boxing and gaining muscle

[Ringo]

Azza - think about it like this: are you going to go pro? Is the alleged "slowdown" going to hurt you that much? I lift weights and although I had my ass handed to me in my first sparring session, it was inexperience (and fighting a guy 4 inches taller than me and 30 pounds heavier, but now we're splitting hairs). I train 5 days a week, and I lift weights on days when I cant go to my boxing gym. I stay away from a lot of heavy leg lifts because my boxing workout is very leg-intensive. I hit chest and back at least once a week, sometimes shoulders, sometimes arms, and always abs. A strong set of muscles is beneficial, it doesn't matter what anyone says. Granted, big muscles will slow you down, yes, but if your naturally lean or have a tendency to lose weight quickly, you can afford to do some lifting. As an amatuer, speed is king, but when people approach weightlifting, they forget that if you have power and decent speed, one or two good punches takes speed away from your opponent.

[yrrej]

You've got to decide what you want to do. Bodybuilders tend to rest most of the time when they aren't lifting. But for boxing one needs to keep the body fat down and endurance up, not to mention staying in a weight class, which means muscular weight comes second. As a person ages, they gain some muscular weight anyway, even with boxing training, but these bigger guys don't look like bodybuilders. So you've got to decide whether you want to be big and strong, or a good fighter in a weight class. BTW, I heard this monstrous trainer in a gym the other day telling this little girl, his trainee, about what a fantastic MMA fighter he is with hands hard as rocks, etc. etc., and he could be really great..........if only he had time to do cardio...:wank: