Roadwork: Are we wasting our time?

​Roadwork. It’s boring, gruelling, and dreadful. Roadwork is a mandatory part of every boxer and MMA fighter’s training regimen—or is it? You’ve been looking for a way out of waking up at 6 AM to get your ‘Rocky’ on, and we may have found the answer to your prayers.

There is empirical evidence (AKA real, university-level research) that supports sport-specific interval training over long distance roadwork. This means those hard three minute rounds on the bag are much more beneficial than your three miles on the streets. ​In summary, the studies have found that:

1) Fighters need to focus on increasing their VO2max and blood lactate concentration tolerance. 

2) The best way to do this is sparring.

It sounds obvious: just train like you fight. Fighting requires energy from both aerobic and anaerobic sources, and the only way to truly train the body is to continuously practice using these sources.

What do you think? Can we really say goodbye to roadwork for good?

Sources:
Bellinger, B., St. Clair Gibson, A., Oelofse, A., Oelofse, R., & Lambert, M. (1997). Energy expenditure of a noncontact boxing training session compared with submaximal treadmill running. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 29(12), 1653-1656.
Ghosh, A. K. (2010). Heart rate, oxygen consumption and blood lactate responses during specific training in amateur boxing. International Journal of Applied Sports Sciences, 22, 1-12.
Kravitz, L., Greene, L., Burkett, Z., & Wongsathikun, J. (2003). Cardiovascular responses to
punching tempo. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 17(1), 104-108.
Smith, M. S. (2006). Physiological profile of senior and junior England international amateur
boxers. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, CSSI, 74-89.