Boxing Fitness
Achieving Boxing Fitness
In the Oxford English dictionary, the entry under fitness is as follows:
adjective (fitter, fittest) – of a suitable quality, standard or type to meet the required purpose.
I want you to focus on the ‘required purpose’ bit. In terms of boxing fitness, the required purpose is to maintain a necessary skill level (to a suitable quality) over a defined period of time in order to overcome an opponent in a combat situation. A professional boxer needs the physical fitness to maintain skill levels for up to 12 x 3 minute rounds. An international standard amateur boxer requires the physical fitness to compete in maybe 4 bouts over 5 days. So, whilst amateur and professional boxing fitness training programmes may differ, they both require the development of an all-round, specific level of boxing fitness that will support the successful execution of skills to an appropriate standard:
Just to provide us with some simple ways to define our fitness, I have laid down 3 core boxing fitness principles that we should aim for:
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During a round, the boxer can work beyond what their body can comfortably deal with i.e. the boxer can work at such a high rate that the muscles cannot be effectively supplied with oxygen (anaerobic exercise/maximum effort).
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During the one minute interval between rounds, the boxer is able to ‘recover’ i.e. the heart rate reduces from maximum rate of around 180 to 200 beats per minute to around 100 beats per minute or less; this allows the boxer to be fully effective during the following round.
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The boxer has the endurance to maintain this cycle for the full duration of the contest.
The boxing training and equipment used by boxers in order to support these principles of boxing fitness have remained largely unchanged for close to 100 years. Why? Because they work. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. The activities and equipment form the basis of a varied, interesting and effective physical fitness regime. So, forget about the humdrum existence of life on a treadmill and get fit with boxing training and boxing fitness.
In order to provide some structure to help us describe boxing fitness, I have segregated the articles into 2 high level categories:
There really is lots to find out about boxing fitness here. At any point in your learning, feel free to drop a question or observation into the comments and I’ll post a reply. On a final note (and if you haven’t noticed yet), I really want you to understand the benefits of attaining boxing fitness by pursuing a boxing training regime, be you a combat sports person or not. The level of all round fitness generated by boxing-based training is second to none. By combining the boxing skills with the boxing fitness work, you can reap benefits not only in a ‘healthy living’ sense, but also in terms of self-defence; boxing training and boxing skills development will mean that your options during any ‘fight or flight’ situation are greatly enhanced!
Good luck, enjoy the articles and achieve boxing fitness!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m 40 now but have always kept myself in decent shape I went to a boxing gym years ago but only for fitness, I’m looking to go back to the gym once I can fit it around my kids but these dayI neede something to train for do you know anything about the whitecollar boxing fights fran or do you think if I go to a Gym where I can do some sparring this will be all the drive I need to work hard.
Hay Jase
Sorry for the delay in getting back on this one mate. You know,sparring is a funny thing. I personally haven’t sparred for 10 years, not since I was trying to help a mate qualify for the 200 Olympics! If I were to spar now, I’d want to make sure I had 6 to 8 weeks of structured, consistent workouts and runs. Even then, I’d be a little edgy wondering whether I could I could still hold my own! We’ll see!
The important thing to start with in my view is to get structure around the workouts. I make sure that I work in rounds, make sure I work for the full duration of the round and don’t fall into the trap of blasting it for 30 seconds and then doing nothing for the next two and a half minutes and I make sure that I don’t spend more than a minute rest in between rounds. I also work slow and steady to start with and try and fit in a few longer runs. I always take it steady and don’t overdo it otherwise I do more harm than good!
Boxing is an individual sport. Aim to spar at some point sure, but in the shorter term you need to motivate yourself to nail the consistency of the workouts and to make sure you keep going for weeks ahead. It is tough, but you’ll get your sharpness back sooner than you’d think.
Cheers jase.
Thanks fran I’m looking to get back to boxing training next month so will let you all know how I get on.