The Boxer's jog.

[Bomp]

Personally i've never really been able to work out the benefit Boxer's gain from 4 mile jogs. It's purely an aerobic workout whereas Boxing is more of an anaerobic sport. I would have thought interval running would have the most benefit.

Even for weight loss (to make weight for a fight) it would still make more sense (to me) to do intervals seen as though short intense forms of cardio are the best for fat loss while wanting to maintain muscle tissue.

Can anybody enlighten me? There must be benefits that i'm missing.

The primary benefit although most don't realise it, is that it strengthens the legs and allows the fighter to sustain more punishment without the egs buckling.

Hav eyou ever watched a fighte where the fighter was reported not to do much roadwork and if he gest knocke dout it's usually because he lost his legs and got caught.

I'll try think of a few examples.

Was about to post this. I agree that leg strength is vital. One old school example is Marciano who did ridicilous road work and was never unsteady on his legs.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Personally i've never really been able to work out the benefit Boxer's gain from 4 mile jogs. It's purely an aerobic workout whereas Boxing is more of an anaerobic sport. I would have thought interval running would have the most benefit.

Even for weight loss (to make weight for a fight) it would still make more sense (to me) to do intervals seen as though short intense forms of cardio are the best for fat loss while wanting to maintain muscle tissue.

Can anybody enlighten me? There must be benefits that i'm missing.

The primary benefit although most don't realise it, is that it strengthens the legs and allows the fighter to sustain more punishment without the egs buckling.

Hav eyou ever watched a fighte where the fighter was reported not to do much roadwork and if he gest knocke dout it's usually because he lost his legs and got caught.

I'll try think of a few examples.

Was about to post this. I agree that leg strength is vital. One old school example is Marciano who did ridicilous road work and was never unsteady on his legs.

Great point Bomp.

Take a close look at Marciano's physique.
He would have been a middleweight if it were not for his legs!!!

[Shamrock]

I've had dogs all my live and have always taken them on my road work with me. I used to get so bored doing road work until I started taking the dog with me. When I first started boxing I had a Jack Russell cross breed and man I swear he was the hardest coach I ever had. That dog just never wanted to stay still for a second I'd run a mile at over standard pace then rest for a minute (the dog would hassle me so I'd have to throw a stick for him) then the same again for a further 3 miles with he minute in between. At the end we'd have maybe a 100 metre straight sprint to the stream at which point the dog was in there to cool off.

I started running with the dog I have now a german shepherd she's good but she's no Jack Russell

Anyway a mile at above standard pace with a minutes rest repeated for 4 miles and then a sprint finish was always my road work. My style was always based on speed and movement and one thing I never have suffered from is feeling weak in the legs at any point in a fight.

[Chris Nagel]

The primary benefit although most don't realise it, is that it strengthens the legs and allows the fighter to sustain more punishment without the egs buckling.

Hav eyou ever watched a fighte where the fighter was reported not to do much roadwork and if he gest knocke dout it's usually because he lost his legs and got caught.

I'll try think of a few examples.

Was about to post this. I agree that leg strength is vital. One old school example is Marciano who did ridicilous road work and was never unsteady on his legs.

Great point Bomp.

Take a close look at Marciano's physique.
He would have been a middleweight if it were not for his legs!!!

In this case it has more to do with his God given genes than as an effect of his roadwork. For more examples, just look at tree trunk legged fighters such as Liston or Tua. The strong legs were already there, it just needed to be conditioned for the long haul.

Marciano was one dedicated son of a gun, reinforced by other dedicated son of a guns.

From a biography that on him that I found, he'd get up as early as 3:30 a.m. to do his roadwork, and the distances would get progressively longer as the date of the fight closed in. He was also a big on going for long walks, covering many miles at a time to the point where his friend and confidant Al Columbo would get too tired to keep up with him. While on these walks he also had a habit of squating down to pick up a pebble the tossing it aside which worked his legs further.

Right before he was getting out of boxing his trainer Charlie Goldman saw it coming. He knew that because Rocky was getting tired of going for his long walks that it would only be a matter of time that he would get tired of boxing, and wouldn't you know it.

Anyways on the other end of the leg spectrum you have guys that are light in the ass. Guys like Bob Foster, Tommy Hearns, and even way-back oldtimer Bob Fitzsimmons all had legs like spiders, but conditioned legs are conditioned legs and that's what matters.

I remember Grey/Joe saying in reply to when the subject of leg conditioning came about that your legs just need to strong enough to keep you from falling. Grey often referred to windsprints an idea that's been around for a long time way before tabata intervals, or HIIT was proposed. Simply it was alternating between a walk, sprint and jog, the varieties are endless, and the idea has been around for ages. Why if I'm not mistaken, I remember reading in Bob Fitsimmons would alternate between sprinting and walking between evenly spaced electricity poles, and that was 100 years ago.

I have nothing against the steady jog, it's a good way to burn fat, but I'm more in favor of types of running to trigger the right adaptions in the muscles and the way that body works. Props to Scrap on that one.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Was about to post this. I agree that leg strength is vital. One old school example is Marciano who did ridicilous road work and was never unsteady on his legs.

Great point Bomp.

Take a close look at Marciano's physique.
He would have been a middleweight if it were not for his legs!!!

In this case it has more to do with his God given genes than as an effect of his roadwork. For more examples, just look at tree trunk legged fighters such as Liston or Tua. The strong legs were already there, it just needed to be conditioned for the long haul.

Marciano was one dedicated son of a gun, reinforced by other dedicated son of a guns.

From a biography that on him that I found, he'd get up as early as 3:30 a.m. to do his roadwork, and the distances would get progressively longer as the date of the fight closed in. He was also a big on going for long walks, covering many miles at a time to the point where his friend and confidant Al Columbo would get too tired to keep up with him. While on these walks he also had a habit of squating down to pick up a pebble the tossing it aside which worked his legs further.

Right before he was getting out of boxing his trainer Charlie Goldman saw it coming. He knew that because Rocky was getting tired of going for his long walks that it would only be a matter of time that he would get tired of boxing, and wouldn't you know it.

Anyways on the other end of the leg spectrum you have guys that are light in the ass. Guys like Bob Foster, Tommy Hearns, and even way-back oldtimer Bob Fitzsimmons all had legs like spiders, but conditioned legs are conditioned legs and that's what matters.

I remember Grey/Joe saying in reply to when the subject of leg conditioning came about that your legs just need to strong enough to keep you from falling. Grey often referred to windsprints an idea that's been around for a long time way before tabata intervals, or HIIT was proposed. Simply it was alternating between a walk, sprint and jog, the varieties are endless, and the idea has been around for ages. Why if I'm not mistaken, I remember reading in Bob Fitsimmons would alternate between sprinting and walking between evenly spaced electricity poles, and that was 100 years ago.

I have nothing against the steady jog, it's a good way to burn fat, but I'm more in favor of types of running to trigger the right adaptions in the muscles and the way that body works. Props to Scrap on that one.

Oh I guess I should mention that my Aunt taught me to " go through the gears" alternating my pace although I never hit a sprint apart from the finish.

Great points in that post thanks Chris!

[Chris Nagel]

I should also add a couple of examples where legs in bad shape have had a devestating effect on fighters.

One that comes to mind is Tommy Hearns against Marvin Haglar. By Manny's account, Tommy's legs weren't there to begin with, what he blamed on a few guys massaging Tommy's legs before the fight. I don't know what did him in, but having noodles for legs didn't help him that night.

One bad legs in the making was Mike Tyson. His training shifted to the wost as his overall strategy began to fall apart. His muscles got bigger, but his legs got wider, he was beginning to lean and he was getting hit a lot more.

P.S. I haven't including sprinting in my workout, but I always love going flat out on the last stretch of my run. It leaves me feeling as cool as a narcisistic greek god on acid, while also leaving my mind so numb that dialing a phone number afterwards feels like calculus.

Not a smart move to treat a run like a race, but I'd be lieing if I said it's not fun.

[donnydarkoIRL]

I hear ya on the sprint Chris.

And also on Tyson.
After his comeback he neglected his running, which was actually the source of his power and took to weight lifting. Silly, costly mistake.

[Bomp]

I hear ya on the sprint Chris.

And also on Tyson.
After his comeback he neglected his running, which was actually the source of his power and took to weight lifting. Silly, costly mistake.

In the footage of the young Mike that's around, he does a lot of leg strengthening during his shadow boxing, it was integral to his style that he'd dip or rotate low to avoid a punch on the way in and springing up with a hrad counter.

I used to do weighted squats in the gym when I used to play rugby, but I belive my legs are much stronger and more coordinated now since moving to a more running based training with intense shadowboxing. IMO doing reps of 10 (or whatever) heavy squats will get you conditioned for just that, 10 heavy shoves at a time. If your movement around a ring and slipping and punching involves a lot of knee bends, then the repetitions you require are in the 100's!!

When I started boxing, I skipped predominatly using the calves to bounce over the rope, and my footwork would be the same. Eventually I figured out that there was no coordination between my footwork and punching. I remedied this by initiating the bounce from my thighs (bending the knees) and eventually felt in more control of my body through the hips and torso. While actually boxing I don't dip my knees much obviously, but I find exxaggerating the motion during a few rounds of shadowboxing and skipping have increased the strength in my legs.

[Sharla]

I hear ya on the sprint Chris.

And also on Tyson.
After his comeback he neglected his running, which was actually the source of his power and took to weight lifting. Silly, costly mistake.

In the footage of the young Mike that's around, he does a lot of leg strengthening during his shadow boxing, it was integral to his style that he'd dip or rotate low to avoid a punch on the way in and springing up with a hrad counter.

I used to do weighted squats in the gym when I used to play rugby, but I belive my legs are much stronger and more coordinated now since moving to a more running based training with intense shadowboxing. IMO doing reps of 10 (or whatever) heavy squats will get you conditioned for just that, 10 heavy shoves at a time. If your movement around a ring and slipping and punching involves a lot of knee bends, then the repetitions you require are in the 100's!!

When I started boxing, I skipped predominatly using the calves to bounce over the rope, and my footwork would be the same. Eventually I figured out that there was no coordination between my footwork and punching. I remedied this by initiating the bounce from my thighs (bending the knees) and eventually felt in more control of my body through the hips and torso. While actually boxing I don't dip my knees much obviously, but I find exxaggerating the motion during a few rounds of shadowboxing and skipping have increased the strength in my legs.

I like this Bomp - i'll have to try it! Thanks for sharing