Weights and boxing

[dave]

I know weights are good for strength and so on, but are they good for boxing? Look at briggs huge but useless now. Vlad does not seem as muscular now that he is with Manny, so what gives, do weights help or hinder

[Vantage_West]

there is a difference between a wieght lifter and a body builder.

wieghts are not as bad as people say they are,some say they are the scourge of the earth some say they are new modern equipment(even though jack johnson was a prolifent wieght ligter :huh )

it does give you extra wieght to your punch but in turn it slows down the quick explosive fibres that is needed in boxing.

but if the wieghts are light and used in combo patterns they do help with the speed and rapidity of punches.

i say use wieghts but be careful too not use them too much they create strong complex fibrus muscle which is good for the knock out punch....but the oxygen levels to keep those cells nice and healthy is far higher than an average person/boxer/joe blow they also slow you down (i know a contridiction to what i said before) as they are too rock hard they dont allow you to use handspeed.

mike weaver ,fernando vargas,frank bruno are all wieght lifters (though bruno was almost a pure body builder a mountain of a man) and used them to make them stronger but their hand speed endurance and natural ability was destroyed later on.

[Rock0052]

Check out my post in the "myth" thread for what kind of weightlifting would do fighters the most good. Not all weightlifting is created equal.

[Alcaldemb]

I have experienced both schools, weights and no weights. I found my power was greater when I was a very serious lifter, ie 345 x8 on bench and 800 x10 on leg press. However as sparring sessions wore on my activity level, albeit not my strength, dropped off. Then there was a period where I did no weights and just cardio. I dropped a tremendous amount of weight and was faster and had better stamina, but my power noticeably fell off. The ideal mix I found for me, and it varries, was to do a lot of exercise with bodyweight, ie push ups, pull ups and dips, and mix that in with light weight high reps. That allowed me to keep a lot of power and speed at the same time. It is really all about finding balance.

[sandwichsurgeon]

Once a fighter puts on some or a lot of beach muscle is it possible through cardio and other exercises to lose the muscle put on and get back the original muscle fibre ratios, therefore returning your body to it's previous form?