Mike Tyson's training has always been old school. In fact, it’s been legendary from the get-go. From the daily four-mile runs and seemingly endless rounds on the heavy bag, to the now mythical claims that he performed thousands of squats, push-ups and sit-ups every day, his training has never exactly felt as though it was designed with fatigue management, exercise selection spreadsheets or the latest hypertrophy research in mind.
And now, aged 60, Tyson still appears to be taking much the same approach. Footage of his training over recent years shows him hitting pads with enough speed and aggression to make you fear for the person holding them, alongside plenty of explosive weight training and the type of mad-dog effort that lets you know that nobody has yet had the courage to tell Iron Mike he should be ‘leaving a few reps in reserve’.
It definitely looks impressive. But looking impressive and being effective aren’t necessarily the same thing – especially when you’re judging a training style that was forged long before modern sports science began attempting to optimise every repetition.
So, how much of Tyson’s old-school approach still holds up?
Dr Mike Israetel – exercise scientist, competitive bodybuilder and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization – recently took a closer look at Tyson’s training. And while there are a few parts of the wider mythology that he isn’t entirely convinced by, his verdict on the work itself is much more complimentary than you might expect… or maybe he’s just worried Tyson will watch the video.
Explosive Intent Is Everything
Watching Tyson perform dumbbell presses, Israetel immediately picks up on two details: a controlled lowering phase followed by an extremely aggressive press.
What to read next
‘The slowing on the way down is a great idea,’ says Israetel. ‘To Mike Tyson’s credit, rapid, rapid contractions on the way up are super-specific for the sport of boxing – and really specific for almost all sports.’
Bodybuilding training is largely about targeting and fatiguing individual muscles. Strength training is about moving the heaviest possible load through the most efficient pathway. Athletic training, meanwhile, is about developing strength and expressing it quickly.
Tyson’s efforts sit firmly in that last camp.
Israetel recommends that athletes control the eccentric – the lowering portion of the lift – to reduce unnecessary injury risk, before attacking the concentric with ‘maximal intent to move’.
In less scientific terms: lower under control, then try to launch the dumbbells through the ceiling.
‘When Mike Tyson hits somebody, it’s the same process as lifting a dumbbell,’ Israetel explains. By practising driving the weights away from his chest as violently as possible, Tyson is training his ability to generate force rapidly – exactly what’s required when that force is eventually being directed towards somebody else’s skull or liver.
Tyson has been known to bench press so aggressively that his upper back leaves the bench.
For hypertrophy purposes, that may not be ideal. For a boxer attempting to improve explosive punching power? It’s precisely the intent Israetel wants to see.
Stop Going Through the Motions
According to Israetel, one of the biggest problems with athletes in the weight room is that they save their real effort for the pitch, court or ring.
They perform the lifts, but without the ‘explosiveness, fire or drive’ required to make power training effective.
Medicine-ball throws are a perfect example. Tossing a light ball into the ground at a leisurely pace probably won’t build much strength, muscle or power. You need to attack each repetition as though you are ‘trying to break the floor open’.
The same applies to sprinting. Running at 70% effort may build fitness, but it won’t do much to improve your top speed. To become faster, most of your sprints need to be performed at around 90% or more of your maximum.
Tyson clearly understands this intuitively.
‘Mike Tyson sounds like he’s really trying and moving as quickly as he can,’ says Israetel. ‘Which is exactly what we want to see. This is amazing training.’
The One Opponent Tyson Can’t KO
There is, however, one factor no amount of old-school graft can overcome: time.
Age slows reaction speed, reduces strength and power, and makes it harder to express smooth technique under pressure. That doesn’t erase Tyson’s skill or the value of his training. It simply means that explosive clips on pads don’t tell us exactly how a 60-year-old fighter will perform across multiple rounds against a younger opponent… only his most recent fights can tell us that.
But the biggest takeaway?
You don’t need to copy Tyson’s four-mile runs or take his 2,500-sit-up claims entirely at face value. But his intent and intensity are definitely worth stealing.
Control the weight. Move it violently. And never confuse simply completing an exercise with actually training.
