Roadwork vs Sprints

[Cheek busting]

lol i was considering that too thanks

Hahah man it's cool you're a good sport with a joke!

Seriously - you look like you have the perfect build for a boxer - lean muscle mass, but not overly drawn-in, defined, nice shoulders, and just the right amount of body fat.

I'd listen to what Ray Corso said - guy seems to know his stuff. Experiment with alternating the two, and see how your body responds in sparring.

Do you lift weights, or do any resistance training? While you don't want to get bulky, it would help a lot if you did some high-weight, low-rep deadlifts, and squats. Then followed by a burnout reps after your last set (strip off about 50% of the weight, and just rep out until exhaustion.)

These are the exercises Juan Manuel Marquez really focused on once he started adding strength and resistance training to his regimen, and he became extremely explosive and powerful.

Of course upper body resistance training like low reps on bench would be good too. You want to train each muscle group... But IMO, since power is generated from your legs, and base, squats and deadlifts would be the best. I'd focus the lowest reps/heaviest weight on lower body.


Would love to hear back from ya in a few months with reports/results from your training regimen!

[TheFightingMind]

Hahah man it's cool you're a good sport with a joke!

Seriously - you look like you have the perfect build for a boxer - lean muscle mass, but not overly drawn-in, defined, nice shoulders, and just the right amount of body fat.

I'd listen to what Ray Corso said - guy seems to know his stuff. Experiment with alternating the two, and see how your body responds in sparring.

Do you lift weights, or do any resistance training? While you don't want to get bulky, it would help a lot if you did some high-weight, low-rep deadlifts, and squats. Then followed by a burnout reps after your last set (strip off about 50% of the weight, and just rep out until exhaustion.)

These are the exercises Juan Manuel Marquez really focused on once he started adding strength and resistance training to his regimen, and he became extremely explosive and powerful.

Of course upper body resistance training like low reps on bench would be good too. You want to train each muscle group... But IMO, since power is generated from your legs, and base, squats and deadlifts would be the best. I'd focus the lowest reps/heaviest weight on lower body.


Would love to hear back from ya in a few months with reports/results from your training regimen!

thanks for the advice. I wouldn't say that I'd be the perfect body I still have bit of fat on me compared to the boxers in 49kg Olympics because there shredded like hell and I want to be like that.

I would like to know how the training regiment for the high weight/low rep would be for deadlifts and squats. can you give me a sample workout on how it looks including breaks and stuff? thx

[Cheek busting]

thanks for the advice. I wouldn't say that I'd be the perfect body I still have bit of fat on me compared to the boxers in 49kg Olympics because there shredded like hell and I want to be like that.

I would like to know how the training regiment for the high weight/low rep would be for deadlifts and squats. can you give me a sample workout on how it looks including breaks and stuff? thx

Actually I think being too ripped can be a detriment; I'd rather be your weight with your body fat percentage, which I'm guessing is around 11ish, than your same size but with only 6-7% - muscle requires oxygen. Plus, the ladies prefer the look like you and me (I"m about similar body fat percentage), than dudes who look too overly-defined.


First let me ask - do you have any experience doing deadlifts, and squats? And lifting weights in general?

Keeping good form IS SO CRITICAL to lifting heavier weights deadlifting and squatting, especially deadlifting. One slip-up of your form, and SNAP goes the lower back.... Snap-city baby. If you don't, PLEASE before you try to lift heavy, GO SEE A WEIGHT LIFTING COACH and get him to teach you proper form. I can't emphasize enough how important this is.


If you do, and you already have good form, and know how to lift, then I would start out with pyramid sets, for example:

Deadlifts........... (do a light warmup set of 10-12 reps - don't use weight where you'll max out at after 10-12 reps - just real light weight to get blood flowing for those muscles you'll be using): Then, do 3-4 sets. Start out with 8 reps. Take NO MORE than 60 seconds between sets. Increase the weight and then do 6 reps. Increase weight and do 4 reps. Then your last set do 2 reps. then IMMEDIATELY AFTER you finish with your last rep, strip off about 50% of the weight, and just lift until you can't do anymore. When you're doing your "burnout" set - REALLY FOCUS on the muscles you're using - connect your mind to the muscle, if you will.


Squats.... The same process: 3-4 sets pyramid style - 8 reps, 6 reps, 4 reps, 2 reps. Increasing the weight each time.


When you're doing pyramid sets, with each set, you should be really struggling to finish your last 1-2 reps with each weight. And do your burnout set after you finish with your last set of 2 repetitions of really heavy weight (strip off 50% of your 2-rep max and go until failure).


Do squats/deadlifts NO MORE than twice a week. Ideally, if you're really lifting hard, you only need to hit each muscle group ONCE A WEEK. You gotta let those muscles rest in order for them to rebuild stronger.


After you've done the "pyramid style" sets for about 4-6 weeks, switch to doing 5x5's. 5 sets of 5 repetitions with the same weight for each set. No burnout after your last set this time. You should be lifting to failure at the end of each rep. GO as heavy as you possibly can while keeping proper form, with each set lifting until failure. You shouldn't be able to do anymore than 5 reps with the weight - your 5th rep you should be struggling to the max.


Then after you've done the 5x5 for about 5-8 weeks, you should really be noticing an increasing in your strength, and it should be transferring to your explosiveness in boxing.

After this first 3-5 months, you can start to change up your lifting routine every month or so. One month you might even want to do higher reps with lower weights. You'll start to get a feel for what your body responds to the best.

[Madison Boxing]

roadwork is a complete waste of time, boxing is stuck in the dark ages with some of its conditioning approaches. please can someone tell me how a long plodding run at the same pace is sport specific?

[Hype job]

roadwork is a complete waste of time, boxing is stuck in the dark ages with some of its conditioning approaches. please can someone tell me how a long plodding run at the same pace is sport specific?

It's not totally useless. Boxing isn't purely anaerobic. Slow runs are good if you're building your fitness back up or recovering in between HIIT sessions.

HIIT is more time efficient for the results but it's a lot more taxing on the body, steady state cardio is easier to recover from and can be done on a more consistent basis.

[Madison Boxing]

It's not totally useless. Boxing isn't purely anaerobic. Slow runs are good if you're building your fitness back up or recovering in between HIIT sessions.

HIIT is more time efficient for the results but it's a lot more taxing on the body, steady state cardio is easier to recover from and can be done on a more consistent basis.

just seems a waste of time to me in my opinion mate.if they werent doing HIIT (which i appreciate you cant do all the time) i would have fighters doing 3 min rounds of relatively light bagwork/shadow boxing or 3 mins rounds of skipping with 1 minute inbetween rather than a slow fatiguing long distance run.

[Richard P]

Agreed, I run 5km or a rare 10km more to keep my legs loose for anything but not as a training method,

[Mr.MojoRisin']

roadwork is a complete waste of time, boxing is stuck in the dark ages with some of its conditioning approaches. please can someone tell me how a long plodding run at the same pace is sport specific?

You are constantly moving except during the 1 minute rest. Sprints increase the heart rate to maximum bpm then resting for a few minutes. In a fight it isn't like that. The heart rate is always elevated. It is much more beneficial to jog at a high pace then do sprints on there own separately. Mixing jogging and sprinting is no good.

[GhostofDempsey]

The way I did it was to jog for 300 - 400 yards and sprint for 100 yards, repeat this for the duration of your road work. Sprints will help you get your wind and stamina. If you only jog, your body adjusts to that pace and you are no longer getting the full benefit of that pace.

[HedonisticFrog]

If your legs are giving out and you're not gassing then what you need is more muscular endurance in your legs. To do this you need to push them to metabolic failure, where your leg muscles are the limiting factor. So basically interval training with sprints. It doesn't matter if it's running, or elliptical, or stair master as long as it's your leg muscles that are limiting you.

When you do steady state cardio the limiting factor is your heart, so you aren't developing the muscular endurance in your legs as much.