Trainer’s Corner: Train to Win!

As you may know, boxing, also known as the “sweet science” is among the most unique and intense sports in the world. You cannot “play” boxing if you want to keep your marbles long into old age; you need to live boxing twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. All the hype at the moment in the sport’s world

is in regards to over-training and it is no different in boxing. It is believed that too much training will result in the muscles not having adequate time to recover between workouts. This is true to an extent, but it is important to remember that most cases of over-training are not a result of the training itself, but what you do between these sessions. For example, many fighters do not eat after training due to the issue of making weight etc. They go home and eat nothing, and then when they train the next day they fatigue quickly and cannot complete their workout with full effort. Nutrition is a big part of training. Eating a protein source within one hour of completing exercise is vital if you are to make a full recovery in time for your next workout.

U.K. boxing trainer Jamie Wadman is the SaddoBoxing team’s latest member. Look for exciting new educational articles from Jamie in his “Trainer’s Corner” feature.

Enough of that part, this article is not about nutrition!

As already stated, boxing is a very intense sport therefore training needs to be very intense; we cannot worry about over-training. As fighters, we need to learn to fight through fatigue and this needs to be achieved in the gym, waiting until fight night to learn what this feels like can be dangerous! Of course, over-training is possible, but by training smart along with good nutrition and relaxation, you are not likely to experience this. We are not training to look good on the beach; we are training to become warriors. Over-training cannot exist in our world. A complex training program is extremely important if we are to reach our potential as fighters. Spread throughout a six-day training week, we need to cover certain objectives to reach a peak for fight night.

An example week could look something like this:

Monday – Strength training with weights.
Tuesday – Plyometrics.
Wednesday – Conditioning drills via bodyweight exercises.
Thursday – Strength training with weights.
Friday – Plyometrics.
Saturday – Conditioning via bodyweight exercises.

This is an example of how to get in different objectives over the course of a week. Changing it daily makes over-training even harder to occur.

When it comes to fighting through fatigue, we must learn to do this in the gym. Doing a couple more rounds on the heavy bag when we feel like giving up is one way to experience this horrible feeling and getting used to performing under its influence.

I have been asked many times, “What is the secret to success?” And I am going to tell you now:

TRY!

Of course, it is not wise to train to failure every day, but I recommend you do it at least once a week. The extra rounds are just one example.

Here are some more examples:

1. Shadowbox at the END of your workout as well as at the start; this way you have to be sharp and throw good punches when tired.

2. Go running just before your heavy bag or hand mitts session; your legs will be tired and you will have to fight through it in order to carry on

3. Do a few rounds of heavy bag work AFTER sparring. This is hard!

4. Reduce your rest periods between rounds to thirty seconds.

Here is an insane workout to try on the heavy bag:

1. One round on the heavy bag.
2. Thirty seconds of squats.

Complete three to six rounds with NO rest and you will thank me on fight night.

Train hard, and smart!

Editor’s note: Jamie Wadman is a British boxing trainer. He started boxing at seven-years-of-age and enjoyed a successful amateur career until reaching the age of twenty. Jamie suffered a hand injury severe enough to force a re-thinking of his boxing career. He decided to coach young fighters and enrolled on a University course to study Sports Science. Jamie’s guidance saw two young fighters to national schoolboy titles, after which he was asked to coach professional fighters. He is currently working with British and Commonwealth super middleweight contender Matthew Barney who is preparing to face champion Carl Froch.

Jamie Wadman can be reached at jamiewadman@hotmail.com