In the Oxford English Dictionary, the word ‘fitness’ is defined 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 the boxing training that you do, 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 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.
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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 use the right boxing training to achieve boxing fitness!
