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Our team consists of experts in strength and conditioning, applied physiology, nutrition and
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All of the team work in various fields of sport and physical activity, as well as supporting the
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over 80 amateur and professional boxers in the region.
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Contents
Boxing Science ................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3
Movement Training for Boxing........................................................................................... 4
Mobility Exercises .............................................................................................................. 5
Strength Training for Boxing .............................................................................................. 6
Strength Exercise Types ..................................................................................................... 7
Strength Training for Boxing Lower Body ........................................................................ 8
Strength Training for Boxing Upper Body ...................................................................... 10
Core Training for Boxing................................................................................................... 12
Movements of the Core ................................................................................................... 13
Conditioning for Boxing.................................................................................................... 15
Train like a champion ....................................................................................................... 18
The Experts ...................................................................................................................... 19
The Boxers ....................................................................................................................... 20
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3
Introduction
Like other sports, boxing requires skill, technique and tactical awareness. Most boxing champions
started training at a young age to master their trade. But, it's one of the toughest sports in the
world and an elite fighter needs fitness, speed and strength.
Take a second and imagine you're the ultimate boxer. A boxer who has everything. All the
physical attributes that makes a champion. Movement, strength, stability, balance and fitness.
You have the knockout strength when you want it. The movement to dance around your
opponent how you like. And the fitness to keep popping punches at will for 12 rounds without
tiring.
You don't have to imagine this anymore. These qualities are not fixed. You are not given them at
birth. You can train them.
And in this ebook we'll show you how to develop these qualities to become the boxer you dream
about.
But you're probably not aware of the importance of general movement and mobility training. You
should include movement and mobility work into your training.
Train you to use the correct muscles for a specific movement (e.g. glutes)
Our boxers tend to have poor hip and shoulder mobility, as well as issues with rotation. This
reduces the force they can put into punching by limiting rotation and hip extension.
To improve movement ability we focus on loosening the hips and shoulders by using isolated and
dynamic exercises such as these.
Hip mobility exercises are important as hip flexor tightness can cause many different
injuries and dysfunctions, including lower back pain and glute strength.
Poor shoulder mobility often creates over-active anterior deltoid and upper traps,
causing the middle and lower traps become weak which affects the natural movement of
the shoulder and arm. This can also cause shoulder impingement, rotator cuff
weakness/injuries and lower-back injuries.
To develop rotational mobility, the boxers perform exercises that separate lower and
upper body movements. This develops trunk rotation for both left and right sides, likely
to improve the role of the core during jab punches.
Glute strength is important contributor to forceful hip extension and rotation, this is
needed during running, jumping and more importantly, PUNCHING.
We know from scientific studies that a hard punch occurs when you generate a lot of force in a
short space of time.
At impact, a hard punch also has a lot of snap. To get snap youll need to create something called
effective mass.
Like all types of training, how hard you punch isnt fixed. You can train it by developing technique
and getting stronger.
From our own research, we think that a few things contribute to punching force. These include:
To develop these characteristics we use sprint, resistance and Olympic weightlifting training.
These methods improve hip extension force that's important for punching hard.
You can also punch harder by improving the way muscles, joints and limbs co-ordinate. This is
another benefit of mobility and movement training.
Squat
Performing squat variations are important to load the quads, hamstrings and
glutes important in developing impulse of the lower body.
Hinge
Strengthening the ability to hinge at the hips develops hamstrings and glute
strength, contributing to hip extension and concentric force production.
Push
Pull
Pulling exercises improve strength of the posterior chain, such as the lats and
posterior shoulder muscles. This is important as a pre-stretch during single and
combination punches, as well as promoting shoulder health.
Uni-lateral
'Uni-lateral' means single arm or leg exercises. These are important to prevent
imbalances to reduce injury and improve a boxers ability to punch with both
arms.
Core
We believe that the core should be developed through the big exercises,
however we should also include isolated exercises to really target the core.
Compound moves activate the most muscles; therefore more weight can be lifted the
stronger you can be.
8
Strength Training for Boxing Lower Body
Back Squat
Deadlift
Exercises below aim to develop deep Exercises below develop the core and
squat pattern posterior chain during a squat
Deadlift Foundations
Keep the abs tight forcing the Elbows at a 45 degree angle until Bar travels up at speed
lower back against the bench. the bar reaches the lower to mid-
lower chest. Ensure full extension of the
Feet driven into the floor. arms.
Pull Up Foundations
Exercises below aim to develop Exercises below develop Lat
bodyweight strength Size and Strength
Our testing results suggest that the stronger the core, the harder the punch! This makes core
training important for boxers.
The Kinetic Chain is a term used to describe parts of the body that contribute to punching.
The core is a key part of the chain as it connects the upper and lower body. In other words
it transfers energy from the legs to the arms.
Click here to learn more about the role of the core during punching
13
Movements of the Core
There are four types of movement, flexion, extension, lateral flexion and rotation. But, if you take
these to their limit the core will crumble and might cause injury. You should perform core training
to prevent this.
The red zone is between 90-100% of your maximum heart rate. You will experience the red zone
during sparring and competition. So you'll need to develop your ability to perform at high
intensity.
If you don't have a heart rate monitor, you can use the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to
assess the intensity of your training.
16
No Man's Land
Often we see athletes who either; 1) don't train easy enough or 2) don't train hard
enough. So they'll train between 3 and 8 on the RPE scale. When they do this we say
they're in "no man's land".
Training in this way is inefficient and there's no clear purpose to it. Train easy for a long
period of time. Or train hard for a short period of time. It's that simple and your body's
adaptive responses won't get confused. Avoid "no man's land" by following this simple
guide.
17
Why? Research has shown that training sessions like this activate enzymes that turn on
switches to create mitochondria (our metabolic energy plant).
Why? Research has shown this type of training places strain on the heart and the
cardiovascular system such that you can deliver more blood carrying oxygen to the
muscle.
Taper 10 to 12 weeks
20 seconds maximum effort, 10 seconds recovery, repeated 6 to 8 times. Rest 3 to 4 min.
Repeat twice. Aim: Exercise as hard and as fast as possible.
Why? Research shows us that maintaining intensity but reducing volume in the final 2
weeks of training can have beneficial effects on performance.
However, even the best in the world are yet to recognise the importance of high quality
strength and conditioning.
Welcome aboard we look forward to having you along for the ride.