True enough about fighting largely being anaerobic. I won’t argue that. Also my point wasn’t that hunter-gatherer’s and tribals would destroy/crush all civilized athletes at all sports. My only point was that when people are called “genetic freaks” or “1 in a million” it’s usual some gross exaggeration because most civilized folk have only tapped some small portion of the biology they were born with.
Also Skelak, I know all about other types of boxing conditioning like heavy-bag work, sledge hammer work, sparring, shadowboxing, jump-rope, etc. I know they each provide unique challenges that you need to over-come, that they are hard in their own ways.
Yes I would say that running is one of the most brutal ways to condition yourself, esp doing sprint intervals, but I realize that working your anaerobic capacity on a heavy-bag will feel just as bad if not worse. For example, I do sprint intervals and run 6 miles a day (almost every-day) I can crush the sub 5 minute mile, consistently hit close to a 4 minute mile at 180pounds, but skipping rope for 3 minute rounds, for 12 rounds is still brutal, breaks me down pretty thoroughly.
So yeah a full conditioning program is harder, other things are harder than running in their own way, but running is one of the best conditioning tools there is. When you run and do 100 meter intervals, I do about 6 miles of that a day, I can’t even imagine doing 14. It feels like hammers are beating on your abs after a certain point, trying to smash those 100ms.
It’s also important for a fighter because when you run at speed again and again like that you become 100% clear what kind of muscular imbalances and weaknesses you have, they scream out at you. If your calves or quads are weak in relation to your abs you will feel that pretty clearly, if your abs are weaker and have less endurance than your legs, you will feel that as well.
J. Jeffries would have had a keen awareness of his body running 14 miles a day with 100meter intervals.
