“Start with the end in mind”
A PHRASE that should spark intrigue and conversation around your boxer’s development! But what does it mean?
This one phrase should spark real conversation about your boxer’s development, not just within your coaching team, but with the boxer themselves? Ask the big questions: Where will they be in 5 to 10 years? What milestones could they hit in the next 12 to 24 months? What about just 8 to 12 weeks from now? Where do you want to end up?!
Once you’ve mapped out the long-term vision, you can start to plan how to best support your Boxers. But planning shouldn’t feel rigid, it’s not a fixed structure. Think of it more like a river: it flows, it adapts, but it always moves in a direction. As Bruce Lee famously said, “Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water.”
But where to begin?
We know today’s boxer needs to be fit, strong, and powerful. Start by assessing these physical capabilities using simple, meaningful tests. No fancy equipment needed (unless you have the luxury of course!). These numbers will help shape your plan and allow you to understand where your boxer is, what are they good at, not so good at etc.
Fitness
Try a 6-minute time trial on a treadmill or track. Measure how far your boxer runs. This gives you a snapshot of their aerobic capacity and helps tailor conditioning zones.
Strength
Yes, traditional approaches like repetitions maximum (maximum number of times a person can perform a specific exercise with a given amount of weight before reaching muscular failure) in key lifts, such as squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, can provide useful insights. However, technique is crucial. If the movement quality is poor (i.e., it looks painful or sloppy), it’s better to switch to bodyweight alternatives. For instance, assess how many squats or press-ups someone can complete in 60 seconds. Track whether this number improves over time, but remember, the movement should remain smooth and controlled, not ugly or strained.
Anaerobic capacity
This physical capacity is crucial for boxing performance, trust me! No tech to assess this? No problem. Use a heavy bag:
- Throw as many punches as possible in 30 seconds
- Rest for 15 seconds
- Repeat for 5 rounds
- Count how many punches have been thrown in each round! Check below in the coach’s corner to see what to do with the numbers
“Small wins, big impact”
These simple tests give you valuable data to assess performance and track progress. All you need to ask is: What do I want to measure? How can I measure it? The “how” can be tricky, so check out the S&C Coaches Corner for practical examples and guidance for a few simple steps.
From planning to programming
Once you’re confident in your planning, whether it’s long-term, medium-term, or short-term, it’s time to mix in your coaching craft. Use your insights to optimise your boxer’s physical attributes throughout the camp. Plan, be adaptable, and flow like water! Heavy bag work, light paddle work, and running all demand different intensities, so be smart about how you approach each!
“If you’re not assessing then you’re guessing”
Stay tuned for Round 2: Aerobic Conditioning, where we’ll dive deeper into testing, planning, and programming to help your fighters go the distance in those championship rounds.
S&C Coaches Corner:
Scenario 1: light heavyweight-boxer (British title challenge) 12-weeks out (8kg over)
- Fitness: 6-minute time trial score: 1609.2m or 1.6km
- Speed = Time/Distance
- 1609.2m / 360s =4.47m/s
This number of 4.47 m/s is the ‘working speed’ that may represent an athlete’s aerobic capacity speed (i.e. this is how fast they can run for a prolonged period 1-2 hours etc).
To make this meaningful, I will convert the 4.47m/s in KM (to use on a treadmill).
4.47m/s × 3.6 = 16.1 km/h
| Speed (m/s) | Speed (km/h) |
| 2.00 | 7.20 |
| 2.25 | 8.10 |
| 2.50 | 9.00 |
| 2.75 | 9.90 |
| 3.00 | 10.80 |
| 3.25 | 11.70 |
| 3.50 | 12.60 |
| 3.75 | 13.50 |
| 4.00 | 14.40 |
| 4.25 | 15.30 |
| 4.50 | 16.20 |
| 4.75 | 17.10 |
| 5.00 | 18.00 |
| 5.25 | 18.90 |
| 5.50 | 19.80 |
Use this as a rough guide for treadmill running speeds based off your boxers 6-minute time trial.
2. Anaerobic Capacity: Punch performance fatigue index
Set 1: 120 punches
Set 2: 110 punches
Set 3: 100 punches
Set 4: 90 punches
Set 5: 80 punches
Max Output = 120
Min Output = 80
Fatigue Index (%) = ((120 – 80) / 120) × 100 = (40 / 120) × 100 = 33%
FI of 33% (if this number decreases, they have got better and if it increases, they have got worse).
TheFight Lab series is produced by Rhys Morris, PhD, your resident S&C coach.
