Thread: boxing training

i was wondering if someone is working 9-5 and taking night classes, and can only go to the boxing gym 2 times a week, and cant make the other days but can go to a local gym with ONLY a heavy bag, could you just use what you got, shadow box, jump ropes, weights, road work; ccan you still be good at what you do without the uppercut bag, speedbag, and double end? would it be a good idea to hit the heavy bag without supervision even though i been doing this for 5months?

also another question is would you drive 50mins go the boxing gym just to train or do you think school fulltime, work full time, plus boxing is overkill? or should i wait till after i graduate.

Overkill. When do you graduate? My advice would be to wait until after, otherwise your school will suffer and it's not worth it. In the mean time, try to get in good shape. That seems to be the biggest hang-up with the new guys we get every few months. My coach has to spend half the time they are there running their asses off because they've shown up completely out of shape.

If there are no boxing gyms locally, you will probably find another outlet to spend your free time. What about the next best thing, join a fitness/sports club, or a martial arts gym. You can also go for a run in the early morning, and all in all it should help prepare you if you want to give boxing a go later on.

That is a very difficult thing to ask & you're asking a lot.

If you have a short time till you graduate you could just keep yourself fit until after then.

You don't need all the equipment in world to get good or to stay in shape.

I used to take 90m+ trips to the gym I wanted to go. It was tough.

Most people say they go boxing gym 5 days a week, I said I could make 2 of those days and to make up for those 3 days I could go to my local fitness gym which has only a heavy bag. Would that still be fine? Can I still be good or im very limited because no trainer supervision those 3 days spent at a local gym...?!

ignore them. It's about what you can do, what you can realistically do. If that means 3x a week do that. Most am.clubs here have set training three times a week. You wouldn't be doing anything different.

2-3 days a week is fine for beginning. The thing I worry about is the time getting to and from the gym and the time spent there taking away from your studies, which should be priority #1.

I agree with sourpuss on this one. You will burn yourself out trying to keep up with everything and for some of us (me ) it will be the least fun thing which suffers most - school.

If you are working and studying full time have you thought about how many hours all this would add up to in a day and does it leave you time to sleep if you train and travel a long way to do it 5 days a weeks too?

Does it leave you time to co-exist with other people because long term you'll resent always having to turn down invites etc.

If you can fit it in without burning out it'll probably be good for you but if you look at the hours and you know they add up to more than you can maintain over an extended period of time then maybe wait.

I just get the feeling from your first post you are graduating soonish - am i right?

If you don't do well at school it might close doors for you which have a lasting effect on the course of your life.

If you just have to wait six months to graduate and you use that time to get fit it will make little difference to your boxing long term.

Originally Posted by theezy

i was wondering if someone is working 9-5 and taking night classes, and can only go to the boxing gym 2 times a week, and cant make the other days but can go to a local gym with ONLY a heavy bag, could you just use what you got, shadow box, jump ropes, weights, road work; ccan you still be good at what you do without the uppercut bag, speedbag, and double end? would it be a good idea to hit the heavy bag without supervision even though i been doing this for 5months?

also another question is would you drive 50mins go the boxing gym just to train or do you think school fulltime, work full time, plus boxing is overkill? or should i wait till after i graduate.

Topics like this come up from time to time, so here's my opinion and my experience as guy who started boxing for fun and fitness in his thirties.

What are your goals? Do you want to compete seriously at some point or do you just want to box for fitness, challenge, and more interesting exercise than just weights and treadmill? Your goals determine the answer. What do you mean by "good"? Good enough to be successful in competition? (then boxing needs to be a main focus in your life) Good enough to spar other novices without looking like a fool? (2x per week, some conditioning on off days, absolutely, in 6-9 months) Good enough to be a useful sparring partner to the more serious boxers in the gym? (it's going to take long while at 2x per week but if you stick with it long enough and do other conditioning, sure, at some point)

Either way, with your current schedule given the distance to the gym, I agree with everybody that said wait until you graduate to start boxing training. If the gym was around the corner I would say go for it. In the meanwhile, spend that 50 minutes you would drive to the boxing gym doing roadwork and get yourself into decent condition. Skip rope, jog, pushups, ab work, stairs...there all all kinds of things you can help your cardio fitness by yourself that will help you accelerate your learning process one you can get with a trainer. If you are new to boxing, you're better off having some supervision when you are working the bags and shadowboxing. That way you won't waste your time learning bad habits that you'll need to unlearn eventually.

You can learn a lot of technique going twice a week IF you are doing proper conditioning on the other days so that you can focus your gym time on learning. If they are open on saturday, adding a third day would help A LOT. If you are looking to compete seriously, two days eventually isn't going to be enough, but it can get you to the point that you can hold your own in sparring and feel like a boxer. If you really love it, go ahead once you get the time. The people at my old gym who competed would go through stretches where they only came to the gym two or three times per if they didn't have a fight coming up, but in the weeks leading up to one, they would ramp up there training schedules.

At my most serious, my 1st goal was to lose 20lbs. My second was be good enough to spar and not look like an idiot. My third goal was to be a useful sparring partner to competing fighters. On average, I was training two nights per week, 2-3 hours (technique and condition, no free sparring) and Saturday mornings for lighter workout (fine tuning technique, fight tactics, get loose) followed by a sparring session, usually 6 rounds, two rounds on, two rounds off. On my own I was doing burpees and running about 4 miles 2x per week. Adding the Saturday sparring and the off-day conditioning probably doubled my rate of improvement.

By the time I had to stop because my work schedule changed, I had accomplished goals 1 and 2, and I was getting pretty close to my third goal. I felt like a real boxer. In some ways, I had met my last goal because I was useful to the competing Muay Thai guys who trained less with their hands, and I did some controlled sparring with a decent amateur middleweight (I was told to go my hardest at him so he could work on defense and he was only allowed to tap medium me on counters). I had hoped to be able to free spar with him at some point, and I probably would have gotten there in 6 more months. I could hold my own with guys 10 years younger who had similar experience levels. My total experience was 8 months on and off a few years before and 8 months steady at that gym. Either Donny or Ice would have beaten me to a pulp, but I would have been able to spark a 175lb version of Charlie Zelenoff or Andrew Hartley. (at least the version of Andrew before TM started helping him. I don't know where he's at now).


So that was a long response, but I though it would be good to post this because not everybody wants to compete and people have different levels of commitment. Boxing gyms need every person they can get these days, and I would hate for somebody to not get involved because they think they have to train full-time and compete to make it a worthwhile experience. The training and sparring was great for me, both mind and body.

i really appreciate the advice and thanks for your opinions, im pretty much trying to be a competitive amateur pretty much when i say good. 2 days a week at a boxing gym n maybe i coud get another day in the boxing gym but that day there wouldnt be no trainer helping me though, soo yes i did think this over i could make time to study, train and still work, so datz y i ask is 2 days enough and 3 days in a regular gym with a heavy bag... and i also got a schedule i can pe during the day to run 4 times a week

Originally Posted by theezy

i really appreciate the advice and thanks for your opinions, im pretty much trying to be a competitive amateur pretty much when i say good. 2 days a week at a boxing gym n maybe i coud get another day in the boxing gym but that day there wouldnt be no trainer helping me though, soo yes i did think this over i could make time to study, train and still work, so datz y i ask is 2 days enough and 3 days in a regular gym with a heavy bag... and i also got a schedule i can pe during the day to run 4 times a week

I go 3 times a week to my gym, and could get by on 2. Your schedule is likely much tighter then mine, in an hours put in way...but I go to school and do dbl the credits of all other students, and work on the side, although part time. Plus workout regularly and fight and spar each and every chance I get. I also have insomnia.

I'd just do it and see how it goes. Try to compact high intensity short duration workouts in. You should find spaces for them in your schedule.

Listen to your body's aches and strains; watch your sleepiness factor. Pay attention to your work and school and be aware of any sufferings. It might not hurt if you have someone else who can observe you also...as sometimes, and especially when we are overworking/overtired, we aren't our best guages.

The right routine and planning, diet, can be the difference of it being feasible or not.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by theezy

i really appreciate the advice and thanks for your opinions, im pretty much trying to be a competitive amateur pretty much when i say good. 2 days a week at a boxing gym n maybe i coud get another day in the boxing gym but that day there wouldnt be no trainer helping me though, soo yes i did think this over i could make time to study, train and still work, so datz y i ask is 2 days enough and 3 days in a regular gym with a heavy bag... and i also got a schedule i can pe during the day to run 4 times a week

The only part that concerns me is the "no trainer" portion. I'm sure you and fit in the conditioning. Does that also mean that you won't have supervised sparring? If you are going to compete, those are pretty helpful things.

Like Youngblood said, give it a go and see how you feel. Good luck.

Andrade springs to mind

im not stressed bout school wise because im taking classes like weight training swimming , golf etc. classes for my kinesiology major, but the 2 days i said i could make it to the gym yes its under supervision so yes ill sparr under supervision and my conditioning is on pint i came into the gym many diffrent gyms and all said i hav good conditioning and that no1 did wut i did when they first came, i also used 2 run track datz y.. 400m hurdler and 800 so i got endurance. i can come off out of shape and run like a 5:40 mile and possibly a lap and half 600 in like 1:45 out of shape, 800 like in 2:15