MJ MIND & BODY: How to Be Ali - The MJ boxing workout
How to Be Ali
The boxing workout that transformed Will Smith into the Greatest of All
Time
In a steamy boxing ring on L.A.'s
west side, Will Smith's trainer is
trying to kill him. It's the first week
of September 2000, and Darrell
Foster, 182 pounds of pure
muscle, is raging toward the
former Fresh Prince with a series
of vicious left hooks. Though
Foster has been hired to
transform Smith into the greatest
boxer of all time, a connecting
punch could prove disastrous.
But Smith keeps his attacker at
bay with quick, powerful jabs. He
dances out of danger, recalling
the swift moves of a young
Cassius Clay, who in 1964
Old-School shocked the world by showing
that a 218-pound man could
Boxing Gyms
move as gracefully as Nureyev
Your health club
yet still dominate the ring and win
likely offers a boxing
the World Heavyweight title.
class, but it's more
Smith mixes in vintage Ali head and shoulder feints, dodges Foster's powerful hook,
inspiring to study the
and follows with a stiff right that knocks his trainer off balance. After two rounds of
sweet science in a hot,
counterpunching and sidestepping Foster's relentless attack, an exhausted but
musty, threadbare
elated Smith throws his headgear across the canvas. "Now that's what the fuck I'm
gym with a veteran
talking about!" he shouts out.
trainer who knows the
ropes. Here are four of
For this was the culmination of four months of learning to train, think, and live like a
America's classic
heavyweight. To prepare for his starring role in Michael Mann's film Ali, which
gyms.
opens December 7, the 33-year-old Philadelphia native had become a hungry
fighter. Six times a week, he was up at 6:00 A.M. for as much as five miles of
" You must cut
roadwork, then in the gym at 11:30 for three hours of ring work and an afternoon of
through a Mexican
lifting weights.
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MJ MIND & BODY: How to Be Ali - The MJ boxing workout
tortilla shop to get to
Denver's TOUCH EM
"We were not getting ready for a movie," says Foster, who made his name as
UP BOXING CLUB,
Sugar Ray Leonard's boxing strategist and health-and-conditioning coach and now
where a handful of
runs the Pasadena-based fight-consultation-and-fitness company Omega Bodies.
pros train, including
"We were preparing Will for a world-title bout. My objective was to teach him how to
ex-WBC lightweight
fight, period. I wanted to instill in him a boxer's instinct."
champion Stevie
Johnston. (720-530-
Foster started by teaching Smith the basics, beginning with the jab. "Ali had about
4622)
six different jabs in his arsenal, and I taught Will all of them," says Foster. "I even
" GLEASON'S GYM
showed him how to flick it -- 'snake-lick' is what Ali called it -- which is meant to
has been a Brooklyn
have less impact, but more sting. It also has a blinding effect."
institution since 1937;
it's where everyone
Shadowboxing let Smith practice the punch combinations he'd later unleash upon
from LaMotta to Ali
real opponents. He strengthened his punches on the 130-pound heavy bag, which
has trained for battles
also helped him develop balance and coordination. And he worked on the smaller
at the Garden. (718-
speed bag, which, explains Foster, is used for learning to deliver punches from
797-2872)
various angles, "regardless of how your opponent is slipping, sliding, bobbing, or
" The BROADWAY
weaving." Later in his training, Smith sparred with the boxers who would play his
BOXING GYM in
opponents in the film, including former WBO heavyweight champion Michael Bentt
L.A.'s Watts
and former IBF middleweight and super-middleweight champion James Toney. And
neighborhood is
the punches they fire at each other in the film are as real as they look.
owned by Bill
Slayton, former
International Boxing
While roadwork and sparring have been a
Hall of Fame manager
part of boxers' training since bare-
of the year. (323-755-
knucklers squared off in eighteenth-
9016)
century London, the third element of
" On the battered
Foster's program, strength training, has
entrance to the
not. Some trainers won't let their fighters
KRONK GYM, in
do a single push-up, believing that
southwest Detroit, is a
overdeveloped muscle slows fighters and
sign that reads, "This
interferes with the mechanics of punching.
door has lead [sic] to
Foster disagrees. "The fighter of today is a
pain and fame."
different animal," he says. "Weight training
Kronk's fighters have
has to be a large part of his regimen. It's
taken home 27 world
essential not only for power and
championships. (313-
endurance but also for speed." Smith's
894-9727)
tight schedule made it especially
--Carl Hoffman
important. In just four months, the six-foot-
two, 185-pound actor gained 30 pounds of
muscle -- and enough power to give one
sparring partner a concussion. The same
workout that transformed a rapper into a
raging heavyweight can work for the less
famous among us, too. Even if you don't have a legendary trainer, you'll get serious
results with this more accessible version of Smith's regimen (see "The Workouts,"
below). And, like Smith, you may discover that a boxing regimen has an
unexpected fringe benefit. "Now," says Smith, "I know that anyone I walk by, I can
pretty much beat their ass."
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MJ MIND & BODY: How to Be Ali - The MJ boxing workout
THE WORKOUTS
ROADWORK
The boxing workout is the perfect combination of cardiovascular and strength
training. Not only does it build stamina and muscle, it's a guaranteed way to burn off
stress -- and it teaches skills that could prove invaluable in the subway. Or at an
Irish wedding. Here, veteran boxing trainer Darrell Foster, who has transformed
actors including Will Smith, Ving Rhames, and Woody Harrelson into serious
boxers, presents his regimen for Men's Journal.
"Boxers are built on the road," says Foster, so begin every workout day with a
morning run, which builds cardiovascular endurance and burns fat. On a flat route,
run two to four miles three times a week at a comfortable speed. If you have a heart-
rate monitor, use it to stay in your aerobic zone; otherwise, maintain a pace at
which you can hold a conversation.
RING WORK
The core of the boxing workout takes place in and around the ring. Do the following
exercises after your run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. First, learn the basic
punches, working with a trainer to refine your technique. Boxers refer to punches by
numerical systems; Foster uses the following when working with actors. Get in a
boxer's stance with your feet shoulder-width apart, your left foot forward, and your
knees slightly flexed. (These instructions are for a right-handed boxer; adjust
accordingly if you're a lefty.)
1. Left jab: Take a small step forward with your left foot and explode your left fist out
from your chin. Rotate your fist so your palm is facing the floor.
2. Straight right: Throw this right-hand punch like a jab, but rotate your right hip to
add power.
3. Left hook to head: Turn your hips to the left, plant your rear foot, pivot on your
front foot, roll your shoulder, and release the punch, keeping your elbow bent at 90
degrees until contact.
4. Right hook to body: Throw this punch like a hook to the head, but pivot on the
ball of your rear foot and land the punch lower.
5. Left hook to body: Throw this punch like the left hook to the head, but land it
lower on the body.
6. Right uppercut: Bend your knees and tuck your right elbow into your hip. From
this position, thrust with your legs and drive your punch upward.
7. Left uppercut: Like a right uppercut, but tuck your right elbow and punch with
your left hand.
8. Right hook to head: Like the left hook to head, but from the other side.
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MJ MIND & BODY: How to Be Ali - The MJ boxing workout
" SHADOWBOXING Get in the boxing
stance and throw two-, three-, and four-
punch combinations toward an imaginary
opponent; find combinations that feel
comfortable. Shadowbox for three three-
minute rounds, with one-minute rests.
Double your speed for the last 30 seconds
of the final round.
" SPEED BAG Start by slowly and
rhythmically striking the bag twice with
each hand. Hit the bag with the outside of
your hand between your wrist and the
base of your little finger. Let the bag hit the
far side of its platform, then the front side,
and when it's halfway back to the far side,
strike it again. You don't need to hit too hard or fast. Once you've established a
rhythm, alternate hands. Go three rounds.
" HEAVY BAG Stand at arm's length from the bag in the boxer's stance. Keep your
feet moving as if you were avoiding blows, maintain your balance, and attack with a
combination of punches. "Treat the bag like you would an opponent," says Foster.
"Respond to it. When the bag moves back and forth, work on your jab and straight
right. When the bag sways from side to side, work on your hooks." Go for three
rounds.
" JUMP ROPE Skipping rope improves your foot speed, hand speed, and
endurance. Jump for three rounds.
STRENGTH TRAINING
Lifting weights builds muscle mass -- and it's becoming a more widely accepted
part of a boxing regimen. For each exercise, complete one set with a comfortable
weight, then increase the amount for the next two sets so that you reach muscle
fatigue at the end of the last rep.
MONDAY - Chest and triceps: For each exercise, do three sets of ten reps each.
1. Bench press. 2. Incline bench press. 3. Shoulder press with dumbbells. 4. Lat
raise with dumbbells. 5. Triceps press with barbell. 6. Triceps extension.
WEDNESDAY - Back and biceps: For each exercise, do three sets of ten reps
each.
1. Lat pull-down. 2. Seated row. 3. Shoulder shrug with dumbbells. 4. Biceps curl
with barbell. 5. Lumbar extension.
FRIDAY - Legs: For each exercise, do three sets of twelve reps each.
1. Leg press. 2. Inverted leg press (done on a machine). 3. Thigh extension. 4.
Hamstring curl. 5. Calf raise. 6. Squat.
SATURDAY - Punch training:
1. Do each of the eight punches ten times, holding a ten-pound dumbbell in each
hand. 2. Do ten reps of two- and three-punch combinations, again holding a ten-
pound dumbbell in each hand.
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MJ MIND & BODY: How to Be Ali - The MJ boxing workout
By: Oliver Jones
Photographs by: Piotr Sikora
Grooming by Jerry Stolwijk for Stockland Martel. Photographed at Gleason's Gym,
Brooklyn, New York
(November 2001)
Copyright ©2001 by Men's Journal LLC
WENNER MEDIA: RollingStone.com | Us Online
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