You listen to oldskool music and you love playing oldskool games and watching oldskool films, so what's wrong with oldskool training? Advancements in the field of sports science reveal that trading your morning jog for hill sprints and that bottle of water on the treadmill for a snorkel is what it takes to become a champion.
Having boxed myself, I was sceptical as to whether swapping chin ups and press-ups for this new science malarkey would pay off. But after experiencing firsthand the improvements these techniques make to performance and witnessing the transformation they make to the body – perhaps science is the way forward. The best would be to combine both.
To illustrate and explain the benefits some of these new methods boast, you the reader will become a boxer. At least until the end of this article - so lace up your gloves and let's get ready to rumble!
It's not long until your fight and you need to get into shape...
1. Cardiovascular
training:
Cardiovascular training is the single most
important factor when it comes to training for a fight. Traditionally, boxers
decked out in grey rags (think Rocky Balboa), would take to the road early
every morning with their hood up and their head down eating the turf with their
feet as they jogged for miles on end.
Enter ‘snorkel training’. Science says that
attaching a snorkel to your face while running steps will better prepare a fighters
anaerobic system. Whilst looking like a scuba-diver, the mask makes it harder for
the combatant to breathe as less oxygen enters the body. The idea behind the
mask is that if you can perform under this stress, when it’s fight time and you
swap the snorkel for a gum-shield, your lungs will out-do Celine Dion’s – and
more importantly be ready to go 12 rounds.
2. Endurance training:
Endurance is the ability to repeat a series of
muscle contractions without getting tired. Like when you have to punch non-stop
for an evening. Enter ‘wild snake
training’. Also
known as thick rope this exercise is great because it utilises
multiple muscles while stabilising the body during the routine. That’s right;
it engages the arms, shoulders, upper/lower back, butt and legs. If it’s
washboard abs you’re after, forget about sit-ups - look for a rope instead.
Anchor your rope around a fixed object so the
rope folds in half and you have both ends in your hands. The easy instructions
– whip it around for time. Details – make waves in the rope. You can make big
waves, small waves, or alternating waves. Then take both and try to make
circles in the rope. Complete this for a timed set.
You might have seen the guys from Jersey Shore doing this workout in
Season 4, Italy. Conventional weightlifting is not the only way to gain muscle
mass and it certainly isn’t the best way to build muscle endurance. We need to
leave the 80's and 90's and get into a new era of unconventional means.
3. Strength training:
How much do you bench? It doesn’t matter! In the
fight game, it’s all about being explosive. With snorkels and snakes aside
perhaps ‘hammer training’ sounds ordinary. Yet it’s anything but. As well as
enhancing grip/forearm strength and improving work capacity, swinging a
sledgehammer into a rubber tyre will do wonders for your core strength. You
need to develop core strength if you want to punch like a mule. Introducing hammer
training into your regime will improve your ability to maintain explosive
power, round after round.
So there you have it, you’re almost there. Mix these nu-skool methods with hours of skipping, hitting mitts, working the heavy bag and sparing and you will be ready to take on Mike Tyson. (No seriously, he’s 45 and overweight now!)
Nobody said competing in combat sports was easy. Being in shape at the highest level is the difference between winning and losing. Perhaps change is good and in ‘moving with the cheese’ this should be the time to embrace advancements in sports science even if it goes against tradition.
Whether you fancy yourself as the next Georges St. Pierre or Carl Froch, or simply the casual gym goer – forget about what you know, mix it up and give this stuff a go.
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