Tysons workout regime pre-1988

Okay, I saw this on a bunch of different forums, and thought it was pretty interesting. I guess it was a daily routine that Tyson did everyday, starting when he was around 13 and building up to those crazy numbers.

Up until he fired Kevin Rooney in 1988, his ONLY diet was steak, pasta and fruit juice. How's that for discipline?

Daily Regime (7 days a week):
5am: get up and go for a 3 mile jog
6am: come back home shower and go back to bed (great workout for those huge legs of his)
10am wake up: eat oatmeal
12pm: do ring work (10 rounds of sparring)
2pm: have another meal (steak and pasta with fruit juice drink)
3pm: more ring work and 60 mins on the exercise bike (again working those huge legs for endurance)
5pm: 2000 sit-ups; 500-800 dips; 500 press-ups; 500 shrugs with a 30kg barbell and 10 mins of neck exercises
7pm: steak and pasta meal again with fruit juice (orange i think it was)
8pm: another 30 minutes on the exercise bike
then watch TV and then go to bed.

(Before jogging in the morning he did a lot of stretching followed by 10 jumps onto boxes and 10 bursts of sprints, then he went jogging. At 12pm he sparred. At 3pm he did focus mitt work or heavy bag work inside the ring. He warmed up for all ring work with light exercises such as skipping or shadow boxing or speed ball. At 5pm Tyson did 10 quick circuits, each circuit consisting of: 200 sit-ups, then 25-40 dips, then 50 press-ups, then 25-40 dips, then 50 shrugs, followed by 10 mins of neck work on the floor. What an animal! Tyson said that the shrugs "built his shoulders up" to help unleash punches with his short arms whilst at the same time building endurance in the neck. It should be noted though that Tyson couldn't do any more than 50 sit-ups a day and 50 press-ups a day when he was 13, but gradually increasing the reps each week got him to a higher level over many years, so that he was doing 2000 sit-ups inside 2 hours every day by the time he was 20.)

Mike told Ian Durke (Sky commentator) his above workout regime when he visited England to watch a Frank Bruno fight in March 1987. Durke told Mike that Bruno trained like a bodybuilder and asked Mike about this, but Mike said that floor exercises and natural exercises work better. Mike explained that his punch-power comes from nothing more than heavy bag work "works your strength through the hips" he said, despite doing shrugs with a barbell he said that lifting weights has about as much resemblance to punching as "cheesecake" (contradicting himself though due to doing shrugs). But his mentor Cus D'Amato realised that, due to Tyson's style, he needed punch-power (not that he didn't have it naturally anyway). So Cus got Mike very heavy bags to hit for a 13 yr old, and Cus gradually increased the weight of the bags Tyson used over time so that by the age of 18-19 Tyson was banging bags that no other man could budge! Also, Cus used to order Tyson to go jog 3 miles with 50lbs on his back because he didn't want Mike growing any taller (because it didn't suit his style)!


Sorry if I posted this in the wrong section, this seemed like the proper place to put it though. Wouldnt this kind of training (7 days a week) be overtraining? Or is it a good workout if you actually built up to it? I don't even know if its real, or if its a well thought out rumor. If its real than Tyson was a beast.

 

that is pretty interesting. where exactly did you get this info?

 

that is amazing. i have always wondered what kind of workouts boxers did.

 

damn! he ate oatmeal for 2 hours!?!?! now thats dedication.

 

lmfao i didnt notice that


interesting read though i guess

 

But he lifted weights post 1988, didnt he? I saw him doing incline BP in one of the highlights.

 

I thought he started lifting weights post-prison. I've seen footage of him doing OH presses and leg presses, he was using lighter weights and endless repetitions!

 

endless repetitions??!! When did he get to eat two hours of oatmeal?

 

if this is actualy the case then all sports science is wrong or he is a genetic freak

 

They hired a guy to spoon feed him oatmeal while he was lifting!

 

Sports science says doing 500 dips will make you into a pansy huh?

 

Freak? Tyson is 100 % normal!

 

I remember reading that Tyson was on a really effective steriod, that added tons of strength without too much extra weight. Anybody else know about this?

 

not at all, but acording to sports science you would be building more endurance fibers rather then fast twitch. and i can't see endurance being prioratized that highly over power in a striker.

I myself do only bodywieght exercises, but i don't work endless endurance like that. I work mostly power and stability strength. the little bit of endurance that i do work is in the form of tabbata in 20 second inervals.

 

This sounds like B.S., but the rest of the workout is interesting. That he only 10 rounds of boxing work per day is the part that really surprises me.

 

lmao!

 

Not sure if he really did or not, but this sounds like Winstrol (stanozolol). Winstrol makes you strong as hell but without really volumizing your muscles.

Wolverine
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I read a book about him, "With bad Intentions", it claimed that he was stronger then most grown ups at age 13. Doing like 200 in bench, so he had som ok genetics...

 

He's a beast. I dont care how many fights he loses nowadays. He'll always have my respect.

 

how much could tyson bench press?