Boxers and Road Work *email*
When looking at some of the great athletes in the last century, the ones that stand out to me are the ones that kept their training “bare bones”.
Too often in this modern world we are sold the fountain of fitness via random new techniques and training styles; shiny objects that are “quick fixes” to one’s fitness problem.
It is my opinion that running is the highest and most efficient form of cardiovascular & *endurance* training. When looking at all forms of cardio, swimming, cycling, HIIT, etc…Nothing beats time on feet as a form of training to raise your VO2 max.
Boxers understand this and have been utilizing “road work” to go the distance in fights for decades. Fighters are the true bare bones athletes in the world, relying on their complete body alone as a tool for competition. For keeping your life and training simple, it’s smart to mimic those who K.I.S.S.
For this reason I want to highlight a few great boxers and figthers.
Marvin running the Provincetown, MA after he decided to have his fight camp there in the middle of winter.
His weekly training schedule consisted of running 20+ miles a week, utilizing 6 mile runs at a time. All while still doing the necessary boxing & strength training needed to get ready for a fight.
Note: I don’t recommend wearing army boots while running, and I don’t recommend going to P-town in the winter.
I do recommend the frequent 6-mile run.
Floyd Mayweather:
Funny headline aside, it’s well known that Mayweather also uses “road work” (running) as a tool to help him be one of the greatest fighters of all time. Note the efficient distance of 6 mile training runs in both examples.
There are plenty of publicity stunts of him running home from a club late night to get him miles in, but there is some solid training truth behind them. His obvious undefeated record stands out, but his ability to never appear gassed is what jumped at me throughout the years.
Chito Vera
This post happened to be from yesterday, which works out great for this post:
Chito is the 6th ranked bantamweight in the UFC, and training to fight Sean O’Malley for the title in March.
He regularly posts his runs on Instagram, with many having some solid pace and up to 12 miles in distance. I assume Chito does this for 2 reasons:
Overall cardiovascular fitness. Like the greats who came before him, he understands the importance of road work.
Weight. Bantamweight is hard to make at 135lbs.
How you can start:
Plans in the pipeline:
1:30 half marathon
sub-20min & sub-25min 5K
Happy Friday!
-BTR