danzig wrote:Hopkins is a good one, heard he's a mentalist in the gym.
I've got one of Holyfields old training programmes which goes into great detail about his weight training for strengthening him up for the heavweights. Its by Dr Fred Hatfield. Look it up, its interesting stuff, not you traditional 'boxers' workout.
In Eubanks autobiography he talks about his training, didnt do that much (in comparative terms with other boxers of course) but did spar loads, and we all know about his conditioning and stamina.I've always thought that some boxers overtrain, which is why you often see a 'flat' performance in the ring. Hard to imagine that top athletes fighting for belts come in unfit, so i reckon many just peak too early and leave it all in the gym.
It annoys me that many boxing coaches are stuck in the past and don't recognise this, in my experience alot think 'more is better' and there's no argument.
Every individual is different and can cope with only a certain amount of strain on their bodies, so its interesting to see how the top guys train to various degrees of intensity.
Eric Lucas only spends an hour a day in the gym i've heard.
Zoo is a physical freak in terms of fitness and strength, which is why i fear for Ricky...
Yes, Holyfield dispensed with a lot of the traditional gym training, preferring to do it his own way. Apprently Duva had murders trying to get him to do roadwork, but Holyfield used to work out with those bleep test machines, which really are probably more suited to a boxers workout.
Roadwork I think is a bit of anaethema.
Interestingly, I used to have a book with Bob Fitzsimmons workouts in it, and it was way ahead of it's time. Bob used to go for a 10 mile walk, and would intersperse it with a series of sprints, hill climbs, and then 10 minute jogs, which is what modern fitness coaches advocate rather than shlepping 10 miles every single day, which I doubt is good for the knees anyway.
Tszyu said when I spoke to him, that he has had to adapt his training regime due to his shoulder injury, but that he trains a lot harder now than when he was 25.
I think the insistence on mile after mile of roadwork, whilst probably great for core cardiovascular fitness, isn't that neccesary for a boxer. 400 m sprints would be a much better bet, if done in sequence with a rest.
I think the reason a lot of fighters do tonnes of roadwork is that they blow up between fights and the roadworkl
A conditioner I used to speak to advocated specialised exercises which mimiced the action of the sport, so he devised exercises like the 'wood chop' which utilised a weighted stick which was swung around the head to work the muscles of the back. He actually said that the exercises he used to train fighters (he was a conditioner not a trainer) were quite like modern versions of the exercises you see Rocky doing in Rocky IV.
