How Rocky Marciano became my trainer

When I first started training for official sport combat matches, one of my earliest was pal (Police Athletic League) boxing.  I was almost 14 years old, and I was used to training "traditional" martial arts, but I had no idea how to train for an actual sport match.  The boxing gyms in Hawaii were all run by the county parks and rec, and were free of charge.   When I first started, I never really had a trainer, so I didn't really know how much I should be training, and I didn't have any real regimen.  There were some guys walking around the gym having a us put gloves on and letting us beat each other up in the ring. What I do remember, that was very funny, is that when somebody would hold the bag from me while I was punching it, or even holding mitts for me they would usually have a lit cigarette in their mouth and would be blowing the smoke in my face while they were yelling instructions at me. There would usually be spectators in the gym that would be smoking as well.

When I first started sparring I realized quickly that conditioning was going to be a very important part of my training, because I have been training martial arts and point fighting, and even punching the bag, but I remember when I started sparring with these local guys who are trying to take my head off, I got very tired a lot quicker.  Punching the bag is a very good workout, and gives you plenty of cardio and plyometric, but when somebody starts punching you back in the face, hard, you get tired exponentially faster. I started asking for advice, but then I started looking in the library, and I found a book called "Rocky Marciano's book of boxing and bodybuilding for boys".  I borrowed this book, and it became my Bible. I read this book cover to cover many times. If fact I had to renew it, and tell the librarian would not let me anymore.  Much of the contents in this book are outdated, but I loved it's simplistic, and old school approach to training, and fighting. This book helped me as much as any trainer in the beginning of my amateur boxing career, it was definitely my foundation which I built upon.

40 years later I wanted to look through this book, because I was feeling nostalgic, and I had always thought back to this book throughout the past 40 years. I had no clue how to find it, or even what it was titled, but I did remember that it was written by Rocky Marciano.  Thank God for Google.  When I finally found this book on Amazon.com, it was listed for over $900, because it was considered a collectors item, I had such a strong nostalgic attachment to this book, I honestly thought of spending that much, but then common sense punch me in the face, I wish it had done that more often throughout my life, and I decided to look further. A few months later I found it again for $250, I bought it, and now I have it in my office and I look at it almost every day and reminisce, and reflect on my life then, And now. It was probably one of the best $250 I had ever spent.

And for you youngsters who don't remember Rocky Marciano, he was the world heavyweight champion in the 1950s, he went something like 40 wins with zero losses. He was known for being a very well conditioned Power puncher with a lot of knockouts under his belt. He was also very small for heavyweight, so he needed to bulk up a little, that's why you see so many foods in his diet, that you wouldn't think were really "diet" foods.... Rocky Marciano died in a plane crash soon after he retired as the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world.

Thank you for being a part of The Pit Online Dojo.  I hope we can help you reach all of your martial arts, self-defense, and fitness goals. Please feel free to contact me for any questions, comments or compliments... ⛩☯️🙏

My GREAT SPECIAL! 🥊💪
https://john-hackleman.mykajabi.com/store/M7HXDBac

Facebook▶️https://www.facebook.com/ThePitMaster
Our Podcast▶️https://soundcloud.com/user-643907787
My Instragram▶️https://www.instagram.com/pit_master
Our Youtube▶️https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePitOnlineDojo
My Twitter▶️https://twitter.com/Pit_Master
My Website⛩ thepit.tv
My Email📨 [email protected]