THERE is a huge emphasis on strength, speed and fitness when structuring a physical training plan for a boxer.
However, a Boxer is required to have fast hands, footwork, co-ordination, balance and great lateral movement. This means that a boxer needs good movement, mobility and flow to use the right muscles at the right time.
Movement and mobility training helps reduce muscular imbalances, this helps reduce likelihood of injury. This doesn’t often get boxers excited… but what about if we told you it will improve your punching force?
Move Better, Jab Harder
In boxing, it is commonly said that the most effective tool for a fighter. It definitely is the most used, so wouldn’t every boxer want to develop a killer jab?
Champions such as Wladimir Klitschko and Kell Brook are well known to master the art of the jab, but how can mobility help?
Following our 10 week training cluster, our experts found a 11% increase in estimated P4P punch force for the left punch, used as a jab for our orthodox fighters.
This resulted in a 16% reduction in punch imbalance. In a separate comparison, a professional boxer showed a massive 32% reduction between left and right punches.
Impact
Our boxers become more balanced and throwing bigger punches with both hands.
The jab is the most often used punch in boxing.
The jab is thrown at a higher speed than a backhand shot. Although hand speed is the biggest contributor to punch force, the jab is found to produce less punching force than the back hand.
This is due to less rotation of the body, therefore less contribution from hip and torso rotation.
The Imbalanced Boxer
Due to this altered movement pattern being repeated thousands of times a week, a boxer can suffer from mobility and strength imbalances.
A functional movement screen (FMS) of 10 amateur boxers showed tighter left hips and shoulders than their right hand side.
Balancing the boxer
In the summer of 2014, Combat Conditioning delivered a movement clinic at Sheffield City ABC. Following 8 weeks of movement training, mean overall FMS scores increased by 9%. Standout improvements were seen in overhead squat (2.1 vs 2.6 out of 3) left shoulder mobility (1.62 vs 2.8 out of 3) (pre vs post).
How can I move better?
There are a number of ways we use to get a boxer moving better. Here we will be sharing three ways in how you can improve your movement and mobility.
Click below for step 1
Shoulder Mobility for Boxing
Want to punch harder with both hands and be injury free?
Following our 10 week training cluster, our experts found a 11% increase in estimated P4P punch force for the left punch, used as a jab for our orthodox fighters. This resulted in a 16% reduction in punch imbalance. In a separate comparison, a professional boxer showed a massive 32% reduction between left and right punches.
Furthermore following eight weeks of movement training, mean overall FMS scores increased by 9%. Stand out improvements were seen in overhead squat(2.1 vs 2.6 out of 3) left shoulder mobility (1.62 vs 2.8 out of 3) (pre vs post).
This proves that our programs help a boxer move better and become more balanced, hitting harder with both hands.
Shoulder problems?
It is quite common that boxers have poor shoulder mobility. During a functional movement screen (FMS) with amateur boxers, they scored low on both left and right shoulder mobility (1.62 out of 3) .
Poor shoulder mobility often creates over-active anterior deltoid and upper traps, causing the middle and lower traps become weak which affects the natural movement of the shoulder and arm. This can also cause shoulder impingement, rotator cuff weakness/injuries and lower-back injuries.
WATCH: Shoulder Mobility Circuit
Check out this shoulder mobility circuit, focusing on thoracic extension, upward retraction and thoracic rotation. This will make you feel fresher and looser for a hard, dynamic punch.
Click below for step 2
WATCH Movement training for boxing
It’s movement week at Boxing Science, and here we treat you to a video of some great, short-term movement progressions shown by light-middleweight prospect Sam Sheedy.
The exercises in the video are to help promote activation of the gluteal muscle group, these are to help movement of the hips in extension and rotation. The exercises also challenge the core, rotation and mobility for the first exercise, anti-rotation and anti-lateral flexion for the second. All these qualities trained in these exercises are also a key link in an effective kinetic chain.
If these types of movements are not trained, an athlete can start to super-compensate using other muscle groups, like their back or knee joints. Combine this with high training volumes, intense movements and a low calorie diet, a boxer can be susceptible to injury.
Click below for step 3
WATCH Hip and Core Circuit
Above is a hip and core strength circuit that was put together for former schoolboy champion and England youth representative Nohmaan Hussain.
Nohmaan complained of back pain during and after boxing. We figured out this was his quadratous lumborum (QL), a muscle that is attached to the lower back.
The QL Mission
The QL functions involve spinal lateral flexion and extension. Due to common poor hip flexor or shoulder mobility, this becomes overactive when performing such as running, jumping and striking actions.
This over activty can cause lower back pain. We can use a foam roller, spend money on a sports massage and try a number of ways to stretch it to make it feel better, but this is likely to be only a short term fix.
To make beneficial long-term changes, we should focus on improving hip flexor mobility, core stability and hip abductor strength. This will reduce the compensatory patterns of the QL and use the preferred muscles of the kinetic chain.
This core and hip strength circuit will help develop the hip abductors (glute medius and minimus) as well as the lateral stabilisers of the core.
