Do Your Roadwork!

MxS/SE/HIC/E
Nomad
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Do Your Roadwork!

Post by Nomad »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUihLVk-ssk

Conor's cardio is frequently brought up as a point of weakness during the MayMac fight. If you go by social media, Conor didn't run, he mostly cycled for his base building. Whereas Mayweather regularly runs 5-15 miles when preparing for a match, sometimes at 2 or 3am. His videos depict him going at an easy LSS pace.

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Barkadion
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by Barkadion »

Nomad wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUihLVk-ssk

Conor's cardio is frequently brought up as a point of weakness during the MayMac fight. If you go by social media, Conor didn't run, he mostly cycled for his base building. Whereas Mayweather regularly runs 5-15 miles when preparing for a match, sometimes at 2 or 3am. His videos depict him going at an easy LSS pace.
2-3AM? Brutal! I'm doing 4AM fairly often. But 2AM...
"Man is what he reads." - Joseph Brodsky

WallBilly
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by WallBilly »

yeah, but Floyd has a certain "lifestyle", shall we say?

He owns a strip joint in Vegas. He doesn't drink, but he hangs out at his strip joint late every night. I am assuming his runs are after the strip joint closes . . . . which may be a good strategy!

DocOctagon
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by DocOctagon »

WallBilly wrote:yeah, but Floyd has a certain "lifestyle", shall we say?

He owns a strip joint in Vegas. He doesn't drink, but he hangs out at his strip joint late every night. I am assuming his runs are after the strip joint closes . . . . which may be a good strategy!
Yup, in another interview I saw him say that he hits the strip club in the evening, and then heads out for a run after. He also mentioned leaving his roadwork for the end of the day after all his other more important training is out of the way....all the skills & drills.

WallBilly
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by WallBilly »

Plus, if you lived in Vegas, you may want to run at 3 am too . . . it's the only time it isn't
above 90 degrees F!

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BlackPyjamas
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by BlackPyjamas »

Nomad wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUihLVk-ssk

Conor's cardio is frequently brought up as a point of weakness during the MayMac fight. If you go by social media, Conor didn't run, he mostly cycled for his base building. Whereas Mayweather regularly runs 5-15 miles when preparing for a match, sometimes at 2 or 3am. His videos depict him going at an easy LSS pace.
Good video! I love Bisping. It really stuck out to me that McG was avoiding roadwork in the lead-up, and I'm no expert but it seemed like a big red flag at the time. I've noticed in my own profession, anytime I try to substitute rowing, cycling, or other forms of cardio instead of plain ole running that my performance deteriorates in terms of ops, PFTs, and unit PT. Sometimes the old ways are best!

Ten8
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by Ten8 »

Tyson used to run 3-4 miles every morning...and:

2000 sit-ups
500-800 dips
500 push-ups
500 shrugs with a 30kg barbell

I'm seeing a pattern developing.... E and SE...looks suspiciously like base building:)

That's just part of his strength & conditioning. He'd also spend most of his day doing skills and sparring, some 200rds of sparring!

Maxrip13
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by Maxrip13 »

I haven't done an LSD run regularly in nearly 6 months. I am not gassing out yet, but I definitely notice the difference at BJJ and work.
I am having some knee issues and focusing more on my sport and other forms of training.

I was doing a different form of base build involving Long easy circuits of things like step ups and similar. It worked well,but I don't think you can beat a good 30-60 min easy run for building that aerobic capacity.

I think I might be due a tactical barbell style base build in the coming months, followed by some green continuation with the circuit approach I previously used.

You need to remember that Conor was an mma fighter in a boxing match with one the the greats of boxing.
You get Floyd Wrestling or doing BJJ and Conor would have the better conditioning of the two.
"Cardio" is sport specific and while there is carryover, nothing beats years of experience and flawless technique sport for being well conditioned to perform at that sport.

KShea
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by KShea »

Maxrip13 wrote:
You need to remember that Conor was an mma fighter in a boxing match with one the the greats of boxing.
You get Floyd Wrestling or doing BJJ and Conor would have the better conditioning of the two.
"Cardio" is sport specific and while there is carryover, nothing beats years of experience and flawless technique sport for being well conditioned to perform at that sport.
This.

But to be fair, Conor should have switched his conditioning routine to coincide with sport specificity when jumping into a boxing ring. And since I wasn't there, I have no idea if he did or didn't. But his coaches should have advised him to do a bit more road work leading up to the fight. But the point you made above is lost WAY too often in these conversations. Conditioning is specific to what you do.

But, then again, like you said... There is always carryover.

People did underestimate Floyd's experience and skills in boxing when they even gave McGregor a chance. The truth is the only chance he ever had was the fact that if he could connect and stun Floyd, he could put him down with his power. And he actually did connect and had Floyd for a fraction of a second stunned... But Floyd regained his senses WAY too fast for Conor to capitalize. That's what makes Floyd one of the greats.

Good post.

Maxrip13
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Re: Do Your Roadwork!

Post by Maxrip13 »

KShea wrote:
Maxrip13 wrote:
You need to remember that Conor was an mma fighter in a boxing match with one the the greats of boxing.
You get Floyd Wrestling or doing BJJ and Conor would have the better conditioning of the two.
"Cardio" is sport specific and while there is carryover, nothing beats years of experience and flawless technique sport for being well conditioned to perform at that sport.
This.

But to be fair, Conor should have switched his conditioning routine to coincide with sport specificity when jumping into a boxing ring. And since I wasn't there, I have no idea if he did or didn't. But his coaches should have advised him to do a bit more road work leading up to the fight. But the point you made above is lost WAY too often in these conversations. Conditioning is specific to what you do.

But, then again, like you said... There is always carryover.

People did underestimate Floyd's experience and skills in boxing when they even gave McGregor a chance. The truth is the only chance he ever had was the fact that if he could connect and stun Floyd, he could put him down with his power. And he actually did connect and had Floyd for a fraction of a second stunned... But Floyd regained his senses WAY too fast for Conor to capitalize. That's what makes Floyd one of the greats.

Good post.
I agree with everything you wrote.

I can't find it, but I read a good post on Sherdog which detailed the approach Conor and his team used for this fight. It was actually brilliant with the time they had to prepare and extremely well programmed.

Long story short is they built up the number of boxing rounds over the whole 12 week period. E.g they started with 4 rounds at the pace they wanted and gradually built it over the whole period to go the full 12 at the pace that was optimal for them. The idea was to use the full 12 weeks to get ready and make sure that Conor made it to the fight in one piece without any injuries.

They also went through and built his aerobic base through long slow bike rides and boxing specific work. I believe the running was minimal due to a previous ACL injury and the fact that LSD running can leave you pretty beat up in the long run. I remember seeing them use some LSD running on a treadmill in a pool to minimise impact. I don't believe that Conor had the running base to do the sort of miles that pro boxers are reputed to run.

I am not his coach so I can only go off small articles and UFC embedded videos, but I can definitely see what the logic behind it all was.
The idea was to get the most bang for their buck in 12 weeks and get him ready to fight the longest fight of his career.

We need to remember that someone like Floyd started this when he was a child and has run thousand of miles and fought 50 fights with 26 or so against champions. Even with some assistance from the referees and judges ;) he is arguably the greatest defensive boxer of this generation if not ever.

Conor is an MMA fighter who prefers to use unorthodox angles and strikes to take out his opponents with well placed punches, he then usually gets the TKO finish with strikes on the ground. He hits hard don't get me wrong, however it's more his ability to find the right spot that gets the knockdown to enable him to finish.

It's really beautiful to watch how often Conor finds that button as is Floyd's defensive boxing when he doesn't just turn around and shell up on the inside like in this fight. I did love aggressive Floyd's appearance for the finish at the end :D

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