Possible to get/maintain a great physique without weights?

[RayDiggle]

Hey yeah so the question is in the topic title. I will most likely have my first fight coming up in August, and so want to dedicate most of my time from now till then on boxing and less so on weight lifting. However, I've built up a pretty nice physique and kind of want to maintain it or improve it, and yet I'm not sure what the result will be if I stop doing weights completely (since I've been doing weights regularly for the past 14 months). Is it possible to get a great, built physique without any weight work at all? I know a lot has to do with genes, and I like to think I have a good broad shouldered build, but that won't do me any good if my shoulders disappear.

[them_apples]

narrow waist, broad shoulders, chest and back..natural muscle definition etc etc

You don't need weights, but you'll have to do some sort of resistance training to work your muscles and get strength.

Most elite boxers don't do any typical weight lifting. I know MMA fighters like to lift a lot of weights though to bulk up.

Most people think they have good genetics, but truth be told it's a rare breed of human that has really good genetics. Usually passed down from a few generations of hard work.

[RayDiggle]

Hmm well by genetics I literally just meant the broad shoulders, which have passed down from my grandpa to my uncle and then to me. Besides that, I definitely don't have great genes since I was 174 lbs when I started at the gym (then came down to 135 lbs at my lowest), so it was definitely hard work and not great genes :P. If I switched to purely boxing, I would spend a lot of time on doing calisthenic work (i.e. push ups, pull ups, chin ups, dips, etc) which I currently only do Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I would be doing a lot of resistance work, but it wouldn't be similar at all to doing bench presses or using dumbbells or machines.

So, say I cut out weights, is it a good idea to do away with compound exercises like the bench press or overhead press as well, and just go with their calisthenic counterparts (i.e. push up and pull up)?

[sukhenkoy]

I did weights for maybe 7 months before completely stopping and focusing on boxing and pure calisthenics. I got a better physique from pure calisthenics than I ever had from doing weights.

[g0tcha]

Hey yeah so the question is in the topic title. I will most likely have my first fight coming up in August, and so want to dedicate most of my time from now till then on boxing and less so on weight lifting. However, I've built up a pretty nice physique and kind of want to maintain it or improve it, and yet I'm not sure what the result will be if I stop doing weights completely (since I've been doing weights regularly for the past 14 months). Is it possible to get a great, built physique without any weight work at all? I know a lot has to do with genes, and I like to think I have a good broad shouldered build, but that won't do me any good if my shoulders disappear.

even if you still want to continue to keep your current physique or increase it, you dont have to spend an hour in a half + in the gym doing so. If follow a 4x8-15 with 30 second rest periods and gradual weight increases per set then you'll continue to keep and build your physique on top of increasing your conditioning because it keeps your heart rate up. Youll spend at most 45 minutes on the weights per session assuming you don't have to wait for equipment. also your still going to want to do calisthenics. just because you can bench 225 for 15 for instance, that doesnt mean you have endurance to knock out pushups. train in all aspects just like the different forms of conditioning like rope, running, sprints, hiit. whats your current routine per session on weight lifting. if its too long just hit me up in a message or something.

[Joachim]

Don't worry about lifting, Keep on the plyometrics and sparring, whatever else you're doing. You wont "shrink" or whatever because you're not constantly lifting heavy. I have huge shoulders and I dont weight lift.

[TheNegation]

Don't be fooled by these elitists in here. Especially, Them Apples, according to him, weight training is only for MMA fighters because they want to be big and look tough. Even if the lifting they are doing happens to be functional.

One specific type of training won't work for everyone.

What gets one guy jacked and ripped will do nothing for the guy standing next to him.

Find what works for you and stick to it. It may take some time to find what works for you, but just keep at it.

[Joachim]

They weight train a lot because size matters much more, and they grapple. Half thier matches are on the floor rolling around with balls in thier face.

[TheNegation]

They weight train a lot because size matters much more, and they grapple. Half thier matches are on the floor rolling around with balls in thier face.

Most of the lifting they do has nothing to do with hypertrophy.

Take your ignorance somewhere else

[Joachim]