Running Programs for Amateur Boxing

We all know fitness is the heart of boxing, without a good standard of fitness you will struggle in every bout you participate in. A lack of stamina means your technique falls apart in the ring which then means you miss out on opportunities to counter your opponent and are too tired to move out of the way of incoming punches, in short you are severely decreasing your chances of victory.

An advantage of training in a gym which has several professional boxers and trainers, including my own trainer, a former champion who was at one time ranked no.2 by the WBC is that you get to see how pros prepare for fights and what their training routines are. In this article I am going to go over just one of the recommended ways to prepare for an amateur bout, this routine was performed by my trainer when he was an amateur and is a great way to get you fit your fight.

Boxers tend to split their running between the longer and slower runs, used for recovery and weight regulation and sprinting, which is used to simulate the fast pace of fighting inside the ring.
The routine here involves a 2 mile jog as a warm up and then three rounds of 800m followed by a minutes rest after each sprint interval. The 800m should be performed as fast as possible and must be completed within 3 minutes. You then rest for 1 minute before attempting the next 800m so lets break this down.

2 mile Jog – This is used as a warm up for the sprinting work.

Round 1
800m sprint to be completed within 3 minutes
1 minute rest

Round 2
800m sprint to be completed within 3 minutes
1 minute rest

Round 3
800m sprint to be completed within 3 minutes
1 minute rest

And that’s you done! If you complete the 800m well within the 3 minutes that doesn’t mean you are afforded extra rest ie if you completed 800m in 2min 30 seconds you go straight into a minutes rest and start the next 800m. The quicker you complete the 800m the better but the rest interval of 1 minute is always the same.

Amateur bouts are three rounds so you can see you will be performing the 800m sprints for 3 rounds with a minute rest in between to replicate the three rounds you will be fighting.

You can also change this up by running as fast as you can for 3 minutes, followed by a minutes rest and performing this for 3×3 minutes rounds.

Round 1
Fast run – 3 minutes
1 minute rest

Round 2
Fast run – 3 minutes
1 minute rest

Round 3
Fast run – 3 minutes
1 minute rest

Generally, as an amateur you want to be doing your longer runs every other day/3 times per week(professional boxers will often do some sort of running 6-7 days per week), by longer runs I am referring to 3-5 miles, you will require rest days so you can fit in the above workout with guidance from your coach, whether you want to do the sprint intervals after your long runs or do the sprint work on your days off from your jogging. If you choose to perform the sprinting on the same day as the long runs then disregard the 2 mile warm up as your long run would replace this. Give this a go and make sure you come in fighting fit for your next bout!

Fivefingers have always been a popular choice for runners.