It is no secret that in order to be successful, every boxer needs excellent physical fitness on their side – unless you are in peak condition, you will never be able to excel as a fighter. It is recommended to include a wide range of exercise types as part of your regime, and this includes cardio, strength and weight training, and flexibility and agility. Running is an activity that is often touted as being essential for boxers, and there is no denying that there are a huge range of benefits. But just how many times a week should a boxer run in order to enjoy success, and is there such a thing as too much running? We take a closer look at everything you need to know.
What Are The Benefits of Running?
Before we take a closer look at the nuances of your routine, it can be useful to consider the general overall benefits that you can expect to see when you incorporate running into your routine – this can help you see how you can become a better fighter.
Running can help with a number of issues, the most obvious of which is weight loss. While this should not be too much of a concern for boxers who are training regularly, the fact remains that regular running is one of the easiest ways to shed any extra weight, and offers a fast, effective way to burn calories. Adding it into your workout routine, therefore, is a great way to ensure that you are staying in shape. Regular running is also beneficial for the bones and muscles and can help to prevent serious muscle loss or bone degeneration – both of which are key concerns for boxers. The benefits come from the mechanics of running itself; the act puts stress on both your bones and muscles and this, in turn, offers a stimulus that can help to promote growth in these areas. Lean muscle mass and increased bone density can then be developed, helping to keep you strong and supple.
When running regularly, you also help to ensure that both your muscular system and heart are running at their full capacity and operating at their highest efficiency. When carried out regularly, scientists have proven that running helps to keep the heart strong and healthy – after all, it is a muscle just like any other in your body and needs regular working to stay in tip-top condition. As an added bonus, running also helps to keep your blood vessels clean and healthy. These are crucial in carrying blood to and from your brain, and keeping them in good condition reduces your risk of strokes and heart attacks, as well as increasing physical strength. As an added bonus, running can help to slow aging, keeping you in peak physical condition for longer.
As well as helping you to maintain a strong heart and healthy blood vessels, developing a running habit also boosts your overall immune system and wellbeing, helping you to fight off infections and diseases with greater ease, and can improve the process of blood clotting, allowing you to recover more quickly if you do incur an injury. You can also benefit from more balanced cholesterol – which is also great for keeping the heart healthy – as well as a reduction in blood pressure, and a balance in the levels of carbohydrates and sugar in the blood, helping to reduce your risk of diabetes.
On a side note, regular running can also offer benefits for your mental and emotional health and can play a key role in eliminating stress. As any boxer will be aware, this is a sport that is as focused on psychology as it is on physical prowess – when you are in the ring, you need to be laser-focused if you want to have a chance to succeed. When you incorporate a regular run into your fitness program, you can ensure that you have an outlet for any stresses or psychological wobbles, and this will keep you focused and ready to win.
Is Running Good For Boxers?
As we have seen, there are a huge number of benefits that can come with running, and these are both physical and psychological. Adding a running element into your workout is a key aspect of training for boxers; it builds a strong aerobic foundation and helps you to maintain your elite shape while keeping your legs strong. As you grow in fitness, you will also enjoy an increased lung capacity. Running can also build agility, helping you to stay light on your feet and able to move quickly, even when you start to tire in the ring during the later rounds. The psychological benefits also offer a chance to get into the right headspace, visualizing your opponent and upcoming fight.
Types of Cardio
In order to better understand the benefits of running for boxers, we first need an understanding of the two main types of cardiovascular exercise: aerobic and anaerobic. The aerobic system is responsible for steady, long-term endurance, while the anaerobic system works in short, explosive bursts over a restricted period of time. By its very nature, boxing uses both types of cardio – and the advantage of running is it allows you to hit both states.
Aerobic cardio means that you are able to recover more quickly when you are fighting over an extended period of time, helping to keep you fresh and motivated even after ten or eleven rounds – exactly the point at which your non-running opponent will start to flag. Anaerobic conditioning, on the other hand, allows you to recover quickly, and this is important from round to round. With the right anaerobic conditioning, you can throw a combo of ten punches in a single round, and recover in next to no time. In short: anaerobic cardio helps you to win the battle, while aerobic cardio will ensure that you win the war. Both are crucial in helping you to reach your full potential as a boxer, and both can be achieved through a series of different running exercises.
One of the most important things to remember in your training is that one size doesn’t fit all – to maximise your results and chances of success, you need to make sure that you are trying lots of different types of runs. These include:
- Long Distance
Long-distance or extended running or jogging will help to build aerobic cardio, allowing you to build stamina over a long period, and recover more quickly over an extended period of time – essential for those longer fights.
- Hill Sprints
If you want to add extra intensity to your training – for example in the days leading up to a fight – then hill sprints are an ideal addition to your toolkit. For the best results, these should be done in sets – this helps to ensure that you are not tapping into your aerobic system. As an ideal workout, try five hill sprints, followed by two sets of five in the following week, and five sets of five as you approach the fight.
- Interval Training
Interval training allows you to mix explosive cardio with steady-state cardio. During the steady-state element, you will rest, and then gear up to go as hard as you can on the anaerobic cardio. Interval training can be easily incorporated into any kind of regular cardio – one option is to jog for fifty seconds and sprint for ten, repeating this time and again. Alternatively include five sets of three sprints into a long-distance run to keep your body guessing. Interval training will also better emulate your experience in the ring, where you will need to be on your toes at all times, and ready for anything.
How Long Should You Run For?
While it is clear that running is a must for boxers, the question remains: how often should I run? In the simplest terms, you should jog almost every day – this helps to build long-term stamina and endurance. You should ideally aim to jog for the length of time that the bout will last – for example, a fast, 3 round fight will see you sprinting more than jogging, with around three to four long runs every week, interspersed with sprints and intervals. A longer fight, however, such as those that last from ten to twelve rounds, will require a greater focus on jogging, and you should up your regime to around 6 miles of jogging a day.
Even if you are focusing on jogging, you should also ensure that you are getting in around 2-3 sprints per week, keeping you fast and ready to explode at a moment’s notice. In simple terms: increase the pace of your run on a daily jog to engage the anaerobic system, and increase the length of your sprints on sprint day to engage your aerobic system.
Final Thoughts
Running is a crucial aspect of any training regime for boxers, but the secret to success lies in the type and amount of training you do. A blend of jogging and sprints will help to ensure that you are in tip-top condition at every moment, and ready to fight to your full potential.