In the real world, boxers are some of the leanest, most well-trained athletes. Champs such as Vladimir Klitschko, Shane Mosley, and Mike Tyson were all human wrecking balls in their prime and had the builds to show for it.
Gyms that are built on the idea of boxing-for-fitness are popping up left and right across the country, most advertising the promise of helping you burn up to 1,000 calories in an hour. Seriously? So, sadist that I am, I decided to glove up and enlist the help of famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach, making his Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood my fitness home for 12 weeks.
By the end of my time with Roach and company, I may not have been ready to swap blows with a pro, but I was faster, leaner, and stronger than I had been since college. Train this way and maybe you can salvage a bit of your youth, one punch at a time.
By the end of my 12 weeks at Wild Card, I’d gone from 178 lbs. post-honeymoon to a trim 161. My bodyfat had dropped from 17% to around 10%, and my abs had made a cameo for the first time since…well, ever. I was executing combinations on the mitts like a seasoned vet, working out twice a day was pretty much common practice, and I was tackling 5-mile runs at the crack of dawn without complaint.
The Training Split
Day
Training (Body Parts)
1
Boxing Workout
2
Weights (Back, Legs)
3
Boxing Workout
4
Weights (Chest, Arms)
5
Boxing Workout
6
Rest/Optional Run (work up to 5 miles)
7
Rest
Note: Because of the volume of training you get during boxing workouts, avoid regular weight training for shoulders. If this is a lagging body part, incorporate no more than 6–8 sets of basic presses and raises on Day 6.
Choose a light set of dumbbells and work on 30–sec cycles within each 3–min set. A typical circuit with Fortune involves 30 secs at a time of straight punching, overhead punching, rear-delt raises, lateral raises, shoulder presses and a 30–sec hold.
