How do professional boxers train?

when I was in boxing, I was in good shape. I could do 15+ rounds of jump roping, sprints, squats, sparring, bagwork, and mitts and I would be winded but not exhausted. then I let boxing for awhile and started wrestling right away. when i was in wrestling, being under pressure and getting rough-housed in wrestling I gassed much quicker. it was completely different. i would get tired in the second round in wrestling matches
 
when I was in boxing, I was in good shape. I could do 15+ rounds of jump roping, sprints, squats, sparring, bagwork, and mitts and I would be winded but not exhausted. then I let boxing for awhile and started wrestling right away. when i was in wrestling, being under pressure and getting rough-housed in wrestling I gassed much quicker. it was completely different. i would get tired in the second round in wrestling matches

Good post AVT. Thank you for speaking with experience in both and not just posting:

"Wandy would outlast any Boxer EVAR!!!!111" kind of crap.

I've actually had the opposite experience. When I wrestled in school, and whenever I did groundwork in Martial Arts classes I learned a lot about conserving energy on the ground as well as economical movement. Systems of letting my opponent trap themselves in essance and not wasting much energy, and rarely ever gassed completely.

However when training boxing and having to be in a state of basic perpetual motion I found myself wanting to call 911 after 4 rounds.

I think a GOOD MMA'er and a GOOD Boxer should have very comparable stamina because in the gym the exercises are only but so different. Running is running, rope-skipping is rope-skipping, burpees are burpees. However, when you apply the craft you learn different rules apply. Sport-wise I would only say Boxing tends to have better athletes only because of how widespread the Sport is and how old the Sport is compared to MMA. MMA is still birthing schools with fundamental regimens and routines, and even still there are slapstick guys who basically invent their own styles and regimens and win, this is rare in Boxing today, there's more of a blanket state of conditioning each fighter should be in. The amount of guys who aren't in the best shape cardiologically speaking who have made it very far in MMA greatly out-number those who have done so in boxing, just because by the numbers, in Boxing you're up against a higher number of well-conditioned athletes to make it to the top.

However, like I said, there should be relatively similar good cardio shape in both, and by relative I mean relative to how your cardio applies to it's use in your craft.
 
Bas Rutten states in his MMA Workout that the key to endurance is breathing and when you disrupt someone's preferred breathing pattern then that has the ability to make them winded. Thats why he suggests boxers doing his MMA workout tape on top of the boxing tape because it involves sprawls and kick, etc.
 
I box at a gym in Pontiac Michigan. There are 7 pro boxers at my gym. It would suprise you to know what they actually did. We train in rounds. There is a buzzer that goes off after a three minute round and thirty seconds rest between rounds. So for each round we will do various things. For 1-2 rounds
we shadow box in front of a mirror. Get warmed up and throwing the punches. Then for 1-3 rounds we hit a heavy bag. Then maybe 1-3 rounds of focus mit work. Then maybe 1-3 rounds of jumping rope. So we work out a total of up to 12 three minute rounds of various exercises with thirty second breaks in the middle.

The days that we spar, we don't do all that though. Maybe a few rounds of warm up, shadow boxing, and a round or two on a heavy bag, and then we spar. Depending on who we spar against the sparring matches can last from three rounds to 8 or maybe ten.

We don't do entirely too much. What we do, is quality though. I can go into the gym and work out for forty minutes and get more done (Cardio wise) than most of the kids at my MMA gym do in two hours. And to restate a previous post, the reason why boxers look like they're in such good shape is because the cut so much weight. You sweat buckets at a boxing practice, and you can easily drop 8-10 pounds in an hour and a half. I do think though, that by doing all of that, boxers gain some pretty phenominal wind.
 
wildcard_seven said:
How so? Stand up shape and ground shape are different? So if I squat, run, do pushups, jump rope that won't translate to good shape in either field? Ricky Hatton is going to get wore out rolling on the mat with me? WTF ever. Yes you need to have specific training, but at higher levels, good shape is just good fucking shape. So a A level kickboxer like Mirko Crocop had to drastically alter his training so he could keep his wind with his training partners on the mat? His awesome conditioning shriveled up like superman exposed to kryptonite on the floor? If anything thats a rest compared to the constant pace he had to keep in K-1=the key is are you comfortable being on the ground, otherwise you will be tensing muscles unecessarily. You don't need to go out and do grappling pushups, jiujitsu squats, and judo running to get in shape for groundwork.

Why did you start this thread. People actually post their opinions, and you shoot them down and say they are wrong. You asked for opinions, but you argue against everyone that says something that you don't want them to.
 
Also he asked how boxers train, not what syle of fighting has the best wind.
 
Hammer_Fist said:
Also he asked how boxers train, not what syle of fighting has the best wind.

That's true, I guess this thread did go off of the topic a little bit.
 
Different sport, different muscle stimulation and recruitment, different efficiency, same general energy systems more or less.

This is why someone who can run marathons who has never boxed in his life can't last 1 round of boxing, and vice versa. Their bodies aren't adapted to the training and need time and constant practice to become efficient. This also applies to the grappling/striking argument.

Your body will always strive to be efficient, this is why you throw different things at it. When you condition, you don't want your body to be efficient in a movement, you want the energy system you are using to be efficient by pushing yourself. If you are already extremely good at a non sport-related movement, it is time to move on.

So. Yes, outside conditioning does affect your performance in a particular sport, but to a certain extent. This is why your conditioning should always be changed up so your body wont be able to adapt, you are not trying to be a master of calisthenics or a powerlifter or an olympic sprinter, you are trying to be a master of your sport first and foremost. So the bottom line with conditioning would be, pushing yourself.

With general conditioning, you are training different energy systems, which gives you overall conditioning as opposed to sport specific conditioning.

Yes it is worth doing, if you are a fighter you need every advantage you can get over your opponent. With running and other constant movement aerobics you can make your recovery between rounds faster, thus letting you go for a whole 12 rounds.

With anaerobic and explosive movements, you will be able to sustain multiple explosions for a set amount of time and not gas afterwards.

Without proper conditioning, you wont be able to access your fighting skills and impose them on your opponent. All your skills will be locked out by something called fatigue. You need to be able to use your skills to their fullest throughout the whole contest, and this is why we condition.

I'm probably preaching to the choir though, but focus on your sport most importantly and keep conditioning a big part of it, just don't get hung up on being a master of a certain conditioning movement, become a master of getting yourself in shape for your sport.
 
i want to say wrestlers are more enduranced trained but I am no professional on this topic.

Boxers im sorry to say are pussies at endurance compared to top level wrestlers and grapplers, more muscle endurance and oxygen intake is needed during hard grappling or rolling then in any boxing match.
 
Who cares about comparing conditioning between sports?

Is a wrestler ever gonna wanna box or vice versa? Maybe, but then the training would change right?

The point is, you do what is best for your sport. And if wrestlers have better general conditioning, then so be it, they aren't boxers and they have their own skillset, there is nothing to be gained by comparing apples and oranges. Especially if no one is competing against eachother.
 
Well I've been boxing (amateur) for 2 years and doing bjj for 8 (brown belt) and I see the conditioning being very diferent.

Today I sparred 3x3min rounds and I was dead tired, one hour later I rolled for like 30 min and I was tired but could go some more.

Anyway, my cardio sucks most of the time...
 
Different sport, different muscle stimulation and recruitment, different efficiency, same general energy systems more or less.

This is why someone who can run marathons who has never boxed in his life can't last 1 round of boxing, and vice versa. Their bodies aren't adapted to the training and need time and constant practice to become efficient. This also applies to the grappling/striking argument.

Your body will always strive to be efficient, this is why you throw different things at it. When you condition, you don't want your body to be efficient in a movement, you want the energy system you are using to be efficient by pushing yourself. If you are already extremely good at a non sport-related movement, it is time to move on.

So. Yes, outside conditioning does affect your performance in a particular sport, but to a certain extent. This is why your conditioning should always be changed up so your body wont be able to adapt, you are not trying to be a master of calisthenics or a powerlifter or an olympic sprinter, you are trying to be a master of your sport first and foremost. So the bottom line with conditioning would be, pushing yourself.

With general conditioning, you are training different energy systems, which gives you overall conditioning as opposed to sport specific conditioning.

Yes it is worth doing, if you are a fighter you need every advantage you can get over your opponent. With running and other constant movement aerobics you can make your recovery between rounds faster, thus letting you go for a whole 12 rounds.

With anaerobic and explosive movements, you will be able to sustain multiple explosions for a set amount of time and not gas afterwards.

Without proper conditioning, you wont be able to access your fighting skills and impose them on your opponent. All your skills will be locked out by something called fatigue. You need to be able to use your skills to their fullest throughout the whole contest, and this is why we condition.

I'm probably preaching to the choir though, but focus on your sport most importantly and keep conditioning a big part of it, just don't get hung up on being a master of a certain conditioning movement, become a master of getting yourself in shape for your sport.

Great post :D
 
How so? Stand up shape and ground shape are different? So if I squat, run, do pushups, jump rope that won't translate to good shape in either field? Ricky Hatton is going to get wore out rolling on the mat with me? WTF ever. Yes you need to have specific training, but at higher levels, good shape is just good fucking shape. So a A level kickboxer like Mirko Crocop had to drastically alter his training so he could keep his wind with his training partners on the mat? His awesome conditioning shriveled up like superman exposed to kryptonite on the floor? If anything thats a rest compared to the constant pace he had to keep in K-1=the key is are you comfortable being on the ground, otherwise you will be tensing muscles unecessarily. You don't need to go out and do grappling pushups, jiujitsu squats, and judo running to get in shape for groundwork.

there was this guy my buddy worked out with, he was a decent wreslter, they said when they wrestled he could just go and go, but when it came to pads he was gassed after like 5 mins. grappling and striking are also different days.
 
It all depends on the trainer.
 
when I was in boxing, I was in good shape. I could do 15+ rounds of jump roping, sprints, squats, sparring, bagwork, and mitts and I would be winded but not exhausted. then I let boxing for awhile and started wrestling right away. when i was in wrestling, being under pressure and getting rough-housed in wrestling I gassed much quicker. it was completely different. i would get tired in the second round in wrestling matches

I completely agree with this. I'm more of a grappler myself, and don't have very good cardio, but I can hang with most guys for several rounds. When I do Muay Thai, however, I gas much faster (ESPECIALLY from pad work). You'll have a better tank for whatever sport you do most since you're body has adjusted to it's motions, but doing the opposite, ie striking to grappling or vice versa, and you'll tire out sooner. RJ Powells post (#28) explains this.
 
I agree with dip. WHen run, I can last for a long time at a decent pace. even sprints, I can recover quite quickly. With striking, I do not get muscle fatigue much but cardio wise like wind, I suffer, especially with padwork. With grappling, I do not get winded at all, even after like near 30 minutes of straight free rolling but my muscles fatigue like crazy. I think its more a matter of what you're used to
 
Yea, comfort is one of the biggest factors. If you can be totally relaxed even an untrained person can perform well and if you're nervous (like my first few kickboxing fights) you'll be gassed from doing relatively little. Your body sucks at regulating itself by default in fight situations. It wants to give you %100 for a couple seconds. You need to tell to chill and that you're going to need it for longer than that.
 
oh yeah, i played this card.

ThreadNecromancer.png
 
the thread is about professional boxer training, so i'll just go with what i know about that.

i'm from the philippines, and boxing is a fairly common thing around here. in my gym, i usually train with about 9 to 12 professionals, ranging from 4 to 10 rounders. from what i know, their pre-fight routine consists of early morning roadwork (long run on m,w,f; interval or hill sprints on t, th, s), and a 2-3 hour training session at noon (when the gym is mostly empty). sparring on m,w,f, and regular training on t,th,s. training consists of the usual skipping rope, shadowboxing, punch mitts, heavy bag, makiwara, double-end bag, speed bag, weaving, and calisthenics.
 
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