Just wondering if anyone has some information on how to be at your best on fight day. Our gym, in the last three weeks train to more intense 1 min rounds instead of 2 min rounds. And we do more sprint/interval training. We also have Two days of full rest before fight day. Anyone have any different or better ideas to prepare?
These are my thoughts. I believe that your sparring should be exactly the work time and duration rest that you will be competing in. However, if it is 3 x 2 minute rounds, I have no problem with there being a 1-2 more rounds than the standard 3 as long as it doesn't interfere with the intensity of the sparring. I agree with giving body 2 full days to recover before the fight. In general, the last week of training should be to get in low volume, moderate intensity skill specific workouts. However, I know guys who need to be sparring constantly or they lose it quickly. As always, a trainer needs to know his fighter. As a loose rule, if a fight is Saturday, the absolute last hard sparring day I would say is Monday. The idea in the last week is to maintain conditioning capacity, but not enough to place any real demand or physical stress on the body. That being said. It is okay to get heart rate up to anaerobic threshold, but not for any real extended time period. This can even help the body to recover more fully. These are basically active recovery type workouts and should not be overdone, 30-40 minutes of work. This is what I believe a 6 week training period should look like, permitted that a fighter is actively sparring with some consistency and is in good general shape: Weeks 4-6 2-3 T Th workout: Sparring at fight pace(if more work is needed it should be adjusted accordingly) M W F workouts: Boxing specific drills at fight pace (20-30 minutes of work, not including warmup) W Sa: Active recovery sessions(LSD, low intensity cardio, etc and at least 4 hours separate from other Wed workout) Weeks 1-4 M W F Sparring at fight pace T Th workouts: Boxing drills at fight pace (20-30 minutes of work, not including warmup) W Sa: Active recovery(at least 4 hours separate from other Wed workout) Last week as outlined above. As always remember diet. Carbs are your friend and know which are best. *There are several accomplished amateurs and a few pros who may have different feedback, so please know that this is just one guy's opinion and experiences of my own. I do try to base all of my advice on scientific research and fundamentals of conditioning, which does sometimes contradict the way that some things are currently done in combat sports. I'd be interested to hear others feedback such as Brown Bomber, Lefty. Good luck.
