does shadow boxing really build muscle?or does it just increase speed & accuracy

does shadow boxing really build muscle?or does it just increase speed & accuracy? i lift weights and everything, i jus like 2 shadow box and hit punching bags and stuff. cuz as u may or may not know, such professionals like muhammad ali, never used weights. so its that just push ups and stuff or does shadow boxing benefit u?

Hi Latino

From personal experience any boxing training will not build bulk as such, but will build fast-twitch muscles - lean toned muscle. I might be totally wrong - so please correct me if I am! :)

I used to lift weights and was 12.5 stone about 1.5 years ago - I stopped doing weights and started training at a boxing gym. My weight now is a little over 11 stone, but when I still try and lift weights I'm nearly as strong as I was when I was weight training, although I'm 1.5 stone lighter!

I traing 3-4 times a week doing a very hard session with a few pro's. This involves circuits, pad work and sparring.

I look crap compared to what I used to look like (apart from my abs), but my speed, fitness and power is a lot better than when I did weights. My advice would be, if you want to look good and keep semi fit then keep up what you are doing! :) If you want to go bang at the boxing, cut out the weigths! :)

Good Luck!

ight coo, i see wut ur tryin 2 say. basically i want 2 be as fast as i can be, as fast as my body will allow me 2 be. so i'll hit up the weights every now and then like i do and practice on bags and throwin my punches like i normally do. thanx for the advice tho grahamb! 8)

Good luck with it dawg

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Originally Posted by LatinoTKO

ight coo, i see wut ur tryin 2 say. basically i want 2 be as fast as i can be, as fast as my body will allow me 2 be. so i'll hit up the weights every now and then like i do and practice on bags and throwin my punches like i normally do. thanx for the advice tho grahamb! 8)

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Hi Latino - IMO you are right with what you are saying, I don't know of any boxer that does lifts serious weights. I read an article once about Calzaghe - he said that he never does weights and only pressups and situp to warm up for a session. When I did do weights and then spar after I was sluggist and frankly crap.

If you don't have much muscle at the moment I'd train wegiths - if you are happy with your muscle mass then dropped the weights. I doubt that you'll have such a savage weight drop as I have done - but I do have sh1t genetics... :-(

As for improving your speed and power - I'd say get a decent trainer - I've been doing pad work twice a week for the last 3 months with an ABA coach and he's brought me along sooooo much - he's worth his weight in gold.

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Originally Posted by grahamb

Hi Latino

From personal experience any boxing training will not build bulk as such, but will build fast-twitch muscles - lean toned muscle. I might be totally wrong - so please correct me if I am! :)

I used to lift weights and was 12.5 stone about 1.5 years ago - I stopped doing weights and started training at a boxing gym. My weight now is a little over 11 stone, but when I still try and lift weights I'm nearly as strong as I was when I was weight training, although I'm 1.5 stone lighter!

I traing 3-4 times a week doing a very hard session with a few pro's. This involves circuits, pad work and sparring.

I look crap compared to what I used to look like (apart from my abs), but my speed, fitness and power is a lot better than when I did weights. My advice would be, if you want to look good and keep semi fit then keep up what you are doing! :) If you want to go bang at the boxing, cut out the weigths! :)

Good Luck!

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Boxing training works both types of muscle fibre, not as much as different types of training but you will likely gain muscle mass from doing it, heavy bag work with lots of explosive combinations and hill sprinting etc will build muscle mass, strength and explosive power, shadow boxing and skipping and long distance running etc will make muscles more effecient and of course thats just the muscular side of things.

Theres the whole Energy system, cardiovascular and resporitatory system getting worked aswell, when you do boxing training properly you work every aspect of your fitness, so you cna have smaller muscles than a man and still be able to perform as well as he can, even in terms of strength alot of the time.

All my mate trains are his muscles, he's got to be a few stone heavier than me, yet when we have fun wrestles of what ever he dosn't over power as much as a lad with my fitness would if they were his size.

you probably lost more fat and poor muscle fiber than you do muscle aswell, you can look in the mirror with a lot of weight lifters and although they look defined and train hard, because of the nature of their training they're not always 100% lean muscled. Boxing on the other hands works you right to your core :D

I see guys my height and my weight who look much bulkier than me, better muscle mass is more compact than poor muscle mass of the same weight, alot of the time these guys take too many suppliments, problem is some of them don't lift to acheive a weight, they just want to fill the sleeves of their top out, so they don't watch what goes into their system properly and they don't care about how effecient the actual muscle on their frame is.

Well written response!

- You obviously know your training.

:)

heh, thanks. :)

hmm... i see wut ur sayin 2 grahamb. yea u must be a good boxer to know such big words. haha. but thanx for the advice. i run about 1 3/4 miles daily so im not 2 worried bout my legs. and when i do training on the heavy bag, after a long day, i am really sore. is that muscle building up , or wut?

I would worry about your legs if I we're you, in my opinion give or take 2 miles a day is not far enough, even with loads of hill,stair and shuttle sprints mixed in you could probably up it by atleast a mile.

It depends on how your hitting the bags, if you not hitting them at 100% and going for speed and work rate then your muscles will gain muscular endurance, if you do them at maximum power (you've still got to keep the work rate up mind, you shouldn't be breathing much at all inbetween combinations until it hurts to much... ;) pisses me off in the gym when I see lads loading up a 1 two then dancing around the bag for a few seconds till they catch their breath) you'll still gain alot of endurance but it will also build power.

Are you just wanting to add more muscle to your frame or are you actualy concerned with how you perform? I'm assuming your after size? why? ???

ahh i see wut u mean. wel maybe tomorrow ill try adding in a extra mile if i can. thanx for that advice. yea i understand tho how legs are just as important as the rest of ur body in the ring. but na i dont get me wrong, im all about performance! seriously! i could get give less than a damn about how i look. just lately i feel like i havent been building enough muscle and im trying 2 get new ways to build muscle in my arms and legs quicker and more efficiently. u kno wut im talkin bout?

but i've been told that i have a way to work the bag. throwing in quick combinations everywhere and workin my way around it throwin jabs and power shots. i understand the bag. just after a long day workin out on the heavy bag my arms will be real sore cuz i hit it with all i got towards the end till i cant hit no more, so im hopin that that's building muscle in my arms u kno.