What set’s a Legendary fighter apart from a good fighter, or even the average guy?
It’s not necessarily more talent, although it helps. It ain’t a head start in life, that’s for sure. It’s a combination of hunger and a will to succeed, as well as some Legendary training. Even in fictional character’s like Rocky, it was his training that pushed him to beat more talented guys like Apollo Creed and physically superior guys like Ivan Drago or even Mason Dixon.
Rocky Marciano had read that Joe Louis – probably the greatest heavyweight of all time – ran 6 miles a day. Rocky, knowing that he didn’t have the talent that Joe possessed, figured he had to run double that. And he did. He also went on to knockout his hero, albeit Joe was in the midst of a comeback and far from his prime.
Marciano is a Legend because of his heart. As are Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward. Guys who didn’t have the most talent in the world, but who’s heart couldn’t be matched. Marvin Haggler, James Braddock, and the recently deceased Smokin’ Joe Frazier are also Legends who didn’t have the talent that other’s had, but achieved greatness due to their heart, work ethic, and hunger.
Boxing changed my life…
By showing me what pain really was. A year or so into my brief career I really began to figure out what I was doing with my training. I had some of the best workouts of my life during that span. Not only because the stuff I was doing was great, intense, and even fun, but because I was training for a fight. I was training for something that created urgency and brought intensity into every workout, set, and rep I did.
I walked into that boxing gym on a sweltering summer day because, yes, I loved the sport, and it had always intrigued me. But also because of the Legends I mentioned above. The respect I had for who they are and how they fought. And even because of the training montage’s in the Rocky movies, it’s hard to find something more inspiring than that. If I could train like that I knew something great would happen, and it did.
What brought me from an 0-2 record, to 2 straight wins by KO
Before boxing, bodybuilding was my primary focus with regards to training, because that’s all I knew. As you probably know by now, the
results didn’t come. When I started boxing, the out-of-the-ring training was completely bodyweight exercises and workouts that left me feeling tired, weak and drained.
As I mentioned earlier, my experimentation with different training methods began to pay off with muscle gains, fats loss, and dramatic improvements to me speed, power, and overall athleticism. My endurance actually improved dramatically as well. Which was weird because I almost completely cut out long runs and traditional endurance training.
With the help of a trainer at the gym I was now working with, we developed some pretty awesome sets that combined powerlifting with circuit training. The goal was to build power that lasted, so we created some pretty unique sets. One of which was 24’s.
24’s and Terry Crews
I hadn’t done 24’s in years, and actually kind of forgot about them until I saw a youtube video of Terry Crews done by bodybuilding.com. He used 24’s as a warm-up, like the following (6 reps of each exercise):
- Modified clean and press
- Plyometric chin-up with a knee tuck
- Med ball push-ups
- Walking push-ups’ with a row
