We read regularly on the internet today about boxing being an anaerobic ( without oxygen) sport and the boxers training routine should consist of anaerobic, sport specific training. Using aerobic conditioning within your boxing workouts would be like keeping blood flowing through your body to stay alive. The aerobic part of your conditioning is what carries you through the long haul. You have to have the anaerobic conditioning in order to be successful. What anaerobic conditioning does for you is that it prepares you for that dog fight that you get into every once and a while in the ring. The best part is that when you have that type of conditioning you are the one who starts and finishes that dog fight.

     A great aerobic base of conditioning will carry you through your anaerobic training. You still need the long slow runs. Those long slow runs should be timed and your times should get shorter signifying the intensity or your training efforts. Your training should mimic the fight. Although you don't want every fight to be a war it can turn into one. Proper conditioning, developing your anaerobic thresh hold will be the key to your victories fight after fight.

    Every athlete should mentally see themselves as artists. This boxing artist needs to practice their skill 4 to 5 days a week at least. The boxer’s job as an artist is to create a perfect master piece on his canvas. The ring is your canvas and each time you enter the ring to put on your performance it has to be a master piece.

     Training is really rehearsing when it comes to creating your master piece. A football or basketball player does not go to practice everyday and just run around the training area. They don't just throw the ball around either. A boxer should not go into the gym everyday and just hit the heavy bag, or just jump rope and exercise. Exercise, heavy bag work, and jumping rope are very important in your training program, but to move to the next level you have to be a next level artist. Every aspect of your training regimen has to be sport specific. You have to remember the most hardest most challenging fight that you have ever had and train that hard.  

     Sport specific is a term or phrase I learned about in school. Most websites these days are referring to being sport specific also. Being specific is just that. When you watch a fight on television I'm sure you see outstanding combinations or some great move that you like. Being specific is taking that move or combination and creating your own combination and applying it at the gym. Just like these other professional athletes practice their plays (football, basketball players) you have to practice that exact move or combination. You should have twenty to thirty combinations that you practice regularly. Just like an artist or more importantly like the top professional boxer that you watch on television you should have your series of signature combinations or moves. Think about Mike Tyson , Roy Jones Jr. , Evander Holyfield, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Oscar DeLahoya just to name a few. These outstanding athletes don't get into the ring and start throwing lucky punches. They throw punches and combinations that they created for themselves.

  Aerobic Exercise

     Everyone has wondered at some point in time which cardio exercise is better.  To put it in simple terms, both low and high intensity exercises will help you to burn off body fat.  The question here is which is the most effective to burn off more body fat.   When scientists first discovered that during intensive exercises (anaerobic exercise), your body burns glycogen, which is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored in your liver and muscles for energy.  During low intensity exercises (aerobic exercise), your body will burn a lot of fat.

     The scientists were right when they said the human body burns more body fat during low intensity exercises like walking or swimming.  During a high intensity exercise such as running, the body will burn a lot more calories.  Even if though some of the calories burned are from glycogen stores, there are still many fat calories burned as well. To put the icing on the cake, when your store of glycogen gets low, the carbohydrates from your food you eat will later get converted into glycogen to fill up the store and won't be converted to body fat when they are left unused for energy.

     High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your metabolism even after you have completed your workout.  What this means, is that your body will continue to burn body fat hours after you have left the gym.  This effect is nearly nonexistent in low intensity cardio or aerobic workout. 

     Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and more calories during and after you have finished a high intensity cardio exercise that it will with low intensity. You can inject high intensity exercises into your cardio workout by introducing some interval training. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or so.  Then, walk briskly again until you have caught your breath and then sprint for a minute before you walk again.  From this point, simply alternate your running and walking for the  next 15 minutes until you are finished.

     One of the best things about cardio is the more you do it, the more energy you'll have.  Cardio will help you to burn calories, although its more useful for keeping your energy levels high. If you've never tried cardio before, you should give it a shot.  If you like to exercise, you'll find cardio the best way to boost your energy and keep in top shape.  If you are just starting out, you'll want to go slow and keep your cardio exercise in track - as it is very easy to over exert yourself.

In this sport just like an artist we create from our hearts. You see the design, you see the portrait that you want to paint so when you get into the ring it's time for you to show the world your creativity. As athletes we need to be taught how to make the most of our talents.                                                    

     Boxing has a high work to rest ratio. If you are not training with a high work to rest ratio it's time to start. Every great fight that you have watched has a high work to rest ratio. There are a lot of punches being thrown, there is a lot of movement in the ring and very little rest. An athlete that wants to be great has to force that principle in the ring.

     To be a great anaerobic athlete you have to have a great aerobic base in order to sustain that anaerobic pressure. The long distance running and training are very important in achieving your anaerobic goals.

Additional Resources:

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Anaerobic Training 

The only aerobic part of the fight is when you are not throwing punches or when you are in the corner between rounds.

 Cardio Vs Interval Training  

 What is Metabolism and How Aerobic Exercise Affects It 

 5 Cardio Workouts to Burn Fat