I know this has probably been brought up before, but I don't care. A lot of trainers have told me to steer clear of weights, yet many of the top pros obviously do it and seem to get along fine. It's all very confusing.

Would any of you have advice on this? Should I go for it or steer clear?

Do weights, my Dad used to like king kong, he is still big, but when he was at his peak, he could still box on the heavu bag and the speed bag very well. I'm doing weights at the moment aswell as my boxing training. It won't do you any harm.

Thanks man. Cos I mean, if it was that bad, Holyfield, Foreman, Lacy, Benn etc wouldn't have done it.

Exactly, and they were all successful, so forget the idiots that tell you that you shouldn't use weights.

Of course, I wouldn't want to build myself up to a heavyweight. I still haven't finished growing, and I wanna be a middleweight or super middleweight, so i have to be careful :o

But then again, mass decreases if you don't train, so I could lose the weight over time if it gets to be too much.

You shouldn't try and make yourself a certain weight, whatever weight you end up roughly is good for you, if you keep fighting to make yourself lighter or heavier its not good for you. How tall are you?

Im 5'10. My dad is 5'8 so I probably wont grow much taller.

Im kind of big, big legs and arms. I weight about 11 stone (but im 15 years old, so i'd expect to put on a good bit of weight)

Are you a Heavyweight?

If yes, then go ahead..

If no, then don't do weights...

Also, be careful about this section, there are lots of people here that have slim to none knowledge of boxing...

Not sayin anything bad, it's just that lot of people here don't know boxing to well..

I just checked your profile and it says your 14....


NO, DON'T DO WEIGHTS NOW!
Focus more on boxing....

well, 14, but 15 in a matter of weeks. No big difference. I don't see why I can't do weights now, and it's not like one weight session makes you gain half a stone or anything. Explain why I shouldn't please, and then i'll take your advice more seriously :D

Also, if it made you slower or something like that, I don't see why it'd be ok for a heavyweight to do it and not someone else.

You can do light weights at 14, but don't lift in excess.

Fair enough. When can I start lifting heavy weights? (70 kg, 90kg etc)

I'm 19 and I'm starting to do heavy weights, I did a lot last year but started physical jobs and didn't have time to train much. But there is no set date or time, just wait until you believe it is time. You'll know when.

I guess so, thanks for the advice :cool:

weights dont make u slower if u still box and if u lift correctly, its just dat most ppl dont wanna go higher weight classes, dats why the lighter guys dont do weights.

Weight training has made me stronger and faster. There is a myth that it can stunt your growth, but if you lift safely and correctly you shouldn't have any problems.

Weight training is a good supplement at any age. Of course a 14 year old should train differently than a fully grown athlete, but that is not exclusive to lifting weights.
It doesn't matter what weight class you are, weights, done properly, will be good for your speed and strength. And NO, they won't make you gain a lot of weight when you train like an athlete. It's totally different from what bodybuilders do. Besides, if it was that easy to gain a lot of muscles, why do people use all kinds of steroids to get bigger? The truth is, gaining 10 lbs of muscles is very difficult for most people. If you train right, and do your boxing workouts as well, it's next to impossible.

Weight training is a good supplement at any age. Of course a 14 year old should train differently than a fully grown athlete, but that is not exclusive to lifting weights.
It doesn't matter what weight class you are, weights, done properly, will be good for your speed and strength. And NO, they won't make you gain a lot of weight when you train like an athlete. It's totally different from what bodybuilders do. Besides, if it was that easy to gain a lot of muscles, why do people use all kinds of steroids to get bigger? The truth is, gaining 10 lbs of muscles is very difficult for most people. If you train right, and do your boxing workouts as well, it's next to impossible.
Whats the difference between training like an athlete and training like a bodybuilder. How do bodybuilders train differently to put on weight?

lacys still a great boxer, dont think hes THAT naturally ripped

I've heard that lifting weights gives you a slow twitch tho? do you lift lighter weights to get a fast muscle twitch or what?

Strength helps with speed. Just don't get too bulky.

Whats the difference between training like an athlete and training like a bodybuilder. How do bodybuilders train differently to put on weight?

Bodybuilders lift alot of weight with low repetition. Athletes typically use low weight with high repetition.
Bodybuilder - High weight = low repetition
Athlete - Low weight = high repetition

chum, u have absolutely no idea wat your talkin about man. athelets dont lift light weights high repition, dat decreases an atheltes performance. the difference between an athlete lifting weights and a bodybuilder lies in the type of workouts athletes do and the volume. bodybuilders do isolation excercises and do high voume. athletes do compound movements with not dat much volume so not dat many sets.

Bodybuilders lift alot of weight with low repetition. Athletes typically use low weight with high repetition.
Bodybuilder - High weight = low repetition
Athlete - Low weight = high repetition

Wrong. To activate the fast twitch fibres you need to lift heavy. Which means you have to lift heavy to get explosive. It's called neural adaptations.

Bodybuilders generally lift in the 6-10 rep range, where hypertrophy is best achieved. Athletes should lift heavier weights, lower reps, below 6. And NEVER to failure.
The biggest difference is the workload, however. Bodybuilders will usually do split programs, with multiple excersises for each muscle. A bobybuilder might do 3-5 different excersises for his pecs in one workout, with 3-5 set in each excersise, at 6-10 reps. That's a total of 90 to 150 reps for one muscle group. To make the muscle grow, they also need to overeat (not from their point of view, but compared to a fighter).

Athletes don't train muscles, they train movements. Fullbody programs, that concentrate on big compound movements. Deadlifts, squats, benchpress, military press, full contact twists, powercleans, powersnatch, pull ups, and so on.
If you look at what an athletes pecs go through in a workout, you're looking at 30 reps, TOPS, but with a higher weight. This is to target STRENGTH, not hypertrophy (muscle growth). The result is VERY different.

yeah, I read that muscle mass isn't the same as strength. Bodybuilders aren't the strongest men in the world.

yeah, I read that muscle mass isn't the same as strength. Bodybuilders aren't the strongest men in the world.

so true, bruce lee weighed only around the 130-135 range and was able to perform one-finger pushups and force people back with a one-inch punch

its all about moderation, u have to do weights correctly especialy if ur a boxer!

for example, if u overtrain ur triceps u wil lose ur speed, and ur 'snap' in ur punches wud go!!!

and it depends if ur 'punching' ur weight, if u r den weights shud be overlooked and speed concentrated on, but if ur weak for ur weight den weights are needed to strenghten u up even if it means gainin weight!

if u do weights properly den u can get A LOT of benefits from it, but make sure u get da right advice!

safe

Wrong. To activate the fast twitch fibres you need to lift heavy. Which means you have to lift heavy to get explosive. It's called neural adaptations.

Bodybuilders generally lift in the 6-10 rep range, where hypertrophy is best achieved. Athletes should lift heavier weights, lower reps, below 6. And NEVER to failure.
The biggest difference is the workload, however. Bodybuilders will usually do split programs, with multiple excersises for each muscle. A bobybuilder might do 3-5 different excersises for his pecs in one workout, with 3-5 set in each excersise, at 6-10 reps. That's a total of 90 to 150 reps for one muscle group. To make the muscle grow, they also need to overeat (not from their point of view, but compared to a fighter).

Athletes don't train muscles, they train movements. Fullbody programs, that concentrate on big compound movements. Deadlifts, squats, benchpress, military press, full contact twists, powercleans, powersnatch, pull ups, and so on.
If you look at what an athletes pecs go through in a workout, you're looking at 30 reps, TOPS, but with a higher weight. This is to target STRENGTH, not hypertrophy (muscle growth). The result is VERY different.

I wasn't referring to his question, I was answering a different one. All the ones I've seen explain this and use high repetition. Maybe it depends on what the sport is requiring.

I wasn't referring to his question, I was answering a different one. All the ones I've seen explain this and use high repetition. Maybe it depends on what the sport is requiring.


low weights high rep is fore endurance.
bout 30reps

heavy weight few reps are for strenght
bout 5 reps

both off these will make you stronger without gaining much

pretty heavy weights and 8-15 reps is fore bulk

It's hard not to gain bulk while doing weight training. But there are ways to decrease bulk gains.

i personaly think for an average build boxer, da best way to use weights is to do a decent amount of reps at a light-ish weight, and do da reps QUICK!

purely beacuse this builds up da explosiveness in ur movements, ie punching! so u'l be punching with a more explosive motion and have a gud snap in ur shots! so u'l b quick n hurtful!

and with dat kind of program u wil harly increase ur body weight, of course it'l increase but it wil be minor!

safe

at your age you should only be starting weights and not at all to an intesne level

you will see noticeable improvements with a relaxed regime from my experience

the main downside to weights is the increase in chances of injury

calisthenics are personally what i favour using as they improve your body at a sustainable rate

dont focus too much on building biceps up...they are used to retract the arm and when you punch you extend the arm so focus more on tricep work

lift quickly and explosively to build fast twitch fibres

i personaly think for an average build boxer, da best way to use weights is to do a decent amount of reps at a light-ish weight, and do da reps QUICK!

purely beacuse this builds up da explosiveness in ur movements, ie punching! so u'l be punching with a more explosive motion and have a gud snap in ur shots! so u'l b quick n hurtful!

and with dat kind of program u wil harly increase ur body weight, of course it'l increase but it wil be minor!

safe

No matter how low the weight is, the movement will be slower than if you did it without weight. Therefore light weights won't necessarily give your punches more snap. Explosiveness is dependant on strength. Therefore you need to gain strength to increase explosiveness. So, basically you need to do weights for STRENGTH, which means heavy weight, low reps. Once you increase your strength, your regular boxing workout is where you work on the snap in your punches. With the strength gains from the heavy weights, you now have a basis for increasing your power through your boxing workouts.

Use the weights for something you can't do anywhere else.

Edit: You're right about doing the reps as fast as possible, though. Although it looks slow at your 1RM, the action in the nervous system and muscle, is a lot more "explosive" than it is when you're doing fast movements at 12RM. Don't let it fool you...

Are you a Heavyweight?

If yes, then go ahead..

If no, then don't do weights...

Also, be careful about this section, there are lots of people here that have slim to none knowledge of boxing...

Not sayin anything bad, it's just that lot of people here don't know boxing to well..

Bad advice... The thing is, you have to know BOTH boxing AND training theory to guide people on this. Hanging around a gym for a few years is not enough to know how to train people the right way. You need the knowledge foundation as well.
There's no phsyiological difference between heavyweights and everybody else, so there's NO reason that smaller people should stay away from weights. None.

No matter how low the weight is, the movement will be slower than if you did it without weight. Therefore light weights won't necessarily give your punches more snap. Explosiveness is dependant on strength. Therefore you need to gain strength to increase explosiveness. So, basically you need to do weights for STRENGTH, which means heavy weight, low reps. Once you increase your strength, your regular boxing workout is where you work on the snap in your punches. With the strength gains from the heavy weights, you now have a basis for increasing your power through your boxing workouts.

Use the weights for something you can't do anywhere else.

Edit: You're right about doing the reps as fast as possible, though. Although it looks slow at your 1RM, the action in the nervous system and muscle, is a lot more "explosive" than it is when you're doing fast movements at 12RM. Don't let it fool you...

i still believe wa i wrote lol!

but to da person who asked for help, da best ppl u can ask for advice r da coaches dat train u. dey r guna box u and dey aint guna harm u! dey'v done it wiv many boxers so dey know wots best for u, dey'l look at ur age, weight, size n strenght and decide wots best for u!

safe

Mike Tyson was lifting huge weights like crazy in his later years. He still had the power and accuratie with his punches so i don't think it would do any harm to your boxing. Its also hard to believe any BIG fighters never lift weights.

oooo shit!

my bad, yesterday I may have said some stuff that confused you..

You can do weights.....BUT....

Don't weight lift to gain MASS!

If you want to start doing weights, go to www.rossboxing.com, and order his INFINITE INTENSITY book

This book will explain EVERYTHING to you!