Boxing Was The Basis Of Fitness
by Tom Furman
The foundation of early fitness was boxing. We could more broadly say, combat arts to include grappling, but if a man went to a gym to, “get in shape”, it was a boxing gym. This was long before weight training gyms were popular. Manual labor was more common at the time. The average man didn’t come home from ten hours of shoveling and lifting to go to the gym to do Crossfit. Any photo of those days will show few overweight individuals. However when the need arose to do some conditioning, the gyms were boxing gyms.
The idea behind, “getting in shape”, was doing work. Sophisticated exercise physiology and sports medicine did not exist. You organized work and did it.
There was -
- Roadwork
- Ropework
- Ringwork
- Bagwork
- Padwork
- Bodywork
You will notice the base of, “work”, is largely aerobic in nature. The base of aerobics cannot be denied. It worked to fuel fighters through 15 rounds of fighting. There were no Tabata Front Squats or Chippers or circuits. There was a base of aerobics, skill development and then, bodywork.
Roadwork was between 3 and 10 miles. Fighters tend to like dirt roads. Easier on the legs, harder on the lungs. Mohammed Ali would run backwards because, at times, he fought moving backwards. Actor Robert Conrad ran beside a golf cart driven by his manager.
Ropework or skipping rope was to enhance lower body endurance. You had to be efficient for skipping to move from anaerobic to aerobic so the effect was an endurance enhancer. As well, the feet, knees, hips and wrist were developed. Some fighters pushed the envelope. The late, Nanfah Seharadecho was a Thai boxer who boxed in the 1976 Olympic games. He would skip rope for 30 minutes straight.
Bodywork was designed to strengthen specific muscle groups and provide localized muscular endurance. The lifting of heavy weights by boxers was frowned upon in the early days. Years later, Mackie Shilstone worked with Michael Spinks and Tim Hallmark worked with Evander Holyfield and weight training became more accepted. Formerly, boxing calisthenics were heavily influenced by Charles Atlas.
While things like, ‘leaving the fight in the gym’, did exist, training for a fight has to spare the athlete for the actual conflict. That being said, boxers would push the boundaries in terms of bodywork. Mike “Hercules” Weaver would regularly do 500 pushups as part of his normal routine.
While weight training was not as common, most gymnasiums has some resistance training apparatus in the form of wall cables, dumbbells, medicine balls and ropes for rope climbing. Actor and boxer, Charles Bronson regularly climbed rope throughout his life for upper body development that was maintained for decades.
The gap, often in bodyweight training or ‘bodywork’, is there is no, ‘hinge’, action. This was remedied by boxers lifting and carrying big rocks, like Rocky Marciano, or by rowing a boat or rowing machine. The trainers at the time had no internet and probably the library was of little use. They simply had to work by trial and error.
Actors and entertainers who simply wanted to maintain fitness or train for an acting role, would hit the gym [boxing gym] to train. Nowadays, actors hire exercise physiologists, nutritionists, chemists and other gurus to get visually ready for roles. However this practice was common, but far less glamorous in days gone by.
While I feel the roots of fitness are found in boxing, the roots of boxing training, beyond the pure aerobics of running was, at times, manual labor. Jack Dempsey and others used heavy manual labor of shoveling, carrying, digging and pushing, as training methods. My belief, as expressed above, is that, Charles Atlas and groups like the York Barbell Club probably influenced more organized exercise groupings that were absorbed by boxing gyms.
The End.
