BEFORE the Fight of the Century, apart from โwho will win?โ there is only one question remains.
โHave they done everything right in training?โ
Here, we have a look at the โScience behind The Moneyโ.
Has Money done the business?
From chopping wood toย Cryotherapy, there is no doubt that โMoney Mayโ has stepped up his โHard work! Dedication!โ for his Filipino opponent. But how much is this hard work without being smart?
Good methods
RECOVERY METHODS
Mayweather has taken this fight very seriously. So serious, there are a lot of new additions to his training regiment, including the vital ingredient – recovery. Floydโs use of the ice chamber has been a big talking point, this is a method calledย Cryotheraphy.
Cryotheraphyย takes place in a chamber that exposes the body to extreme temperatures ofย -130 degrees centigradeย for a duration of betweenย 2-3 minutes. This can relieve pain symptoms, inflammatory responses, injuries and overuse symptoms.
NECK CONDITIONING
Mayweather does not do much strength work in the gym,ย none with significant external load anyway. However, he does pay a lot of attention to neck conditioning.
This is important for boxers as the head gets all itโs support from the neck, therefore to control the impact from head shots. It also has benefits of reducing back pain and improving posture, both common traits of boxers.
Now, donโt go out and buy a neck brace and do 100โs of reps with a heavy weight. Training the neck needs to be as strategic as developing strength elsewhere.
- Develop from various angles โ supine, prone, and laterally
- Start with isometric holds, then move onto self resistance (Hand)
- Use various resistance methods. Towels, bands, cables, body weight and neck brace.
- Build up the volume of repetitions (15-20 repetitions) rather than large external loads
NUTRITION
We all know how important a structured nutrition plan is toย make weight and fuel performance, so I am not going to list all the benefits in this article.
However it is quite astonishing that Mayweather has got so far tucking into chicken burgers in the early hours of the morning. He seems to have got his act together by hiring a chef.
At a charge ofย $1,000 per meal, I am questioning my career choice of S&C, is it too late to switch over to the dark side?
Questionable
TOO MUCH TOO LATE?
Although I praise Mayweather for making some positive changes for this training camp, I do question whether it is too much too late?
This is quite a speculative analysis, and short-term use is likely to improve his physical performance. However, we know thatย long-term consistent useย of sport science methodsย are likely to have a bigger impact.
SWIMMING
Talk to any fitness enthusiast, they will say how beneficial swimming is for you.
Yes, it takes away the external loads of the long, slow road runs. With this in mind, we would advise to go swimming for active recovery.
However, it becomes tough for conditioning as you cannot control set intensities, therefore will struggle toย overload and progress. Furthermore, swimming is very technical dependent, this makes it even more difficult to raise the intensity.
WOOD CHOPPING
Is this Rocky 4? Or the highest paid athlete in the world training for the biggest fight of his life?
I donโt want to go into this too much as I havenโt ruled it out as a publicity stunt yet. However, I will ask these questions for any of those thinking aboutย chopping some wood to prepare for their next fightโฆ
- What measurements does wood chopping have been taken to correlate it to successful boxing performance?
- How will this be monitored?
- How will the volume progressed?
- How can you control overload and recovery?
- How can the intensity be increased?
If anyone can answer these questionsโฆ please get in touch.
Training greatness
Although we have questioned some of Mayweatherโs training methods,ย we can only admire how hard he has trained and worked to get to the top of the sport.
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