boxing/MMA, general considerations:

I thought it may be useful to address a number of the common errors that take place with sports specific training programs. I’ve listed some really simple improvements that you can make, rather than listening to those with “a little knowledge”.

I always start any athletic program design with a full analysis of both the components of the sport, and the abilities of the athlete. Then together with that athlete, well start to draw up a list of the training modalities that they most want to develop, the areas they most need to improve/excel to achieve their sporting goals. An example maybe a boxer who needs to develop punch power, or a footballer who needs to be quicker over 10 yards. You need a proper analysis before even starting to think about a training program, in effect, you are GOAL SETTING (see download on my site).

Once you have the goals and targets confirmed, then you can start to look at “what they need to do”.

“Conditioning”

What exactly does this mean? I think for most coaches, it means “how hard can I continually push my athlete in all areas until they drop?”. Now, “character training”, meaning where you push an athlete to test their character, that, at the right time, is fine, and an essential part of their training. But, just smashing an athlete for the sake of it, without any structured plan, or any specific goal for a workout, is dangerous and worsening performance rather than improving it.

Conditioning to me means, improving their efficiency at a particular heart rate range, mimicking the movements and intensity zones they will need to excel in to perform at their sport. There are a number of factors to include here:

1, Movement specific conditioning – At a basic gym level, you can be good at running, good at rowing, good at boxing. But, science tells us that as you reach the higher percentages of your genetic potential, excelling in one can affect others, and lactate thresholds ARE in fact movement specific. Meaning, if you row at a high intensity level, the carry over to a boxer if very minimal. Sure the cardiovascular system is being developed, but the movement specifics are not those that the boxer is going to replicate in the fight, making it, in my opinion, an inefficient use of training time and energy.

2, Psychological state mapping – This is hard to do. It is hard to make a local park feel like Wembley, it is hard to make a studio feel like a cage. But, if you want to train the intensity zone for a particular sport, then you need to best map the mental state they will adopt during that sport. The best practice here I believe, is to work on going “up” in training, and coming “down” in the actual performance. To explain, athletes generally are less intimidated, less focussed to train, and more nervous, more anxious, before the actual event. This affects adrenaline production, and in turn, heart rate, rate of energy usage etc. Identifying the athletes “peak performance state” and then training their mind to mirror that in training, and to carry that into the performance, is a key element in producing a great performance athlete, not a great trainer. Training with the same ATTENTINO TO DETAIL as you need in each contest is another area to look at, so you don’t develop bad habits. Many athletes are so uptight when it comes to show time that they end up beating themselves.

3, Periodisation – An athlete is not going to hold their elite level of conditioning all year around, and for sports like boxing/MMA, they need to periodise their intensity levels, and loading, to ensure they are at their best when it matters. The general approach I see from most coaches is to push hard when they feel like it, I mean when the coach feels like it, rather than to proactively plan a 10-12 week phase, or even yearlong cycle, so they focus on the various elements of that sport, at the right times, in the right loads. Coaches tend to shout loudest and push hardest when they have had a bad day, not necessarily when their athlete needs it. Proactively building the training plan ahead of time, and then making amendments if needed, ensures that athletes peak at the right time, if the prescription is correct.

What is the goal of each exercise, rep range, tempo and rest period?

Again, much of what I witness is a circuit style approach, a number of exercises combined without rest, repeated with poor form, poor movement patterns and at a lower percentage of 1 rpm to ever generate strength, yet too heavy to allow for an increase in explosive speed. Lack of specificity is literally killing the performance of most athletes. The coaches need to do some study, and stop trying to wing it!!! Making a workout “hard” is not enough. Making a workout progressive, so they get closer to the sport specific goals, that is progress. I think a number of coaches I have seen work were planning more to enhance their own egos, not the performance of their athletes.

Machine Exercises really have no place.

I am sure there must be some exceptions, and of course there will be some times when a machine might need to be used for a specific purpose. But, for any sports performance, barbell, dumbbell, Fitball, bodyweight, strength bands, chains and plyometric exercises are going to make up at least 99% of the program. Using a machine really teaches the body to be “better at using the machine” and I doubt any sport is going to involve using that machine. The exercises you select should either best train the muscle groups that require development in the way they need to develop, or should best map the movement pattern of that sport with an obvious increase in loading through resistance. In my opinion, machines will always “isolate” rather than “integrate” meaning they are going to weaken a sports action. Sports movements are generally quicker and multi-joint, think about a scrum, throwing a punch, jumping to head a ball. They are really whole body exercises. Machines are great for bodybuilders who want pure hypertrophy, they are great at isolating muscles, but not for building absolute strength or force production improvements. Bodybuilders are generally not the strongest of athletes and when they transition to sports often have problems with agility and flexibility, as well as being very prone to injuries because they have “shut down” basic movement patterns. I am sure there are exceptions, but in the main, bodybuilding training is great for bodybuilding results, not for any other sport. In fact, I think it is that style of training, “12, 10, 8” that is most at fault with how British athletes train today. The influences in football and other mainstream sports from pathetic fitness industry courses is holding back our athletes when compared to the States, where high school children are wrestling, deadlifting, squatting and taking gymnastic classes. All far better than how our junior programs in schools take place, which is more about avoiding legal problems and “no win no fee” cases, than it is building champions.

Adding Muscle mass when it only slows you down.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to add muscle mass to make you stronger or faster. Sure, you need some muscle to drive the joints, and to initiate the force at the start of each movement, but hypertrophy can do as much damage as it can good. In sports where endurance is an issue, boxing, MMA, football, rugby, for some adding muscle, particularly in the wrong places, can hinder performance.

In general terms, hypertrophy is produced by working in the 8+ rep range, sets of 10 and 12. If you are trying to keep someone’s weight down, for a weigh in, or for speed purposes, then you shouldn’t really be touching this rep range. I call this the “Strength Endurance” rep range, and it works best for direct hypertrophy, or “puff up” as some of my friends in the states call it. I do know that for a number of professional American Footballers, “puff up” is actually an essential part of their training, as it should be with front row rugby players. Their weight gives them a competitive advantage in that it is harder for their opponents to move it. It only becomes counterproductive when they can’t carry it around the field.

Restoration, Central Nervous System and Muscle Soreness.

This is another very misunderstood part of exercise programming, the ability to restore energy and super compensate, meaning get better from the workout. Coaches don’t generally schedule anywhere near enough restoration type components, things that restore energy and recover the nervous system from the trauma of the last workout. Meditation, visualisation, chi energy, yoga, even low intensity recovery style workouts. Understanding “yin and yang” I suppose is a simple way to think of it. Muscle soreness is one thing, and generally goes away within 72 hours or less. Nervous system damage from huge compound lifting, or high intensity work, is another thing entirely and can lead to burn out if not addressed using waves in a training program.

There are a tonne more considerations into sports programming that I could do into, but in summary, if you are training for a sport, consider all the above and think about how it could improve your training. Don’t go into a session without a key focus and structure to it, don’t train the same way all year around, and don’t neglect rest and recovery. If you have any questions about your sport, Id love to help you out with them, please drop me an email.

Simon