freddie roach said manny pacquiao lifts 2-3 times a week for endurance.

Do you seriously think Tyson got 16+ inch arms from not lifting? lmao

alot of boxers from previous era's i.e. prior to the 80's had very little to do with weights. their routines would consist of roadwork, boxing exercises, and calisthenics.

now later on in the years the majority of if not all of todays boxers have incorporated weights into calisthenics and boxing exercises, especially when they want to move up in weight. incorporating weights into calisthenics and boxing exercises means that they add muscle all round the body and where it needs to be added.

calisthenics like leg raises, press-ups, chin-ups, roman sit ups etc are done with weights. doing boxing exercises i.e shadow boxing, speed bag are also sometimes done with weights and occasionally resistance bands are used as well. these routines mean that the boxer adds functional muscle mass that he will need and use in boxing.

when you say weights holdthathought you seem to focus on body building exercises. now body building is exactly that - to build the body, the purpose of body building is not to add functional strength, increase power or explosivness but solely to add mass. for that reason exercises like bicep curls, leg extensions and chest cable crossover exercises are unlikely to be found in boxing.

some exercises from body building that actually increase your strength such as squats, cleans and diagonal dumbell raises (forgot the actual term) are occasionally found in boxers routines especially when moving up in weight. these are nomrally incorporated into circuits and concentrate on low weights, high reps and explosiveness. generally speaking these are all concepts that we dont find in body building.

- pure body building exercises are very very rarely found in a boxersroutine.

- body building exercises that actually increase strength are sometimes found in a boxers routine.

- weighted forms of calisthenics/boxing are almost always found in a boxers routine

ali never touched weights. tyson didnt lift weights eighter (in his prime). i heard it from him and from rooney. no weights. just shruggs. other than that just bodyweight exercises. and again ali never did weights, and like someone said very few (if any) of the old school fighters did. fighters started using weights in the 90s. today alot of fighters lift weights, even though the majority still dont.

Also keep in mind the major difference in fighting styles with the all time greats vs today's goods. Those who lift routinely have nearly abysmal punch outputs despite their incredible physicque's (did I spell that right?). Holyfield was my case in point, but also Foreman, Moorer, Botha, post prison Tyson, Jeff Lacy, David Reid...there are always genetic exceptions to the rule, Sugar Shane being one of them.

As far as Ali goes I never saw a picture of him *lifting* or ever heard of any doctrine whereby Dundee endorsed lifting. If I recall he was critical of Big George in Foreman's camp prior to the upset over Moorer because of George's penchant for lifting. This is not the same as incorporating weighted devices in training, however. Stark difference there. Using weight (heavier gloves or 2 lb dumbbells for example) is not the same as lifting heavy weights.

The difference I've seen almost every time is that weight lifters get better bodies and tend to have greater endurance than prior to their lifting, but their punch output, stamina, and late round strenght/intelligence suffer as a result of thicker legs that aren't as mobile and the inability to quickly recuperate after gruelling sessions.

Freddie Roach told me personally that Manny did virtually no weightlifting about 6 months ago.

Fighters who didn't/don't lift weights:
Young Mike Tyson
Manny Pacquiao
Muhammad Ali


Fighters who do/did lift weights:
Comeback George Foreman
Current Bernard Hopkins
Jack Johnson, for those of you who think this only a "old vs. new" issue
Comeback Mike Tyson

Two more things: Conventional wisdom is that weight lifting decreases overall speed. I've also heard that studies have shown weightlifting to increase the speed of a punch. However, I can't help but notice that the four fighters on my weightlifting list tended to rely more on timing than outright speed, especially hopkins and foreman. This doesn't make me anti-weightlifting as I think bernard hopkins might be the real pfp champ, but I can't ignore it.

I'm of the thinking that speed, to a point, is affected negativly by weight lifting. That is almost a negligible slip though, where I see the real negative is having to move much more dense muslce on the same bone structure and the heart having to work harder to pump blood. Of course having good cardio condition helps, but having the same good cardio w/o dense packing the muscle helps even more.

Getting more muscular is never a bad thing especially for a fighter, but the density of that musculature can be the make it break it article for non-elite level fighters. Be that as it may, however, I don't know of too many of the top all time who made weight lifting a staple of their routines.

Floyd Mayweather lifts weights

So does Chad Dawson

i box and i lift weights

so does Amir Khan and Andre Berto,

would you say they're slow???

to put on weight most boxers lift

ala jones moving to HW

mosley did a little when he was moving up to WW i think

Roy has always done light weight with weights. The documentary he did is called Heart of a Champion, where it documented his camp with Mackie Shilstone for the 2nd Tarver fight. Floyd also uses light weight and does some body weight stuff. Lifting light for high reps is good but obviously really heavy weights is a very bad idea for boxing.

weight lifting is only bad when u start to rely on those muscles for power and lose your fluidity and efficiancy.

my simple advice, the more weightlifting, the more warm ups and more loosening you need to do.

i box and i lift weights and i am not slow

i box and i lift weights and i am not slow

qft

Yap, you can lift AND be quick and fluid in your movements. Just don't lift too heavy with too little reps.

There is no way that boxers like haye and roy get their bodies without weights

qft

Yap, you can lift AND be quick and fluid in your movements. Just don't lift too heavy with too little reps.

There is no way that boxers like haye and roy get their bodies without weights

haha thankyou!!! thats what i keep saying!!! but some ppl are like " no they dont" ahaha!

theres no way in hell half the fighters today look the way they do and dont lift. Get over it.

Just dont do max's and low reps. I do 4 sets of 12 at lower weight. And do power like once a week, but thats cause im trying for a lil mass.


****, ive even been taking whey, and I dont feel slower haha

Frank Bruno used to lift a lot.The first time i saw him fight he looked more like a bodybuilder than a fighter. Angelo Dundee said that fighters with big muscles required more oxygen for the muscles so stamina could be an issue (but not always the case) and this was an issue for Bruno . Wayne McCullough said that he prefers to do lighter weights with fast reps to build power rather than increase muscle mass.

I trhink Buster Douglas was lifting a lot when getting ready for Tyson, When Hammer strength first came out he was using it. In my opinion weights are great. Even lift heavy as long as you don't lift yourself out of your weight class.

Holyfield was notorious for weight lifting in his post Douglas fights with an emphasis on incline bench-press and front dumb-bell raises. The result of which were an awesome looking body, but dramatically lower punch outputs the rest of his career, stamina problems, and repeated shoulder injuries. Think twice about pursuing this one.

Holyfield's shoulder ****ups could be attributed to his steroid usage much, much easier than you could attribute it to his weightlifting.

I think without steroids and weightlifting, Holyfield would've lost to old Foreman by KO.

qft

Yap, you can lift AND be quick and fluid in your movements. Just don't lift too heavy with too little reps.

There is no way that boxers like haye and roy get their bodies without weights

BULL****! roy lifts weights. haye im not sure, but i doubt it.

eighter way.. prime tyson didnt lift weights he got his body like that from bodyweight exercises. he started lifting when i he came back from prison, after which although still young he lost most of his speed and was never the same fighter again.

u dont need to lift to be bulked up. today alot of fighters lift, but the majority still dont. and for good reason. NONE of the old school fighters touched weights. ZERO.

BULL****! roy lifts weights. haye im not sure, but i doubt it.

eighter way.. prime tyson didnt lift weights he got his body like that from bodyweight exercises. he started lifting when i he came back from prison, after which although still young he lost most of his speed and was never the same fighter again.

u dont need to lift to be bulked up. today alot of fighters lift, but the majority still dont. and for good reason. NONE of the old school fighters touched weights. ZERO.

haye does lift weights

BULL****! roy lifts weights. haye im not sure, but i doubt it.

eighter way.. prime tyson didnt lift weights he got his body like that from bodyweight exercises. he started lifting when i he came back from prison, after which although still young he lost most of his speed and was never the same fighter again.

u dont need to lift to be bulked up. today alot of fighters lift, but the majority still dont. and for good reason. NONE of the old school fighters touched weights. ZERO.
roy jones only lifted real weights when getting up to heavyweight
the only weights he ever touched in the lower classes were little dumbells which he sometimes used when shadowboxing

I do not -- still do not -- understand this bull**** idea that lifting weights makes you slow. It is a ridiculous concept supported only by old-school trainers who have an encyclopedic knowledge of boxing history but no grasp of modern exercise science, physiology, or even rudimentary physics.

Nearly every serious competitive athlete in every sport these days uses weight training to some extent. More and more boxers are now supplementing their boxing with weight training, and you'd be foolish not to.

1.) Resistance exercise makes you STRONGER, which makes you FASTER. Force = mass X acceleration. Acceleration is the change in velocity over time. The stronger you are, the higher the acceleration of your fist; the higher the acceleration, the faster your punch travels at maximum acceleration, which is the end of the arc. The faster you punch, the harder you hit and the faster you return to your guard. Explosive lifts make explosive punches.

2.) In boxing, speed is often a function of perception. The "slowness" of a muscular fighter is usually a matter of sloppy technique. A guy with big, super-cut muscles will have to work a lot harder to not telegraph; if you have 16" upper arms and delts like cannonballs, a keen-eyed opponent is going to see those muscles twitch before you throw. I recently whipped the hell out of a boxer who was corn-fed WWE-size by keying in on the anterior head of his deltoid to anticipate his jab, and built my fight around slips and counters. So if you want to be big and fast, you'd better be disciplined and do a lot of mirror work.

3.) It is technically possible to gain enough muscle mass to reach the point of negative returns; i.e., so much muscle that you won't have the lung capacity to go the necessary number of rounds full-speed. But if you're training for boxing in addition to lifting weights, there is NO WAY you can gain this kind of muscle. Boxing training is catabolic. You will not gain enough weight to slow you down if you're training right. Every second boxer I meet, it seems, believes that if you do so much as a month of weights you'll suddenly "get slow." In truth, it takes years and years of lifting, supplementing, and careful dieting to gain enough muscle to affect your boxing game.

4.) A correct punch in boxing starts in your feet and travels the length of your body to your fist.

- On the one hand, it can be argued that it is this concerted motion that results in a devastating punch, so weights are not needed as the body can be trained to punch effectively without them.

- The counter-argument, to which I subscribe because I lift and I hit like a fright train -- is that compound lifts like the squat, power clean, & deadlift, work dozens of muscles in concert. (A full clean works about 80% of the muscles in your body.) Compound lifts train you for explosive whole-body movement, which you'll need for punching, breaking clinches, changing direction, etc.

So go ahead; don't lift. Drink raw eggs for breakfast and do nine-mile runs every morning; whatever the "great" fighters did fifty years ago. And when a fighter who has trained using the latest advances in modern exercise science drives you into the ground like a fence post, blame it on "steroids."

In the meantime, I'll be in the weight room. :boxing:

theres no way in hell half the fighters today look the way they do and dont lift. Get over it.

Just dont do max's and low reps. I do 4 sets of 12 at lower weight. And do power like once a week, but thats cause im trying for a lil mass.


****, ive even been taking whey, and I dont feel slower haha

There's no reason why whey would make you slower. Whey is protein, protein has nothing to do with speed.

I do not know for certain but with Tyson's physique I would ASSUME he lifted.

Also why would you guys not lift heavy for few reps. That makes no sense. Heavy + Few Reps = Strength/Power. Higher reps (approx 10 and above) are for building mass more than strength/power, it can be used for endurance too with lighter weight.

Which rep range you ultimately decide to use should be based on your goals and what you want to accomplish. Here, we’ll talk about a few points that will help you make the best decision.

Let’s take a look at what each rep range can be useful for:

* 1-3 Reps: Best suited to boosting your overall strength. The focus here is improving the maximum amount of weight possible for a single repetition. You’ll see powerlifters use these ranges frequently.
* 3-5 reps: Best for developing power, meaning that this rep range is good for the combination of both strength and speed. This is particularly useful for athletes training for sports performance. See stronglifts for more on strength training.
* 8-12 reps: This is the magic range touted by bodybuilders as being the most useful for adding lean muscle mass. Your muscles will enlarge the most in this range and feel a “pump” as you workout. Building muscle mass and looking/ feeling better is the focus of this site.
* 10-20 reps: Very useful for building mass in your legs. Your legs generally are able to handle more stress than your arms can handle.
* 20+ reps: Best for endurance. Not great for what you’re trying to accomplish if you’re like most readers of this site.

virtually every top athlete in the world does some form of weightlifting. That's strong evidence in support.

3.) It is technically possible to gain enough muscle mass to reach the point of negative returns; i.e., so much muscle that you won't have the lung capacity to go the necessary number of rounds full-speed. But if you're training for boxing in addition to lifting weights, there is NO WAY you can gain this kind of muscle. Boxing training is catabolic. You will not gain enough weight to slow you down if you're training right. Every second boxer I meet, it seems, believes that if you do so much as a month of weights you'll suddenly "get slow." In truth, it takes years and years of lifting, supplementing, and careful dieting to gain enough muscle to affect your boxing game.

good post

Thats what alot of people do not understand. The fact is you cant believe all the marketing bull**** about how you can pack on muscle in short periods of time. Without steroids you cannot. In fact the most the average man can gain is between 0.25 and 0.5 pounds of dry muscle tissue per week. Sure, if you are new to weightlifting you will make some good gains when you start.

So even if you are just training to bodybuild, thats a maximum of 2 pounds a month. But that is with 100% diet right, correct rest and training. Most people will also gain fat because to build muscle you need to eat more than you burn, so eventually you will need to cut the excess fat during which time you will not build muscle. So it is unlikely you can gain 2 pounds a month every month of the year.

While boxing training it is very unlikely you will be able to gain even one pound a month of muscle. So people are dreaming if they think that they are gonna build enough muscle while boxing training to slow them down or get bulky.

When people claim that they have built all this muscle over a short time, it is mostly fat gain and glycogen storage. If you start out fat and train for boxing sure you will have more muscle definition as you shed fat, but so much has to do with genetics.

good post

Thats what alot of people do not understand. The fact is you cant believe all the marketing bull**** about how you can pack on muscle in short periods of time. Without steroids you cannot. In fact the most the average man can gain is between 0.25 and 0.5 pounds of dry muscle tissue per week. Sure, if you are new to weightlifting you will make some good gains when you start.

So even if you are just training to bodybuild, thats a maximum of 2 pounds a month. But that is with 100% diet right, correct rest and training. Most people will also gain fat because to build muscle you need to eat more than you burn, so eventually you will need to cut the excess fat during which time you will not build muscle. So it is unlikely you can gain 2 pounds a month every month of the year.

While boxing training it is very unlikely you will be able to gain even one pound a month of muscle. So people are dreaming if they think that they are gonna build enough muscle while boxing training to slow them down or get bulky.

When people claim that they have built all this muscle over a short time, it is mostly fat gain and glycogen storage. If you start out fat and train for boxing sure you will have more muscle definition as you shed fat, but so much has to do with genetics.

You quoted a good post and made one yourself. It is arguably possible to gain 1lb a week with VERY GOOD training/routine as well as a VERY GOOD Diet. What is your take on people saying its bad to lift heavy for a few reps. I find it ridiculous because heavy weights at lower reps is used for strength and power training while high reps is for mass building.

You quoted a good post and made one yourself. It is arguably possible to gain 1lb a week with VERY GOOD training/routine as well as a VERY GOOD Diet. What is your take on people saying its bad to lift heavy for a few reps. I find it ridiculous because heavy weights at lower reps is used for strength and power training while high reps is for mass building.

Maybe possible if you are training to gain weight, but most boxers want to maintain or lose weight.

Lifting heavy for few reps makes you stronger without gaining weight (if you are not eating excess calories) sounds good to me. I don´t know the science of it but most of the research I have seen supports using heavy weights/low weights to build general and explosive strength.

As far as it relates to boxing, boxers first of all need skill and stamina. You dont need weight training for this, so it might not be necessary for all boxers but it may give a competitive edge or make you just that little bit better.

Maybe possible if you are training to gain weight, but most boxers want to maintain or lose weight.

Lifting heavy for few reps makes you stronger without gaining weight (if you are not eating excess calories) sounds good to me. I don´t know the science of it but most of the research I have seen supports using heavy weights/low weights to build general and explosive strength.

As far as it relates to boxing, boxers first of all need skill and stamina. You dont need weight training for this, so it might not be necessary for all boxers but it may give a competitive edge or make you just that little bit better.

Eaxactly, I don't know why people are suggesting high reps over low reps + heavy weight. Low reps emphasize strength/power/explosiveness and stimulate fast twitch muscle fibers. High reps are used for a reason by bodybuilders, they are looking to gain mass over strength (strength does come along with mass though). High reps can be used for muscular endurance as well though but with light weights.

Eaxactly, I don't know why people are suggesting high reps over low reps + heavy weight. Low reps emphasize strength/power/explosiveness and stimulate fast twitch muscle fibers. High reps are used for a reason by bodybuilders, they are looking to gain mass over strength (strength does come along with mass though). High reps can be used for muscular endurance as well though but with light weights.

Yes but many bodybuilders are very strong, you dont get big without being strong. Some do programs that do use heavy weights with low reps, like 5x5 program to gain mass. Bodybuilders get a bad rap on this forum but a boxer could use a basic bodybuilding program on their non competitive season if they want to gain some mass and strength without being detrimental to their boxing IMO.

Yes but many bodybuilders are very strong, you dont get big without being strong. Some do programs that do use heavy weights with low reps, like 5x5 program to gain mass. Bodybuilders get a bad rap on this forum but a boxer could use a basic bodybuilding program on their non competitive season if they want to gain some mass and strength without being detrimental to their boxing IMO.

I know said in my post strength comes along with mass :).

Also the 5x5 program and its numerous variations are strength training routines. It also has muscular gains but that is not the priority of it, I believe.