Advise please

[Andrewtheface]

Hi everybody,

My names is Andrew and I am 40yrs old from the U.K. I have been been training for the last five months doing bodyweight H.I.I.T training and I am looking for some advice please.

Before I ask my question I would like to point out that I am not a boxer, however I love the sport and I take my hat of to anyone who has the balls to compete.

My question is this, my joints are not the best and running is something I struggle with when it comes to breathing and my joints, but in the last 2 weeks I've taken to skipping and really enjoy it so much so I would like to know if anyone can tell me is skipping better, worse or the same as running?

I find it easier on my breathing, mainly because I mess up quite a bit but I love it and seem to recover the day after a lot better. I have just got a heavy bag and love having a go at hitting that, is that good for losing weight and fat loss? As really enjoy that too.

My goal is to lose weight,tone up and just try To stay young and mobile so I can remain active with my kids. so can anyone offer any advise please my background is football (soccer) for the last 20 to 30yrs, so boxing training is completely new to me but I love
training.

Anyway thanks in advance and I hope you can help

Cheers
Andrew.

[jas]

yes .

[Andrewtheface]

Thanks for the reply so quickly, so just to confirm skipping is better for you than running ?

[RAV3N]

It all depends on the intensity of your workout.

[Facade]

Skipping and running are both a risk for your joints and don't differ so much in that department. The risk for damage is caused by the landings and the shocks it puts on your joints Try to get good shoes and run or skip on a surface that isn't as hard as for example the street.

If your question is which delivers best results, it depends on your intensity as said above. I don't believe one exercise is significantly better than the other by itself. Skipping rope does include your upper body than running though so that might be a tougher exercise once you get good enough to keep it up.

About weight loss and fat loss: neither of the alternatives you give hurt your cause. That said, working on the bag has never really contributed me much in that department. It might be cause you are working smaller muscle groups, but i'm not really sure why. Just sharing my own experience on that though.

Sidenote: in order to gain results it is often needed to have discipline. However if you find an exercise that works for you and that you enjoy doing i'd recommend sticking with that. It will make motivating yourself and sticking with your routine that much easier and in the end that is what you need to succeed. So if i were you i'd go with skipping, but watch your joints. Good luck.

[Andrewtheface]

Thanks for the great advise, really helpful, thank you.

My intensity is just above beginner level, if that makes sense.

I train almost everyday from anywhere between 25 to 50 mins. I do push myself to what I consider to be hard and when i'am finished i'am soaked through with sweat and unable to carry on.

I know a lot of you boys are going to be in really good shape so I would imagine your levels of intensity will be greatly different to mine and i'am 40 yrs old lol

My diet is I what I consider to be good and clean, good meat, vegetables, water, white rice, tuna and eggs.

I dont eat bread or diary and I eat only healthy fats like coconut oil.

My only downfall is I like a beer on Friday night, which I know is bad!

Really all I am looking to do is get from 15st to 13 1/2 to 14st and get my body fat from 30 to maybe 20........ I am 5ft 10" btw.

If you have any other tips that could help I would be grateful to know.

Cheers guys

[Andrewtheface]

Yes please that would be great, cheers !

Swimming that's interesting, unfortunately that's probably one of things I am the worst at

Do you know of any good ab workouts as I am trying to build them into every workout I do now also.

Thanks again

[sparkman0811]

Hi. I would say that running and skipping are both very good for weight loss. Regarding the traditional boxing routine, I would say that running, skipping, sparring, heavy & uppercut bags are the best for weight loss. However, all of the stations listed below can be effective, given sufficient intensity. So, consider interval training with each station. A traditional boxing routine would include...

running (30-45 min / 4-6 miles)
sprints (4-6 x 0.25 miles)

skipping rope (15 min.)
shadow box-bob & weave (15 min.)
heavy bag (15 min.)
double end bag (15 min.)
uppercut bag (15 min.)
speed bag (15 min.)
mitts (15 min.)
sparring (15 min.)
conditioning: situps, pushups, lunges, squats, pullups, neck (15 min.)

However, a good diet is also going to be important. I think you have a good idea of what a clean healthy diet consists of. However, white rice should be replaced by brown rice, to add nutritional value. Also, put emphasis on fiber for weight loss, such as beans & lentils. Drink only water & tea (green tea, 100% chocolate powder, hibiscus, etc). More vegetables (6-7 servings) than fruits (3-4 servings). Oatmeal & brown rice for grains. Plain yogurt for dairy and calcium source. Poultry & eggs for protein. Nuts for protein and healthy fats. Of course, you understand that weight loss will happen provided you burn more calories than you take in. So, consider, weighing your foods and tabulating your caloric and nutritional intake per day measured against your calories burned per day. I do everything I've mentioned. Discipline and consistency are the most important for boxing or weight loss.

Finally, regarding your joint problems, consider bicycling as an alternative to running. I am going to be purchasing a bicycle soon, in order to experiment with it as an effective workout for weight loss. I stick to a traditional boxing routine, but am not opposed to anything else that might be effective. I feel sports like soccer or handball are also very effective for weight loss, or anything that has you moving throughout the entire activity.

Good luck and hang in there.

[Spray_resistant]

Instead of running if it is hard on your joints try swimming for a 30-45 minute minute session for cardiovascular training.

As for weight loss and a toned look, it has much to do with diet. Just make small adjustments to clean it up like for instance anything you are drinking other than water......stop it, maybe incorporate a weight training and/or body resistance routine to build some muscle.

If you build muscle it will help speed up your metabolic rate because 1. There are calories used in the act of resistance training as opposed to you not doing that 2. The extra metabolic energy it will take to repair the broken down tissue and make it better than it was before 3. It takes caloric energy to maintain muscle mass gained(alot of calories) so there is far less chance of any nutrients being stored in the body as fat.

[Andrewtheface]

Wow! That's a lot of exercise for one session!, very impressive !

Thanks for the advise, once again really helpful!

I would not get through half of that lol, but it's good in the fact I could alter it to suit my level of fitness

One question that I have always wanted to know was in regards to reducing body fat, is it purely down to keeping a good diet and training.

Do boxers train everyday?

Cheers.