Book Review: Workouts from Boxing’s Greatest Champs.

Not even one week into 2005 and already those personal promises, those New Year’s resolutions, no, revelations of finally achieving a decent level of fitness and a healthy lifestyle are losing their appeal right? I can sympathize. I mean, there is still far too much good food left over from the Christmas and New Year festivities to turn a blind eye and condemn yourself to a

miserable new calorie-counting regime. And that new gym membership, paid up for a year from January 1st in good faith, well, it’ll still be good in a few months time right, you’ll still be able to carve yourself a peak physique in six months right? Wrong. However, when you do start trying to make those fanciful daydreams of perfect health a reality, you could do a lot worse than to pick up a copy of Workouts from Boxing’s Greatest Champs including Muhammad Ali, Roy Jones Jr., Fernando Vargas and other legends. Author Gary Todd, a Scotsman based in Australia is a fitness fanatic and a self-confessed “boxaholic” and he claims that his inspiration for the book came from his own struggle to balance his working life and his dedication to physical fitness.

The book is aimed at anyone attempting to better their health and fitness and of course, who better to learn from than world-class fighters, some of the fittest individuals on the planet? Mr. Todd has gone to great lengths to glean some of the training secrets of boxing greats both past and present: Spending valuable gym time with the likes of current IBF light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu, chasing former middleweight star Mike McCallum for three days for a serious interview and a precious twenty minute chat with the greatest of all time himself, Muhammad Ali.

The beginning of the book depicts Todd’s early life in Dundee, Scotland before we are treated to page after page of interesting and valuable information about a typical training day of a world-class fighter. Each interview subject details his or her routine, from their wake-up time and content of their breakfast to their evening pursuits once the day’s hard work was done. A completely separate page is also devoted to each individual, detailing their specific activities in the gym. Helpfully, uncommon or more challenging exercises are explained in small information boxes. As you read through, it becomes obvious that there are few deviations from the apparent recipe for success that unfolds: Get up early and run, stretch your muscles, eat plenty of vegetables etc.

However, there are plenty of golden nuggets of information embedded throughout the book to satiate the fitness enthusiast and the boxing fan alike. Discover the unique way that Kostya Tszyu hones his hand-eye coordination, find out what Roy Jones Jr. includes in his workout to replace the use of free weights and why former middleweight champion Nigel Benn was not as keen on sparring as other fighters. There are more than enough intense and varied workouts described to put even the most diligent fitness fan to the test. Todd has also provided an exercise chart with a routine to follow for complete beginners, intermediate and advanced level trainers including detailed notes on the concerned exercises as well as pictures of himself going through what look like quite excruciating measures in the name of health and fitness.

From beginning to end, the book is lavished with great action photographs in black and white of all of the fighters concerned and it is capped off nicely with a few pages of snapshots of Todd with each of his interview subjects and a little note about his personal experience with them. So, whether you’re looking to get yourself into better shape or you’re a boxing fan that is interested to know exactly what your favorite fighters put themselves through to reach optimum physical conditioning, this book will make interesting and useful reading for you.

Click Here to buy Workouts from Boxing’s Greatest Champs

Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk