strength for boxing

[peterdobson92]

Hi, i was thinking about starting boxing and have begun training for strength using pressups, pull ups, and sit ups every day. But i am currently a stone light for the weight class i was hoping to go for and wasn't sure if i could gain this only using bodyweight exercises. Do you have any advice, thanks.

[Alan_OldStudent]

Hi, i was thinking about starting boxing and have begun training for strength using pressups, pull ups, and sit ups every day. But i am currently a stone light for the weight class i was hoping to go for and wasn't sure if i could gain this only using bodyweight exercises. Do you have any advice, thanks.

Welcome to the forum, Peter,

A stone for those Yanks among us equals 14 pounds or a bit more than 6.33 kg.

If you're looking to gain weight, you'll want to gain muscle. That's quite a bit of muscle to gain. Depending on your age, it could take a while, no matter what you do. If you're a teen in what is called your "growth spurt," the gain could be a lot faster. Of course, eating lots of junk piles on weight fast, but that's not recommended.

I'd say the push-ups (pressups) are a good exercise. I'd also say squats are good.

Others will have suggestions, too.

Check out the suggestions around here for gaining muscle. Personally, I like the book Pushing Yourself To Power (http://www.bronzebowpublishing.com/pushing-yourself-power) (clickable link). It's a big book but well worth the price. If you get it, spend the extra money to get it with the spiral binding.

Regards,

Alan OldStudent
Alan OldStudent's Musings (http://alanoldstudent.wordpress.com/)

[John Peterson]

Thank You Alan.

PeterDobson 92,

I'm curious about two things. First off, how old are you? And how much do you currently weigh? I have one young man by the name of Nathan Clay that added more than 50 pounds of solid, beautifully sculpted muscle to his frame in a little over a year by following our methods. So that answer is yes, it certainly is possible, but there are many factors besides exercise alone that make muscular weight gain achievable.

Not only that but I have no idea of what your present condition is at this time. So more information would be helpful.

---John Peterson

[Flash11740]

Hi Peter,

I box, and transformetrics is my support system. Most boxers train using calisthenics, very few use weights. Rather than set a weight target you should look to enter the weight class that currently suits you and start boxing at that weight. Remember that boxers are exceptionally well conditioned athletes and for that reason tend to be quite light for their size and power. Every boxer strives to maximise their power to weight ratio, and to develop as much power as possible with as little weight as possible.

Boxers tend to shun resistance weight training because it make person muscle bound, restricts mobility, and take the snap out of punches.

To punch hard you need to generate (force) momentum. The formula for calculating momentum is mass x velocity. To increase the momentum of a punch you need to make it faster and transfer more weight behind it. The faster you make the punch the harder it is to avoid or intercept. Therefore if two punches have the same momentum then then one with more speed and less mass behind it is more likely to land... and punches are wasted unless you land them.

I'm 175lbs but I can punch with more momentum than my friend who weighs 280lbs, and what's more my punches are much faster. I can hit him, but he can't land one on me.

Train hard and your body will find it's natural most efficient boxing weight. Don't set targets.

[Black Knight]

I guess my question is why are you hoping for the higher weight class.To have an advantage in combative sports it is best to fight at an "artificialy"lighter weight.Meaning that you dry your self out for weigh ins so that by the time the match starts you have rehydrated back up to your natural weight and have the biggest size/power advantage over your opponet.Honestly this is not a super safe/healthy thing to do to your body but it does work so i guess its just the nature of the beast.Ive been boxing,wrestling,training and competing in martial arts since i was 12 and im now 28 so i have plenty of experince both gaining and losing weight for competition.While you can gain weight and still be competitive if your skilled enough typically speaking your opponets are going to have that weight/power advantage over you.

If your just starting out in the sport and you are not ready to start doing the hardcore things like cutting weight just compete as close to your natural weight as possibel.Lets say the weight class is 140lbs if your at a weight of 142lbs that would be a very easy cut for a novice to make and if your 138lbs then basicly you could eat whatever you want and you shouldnt be giving up to much of a size advantage to your opponet,although if the next weight class is 135lbs then obviously that would be a very easy cut as well.My point is that at least while your first getting started in the sport try to fight as close to your natural weight and stay healthy.

As of late you have seen some fighters move up in weight and bring there power with them namely Manny Pacqiao(that last fight vs Cotto was brutal)but Pacman is a once in a life time fighter and other competitiors havent faired as well going up in weight.Roy Jones went up just fine and did well as a heavyweight but when he moved back down in weight thats when he started degressing.You never know how altering your weight drasticly is going to effect your athleticism.Me personally right out of high school when i was around 19 i started powerlifting hardcore and got up to a body weight of around 175lbs hieght 5'5'.I was very strong on the weights(relatively speaking)bench 315 squat 405 power clean 275.I did have alot of power at this point but my endurance and fluidity were way down.I went back to the wrestling room at one point and worked out with a buddy of mine who wasnt that strong on weights but was wrestling consistently he was probably at a weight of 135 lbs or so.While i did alright muslcing him around for a while i got gassed pretty easily.And the point you have to take from this little story is that yeah weight helped me be more powerful then my friend but the fact of the matter is that if i were COMPETING at that weight against people the SAME SIZE i would of got tooled.

After about a year of lifting i got bored with it.I was tired of walking around feeling extra bulky and losing alot of other aspects of fitness just to have alot of 1 (pure strength).Also i wanted to compete in something against another opponet.So back in 2000 i started training for MMA and within a few months of hardcore training none of wich involved weights i was a fit explosive 140lbs athlete again that would wipe the floor with the 175lbs version of myself.I know i went all over the place with this post but bottom line look for quality weight gain over quanity when competing.

[Alan_OldStudent]

Hey Black Knight and Flash11740,

Those are great points.

I have the same questions that Brother John has. One's age has a lot to do with when one can gain a lot of weight really fast. Brother Nathan, who looks super, was going through a growth spurt, and his hard work with what JP calls "our methods" took advantage of that and achieved some remarkable results.

Regards,

Alan OldStudent
Alan OldStudent's Musings (http://alanoldstudent.wordpress.com/)

[MikeNY]

Weight lifting will make you bulky, slow and boxers avoid it, you can gain muscle using VRT or using the DVR Tiger Moves in the M7 book, lesson 3 of PYTP has the Miracle 12. Calisthenics are a must and PYTP and the M7 (7 workouts part) are based on the Atlas Course. Rocky Marciano was an Atlas student and used pushups to make himself super fit.

I'd say the best conditioning program would be getting (as noted above) a copy of Pushing Yourself to Power or the Miracle 7 and follow those programs, along with road work and boxing workouts. In bare knuckle boxing the they use to put out a candle flame with the speed of a punch and Asian Martial Arts do the same. I boxed heavyweight in High School & College and weighed 182 to 185 at six feet and boxed men much heavier, thier size can slow them down. Flash and Black Knight gave good advise.

[Black Knight]

The one thing i want to say Mike is that while weights CAN make you slow it is not a gaurentee that they WILL make you slow.Traditonaly speaking martial artist and boxers have given this advice and stuck with BWE,but fast forward to the present due to the advancement of sports science trainers and athletes are using weights to increase power,speed and even cardio.To use some examples of such athletes i will start off with Evander Holyfield.While he was a great cruiserweight he eventually went up to heavyweight with the use of correct weight training and had a hall of fame carrer.Bernard Hopkins used weights to bulk up to light heavy.Bruce Lee used weights although in more of a circuit fashion.Moving on to MMA George St Pierre used weights to take his already god like athleticism to another level.The list goes on and on.

Im not big on weights but i do use them to a small degree(maybe 10-20% of my training)but not in the traditional sense such as bench pressing,squatting,deadlift etc.One example of something i do is push a 25lb plate up and down the length of the mat,it gives the same level of fatigue that you feel from pushing a car,shooting for a takedown or pushing a football sled and gives tremendous power.The thing with weights is not that they dont work its that as with everything in life there is a tradeoff.Going back to a couple examples i used earlier Bruce Lee DESTROYED his back doing good mornings using i belive 135lbs,Holyfield had alot of issues with injuries his shoulder being a major one.Im not sure if he got these injuries using weights but im sure they didnt help.

The bottom line is that weights CAN HELP you as an athlete BUT they CAN also HURT you.With Transformetrics type methods they CAN and WILL help you as an athlete and the chances of you getting hurt are but a fraction of what they would be using weight training.

[Flash11740]

There is some controversy over whether or not Holyfield ever used steroids to beef up to heavyweight.

For a long time I bought into the whole "weight training is more modern and has something to offer a boxer" argument, and was determined to prove it. Lately I've changed that opinion. While I think it is possible to train for explosive power using weights, I feel that calisthenics are just better suited to that purpose. I trained with weights from aged 19 to age 37, the last 2.5 years have been purely calisthenics and DVRs and my boxing has noticeably improved in that time. I'm faster on my feet, my punches are snappier, and I don't gas as easy. Switching to pure BEW required a leap of faith, and my heartfelt thanks go out to those here who encouraged me to make that leap.

[MikeNY]

My uncle trained professional boxer's and that was an influence on my view. I had a weight set as a teen and lifted in High School & College Gym classes as required, but felt those that told me that weights made you bulky and slow were correct. I knew Bruce Lee screwed his back up using "good mornging" and never lived another day without pain. Involved in Sports, Judo, Boxing and Martial Arts with practice of Yoga, Isometrics and Dynaflex made me see that Isometrics are resistance exercises and made you stronger without slowing you down. Unlike some here I see DVR, VRT, CIassics Isometrics and Isometric Powerflexing all as the fruit of the Isometric tree.

I'm in John's generation and saw what weight lifting did to friends, but the guys into Martial Arts, Savate, Boxing, Yoga, Karate, Kung fu, Tai Chi and Qigong seemed to have avoided the injury cycle the weight lifters had.

PS: I'm was VRT weight lifting (until my operation and will restart soon on the MD's ok) and will be again, all the benifits without the weights. VRT might be one of the greatest idea's ever, all the science of weight lifting, routines and none of the damage.

PS I forgot to mention Big Jim's Powerflex System!