Weight Loss/Running questions for the Trainer

For years Ive been meaning to ask. Please provide (roughly) a breakfast/lunch/dinner diet for a fighter who is beginning a 10-week training period for a fight. Im not a fighter but want to train like one for the next 10 weeks to get into "fighting shape" (minus the sparring of course). One last question that always bugged me and never could get a good answer:

WHY DO BOXERS RUN AT 5 A.M. RATHER THAN AT 5 P.M.??? Why is the early morning best? Is it a chemical thing? What would be different/bad about a fighter who only ran at night during his training period? Would he be in any worse shape than a morning runner?

Thank you.

You might want to add some details to get the best responses from the diet and exercise experts, as it depends a lot on what the fighter needs to accomplish:

Weight class, current weight (and fat percentage if you know) and height, age, need to add muscle or strength?, etc.

A fighter needing to reach a distant weight class is in a very different (esp. related to diet) situation than a guy who is already well within his weight target.

A guy with a lot of fat, or even just a heavyweight vs a featherweight, can lose weigh more easily, etc.

So basically: Where are you? and Where do you need to go?

Otherwise you can follow most any 'diet' since some boxer somewhere is likely following any stupid diet you can name, even this one


--
HerbM

Congratulations on wanting to train as a boxer minus the sparring and fighting. It is the best get in shape training anyone could undertake..but it is hard and requires discipline. We ran in the early morning because it was a 'wake up' for your body'. Be prepared to spend a minimum of six hours a day in your training. Your three most important exercises are the distance running (6 to 8 miles each run), sit ups (from the floor with knees bent--no machines), and the push ups. Throw in the daily dozen routines (jumping jacks, skip rope, running steps, bends, heavy bag work, etc). Since you are not doing sparring....finish your day off with wind sprints. Exercises can vary, but they need to be challenging, progressively harder, and most important--suited to your goal. Now combine that with the diet of a boxer and you will see results. Don't ignore recovery time.

Could you specify what exactly you are training for? If you want to get into fighting shape that is slightly different as to being in excellent physical condition. Also is this purely for aesthetics or for personal fitness? Finally give some indications of your build and current weight, because you will train slightly differently depending on that.

Just as basics I'd differ from Gray Lion as I wouldn't recommend 6 hours of your day to be in training, as I personally feel that will overwork your body and not allow for adequate recovery time and if you try to go straight into it, you will just feel jaded for a couple of days. Also do not feel doing the runs in the morning is a must. I agree it is a good 'wake up' for your body, but plenty of top boxers do their runs in the evening, particularly the early evening, and are in great condition.

Find your body's limits and work to that initially. There's no sense in trying to do it all at once, if you've not trained before, work yourself towards it.

I did say pay attention to recovery time. Most train on alternate days, some train each body group each day of the week. Only you and/or a trainer know what and how you need to train. I still believe in the six hour day training because on distance runs, you will burn up 2 hours there. Also, in my part of the country, you had better run in the early morning because the evening temperature around 5 PM cools down to 94 degrees and the nights are humid....unless you like to run along roads in the dark at 9 PM when it gets to 75 degrees. But bottom line...if you want to train as a boxer...train hard, train long and don't take any short cuts.

sorry 4 the long delay........Im 46 yrs old, 5'6" and weigh 178 (!!!:o). Years ago a trainer in Newark, NJ's Red Brick gym told me my fighting weight is 147. Indeed I used to weigh that when in shape.

Im very stocky, and quite muscular, as Ive used weights since 16 yrs old off and on. Short arms. Big Italian nose which would get split with the first jab eaten. :eek:

I run a few times a week off and on as well, only now my old knees and joints are taking a pounding each step I run. I run 25 -30 mins at about a sluggish 10-minute mile pace.

I eat like a &%^$*^$ fat whale, don't smoke and do drink beer twice a week. I know all this must stop. Im doing it for aestetic and curiosity reasons. I want to look in the mirror and KNOW Im in fighting shape at 147. Im going on 47 now. Plan to challenge for the 147-lb. title before age 50. Dont imagine anyone's ever even dared think that before. One thing about me, when hit with a good punch, Im gonna take a knee. Im not gonna stand there and get hit with 3 more while already dazed and confused. Ill make full use of the taking the knee thing, full use of the 9-count before rising, etc. I see guys all my life hopping up at the 1-count full of pride and shame. Not me. I dont care if I lose some 10-7 rounds, recovering is the key. Why this last funny paragraph? Not sure......:)