Ice baths

[mspiegelo]

just tried my first icebath last night. i injured my right arm teaching a dodge ball class at the gym i work at on friday. then i sparred the next day and had to throw the right, despite barely being able to hold it up, to not show weakness in the ring and keep the guy off me. afterwards i could barely lift my arm. the pain was so bad that i couldnt tell what exactly i had injured- my rotator cuff, my elbow, my bicep, everything hurt so bad. after applying three packs of ice over my entire arm for about 30 minutes (until all of the ice was pretty much melted), my arm felt considerably better, but i felt that I could use some additional therapy...

so basically, after waiting a couple of hours, i filled the tub with cold water, emptied all my ice trays and a 5 lb bag of ice in and got in for about 12 minutes. it was a ***** getting in but once i was submerged for about a minute, i went so numb i could barely feel it. after words, i hopped up put the shower on warm water and took what evolved into a 15 minute-long hot shower....

the main problem for me, other then freezing my testes off upon first contact of course, was slinking my 6'3" frame into my little-ass tub. if my legs were cut off at the knee, id still have a hard time getting in that thing. im wondering if the strain on my back and neck in getting in is worth the the****utic benefits. im gonna try again tonight with a 10lb bag and all of my icetrays and try and find the sweet spot...

[Alexis Vastine]

15 mile 2 hour runs, sounds like bull**** to me. It will not help your boxing either. Stick to 7 miles. If you are doing it for fitness even then it sounds excessive. you might enjoy it now but you won;t enjoy it when you end up with no **** like Paula Radcliffe and end up with no knee cartlilidge and shint splints.

[Alexis Vastine]

just tried my first icebath last night. i injured my right arm teaching a dodge ball class at the gym i work at on friday. then i sparred the next day and had to throw the right, despite barely being able to hold it up, to not show weakness in the ring and keep the guy off me. afterwards i could barely lift my arm. the pain was so bad that i couldnt tell what exactly i had injured- my rotator cuff, my elbow, my bicep, everything hurt so bad. after applying three packs of ice over my entire arm for about 30 minutes (until all of the ice was pretty much melted), my arm felt considerably better, but i felt that I could use some additional therapy...

so basically, after waiting a couple of hours, i filled the tub with cold water, emptied all my ice trays and a 5 lb bag of ice in and got in for about 12 minutes. it was a ***** getting in but once i was submerged for about a minute, i went so numb i could barely feel it. after words, i hopped up put the shower on warm water and took what evolved into a 15 minute-long hot shower....

the main problem for me, other then freezing my testes off upon first contact of course, was slinking my 6'3" frame into my little-ass tub. if my legs were cut off at the knee, id still have a hard time getting in that thing. im wondering if the strain on my back and neck in getting in is worth the the****utic benefits. im gonna try again tonight with a 10lb bag and all of my icetrays and try and find the sweet spot...

i'm 5'11''
I got a big tub upstairs but when I use small one downstairs I first do the legs stretched out with body at 90 degrees sitting up. Then I bend knees and do body.

[mspiegelo]

15 mile 2 hour runs, sounds like bull**** to me. It will not help your boxing either. Stick to 7 miles. If you are doing it for fitness even then it sounds excessive. you might enjoy it now but you won;t enjoy it when you end up with no **** like Paula Radcliffe and end up with no knee cartlilidge and shint splints.

if you're training for amateur boxing and you are already near weight and have good conditioning, both are waaaaay excessive. interval training is the best way to train for amateur boxing. boxing is an anaerobic activity. it breaks down like this

0-9 seconds (all-out sprint) - phosphogen system
10 sec- 3 minutes - anaerobic (muscles operate with oxygen)
3 minutes and longer - aerobic system (muscles require oxygen)

i mean, the body never uses one system exclusively, they interact, but these are the phases that are completely dominant within those time intervals.

these facts (yes, facts- you can refer to the national strength and conditioning association for more info) is lost on most boxers, and many trainers as well. running long distance is an aerobic excercise and will not prepare you the best for a fight (especially an amateur fight with 3 or 4 2-minute rounds).

i do an assortment of interval training. here's a good one to build to:

start with a light 10 minute warmup jog that goes into a 2 minute all-out sprint. now its not techincally a sprint, because you can't maintain a "sprint" for a full 2 minutes, but basically just run as fast as you can. then bring it down to a slow jog for a minute. this is an "active rest" that is simulating your 1 minute break in between rounds. then rinse and repeat - 3 rounds for a novice, 4 for an open fighter. finish it out with a good 10 minute jog, just cooling down for the last 5 minutes of that 10 minutes. all in all- you have a 29 minute (or 32 minute for open fighters)-long piece that will burn calories, fat and better adapt you to be in excellent fighting shape. you are also running for less time total, so the saved impact means less strain on your joints (hips, knees and ankles) and you have less of a risk of overtraining as well....

[markeeta]

I appreciate your advice, because my daily boxing routine is based around interval training. I know the different ways you can apply it and reasons why you would shorten or lengthen an interval.


I know I don't need to be specifically running 20km as part of a boxing routine, and I won't be doing that in one go every week. But there are a million reasons why I actually want to and why it benefits me specifically.

But I am curious to know why you would think I am at my correct fighting weight and why you think my conditioning is acceptable? What indicators have I given you so far for you to believe this?

[Alexis Vastine]

I'm not training for the am's but even when I was I did about 3-5 miles per day depending on how I felt because I did have higher goals. You are right and it is excessive for the am's. Some am's just run 3 miles a day and do intervals at the gym during normal training. You need to do both. Intervals are more suited to the am's though with their short bursts of activity. In the pro's you need to think about waiting on punches and controlling the pace. In the pro's you need a lot of sustained roadwork and 5-7 miles is standard.

20km is bull****. That's more like marathon training not boxing, as fights do not last that long! Some british fighter called paddy something did 12miles per dfay onmce thinking it would make him fitter when it slowed him down in a 45 minute bout with 36 minutes of activity.

[markeeta]

i'm not showing off. i'm not telling everyone else to do it. i just enjoy running every now and again. makes me happy. enough?

[peewee1460]

makes me happy.

hurray for endorphins!

[Alexis Vastine]

i'm not showing off. i'm not telling everyone else to do it. i just enjoy running every now and again. makes me happy. enough?

I wasn't trying to get at that or aiming the comments at you. I was just saying that in general, for boxing an hour long run or a 20k run is a waste of effort IMO.

if you enjoy roadwork you are very lucky. It took me a while to get use to it but now I can't do without it.