Of all the sports, would the top boxers be in better shape
physically than sprinters or american footballers or rugby players
CNS , endurance, reaction wise etc?
Would a sprinter benefit by incorporating some boxing excercises (non-impact) ?
Herb
well isn`t a reaction a reaction? i mean it doesnt matter what you react to does it? If your CNS is quick, would it matter?
Well Herb anyone can move there limbs faster than a boxer, can they do it with the same EXPLOSIVE power? I doubt it, and would it not benefit a sprinter to have extra explosiveness? If you look at the lighter divisions of boxing, some of the punches are lightning fast, way faster than a sprinter at full speed, and you CAN increase reaction time, although like you said it does depends on the person (genetics plays the biggest role in sport) But anyone can improve there reaction, There is a sports practice here, that has a wall of red lights, and when they blink you must touch it as quick as you can, now with at least thirty lights going, slowly but surely your reaction does quicken, it clears the pathways (i`m not sure of the correct term yet) leading to faster movement etc
I`d love to hear the full story on Ben & Lewis hehe!
btw here is a post from sub10 by IP
Actually I was gonna post how martial arts/boxing can be implemented into your sprint training to help improve explosivness and coordination.
I was curious to see if anyone was out there besides me that impliments it as way to mix things up. I had read Drummond was into Martial arts at one point in his life…and probably helped him with his over explosivness in his body.
Personally, Ive just gotten involved with a fairly new style of martial arts called Krav Maga, which consists of alot of explosive grappling, and quick impact blows. I got involved with it due to my job, but I would recommend it to EVERYONE here, because its actually a type of Defensive Art that can actually be used in the real world and on the streets, in real life self-defense situations. Not to mention that the short training sessions help improve body coordination and explosive power. Plus its extremely easy to learn.
Heavy Bag work for boxing can also improve explosivness as well for a sprinter, that is if your blows are done correctly. Learn to punch with your ENTIRE body. Meaning that your punch sequence should start from a low position, using your power in your hips and legs to start the sequence, and explode into the punch using your entire upper body. This is a great way to help with your Starting Power, and reaction speed.
Personally I dont like traditional choreographed martial arts such as Tae Kwon Do, or Kung-Fu, but almost all types of martial arts impliment explosive training. So which ever you choose can be a positive to mix up your training.
comments?
Reaction to what? should be a question we ask. The boxer reacts to motion or with the eyes, whereas a sprinter reacts to sound.
Who moves their limbs faster? The sprinter no doubt. Boxers are endurance/power/speed athletes and train as such. They are not the best at any single one of those aspects. They have to be as fast and as powerful as they can be over 12 rounds. Boxers are not the fastest punchers either.
Furthermore, how much can reaction time be improved? How much are we born with? Much of this is relative to the individual athlete rather than their sports discipline.
Isn’t there a story about Ben threatening Lenox Lewis at the one Olympics and throwing him on a pool table, because Lenox had his ID?
lebeau,
A sprinter would not benefit from incorporating boxing exercises into their fitness regime unless it was some low impact form of boxercise. This of course would be as useful in a fight as taking areobics. And the benefits to the springter would only be general fitness.
A boxer on the other hand would definately benefit from sprinting. Sprint work seems to strengthen the weak parts of the chain. And a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
The top athletes in my books are olympic wrestlers. If you looked, you would be hard pressed to find a weak spot on those boys. Of course there is merit to each individual sport and one cannot rank any one sport as # 1 overall. In the Olympics, the # 1 watched event is the 100m is it not?
Herb
would you say that a boxer would have a faster reaction time / central nervous system than a sprinter?
lebeau,
I recently retired from NHB fighting. Furthermore I was the light-heavyweight Provincial Boxing Champion hmmm back in '95, and previously the Western Canadian Karate Champion. While all along I did track. I will get into it more later, but you cannot perform at an elite level doing both (and please do not tell me Alan Wells did, because he did not. He used a speed bag as part of his training…wooopie! Do we know how often he used it?). I will respond later this week.
Hey Herb
Well not boxing at elite levels haha, cant wait for the reply
Originally posted by Herb
The top athletes in my books are olympic wrestlers. If you looked, you would be hard pressed to find a weak spot on those boys.
i have much respect for wrestlers, or anyone competing in an olympic event, but i just flat out disagree with this statement. can these guys play or accel at any other sport besides wrestling? probably not.
lebeau,
I am not qute sure what youe mean by “not boxing at elite levels.” Which of my comments are you responding to?
RE:
well isn`t a reaction a reaction? i mean it doesnt matter what you react to does it? If your CNS is quick, would it matter?
In fact yes it does matter. I had the issue wrong above saying that visual reaction would be faster than auditory. I apologise. It is the case that Auditory reaction time is faster than visual reaction time. http://www.willamette.edu/~stas/physiology/presentations/Carolyn%20and%20Keri/Carolyn%20and%20Keri.ppt
http://www.euronet.nl/users/fepsy/reac.htm
RE:
Well Herb anyone can move there limbs faster than a boxer, can they do it with the same EXPLOSIVE power?
What exactly do you mean by EXPLOSIVE power. Power by defenition should be explosive. Power = Speed + Strength if I am not mistaken. To say that Ben was not powerful is silly. Not only was he the fastest man, but he could bench over 400lbs. So he was fast and strong. That makes him powerful as well.
RE:
and would it not benefit a sprinter to have extra explosiveness?
Yes indeed it would. The question is however, can boxing or martial arts training make a sprinter more explosive than all other means? For example, you say that heavy bag work if done correctly can increase a persons explosiveness. Will it increase a sprinters explosiveness MORE THAN medicine ball work, or Olympic Lifts? We are dealing with a finite energy envelope. What exercises are BEST for increasing explosive power?
RE:
the short training sessions help improve body coordination and explosive power.
When dealing with sprinters, we need to realize that we are dealing with a very specific neural path that is sport specific. This path has to be programed into the athlete in such a way that when the athlete moves from fore-brain to hind-brain movements, that this pattern takes over. Boxing training will improve coordination for boxing. It will not make an elite sprinter sprint faster. Bruce Lee once said…“If you want to kick faster, then kick faster.” If you want to sprint faster, then sprint faster. The neural pathways used to punch a heavy bag are not similar enough to those used for top end sprinting. Certain Medicine Ball routines are far more specific to sprinting and would be better utilized by an elite sprinter than puncing a heavy bag or by confusing ones mind with a plethora of martial arts moves. One of the Gracie’s has said that a martial artist should foucus on 4 main moves (grappling) and master these, and that this is enough to be one of the best in the world. Bruce Lee’s philosophy was also similar to this in that he emphasied simplicity in training and not a mass of complex moves. The “less is more” phenomenon that is oftentimes difficult to understand is applicable here as well as with overall training volume.
RE:
I was gonna post how martial arts/boxing can be implemented into your sprint training to help improve explosivness and coordination.
Please do so and explain how this would be more effective in imporving one explosive power than Medicine ball work or Olympic Lifts.
What is “in shape?” That was the term used for the first question in this thread, I think.
Almost all of what we are talking about is sports specificity.
Ask a 100 meter man to do 800 meters and intense vomitosis will occur. Ask a Stevan Segal type to do wrestling or jiu jitsu and he’ll be passed out in about 5 minutes.
Ask an olympic lifts-only guy who does 2 to 3 reps per set to do sets of 15 reps (or 10 or 8:() and he’ll be suckin’ air real quick.
Ask one of these marathon weenies to carry a 30 pound weight up and down stairs as fast as he can, and he will bog down faster than will an olympic lifter.
Bill Clinton is a shmuck and a turd and I wouldn’t pee in his mouth if his teeth were on fire, but he had it right when he said: “It depends on what your definition of “is” is.” So it depends on what we are discussing, SPECIFICALLY. All athletes exhibit extremes of various components of fitness. Our navy SEALS are considered by many to be very fit. I grapple with them and other jiu jitsu animals several times a week. But when we play football, I clean house because their training is much less sprint specific.