Just in Case You Thought Fitness Wasn't Important...
Posted by Admin
Long time visitors of How-to-Box know that I cover a lot more than just boxing here and spend a good deal of time and effort trying to convince you all that your level of conditioning - all aspects such as strength, agility, balance, endurance and nutrition play a critical role in the ring.
Once people realize the role fitness plays in the ring (90% conditioning vs 10% skill at the amateur level), they suddenly take the purely "exercise" type workouts a lot more seriously. That said, there will always be the guy who knows it all and thinks that they don't have to do interval training or strength training or "insert training method here", because their technique is so perfect that they'll never get hit or because they have so much power that it only takes one good punch to end the fight. Dream on.
It's this incredible emphasis on fitness level that makes boxing workouts so effective. But just in case you still aren't convinced that you need a high level of fitness before you get in the ring - see what Erol had to say about his first few weeks in the gym:
Helpful But...
Hey Aaron,
Hope you remember me. I asked you some weeks ago if you have any advise for my first real training session in a boxing club. And you asked for a response.
Unlike you said, they DID put me in fight situation my first day and I've been hospitalized by a female bantamweight contender. Just joking...
I've been at it a couple of weeks now in a somewhat scruffy Rocky Balboa-style club. The training is pretty intense, but I do believe that your boxing course helped me a lot, especially how to move and always be in the right position.
However, the technique I learned has been overwhelmed and overshadowed by the intense conditioning programme. One of the hardest parts is getting battered by a medicine ball from your partner. My liver is doing good, but the shots to my stomach hurt hard as hell and I still don't know how Ali was able to take Big George's body shots in 1974. Or Joe Frazier's... I can relate more to the poor guys who were knocked down by them.
That all beeing said: Thanks a lot for your fruitful boxing course, but the real deal is way tougher than shadow boxing at home.
Greetings...
--Erol S.
As you can see, you can learn all the technique you want, but if you don't have a level of fitness that can keep up to it, you're going to find things tough no matter where you are. So, by all means perfect the technique at home, but do not neglect those seemingly mundane intervals, strength training sessions, medicine ball workouts and plymetric exercises that constitute something like the 12 Week Boxing Training Plan.
What was your first time in the gym like? What do you think of the boxing skill vs fitness level debate? Leave a comment and tell us your thoughts!
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