Increasing strength.

[IwatchBoxing]

Punch a boxing bag(20 min a day), do push-ups(30 a day), sit ups(30 a day?), jumping jacks(whatever), run(30 min), swim(whatever), and thats basicly it, doing that *minium* would increase your arms, legs, and give you a natural build, while harderning yourself, making you more pyshicaly fit slash stronger, you can just do the push-ups, and something esle a day (non-stoping, full 30)for two weeks to feel the differnce, got that from bootcamp(the idea), nothing big, but makes you feel alot better.

[boxerman]

man. its just weird hearing people talk about trying to not gain size and muscle. dont get me wrong, i box and understand the dilema. however, coming from a football and track ( dabbled in bodybuilding ) background, this is a concept i am still trying to get a grip on. i also HATE the high repetition of bodyweight stuff. I do it, but HATE it.

[icedog11]

You ever wrestle with one of your friends who were about the same size as you, but they were just physically stronger than you?

How do you train for strength? How do you train for strength and not muscle, because that's what I'm more interested in. I don't really want to get all bulky, I just want to stay the way I am and become stronger, is that possible?

The question you should ask your self is it strength you want or power they are two different things. Absolute strength is measured force ie. how much you bench press 1 rep max. Relative strenght is your 1 rep max minus your body weight. Power is the rate of aplication of strength. check out Adam Archuleta freak of trainning on dvd.this skinny kid benched more reps at his combine than most o linemen

[Rockin']

If you lift weights like that, you're NOT really building any strength. Only thing you're working on is muscle endurance, and in my opinion you're better of working on heavy bags, sparring and other more boxing related stuff. That's where you get your endurance. Low weights are a waste of time for boxers. You HAVE to lift heavy (0-100% of 1RM) to get stronger. Read my earlier posts on how to do this without bulking up.

Read up on your training theory Rock...

Im just telling you what I experienced over the two years that I was lifting and boxing. And endurance is strength in the boxing ring. Once one of these power punching guys gets tired, they are no longer powerfull. I have never read for my theorys on boxing training. It was all first hand experience and the knowledge passed on to me from the fighters and trainers before me. Just because you read something does not make it so. Read these medical books from 10 years ago, you will see many descrepancies with the thinking of today. The thoughts and discoveries of today are often found to be mislead in their thoughts with in only a few years. Go to any boxing gym and take your book with you. Discuss your findings with any knowledgable trainer and then get back with me.........Rockin'

[PunchDrunk]

I hear where you're coming from Rock. I never said I was all theory and no practice did I? Obviously, first hand experience is important. I have first hand experience with these things. I've never been a pro fighter, but I have fought as an amateur from 1986 'till 2002, so I do have experience in the ring. Since then I've been a trainer, and unlike most trainers, I haven't just used the "this is how we used to do it" approach most trainers seem to use. To be a trainer, you have to have first hand fight experience. Check, I have that. To be a trainer, you have to have experience as a trainer. Admittedly, I have much to learn here. But the final thing you need is education. You need to know WHY the body responds to certain things the way it does, so you know when to employ it in a training plan. Most trainers (from my experience) lack this. They scoff at training theory, mostly because they don't know anything about it.
The way I see it, that is exactly why there are SO MANY TRAINING MYTHS in boxing. I certainly agree that endurance is a key factor in boxing. No one is claiming it isn't. But power is also important. If you can't punch the skin off a cup of hot chocolate, all the endurance in the world won't help you. And vice versa, of course. The fact remains, lifting heavy increases max strength, which is a prerequisite to increase power. No one who knows anything disputes this. If you take that to a knowledgable trainer, he'll already know it. They do in every other sport in the world.
I'm out there in the real world training fighters already, so I'm basically ahead of what you suggested I do. Now, I suggest you actually try reading some stuff. It won't hurt you.
May I suggest "Periodization training for sports" by Tudor O. Bompa, or maybe go to Rossboxing and ask Ross about how to increase power with weights.

[PunchDrunk]

To clear up my point:
Experience is good.

Theoretic knowledge is good.

Experience AND theoretic knowledge beats everything.

[Rockin']

Thats all good man, I respect your opinion. But to say that lifting lighter weights will not build strength is not something that I believe. I used to shadow box every day with 3 lb weights, my strength increased as well as my endurance. If you take say 100 lbs and bench press it until you are burned out, are you telling me that you would not improve in the strength department.

I appreciate and applaud the fact that you take the time to train fighters. So you must know the same as I do that being stronger in a fight does not neccesarily mean that you will win. Aswell, lifting heavyweights will increase your body mass and weight, something that most fighters do not want to do. They would rather stay at a natural weight and fight people their size.

And tell the things to Emmanuel Steward or Bill Miller, both world class trainers, that you just said to me and then get back with me on their replys to you. Your books are good for somethings I am sure. And the knowledge and experience that I get from trainers like these is good for me. So you keep your books and I'll keep the knowledge that has been passed down to me from these great people in boxing. And we will both just do our thing...............Rockin'

[spinksjinx]

Medicine ball throws are a great strength builder Along with Matt Fureys Hindu exercises. The medicine ball throws have made my straight and jab so much stronger.

[PunchDrunk]

If you take 100 lbs and bench press until you're burned out will make you stronger. That is, if you've never tried bench pressing before. So yeah, it works up to a certain point. But like all training, your body adapts to it, and then you have to go higher, to get any kind of strength gain. Say you can do 15 reps first time you try bench pressing 100 lbs. If you keep doing 15 reps for 5 years, will that increase your endurance? Obviously not. So why would benching the same low weight keep making you stronger? Again,this is VERY BASIC training theory, not some kind of theoretic knowledge that will change over the years, as you've tried to claim.
And lifing heavy weights will NOT NECESSARILY increase your body weight. This all depends on HOW you train. If you do low to middle rep training (3-12 reps), and you go to failure or beyond, yes you will gain weight. But that is bodybuilding, and no strength coach in his right mind would let a fighter train like that. For strength and power for a fighter you should do low reps (1-6) and never to failure. When you do 6 reps, you should be doing it with a weight that you could really do 8 reps with, and concentrate on putting speed on the bar.
I have no idea what Emanuel Stewart or Bill Miller thinks about all this. If they feel about it the same way you do, that just goes to show that NO ONE knows everything, and that everybody can learn something new. Who's to say that they can't be wrong, or just don't have the insight in some area of training (which is an area traditionally shunned by the boxing world) You're very fortunate if you're around people like that, and is able to learn from them. But you're blind if you think they're infallible. All this is really besides the point, since they haven't really uttered their opinion on this. Until they do it's all speculation, that they'd even agree with you.

[PunchDrunk]

I'm training this fighter who's at 132 lbs. He isn't very strong. SO over the summer, I started him on a strength training program. From May to August he went from 132 to 140. This was off season, so he didn't do as much training on the side as in season. He probably would have been at 135-8 if he hadn't done the weights during this period anyway. Now, come August and we start training at full steam again. From August to December he still does heavy weights 2 times a week, besides all the other training. Now the other coach at my gym is of the old school, and he was very sceptical about weights, as are most boxing coaches (because they know jack **** about actual training theory, it's all "this is how we've always done it). However, when I got this fighter in the ring, he was so much stronger than normal, and the other coach is a doubter no more. By December my guy was as low as 128 lbs. WITH the weight training, and it has improved his strength and speed in the ring. THAT is my personal experience, which is backed up by every sound training theory out there. If you haven't tried the heavy weights, done the right way, don't knock it...