Ok first off I'm new and am so glad I found this website!Now I can get a few questions off my shoulders. I'm not a boxer but am hoping to sign up at a boxing gym soon enough once I'm able enough to pay the payments since most of them are so expensive. In the meantime I weight lift heavy weights in order to bulk up and get more muscle mass on me, so what I want to know is are boxers allowed to lift heavily?? cuz I want to be an amateur fighter but at the same time I don't want to give up my weight lifting. I do cardio twice a week which involves doing skipping and working on the heavy bag I have. But yeah I was wondering how often do amateur fighters train? is it everyday?? if I became one would I still be able to squeeze in time for my weight lifting workouts 3 times a week??

I think the best guys you can ask that are trainers.

Not necessarily. You should do weight training to build strength, but try not to put on too much muscle mass, it isn't good, it moves you away from your natural body weight. You should tell us - what age are you? What height and weight are you? How long have you been doing weights?

My boxing gym costs £1 a night and has good facilities. That's not at all expensive. Yes, you will still squeeze in time for your weights routine. Most amateurs train for about 2 or 3 hours a day(or thats how much I do)overall, including skipping (jumping rope), heavy bag hitting and the like. Once you join the gym your trainer will tell you what to do anyways.

As an extra note, some trainers seriously object to weight training, but let me reassure you that it's a good work out as long as you don't overdo it (i.e become very big). Many of the greats like Evander Holyfield used it.

Supaducks right, weight training is important for building strength and even speed. We could help you with your routine if you gave us your age + division etc.

In my routine,
I'm a heavyweight, 20 years old 6'2" and currently 214lbs trying to reach 220lbs. I am doing more weight training and different forms to try to gain more muscle mass. In an ordinary routine you should only weight train 2 or 3 days a week. Only weight train every other day.

I'm 19 years old,5'11 (almost 6 feet) and weigh 203. Right now I weight lift 5 times a week in order to get bigger and stronger because I feel it may give me an advantage when I do take up boxing, I've been weight lifting since july.

do u need to lose any fat?
if u do take up boxing, and if u wanna fight in competition i wud recomend 5 days a week boxing, 4 is minimum. and you can do roadwork couple days a week. watever days or times u have left, u can lift weights, right now i box 5 days a week, run 4 days a week and weight lift 3 times a week, u can do sumthing like dat if u have the time to train twice a day. all this training is to get your stamine up so u can last a good 3-4 rounds in amateur. some ppl can do 4 days a week, 1hr a session and still have great endurance, sum others train 6 days a week, 2hrs a session and have good stamina, every1 is different. but like i say, its Quality, not Quantity. ive seen guys at the guy train for 2hrs but there 2 hrs doesnt match my 1hr becoz of their lack of intensity.

I'm not a butterball if that's what your thinking, I have bulked up a bit over the past few months I just have some blubber on my stomach and my chest area which I'll hopefully lose through eating right. I think I'll do what you do when I start boxing 5x a week boxing 4xrunning and 3xweight lifting, but would I have to worry about overtraining and stuff with this kind of schedule??

also on a side note is 19 too old to be amateur boxing?

so is 19 a good age to do amateur or is it too late in ur opinion? I was thinking I could do it for a few years till im like 23, then move on to pro. Is that reasonable enough?? or would I have to be amateur for more then 2 or 3 years before going pro?

Don't worry about that, if your good enough you'll be a pro eventually. There's good money in it. Some boxers start when they are 8, some start when they're 20. If their good enough, they will still become a pro. If you've got the hunger you'll do fine. I think George Foreman began within two years of your age, at the least 17. He was in the olympics when he was 19. he turned pro at 20.

Oh and I forgot to mention, for weight lifting, eat lots of carbs, a decent bit of protein, and lift 2 or 3 days a week. If u lift 5 days a week, your muscles won't have time to recover and it'll be a slower process building them up. Buy a few books on it, like the men's health hard-body plan if your serious about gaining serious mass (i.e 20 pounds of muscle)

Not all boxers train every day. I do, but im practically obsessed with training when I don't need to be. Weight lifting helps you a lot, i assure you, but don't become too heavy. You'll be too slow. In terms of the weights that you lift, the heavier the better, just make sure you do it in fast motions rather than slow lifts. Once you join a gym you'll be allllllll right. lol.

Wow, compared with you guys im a pipsqueak, at 5 foot 9 and a half and 150lb. Im 14 though, so i'll probably end up around 168lb (i.e super-middleweight).

its not about age, its about desire. most people are in their physical prime at the age of 30. its just dat most guys who are 20yrs and older dont have any desire like they did when they were younger.

Well said. Although physical prime is more like 25.

They say boxers are at their best at 24. Physical peak is at 28, and you are at your strongest at 30.

well their are late bloomers and guys who grow real fast like Tyson. sum ppl might hit physical prim by 25, sum by 35, depends

Also when doing weights, try and do compound movements like bench press, pull downs, military press, leg press, etc.
THey will work muscle groups, not individual muscles. We're not trying to be body builders here. ANd weights 5 times a week is way too much, probably counter-productive. lower it to three, with at least one day rest in between, the day of rest doesn't mean do nothing, just do heavy bag, or cardio, or roadwork or something to keep your stamina up.