Is Sparring More Than 3 Minutes Per Round Bad?

[Toffee]

Makes sense doesn't it? Train how you'll fight.

I remember the Bunce/Costello podcast saying Wlad (I think it was Wlad) also believed in doing all of his cardio training in a ring... after all, that's where the real stuff will happen.

[Rock&Roll]

The key word here is intensity.

Usually sparring isn’t the main driving force to get you get fight fit. It more a gauge what level your at.
I’d rather see a guy going 100% for 2 min rounds than cruise control for 4 minutes. Although, it’s not really possible to go 100% for 4 minutes due to your anaerobic threshold but if your able to go as hard as possible, it will increase this as well as your aerobic capacity (VO2 max). 30 second breaks will assist in speeding up the removal of lactic acid in your system against the rate of production.
In saying that, most advantages of 4 min round are cancelled out by other factors, so i won’t disagree with Banks.

This is also where people go wrong when hitting the bag, skipping or shadow boxing. They will do a 3 punch combo then move, duck, feint and then maybe move again, feint and finally throw another combo. I’ve been to a few different gyms and it’s not often that you see someone going non stop for full three minutes. People skip like they are at school or some sch*t. This is the time to get your endurance up. Get on a rope tonight and skip for 3x3 as hard as you can. I bet if you can even do it, you’ll be fu#@ked at the end.
GG has a reputation in the gym because he does train like a motherf*#cker and people start to realise and understand what it takes to get to top level.

[Southpawology]

I believe sparring should closely simulate a real fight as much as possible. Same round times and same rest times.

[Dip_Slide]

Old school trainers will have you spar with no breaks, run with weights in leather boots and do 600 sit ups a day. Fighters of the past who trained like this had better stamina than fighters of today imo. Now there are a lot of theories regarding why fighters now get tired faster and throw less punches than was the case 30-40 year ago despite advancements in training and nutrition, but I'm all for old school training because it also prepares you mentally to go through fire.

Every fighter should experiment with different techniques throughout their careers to see what works best at their current age. Longer rounds don't negatively impact you if different sparring partners come in and you can't take breaks. This of course shouldn't be the only type of sparring a fighter does as it is more suited for 12 round fights, if you're training for explosiveness and getting a KO then you should also incorporate other sparring strategies.

[Shape up]

You also get a feel for how far into the round you are, if you’re sparring 4 minute rounds you tend to get the feeling the real round slips away from you too quickly, if you’re after intensity, set up a quarter size ring, you can take breaks easily in a full size ring, no chance of that happening in a small ring, you also get more practice working off the ropes due to being on them so much more, it improves your footwork naturally due to having to move more frequently because exchanges are more frequent, the only time I change is the break time, I lower that to 45 seconds

[anonymous2.0]

It depends on fighter to fighter. If GGG feels more energetic and his conditioning lasts longer with 3/1 then 4/.5 then stick with it. I think younger fighters benefit more from 4 minutes sparring and 30 second rests and older fighters should taper off a bit. Funnily enough Banks is actually having GGG spar longer then Sanchez.

[Zaryu]

I don't think the answer is very straightforward, but I tend to agree with Banks. I think it's more beneficial to spar 3 minutes rounds if that's how the fight is, but I do think there's a place for working a little more than the allotted three minutes

In general, I prefer just shortening the rest time. It's simple and it works. I rarely did 30 second rest periods, but I did do a lot of 45 second rest periods in between rounds.

Whether it's sparring or hitting the heavy bag, I think extended time periods need to be very structured to avoid pacing yourself for a 4 minute round and messing with your conditioning and time awareness in a round with changes like that.

An example of what I would use is: spar or hit the bag for three minutes, and have a trainer complete a quick speed drill or practice some high intensity combos 5-20 seconds in duration after the round. The rest period after that can be adjusted from 60 seconds to 30 seconds, depending on the conditioning of the fighter.