Introduction to Strength and Conditioning
Edited by
Danny Wilson, BSc MSc ASCC Alan Ruddock CSci MSc
2 Boxing Science Boxing Science is the world's first website dedicated to sport science in boxing and is an established social enterprise based in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Our team consists of experts in strength and conditioning, applied physiology, nutrition and psychology all working at Sheffield Hallam University. All of the team work in various fields of sport and physical activity, as well as supporting the university's boxing sport science program Combat Conditioning, which has provided service to over 80 amateur and professional boxers in the region. The mission of Boxing Science is to share their experience and knowledge with the boxing community through interesting and informative articles online. On the website we will be selling products such as low-cost programs, books, posters, and videos, with profits reinvested into funding educational workshops, programs and athlete sponsorship.
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. Are you ready to start your transformation into an elite athlete?
4 Movement Training for Boxing You practice shadow boxing, do pads and technical sparring. You do this to develop boxing specific movement and footwork skills. 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. Movement training can: ·
Improve punching range
·
Improve muscle strength and speed
·
Train you to use the correct muscles for a specific movement (e.g. glutes)
·
Reduce the likelihood of injury
What's the main focus of Movement Training in Boxing? 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.
Click here to read more about movement training
5 Mobility Exercises Hip Mobility Hip mobility exercises are important as hip flexor tightness can cause many different injuries and dysfunctions, including lower back pain and glute strength.
Spiderman
Hip Flexor Stretch
Shoulder Mobility 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.
Floor Slides
Overhead Wall Touch
Rotational Mobility 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.
Eagles
Lunge and Twist
Glute Strength Glute strength is important contributor to forceful hip extension and rotation, this is needed during running, jumping and more importantly, PUNCHING.
Goblet Squat
Glute Bridge
6 Strength Training for Boxing You don't need us to tell you that your punch needs to be hard. 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 you’ll need to create something called ‘effective mass’. Like all types of training, how hard you punch isn’t fixed. You can train it by developing technique and getting stronger. What's the focus of strength training? From our own research, we think that a few things contribute to punching force. These include: Lower and upper body strength, Ability to rapidly produce force and; Function of the core muscles. 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.
Click here to read our strength and conditioning articles
7 Strength Exercise Types There are hundreds, if not thousands of exercises used for developing athletes, people may get carried away involving too many exercises with little structure. Here are the different exercise types that should be in every strength and conditioning program 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 Pushing exercises develop anterior muscles such as pectorals and shoulders, important for producing hand speed and 'stiffening' upon impact. 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. Introduction to the big moves ‘Compound’ exercises are often considered as the most important ingredients in an athletic development program. 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
Start Position
The Descent
The Ascent
Hands evenly spaced shoulder width apart on bar.
Take a deep breath in before pushing hips behind heels and knees flexing in-line with toes.
Forcefully drive through heels.
Bar rests on the top of the back muscles. Feet are positioned just outside shoulder width apart with toes pointing slightly outwards.
Go down until upper legs are parallel with the floor. Balance onto heels and point knees out over the toes.
Why Do We Squat? Because it develops the core, quadriceps and glutes, the squat can improve lower limb muscle size, strength, speed and acceleration. These are all important in punching.
Extend knees and hips, with knees pushed out over the toes and squeeze glutes at the top. Keep chest up and shoulders back to maintain a straight back.
Squat Checklist Feet shoulder width Knees over toes, Sit onto heels Hips below knees at the bottom Drive through heels, squeeze glutes
Deadlift
Start Position
The Ascent
The Descent
Set up with feet hip width apart and the bar to be in line with first lace of your trainers.
Drive through your heels.
Take a deep breath and brace core in before unlocking the hips.
Hips slightly above the knees with the chest pushed out and neck in a neutral position.
Hips and knees extend simultaneously, squeezing the glutes at the top Keep bar close to your legs.
Why Do We Deadlift? Performing a deadlift with good technique requires the co-ordinated activation of the posterior chain.
Slide the bar down your thighs, bending your knees and sinking your hips down.
Deadlift Checklist Squeeze shoulders throughout Drive through the heels Keep the bar close to your legs Punch hips forward at the top
9 Build the foundations Before we hit these big moves in our programs, we need to build the foundations using these exercises.
Squat Foundations Exercises below aim to develop deep squat pattern Goblet Squat
Exercises below develop the core and posterior chain during a squat Goblet Squat to Press
Box Squat
Overhead Squat
Deadlift Foundations Exercises below aim to strengthen muscles in the posterior chain
Exercises below isolate and ingrain the hip-hinge movement
Sumo Deadlift
Glute Bridge
Romanian Deadlift
Hip Hinge Sync
10 Strength Training for Boxing – Upper Body Bench Press
Start Position
The Descent
The Ascent
Hands just outside shoulder width apart
Retract shoulders and lower the bar in a controlled motion.
Forcefully push your body into the bench
Keep the abs tight forcing the lower back against the bench.
Elbows at a 45 degree angle until the bar reaches the lower to midlower chest.
Bar travels up at speed
Feet driven into the floor.
Ensure full extension of the arms.
Benefits of the Bench Press
Bench Press Checklist
Bench pressing is important to improve strength, increased muscle size, improved athletic function, and improved general fitness of the upper body.
Squeeze shoulders and brace core Control tempo, elbows 45⁰ Smash the bar up
Close Grip Pull Ups
Start Position
The Pull
The Descent
Hang from the bar with a pronated grip on the appropriate handle.
Keeping your back straight and chest out, pull yourself up by flexing the elbows squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Your head should come over the bar/apparatus. Lower at a controlled tempo until arms are straight.
Arms straight core braces and feet elevated just behind the hips.
Benefits of Pull Ups This exercise develops the lats, these are important for punching, particularly during combinations. Pull ups also strengthens the arms and core.
Pull Up Checklist
Squeeze shoulder blades Brace core, don’t swing Full range of motion
11 Build the foundations Before we hit these big moves in our programs, we need to build the foundations using these exercises.
Bench Press Foundations Exercises below aim to develop core and scapula stability
Exercises below develop strength of the chest and triceps strength
Plank Row
Press Ups
Single Arm DB Floor Press
DB Chest Press
Pull Up Foundations Exercises below aim to develop bodyweight strength
Exercises below develop Lat Size and Strength
Hanging Row
Eccentric Pull Ups
TRX Row
Bent Over Row
12 Core Training for Boxing Whether it is sit ups or leg raises, you've seen core training in most boxing sessions. But why do we do it? 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.
Type
Action
Boxing Specific
Exercises
Anti-Rotation
Actively resisting rotation of the lumbar spine
Stronger rotation during punches due to use of stretch shortening cycle.
Pallof Press, Landmine Rotations (both pictured)
Anti-Extension
Actively resisting extension of the lumbar spine
Anti-Lateral Flexion
Resisting lateral flexion of the lumbar spine
Hip Flexion with Neutral Spine
Bracing the core to create a controlled flexion at the hip without flexing the spine.
To protect the back when performing large amounts Plank (pictured), of punching activities during Hand walkouts. training. Control lateral flexion during Landmine rotations uppercuts and head (pictured), Suitcase movement such as ducks Deadlift, Side Plank. and slips. Stronger posture when working to the body.
Deadbugs (pictured) Straight leg sit ups
Click here to see a video of a core circuit
14 Try out these exercises Pallof Press
Anti-Rotation
Suitcase Deadlift
Anti-Lateral Flexion
Plank Row
Straight Arm Straight Leg Sit Up
Anti-Extension, Anti-Rotation
Hip Flexion with Neutral Spine
Rotational Plank
Anti-Extension, Anti-Rotation Glute Bridge
Hip Flexion with Neutral Spine
Landmine Rotations
Anti-Lateral Flexion, Anti-Rotation Plank with Arm Reach
Anti-Extension, Anti-Rotation
15 Conditioning for Boxing Boxing isn’t an endurance sport. The only slow-plodding boxers do is during the ringwalk. It’s a repeated high-intensity intermittent-impact sport.
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
Extraction & utilisation phase – 0 to 3 weeks – Sprint interval training 30 second, maximum efforts, on a cycle (if you’re way off fighting weight), treadmill, or hill. Rest 4 min. Repeat 4 to 6 times. Aim: exercise as hard and as fast as possible. Why? Research has shown that training sessions like this activate enzymes that turn on switches to create mitochondria (our metabolic energy plant). Delivery phase – 3 to 10 weeks – high intensity interval training 4 to 8 min efforts at 90% maximum heart rate or 9/10 effort. Rest half of exercise time. Repeat 4 to 6 times. Aim: spend as much time >90% maximum heart rate as possible. 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.
Click here to see a video of a sprint session on ‘The Curve’
18 Train like a champion These training methods are used by elite standard boxers, such as IBF World Welterweight champion Kell Brook. However, even the best in the world are yet to recognise the importance of high quality strength and conditioning. By getting to this page you've already started on journey to elite performance. Welcome aboard we look forward to having you along for the ride.
The Boxing Science Team
Click here to see our articles on Kell Brook
19 The Experts Danny Wilson | Co-founder and S&C Coach | @Wilson_SC91 Danny is a United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association accredited strength and conditioning coach and has a Master of Science degree in Sport Science at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He has coached over 70 professional, national/regional senior and junior amateur champions preparing for competitive bouts.
Alan Ruddock | Co-founder and Physiologist | @AlanRuddock Alan is a physiologist at Sheffield Hallam University with a wealth of experience in sport science. Alan has worked extensively within Boxing at the highest level, in particular Kell Brook’s IBF welterweight world title victory. Alan is a BASES accredited sport & exercise scientist, doctoral researcher and one of the UK’s first chartered scientists in sport science.
Dave Hembrough | Director and S&C Coach | @Dwhembro Dave is the lead strength and conditioning coach at Sheffield Hallam University and a weightlifting coach. Dave has worked with an array of top level athletes, including support to world level boxers such as IBF Welterweight World Champion Kell Brook.
Dr Pete Olusoga | Sport Psychologist | @PeteOlusoga Dr Pete Olusoga is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology and a BPS Chartered and BASES Accredited Sport Psychologist, based at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. Pete believes that boxing is a sport that demands discipline, control, focus, confidence, and mental toughness of the highest level.
Lee Rickards | Sports Nutritionist | @LRStrength Lee Rickards is a nutrition consultant and sport scientist currently working at Sheffield United Football Club and with professional combat sport athletes. Lee is an accredited body composition analyst by The International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK).
Rory Mack | Sport Pyschologist | @RoryMack3 Rory is a sport and exercise psychologist in training, and current PhD student at Sheffield Hallam University. Rory has experience working in both sport and exercise settings, and as a lifestyle advisor. His main areas of interest include athlete well-being and, maximising sport performance.
Mayur Ranchordas | Sport Nutritionist | @Diet4Sport Mayur works at Sheffield Hallam University as a senior lecturer in Exercise Physiology and Sport Nutrition. From 2006 to 2010 Mayur also worked for the English Institute of Sport providing performance nutrition support to Olympic and World Champions in various sports.
Click here to see more about the experts
20 The Boxers The experts from Sheffield Hallam University have coached over 80 boxers of all ages and abilities. Here are some of the boxers we have worked with.
Kell Brook | IBF Welterweight World Champion In the summer of 2012, Sheffield Hallam University was assigned to deliver sport science services to Kell Brook in the build up to his eventual world championship success. Dave Hembrough structured effective strength and conditioning programs whilst Alan Ruddock delivered physiology training interventions, which consisted of high intensity treadmill runs and detailed physiological monitoring.
Jordan Gill | 14-0 Professional, Featherweight "The experiences I’ve had working with the guys at Hallam university, and the program has been extremely beneficial to my boxing. Every fighter has to push their body to the limit, but here it’s in a controlled, specific, measurable, technique focused way. The team pioneer new training methods to improve the physical capabilities of boxers. I’m positive that this facility and it’s team are the best in the country, and I’m certain that this will soon be nationally recognised inside the boxing circle."
Callum Beardow | 2012 National ABA Junior Champion “One to one Strength and Conditioning support has opened me up to a whole new level of physical fitness. I now see S&C as a main part of my preparation for competition to ensure optimal performance at a lighter weight”
Brendan Warburton | Sheffield City ABC Head Coach “Sheffield City ABC’s involvement with Sheffield Hallam University’s sport science team has seen marked improvements in our boxers’ athletic performance. I am sure that the program will benefit the Junior and Senior amateurs in their future boxing careers. I have received extensive and detailed feedback on our boxers that has been very helpful for competition preparation.”
Click here to see more about the boxers we work with
