Do You Run To Box, Or Box To Run?

The bell has just rung ending the second round of an eight round bout. Each step you take towards your corner is like a death march through quicksand. Finally, you drop down on a stool that emerges from under the bottom rope of the ring and slump your back against the corner pad. Your lungs are on fire seared by your own heavy heated breaths that neither let you hear nor speak. Sweat pours down your brow, blurs your vision and stings your eyes, while your heart pounds in your chest like a Morse code for an S.O.S. The few drops of water provided to you evaporate on your tongue. Simply put, you’ve hit the wall.

Even the most talented and skilled athletes will find themselves at a loss for energy without the right training applicable to their sport. Boxers like the one described above are no exception to this fact. What I’m about to say next will probably raise the eyebrows of a few boxers and their coaches. If you’re a competitive fighter running daily distances of over five miles as part of your conditioning work you’re wasting your time and effort. Right about now, you may be thinking to yourself that some of the greatest boxers in the sport ran long distances. This may be true, but it doesn’t mean they were conditioning their bodies in the best possible way. One of the objectives of most athletes is to have their bodies perform at the optimal level needed for their sport; how an athlete trains has a lot to do with that. While running long distances may help a boxer “float like a butterfly,” it definitely won’t make him “sting like a bee.”

Let me ask a question, and then answer it. Is boxing an aerobic sport or an anaerobic sport? It’s both. Casually stated, aerobic exercise is repetitive movement over a long period of time in which working muscles burn glucose with the presence of oxygen. In contrast, anaerobic exercise involves explosive movement over a short period of time in which working muscles burn glucose without oxygen. A fighter has to be in a constant state of readiness able to attack or defend in a split second. Bobbing, weaving and stepping around the ring reflect a boxer’s aerobic capacity. Quick flurries, power punching, and shoulder butts reflect a boxer’s anaerobic capacity. Fighters fluctuate between these two energy systems during the course of a bout at a furious and rapid pace for extended periods of time with just brief rest between confrontations. So a vital key to success is to be able to maintain high energy expenditures without prematurely exhausting before the conclusion of each round. The solution is to interval train at high intensities to increase the fighter’s Anaerobic Threshold (AT). Thus, boxers running marathon distances is no more helpful to them than a figure skater taking batting practice. I’m not saying that a boxer shouldn’t run at all, rather they should run short distances at a fast pace. And as a side thought, somewhere there might be a figure skater that plays in a recreation softball league, able to switch hit and bat .357.

Now, what is AT, and what does it have to do with stamina in the ring? Let me begin with a very simple review of physiology. I’ve already explained that muscles can systematically burn glucose for energy through aerobic and anaerobic processes. These systems produce a temporary energy store called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), which is the only fuel a muscle can use to produce work. In comparison, the anaerobic system provides energy for heavy short-term work while the aerobic system fuels light to moderate long-term work. A fighter going for a knockout with an all-out barrage of punches requires a great deal of power output; this type of effort uses the anaerobic system. In an anaerobic state energy is quickly available but rapidly depleted, and lactic acid builds up as a waste product in the muscle (often referred to as the burn). This in turn inhibits muscle contraction and the assault comes to a halt. The working muscles will recover after a brief period of rest; that’s the good news. The bad news is that boxers aren’t afforded rest during a round, unless they’re given an eight count or get knocked out. Movement around the ring requires a steady output of power using the aerobic system. Aerobic pathways don’t generate the explosive power of the anaerobic but they do operate at a higher level of efficiency and endurance. Throughout the course of a bout a fighter’s body uses different proportions of both these systems. As the tempo and intensity of punches and movements shift often the production of energy is right at the cross-over between aerobic and anaerobic. AT is the point at which lactate (lactic acid) begins to accumulate in the bloodstream. Boxing at a moderate pace utilizes both systems. The anaerobic: aerobic ratio is low enough that lactate in the muscle is easily removed and doesn’t build up. As the action speeds up eventually the production of lactate produced by the anaerobic system becomes greater than its removal.

The AT varies from person to person. Untrained individuals have a low AT (approximately 55% of VO2 max), while elite endurance athletes enjoy a high AT (approximately 80-90 % VO2 max). VO2 max refers to your maximal rate of oxygen consumption. The disparity between trained and untrained individuals can be summed up by this statement: your body will function the way you train it. The human body is very adaptive and resilient in dealing with healthy amounts of applied stress. The body needs and thrives off of meeting the challenges of continual physical conditioning. Now, just being fit won’t guarantee victory inside the ring but it will give you a better chance to succeed. As the saying goes, “the more you sweat, the less you bleed.” With hard work you can train your body to remove lactate more efficiently from the muscles and super-charge the aerobic mitochondrial enzymes, thus raising the AT.

Interval training (which is a repeated series of high intensity exercises alternated with rest periods), is one of the best ways to push yourself into a lactate burden state, forcing your body to adapt. Now, before you say, “Great! I’ll interval train everyday,” let me dispel that notion. Over-training is just as bad as under-training, and this type of exercise should not be done everyday. High intensity interval work is tiring. I have seen athletes lose the contents of their stomach over the matter, myself included. In other words, incorporate interval training into your workouts with common sense and at a slow to moderate progression. Just be consistent and determined, and you should have no trouble elevating your AT. With six to eight weeks of training you should be able to box at higher level intensities for longer periods of time than you ever did before. Eventually, you’ll still reach your AT, but you’ll hit it with the speed and power of a Ferrari; not a Pinto.

When it comes to selecting the exercises in your interval training, there is a lot of room for diversity and creativity. Just remember the exercises you select should reflect the skills and movements you need to excel in your sport; in this case, boxing. If you take the fundamentals of boxing (i.e. punching, skipping, bobbing, stepping weaving, ducking, sliding, slipping and blocking) and incorporate dynamic explosive movement to it, you can create many different interval drills.

One of my favorite interval exercises for boxers is as follows. Take an aerobic step and make it one to three risers high. Then straddle the step short-side, your feet should be about shoulder width apart. Jump up to the top of the step with both feet taking off and landing at the same time, then immediately jump back down to the floor in straddle position again. Follow your landing with a straight left punch and a straight right punch. Repeat this sequence ten to twenty-four times for two to five sets, and rest thirty seconds between sets. Try to transition through the exercise as quickly as possible without sacrificing form. To add variety and intensity to this exercise there are at least a couple things you can do. Do the exercise with sixteen- or eighteen-ounce gloves and hand wraps, and have someone stand in front of you to receive your punches with a pair of mitts. Or try throwing different punches or punch combinations for every set (set one: jabs, set two: hooks, set three: upper-cuts, set four: crosses, set five: jabs, hooks, upper-cuts, crosses combination). It’s that simple to create interval drills. Just think about the skills you want to develop and choose exercises that cater to your specific needs. Remember to select exercises that are safe and appropriate for your fitness level and make sure they are bio-mechanically executed correctly.

How do you determine when your workouts are pushing your AT? With a few workouts under your belt you’ll start to feel stronger when approaching and being in your anaerobic zone, and it won’t be just your imagination. However, there are exercise tests such as the Conconi test that estimate your AT, and hand-held devices that with a pinprick of blood can measure the exact concentration of lactate in your bloodstream. But here is how I determine my AT. When I can punch sixty minutes straight on the heavy bag only stopping briefly for water every fifteenth minute to avoid dehydration; I know I’m hitting it on all cylinders. That’s the equivalent of twenty consecutive rounds at three minutes a piece. This way I’m ready for a war; even if it turns out to be just a battle.