Is Running Really Needed ??????

[lukeybg]

interval running really helps loads because it mimics the movements you make in a fights so sprint for ten seconds like your throwing a flurry and then jog normal for 30 seconds just like you would if you were moving around the gym!

[The Prodigy]

whats more beneficial doing running or using a bike at the gym

[sweet*science]

To answer the more beneficial question I would say running I have no solid facts to back it up unfortunately Prodigy, aside from my own results. I feel more fit after training on the "road" versus on a bike. Honestly I think running outside is just a better way to condition versus in a gym but thats just me going off of the way I feel from that type of conditioning and tghe results I get from it.

[jberg]

running is tried and tested. no machines, no bull****. just trainers, a road, a bottle of water and sweat.
good luck

[sukhenkoy]

Hard swimming works you out like a mother****er too - sometimes, even moreso than running for me. If you can't run (if it is rough on your legs), swimming can also work wonders for your cardio.

[supRa]

its a MUST, but i ****in hate running lol

[Bombz]

running is tried and tested. no machines, no bull****. just trainers, a road, a bottle of water and sweat.
good luck

I'm certain that the majority of guys on here do run, 3 or 4 miles quite regularly and they see the benefits.

In terms of comparison to intervals, or running sets/sprints, it'd be interesting to know how many have actually tried any variation to understand how a high intensity shorter session work compares to the more traditional longer, but lower intensity road work.

You don't even need any special equipment or surroundings to run intervals, just a road with lamp posts on it:

e.g. warm-up 1 mile slow pace, then run 4 lamposts, sprint 1, jog 2 repeat x 10, then slow run for warm down.

If you live in a hilly area, include a route using hills applying the above.

[DELETED ACCOUNT 06]

Yeah that's kinda what we do..

AFter work i get home, go for a 3 mile run - steady pace... a few hills and a few downhills...probably works out as flat. I do this mon,tue, thurs and friday

Mon - Fri at the very start of training we go out on to the crags behind the gym and do sprints. We sprint 100m's up-hill then walk back down. Do this 10 times. jog a mile up to the top and jog back down.

The fitness benefits are amazing - but it hurts.

But it's good to do both long enduring runs - but also short sprints. I hadn't been wheezing in the gym for a long time - when i first started a round or two on the pads would leave me panting and breathless... now, in the gym..hardly anything can do that.

The sprints did. So it's a push in the right direction.

[Bombz]

Yeah that's kinda what we do..

AFter work i get home, go for a 3 mile run - steady pace... a few hills and a few downhills...probably works out as flat. I do this mon,tue, thurs and friday

Mon - Fri at the very start of training we go out on to the crags behind the gym and do sprints. We sprint 100m's up-hill then walk back down. Do this 10 times. jog a mile up to the top and jog back down.

The fitness benefits are amazing - but it hurts.

But it's good to do both long enduring runs - but also short sprints. I hadn't been wheezing in the gym for a long time - when i first started a round or two on the pads would leave me panting and breathless... now, in the gym..hardly anything can do that.

The sprints did. So it's a push in the right direction.

I used to cycle quite a lot when I was younger and the same principals were applied but on a bike.

Nowadays interval training, and particularly high intensity interval training are well documented in terms of their benefits.

I think that particularly for boxers intervals are better training than long runs (not saying these aren't needed at all), because 3 mins rounds with flurries of activity in each round plus 1 mins rest between rounds is much closer to what an interval session (of any kind, including running) provides than most other types of CV work.