Controversial Alex Kid: If you want to put on weight, put on fat not muscle!

[AlexKid]

Putting on muscle to get into the division above you will not increase power much but will decrease endurance alot

However if you put the weight on in the form of fat it will have the same power from weight maybe slightly less and not tax cardio as much because fat doesn't need as much oxygen for fuel.

Endurance in boxing is vitally important so its best to stay in your weight division, but if you have to move up, you need to eat the pies but dont lift the weights.

Power is no where near as important as endurance and you dont gain power with an increase in muscle mass or not very much is gained when compared with the same weight increase from fat. However fat is significantly less taxing on cardio than lean muscle mass

[HedonisticFrog]

Why dont you see elite boxers that are flabby then? The best boxers today are lean and muscular.

Muscle mass is definitely beneficial for punching power. What do you think generates force if not muscle? The reason you might gas quicker is that youre hitting harder, but theres plenty of muscular boxers with great endurance. Muscle mass and great conditioning arent mutually exclusive.

[AlexKid]

Why dont you see elite boxers that are flabby then? The best boxers today are lean and muscular.

Muscle mass is definitely beneficial for punching power. What do you think generates force if not muscle? The reason you might gas quicker is that youre hitting harder, but theres plenty of muscular boxers with great endurance. Muscle mass and great conditioning arent mutually exclusive.

Not the muscle of the upper body only the legs, they are lean and muscular because it looks good and they mistakenly think its better to have "lean functional muscle mass"

But truth is all that upper body muscle and much of the lower body muscle is for nothing power wise other than sheer weight, ie its not functional for boxing, AND it hurts their endurance.


The only problem I can see with fat is lowered testosterone levels


There are plenty of fat fighters that do well, people dont like to see it though.




see upper body is for show nothing more

fat has less effect on oxygen depletion than muscle mass

Bodybuilding is creeping into sport

[AlexKid]

who hits harder who has better work rate who looks like a fat guy from the pub that doesn't do cardio or weights?

Just because most boxers are buff and lean doesn't mean its the smarter way to be, it might just be a phase of ignorance in western sport and influence from bodybuilding


The heavyweight division is the only division where you should be fat or want to put on weight, and if you do need to put on weight to compete with bigger men you have to question whether you want it as fat or lean oxygen soaking muscle mass

[AlexKid]

Guess who gassed

(Both small HW's than need mass, in MMA the functional muscle is more useful because you wrestle/grapple and use the upper body more)

But not in boxing

Also you can put alot of strength on wo muscle mass so muscle mass in the current amounts that people have I think is not a smart choice

[Richard P]

Not sure if you can say this is a new/modern thing, look at some great HW's from the past, Tyson, Holyfield, and even further back, Frazier or Ali, they weren't exactly feasting on the pies and were pretty muscular.

David Tua is a good example but that was more about his one punch power and granite chin

I think that genetics plays a good part in the body/muscle dynamic of the body. Yes you can train and get ripped but some people it is easier/less of a chor and this can come down to an element of your physiology

[HedonisticFrog]

who hits harder who has better work rate who looks like a fat guy from the pub that doesn't do cardio or weights?

Just because most boxers are buff and lean doesn't mean its the smarter way to be, it might just be a phase of ignorance in western sport and influence from bodybuilding


The heavyweight division is the only division where you should be fat or want to put on weight, and if you do need to put on weight to compete with bigger men you have to question whether you want it as fat or lean oxygen soaking muscle mass

You contradict yourself. You say that boxers should be flabby for better endurance. That muscle doesnt equate to punching power. Then you say everyone below heavyweight should be lean. Which is it?

There are plenty of muscular lean heavyweights that dont gas. Holyfield, tyson, klitchko, lewis. If you gas early its from muscle mass, its from not training for it enough.

[AlexKid]

You contradict yourself. You say that boxers should be flabby for better endurance. That muscle doesnt equate to punching power. Then you say everyone below heavyweight should be lean. Which is it?

There are plenty of muscular lean heavyweights that dont gas. Holyfield, tyson, klitchko, lewis. If you gas early its from muscle mass, its from not training for it enough.

Well in the lighter divisions there should be no bulk, everyone should be fighting in their own natural divisions or the one below it meaning they should have minimal excess weight.

If you have to bulk up to get in a division you dont belong in or just need extra weight to help in the HW's , then you should put on fat not muscle because muscle gasses you faster than fat.

True guys like Holyfield prime Tyson etc dont gas despite alot of muscle mass because they train hard well they would have an even higher work rate if their mass was more from fat and less from upper body muscle

[AlexKid]

Not sure if you can say this is a new/modern thing, look at some great HW's from the past, Tyson, Holyfield, and even further back, Frazier or Ali, they weren't exactly feasting on the pies and were pretty muscular.

David Tua is a good example but that was more about his one punch power and granite chin

I think that genetics plays a good part in the body/muscle dynamic of the body. Yes you can train and get ripped but some people it is easier/less of a chor and this can come down to an element of your physiology

Just because its done a certain way by many fighters doesn't mean its optimal.

There are many flabby boxers that do well too but less.

But thats not definitive proof it may just mean that most boxers are following the lean muscle mass trend/advise currently. Maybe in the future they will have a less bodybuilder look and more of a fat sport specific look. They look like freakin sculptures alot of them, thats not how someone looks if they are tryingt o be 100% sport specific thats someone that does a little sculpting on the side.


Again ive supplied a logical argument that fat takes up less cardio than muscle its true it does, no one can give me any logical counter argument why someone would choose lean muscle weight over fat weight if they needed extra weight. The power difference is negligible, the cardio difference is significant, so I cant see why anyone would want lots of lean muscle mass

[HedonisticFrog]

Just because its done a certain way by many fighters doesn't mean its optimal.

There are many flabby boxers that do well too but less.

But thats not definitive proof it may just mean that most boxers are following the lean muscle mass trend/advise currently. Maybe in the future they will have a less bodybuilder look and more of a fat sport specific look. They look like freakin sculptures alot of them, thats not how someone looks if they are tryingt o be 100% sport specific thats someone that does a little sculpting on the side.


Again ive supplied a logical argument that fat takes up less cardio than muscle its true it does, no one can give me any logical counter argument why someone would choose lean muscle weight over fat weight if they needed extra weight. The power difference is negligible, the cardio difference is significant, so I cant see why anyone would want lots of lean muscle mass

More muscle does let you punch harder though. Even bodybuilders who dont train for strength are strong because they have so much muscle mass. Muscle is what lets you generate force and power along with learning how to use it.

Having muscle mass instead of fat can cause you to gas quicker, but thats only because you hit harder. If you hit with the same force it wouldnt make a difference.

As youve said, if you work on cardio a lot you wont gas anyways. You might as well have the best of both worlds.