I think it is impossible to be a normal, reasonably-healthy human being with a pulse and watch these training montage scenes without getting pumped up. They are AWESOME! But should you train like Rocky? First, here is a breakdown of literally everything he does in Rocky I, II, III, IV, and Rocky Balboa
- Jogging
- Alternating single-hand push-ups
- Clapping push-ups
- Speed bag
- Being hit in the stomach with something
- Sit-ups
- 1-handed push-ups
- More running
- Hitting metal with a hammer
- 1-arm chin-up
- Sit-up with twists
- Jump rope
- A split second of mitts
- Dumbbell lateral lifts
- Frog jumping and duck walking with a big piece of wood across his neck and shoulders
- Overhead presses with barbell
- Sit-ups and some guy hits him in the stomach
- Dumbbell reverse flys.
- Chases chicken
- More speedbag
- Back-to-back med ball hand-offs
- Bag work with no gloves
- Sprinting away from children
- Hurdles a few park benches
- Sprints vs Apollo Creed
- Bouncy footwork drills with Apollo, mainly a rhythmic Ali shuffle
- Some double-end bag work
- Some shadow boxing
- Swimming. Butterfly stroke.
- The tiniest bit of sparring
- More speedbag
- More jump rope
- More jump rope again
- Hanging sit-ups with punches at the top
- Chopping wood
- A couple hooks on the mitts
- More speedbag
- Uses a pulley to bring down heavy weight
- Leg lifts to Dragon Flag
- Slip line with uppercuts
- Weighted twist
- Sawing a big log
- Double lever press lifting people in a carriage
- Jogs up snowy mountain
- More jogging
- Pull-ups
- Bench press
- Squats
- Travelling push-ups with med ball
- Hammer swings
- Tiny bit of bag work with gloves
- Punches meat again
- Dumbbell walking uppercut swings
- Keg slams
- Clean and press
In all 5 of those movies, I would say about 75% of Rocky's training is running. Except for Rocky Balboa, the training sequence in every film culminates with him finishing some running task. Climbing the stairs in Rocky I, climbing the stairs with lots of kids running after him in Rocky II (plus he catches that chicken earlier), beating Apollo Creed in a beach sprint in Rocky III and climbing to the top of a mountain and screaming "Draagggooooo!" in Rocky IV. He's a lot older in Rocky Balboa so the jogging is slower and instead, the montage scene ends with him doing a barbell clean and press.
There are several cinematic reasons for doing this, finishing the montage with a running scene (particularly going up something, like stairs or a mountain). It is symbolic, it looks good, it looks like work, showing somebody moving faster is an easy way to demonstrate progression and it is something a non-boxing actor can do.
I don't know that it will necessarily make someone a better boxer though. Jogging is cardio training, for sure, and to some degree, there is a toughness element as well. Just keep moving, don't stop. In the old days, jogging was a big part of a boxer's training regimen. Certainly not 75%, maybe not even 25%, but every boxer did it. The real Rocky, Rocky Marciano, would run about 10 miles every single day, including Christmas. These days, many fighters do less distance running and are more about sprints/tempo runs. Shorter bursts of more explosive energy with active rests is more analogous to what a boxer faces inside the ring, versus slower, steady-state plodding. Running, or "Road Work" as people like to call it, certainly has benefits but if you want to be a better boxer, you don't actually need to it at all. As I mentioned earlier, there is something to the toughness and discipline that can come from consistent running but you may be able to get that from other places. I personally, do not run anymore at all because of old knee injuries and my boxing skills and endurance has not changed at all. If I were training a younger healthier person for a fight, I would have them do tempo runs instead. I made a video with some examples right here:
In a distant second to running, Rocky spends the most of his training montage time doing some form of a strength exercise. Push-ups, pull-ups, weights, core, old school lifts. How much these things help your boxing depends quite a bit on you and how much strength you already have in each department. My personal belief for strength training- and what I would have anyone younger I was training for a fight do- is almost all bodyweight exercises, in addition to the boxing, of course. Unless you specifically want to bulk up, I don't think weights are necessary and note that bulking up will not help you with your boxing. You may still want to do it and that is totally, 100% fine, it just will not make you box any better and you could even tire more quickly, carrying around the extra weight, particularly in the upper body. Here is a blog post for more info on the subject - https://theboxingmanifesto.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-power-of-bodyweight-exercise-how-i.html
Then I would say jump rope comes next for Rocky. He does it in every movie except in Rocky Balboa. Jumping rope is great. You should do it too! You don't need a lot of time either. 5 minutes of jump rope a day is beneficial, and you can extend it as you get better and better. How does it help with your boxing? A couple different ways. It keeps you light on your feet, on the balls of your feet, which is the place you want to be while boxing. There is also a rhythm and timing and coordination aspect to it that is transferable. And then finally, jump rope is an interesting exercise in that it is intense and will tire you out but you are largely turning off most of the muscles in your body. This is a critical skill to learn in boxing and anyone who comes from a weight-lifting background generally struggles with it. Boxing is a explosive, using those fast-twitch muscle fibers to generate as much acceleration and deceleration as possible. But that's only in very specific muscles. Other muscles should be almost totally deactivated. Why? Because they can actually hold your punches back. I have spoken about this a lot but just as an example, if you try to throw a quick jab or cross and your shoulders are fully engaged, your body will get tighter and lack the elasticity to really whip those punches for maximum sting.
Then there is the speedbag. Rocky does this for at least a second or two in every movie training montage. Sometimes he is really bad at it at first and then he gets better so we see progression, although I've always wondered how he keeps forgetting how to do it in each film. Anyway, speedbag training can help you with rhythm as well as muscular endurance and is a perfectly fine thing to do if you want to train in boxing. Will it help you get a whole lot better at boxing? Absolutely not. It is meant to be more of a supplemental, complimentary training tool. It looks really good in the movies because when someone learns how to do it, the bag moves super fast and this naturally appears impressive. Wrote a much more detailed blog post about it earlier as well: https://theboxingmanifesto.blogspot.com/2022/03/what-about-speed-bags.html
Finally, at what I would say represents less than 5% of Rocky's montage training is actual boxing/punching something. He does do a little bit of it in every movie but it is sometimes literally for about a second. The most we ever see Rocky boxing is versus the meat in Rocky I. Other than that, we get a couple punches on mitts here and there, some lackluster bag work, a few shadowboxed punches, and sparring is not really touched at all. At no point, do we see him doing anything remotely defensive at all. There is a big reason for the lack of boxing in the movies and that is probably obvious - Sylvester Stallone is not a boxer. He is an actor. A physically strong actor with a lot of love for boxing but if they want to show him training and looking as awesome as possible, they can't really spend a lot of time on boxing technique, speed or power. They also do show plenty of this in the fight scenes so perhaps the movie didn't want to overdo during the training scenes. And finally, it might be difficult to show boxing skill progression to a layperson, whereas showing an impressive physical feat may communicate "Getting strong now" better.
In reality, by far- by a million miles- the best way to get better at boxing is to actually box. Punching hanging haunches of meat might not be a great idea but bag work, mitt work, shadow boxing, even sparring if that is your jam and your technique is highly developed, are all highly effective. The more you box with proper instruction/coaching, the better you get at boxing. But that also doesn't mean at the same pace the entire time. The concept of over-training is important in boxing as well, just like it is with lifting weights. Overloading speed, power and endurance drills all improve your boxing skills as well as fitness. It is even more critical that you approach all training with the mindset of getting better. I've written numerous posts about that subject as well. Here is one: https://theboxingmanifesto.blogspot.com/2022/03/are-you-comfortable-boxer.html
So does this mean that if you have all day to train, you would be best served by boxing all day? Ah, a good question. And no, not necessarily. If you have all day to train, you may very well burn out just training in boxing. This is where you can mix things up and even add in some of Rocky's routine. But do you have all day to train? Most people do not. Most of us are lucky to make an hour or so. In that case, you are going to be best served by spending almost all of that time in boxing. Works every muscle, is both cardio & strength training simultaneously, and most importantly it is 100% the absolute best way to get better at actually boxing!
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