Weight training agenda for a newbie

[Felix.]

Being an avid boxing boxing fan, I made the decision to join boxing. Unfortunately the closest boxing gym is almost an hour away and I don't have transportation available, not to mention I have parents who do not want me to engage in any "violent sports". I'm a junior in high school and just joined a weight training class. I've never lifted a weight before in my entire life and I'm pretty unathletic. So how would I start out and improve myself? Which exercises should I do if I plan to start boxing in two years? Which muscles should I build for boxing?

[RDJ]

Being an avid boxing boxing fan, I made the decision to join boxing. Unfortunately the closest boxing gym is almost an hour away and I don't have transportation available, not to mention I have parents who do not want me to engage in any "violent sports". I'm a junior in high school and just joined a weight training class. I've never lifted a weight before in my entire life and I'm pretty unathletic. So how would I start out and improve myself? Which exercises should I do if I plan to start boxing in two years

I think you would be better off joining an explosive full body sport like icehockey but maybe that's just me.

Which muscles should I build for boxing?

The ones between your skull and your big toe.

[RDJ]

A more elaborate answer...

You asked which muscles to build which implies you probable think boxing is an upperbody sport, or that one muscle is more important than the other. It's not. Some say power is in the shoulders, some say it's in the legs, some say it's in the torso. I think the body functions as a whole, a chain is as strong as it's weakest link. It's rather pointless to single out muscles.

By asking about weights you give the impression that you think boxing is all about being strong. Strength is just one of the many aspects of (general) physical fitness. I'll list them for convenience, taken from Wikipedia.

* Accuracy
* Agility
* Balance
* Body composition
* Cardiovascular endurance
* Coordination
* Flexibility and joint range of motion
* Strength
* Power
* Speed
* Stamina

If you aren't very athletic you need to improve on each and every one of those points. Again it's completely pointless to single out one aspect at this stage.

A sport like icehockey is fun, and will improve you in most if not all of these aspects. You could also do obstacle course type training / military drills. People in the military aren't stupid, their programs are also designed to improve you in each of these aspects. Something completely random would even be good. Swim on monday. Obstacle run on tuesday. Weights on wednesday (if you have to), bikeride on thursday, etc. Become more athletic, don't focus on looking like a boxer.

Ofcourse what makes a boxer a boxer is the fact that he trained to be a boxer. All you can do for now is improve general fitness, or convince your parents that boxing is not a violent sport. Perhaps you can promise not to spar, but only to do mitts, bag drills, etc.

[Relentless]

forget ice hockey, join a track team!

[RDJ]

forget ice hockey, join a track team!

It was just one of the many possibilies to improve general fitness. Would you agree doing something like that is better than weights?

[Relentless]

It was just one of the many possibilies to improve general fitness. Would you agree doing something like that is better than weights?

yup,

but i think track & field athletes are some of the best conditioned athletes in the world,

i once got a chance to train with a few local guys, i thought i was well conditioned from boxing but boy was i wrong, in the end i was so out of breath its unexplainable, sort of like when you take a uppercut to the solar plexus!

[RDJ]

I think you are right, what they do pretty much touches on all aspects of physical fitness. What's better in improving general fitness in your opinion, military type training (obstacle courses, runs, bodyweight exercises, etc) or track & field? I've never seen a full military program.

[Relentless]

I think you are right, what they do pretty much touches on all aspects of physical fitness. What's better in improving general fitness in your opinion, military type training (obstacle courses, runs, bodyweight exercises, etc) or track & field? I've never seen a full military program.

i haven't really seen a full miltary program aswell,

but it seems to me like military programs target strength-endurance more.

track and field train all different aspects of fitness, you have strength training days, explosive strength training days, conditioning days, most are done on the same day (a bit stressful for beginners).

but for general fitness both are good, but i believe track training is better for fight training.

[RDJ]

Someone should combine the best of both. I recently did an obstacle run... you find out about weaknesses you never even thought about. I'm an awful climber, it turns out.

The perfect mix perhaps ... parkour (run, climb, jump, balance, etc) + swimming + boxing. Every possible movement + fighting.

[Felix.]

* Accuracy
* Agility
* Balance
* Body composition
* Cardiovascular endurance
* Coordination
* Flexibility and joint range of motion
* Strength
* Power
* Speed
* Stamina

If you aren't very athletic you need to improve on each and every one of those points. Again it's completely pointless to single out one aspect at this stage.
Should I start with a certain point, or just randomly pick one and start?

[Relentless]

felix dont you have any types of wrestling or judo clubs near you?

[Butch Coolidge]

Believe it or not Russian special forces used to play water polo to help their conditioning. I've never played it but I have heard you have to be in some kind of shape to do it.

[Felix.]

felix dont you have any types of wrestling or judo clubs near you?
No, I live in a small college town.

[Sagefrancis]

to answer your question id be inclined to work on compound lifts, make sure you get someone to show you how to do all of these and start off light.

This is what I do and will take you no more than 30 minutes for a warm up and lifting (warmup includes a bit of bag work and skipping).

Monday:
Bench Press - 1 x 6 (light - warmup)
Bench Press - 3 x 10, 8, 6
Military Press - 3 x 12

Wednesday:
Squats - 1 x 6 (light - warmup)
Squats - 3 x 10
Deadlifts - 5 x 5

Friday:
Pullups - 1 x 6
Weighted pullups - 3 x 10
Bent over rows - 3 x 10

this is just a suggestion anyway, im sure there are plenty of other people here who could give you workouts.

[roxyboxy]

i haven't really seen a full miltary program aswell,

but it seems to me like military programs target strength-endurance more.

track and field train all different aspects of fitness, you have strength training days, explosive strength training days, conditioning days, most are done on the same day (a bit stressful for beginners).

but for general fitness both are good, but i believe track training is better for fight training.


It totally depends on what track and field athlete you are. track and field covers every single body type.

A good rule of thumb would be (barring training like a decathlete) to train like a 400 meter runner.

[Little_Mac]

I think you are right, what they do pretty much touches on all aspects of physical fitness. What's better in improving general fitness in your opinion, military type training (obstacle courses, runs, bodyweight exercises, etc) or track & field? I've never seen a full military program.

"military" programs are basically the same as track and field programs, i mean they're fairly similar, with the exception of a few crazy obstacle courses and some live fire drills. Isn't the whole point of ancient (olympic) track and field to prepare foot soldiers for combat anyways? that's why theres competitions for running, javelins, sprinting, etc -All combat related activities.

My best friend from high school is in the army and he just completed basic- he says the physical part of it was a total joke. He was in crazy good shape tho (before he left). For morning formation they did like 20 jumping jacks and something like 20 burpees and thats it. He also went to Ft. Jackson tho (Relaxin Jackson) and from what i hear Ft. Benning (infantry) might be a little tougher.