EVIDENCED inย โ€˜Behind the Ropesโ€™, Carl Frampton has taken his preparations for the Scott Quigg fight very seriously.

Shane McGuigan has a growing reputation in the sport, now working with top names such as David Haye and George Groves. The relatively young coach is well-known for exploring new training methodsย and seems to be an inspiration for a new generation of boxing coaches.

But some in the boxing community have also questioned his approaches to training.

Letโ€™s analyse the training footage on Behind the Ropes.

Ice Ice Baby!

We saw Carl Frampton taking what looked like a horrendous ice-filled water-bath. In fact, it looked like he hated it. So much so, he immediately jumped in a hot shower afterwards to warm-up.

Youโ€™ve probably heard about or even seen elite athletes taking these ice baths. But just because elite athletes seem to do it doesnโ€™t make it elite practice.

We ask โ€“ โ€œwhy?โ€

The common held (and outdated) theory for taking an ice-bath is that it causes vasoconstriction, stimulates venous return and aids metabolite removal after exercise. The physiological responses to ice-baths areย more complex than this and distilling the theory down to this level isย not helpful at all.

Still, several pieces of scientific research have investigated whether cold-water immersion can improve subjective ratings of muscle soreness. Theย consensus is that cold-water immersion after muscle damaging exercise does improve feelings of soreness. That is athletes feel less sore after cold water baths.

But, there are caveats. The effect severe cold water immersion (between 5 and 10ยฐC) on muscle soreness, (I think we can assume that Framptonโ€™s ice-bath was about below 10ยฐC judging by his reaction), is unclear โ€“ some find it helpful others donโ€™t. Yet, when the temperature of water increases to between 11 and 15ยฐC there is a clear beneficial effect on the perceptionย of muscle soreness. That is people feel less sore.

So does Frampton need to go so cold? No.

Heโ€™s likely going to get better results if the temperature is warmer.

The immersion time is also important. Thereโ€™s obviously a good relationship between water temperature and tolerable immersion time. The research indicates immersion times between 5 and 15 min as most beneficial. So, if the water is too cold, then tolerance time will decrease. Thenย youโ€™ll be missing both the time-frame of effectiveness and the optimal temperature.

These studies all investigated the perception of muscle soreness, which is clearly individual. So if you think that cold water immersion will speed your recovery, it probably will.

But, as we always say, thereโ€™s a time and place for everything. The skill is knowing when that place is.

Itโ€™s probably not a sensible thing to jump in a cold bath after every training session. Especially if your sport requires strength, a sport like boxing.

Two pieces of research published in the last few years have indicated that we need to re-think how athletes use cold water immersion. Both these studies suggest that strength training adaptations are blunted if cold water immersion is used frequently. So they might actually be doing more harm than good because strength gains are likely slowed by the use of cold water immersion.

So, do we recommend cold water immersion? No.

We believe that we can get better adaptions from theย intelligent management of training load. We stress athletes when they need overloading, and we let the body manageย recovery.

Obviously, we encourageย mobility workย during recovery but this is different to altering biochemical signalling pathways responsible for muscle hypertrophy, as is the case with cold water immersion.

Paddle Sticks

Shane McGuiganย has been holdingย paddle sticksย for Carl Framptonโ€™sย pad work. These are a relatively new piece of kit, but what are the benefits?

Due toย less weightย from the coach behind the pads, there areย reduced impact forcesย through the boxers shoulder, arm and fist when hitting the paddle sticks. This allows a boxer to throwย fasterย shots and combinations, as well as the coach getting more range when working on a boxersย defence.

This is good for when a boxer is working in a speed block, tapering for a fight, de-loading for recovery or rehabilitation following a hand injury.

Prowler

In ย a short clip at the end of behind the ropes, Frampton is seen usingย the prowler. Itโ€™s hard to say what he was doing and the adaptation he was targeting, but itโ€™s worth sharingย our opinionsย on the prowler as a training tool.

The prowler is being used in many strength and conditioning programs.

This is a great piece of equipment if used in the right way, but more often than not weโ€™ve seen some pointless use of the prowler in the boxing world. Many times we see boxers just beasted on the prowler, with no training aim or adaptation targeted.

We feel that this is a fantastic piece of kit that could be going to waste.

Used in the right way, the prowler can benefit strength, core stability, acceleration and fitness. It can also be strategically integrated to help training variation and recovery.

Coaches should manipulate sets, rest periods, external load (% body mass) and desired speeds to target specific adaptations.

The prowler can also be used in a circuit, see the video below.

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