How does one train to acquire explosive power and control it? Coach's Comment of the Day: "You have the engine of a truck. You need the engine of a Ferrari." He's also been very dismissive of what workouts I already do - mountain climbers, chops, lunges, twists, squats, jumps, pull-ups, biking, rowing, other cardio etc. "It's for fitness," sniffed he. I was thinking, while those exercises might not be geared only towards boxers, if it weren't for those, I'd be overweight and out of breath by the second round. Isn't fitness just as important? Help?
Fitness is very important for boxing, however you wanna make sure you don't just train your slow twitch muscles, and focus more on developing more fast twitch muscle mass. The ratio of your fast twitch and slow twitch muscles is partly genetics, but partly training. High intensity interval training specific to boxing, speed training combined with weights specific for boxing and plyometrics could help you out maybe. However I'm no expert and I'm sure there's people that can help you out much more than I can. Also, explosive power is controlled by technique of course. You can have all the fast twitch muscle in the world, without proper technique, it will get you nowhere.
your coach sounds like he is just trying to sound really smart all the exercise that you are doing are great add explosive movements to your routine for example when you do your pushups you lower your body to the ground in a slow, controlled motion, but when you come up you do it as fast as possible same when you do other exercise...come down into a squat position slowly and then explode into a jumping squat as fast as you can. obviouslty your technique is important too
Couldn't say for sure, but it SOUNDS like he's saying you're working too much on muscular fitness and not on cardio. Boxing isn't terribly taxing on the muscles. Do you have a hard time maintaining a fast pace in the ring? that might be what he means. You need to be able to go full out, wailing on people for 2 minutes straight without letting up. When he says fitness, he probably means muscular strength or endurance as opposed to cardio. It sounds like you do a lot of supplemental work for muscular fitness. Make sure you don't neglect anaerobic fitness, it's much more important. So much more important you'd probably be fine cutting out the extra stuff you're doing and replacing it with burnouts and sprints.
But that being said, disagreements with your coach on fitness issues is common. You're lucky if you have a coach who knows even basic fitness principles.
This content is protected This content is protected A good example is this. You will run a lot slower up hill or with a parachute on your back as opposed to free on level ground but which one do think makes you faster.
Thats interesting, I was always under the impression that to be fast, you have to train fast. Sprinters surely sprint to work on their speed, and not just spend all day lifting heav weights with their legs slowly to recruit fast twitch muscle fibers?
Resistance running has been a staple in speed training for years. You're body doesn't have to move faster for the muscles to be contracting faster. Thats a misnomer caused by a desire to see a visual result outside of an invisible system. However, when you actually get into the practice of your sport or event and what you are working on is muscle memory then everything has to be exact. If you are intentionally moving slow you will be trained move slow as that earlier mentioned hidden system is also moving slow. If you are giving it all you have and being held back due to physics then its quite different. The principle of specificity applies here. If you intentionally move slow in a specific task like boxing you will train you cerebral cortex to signal for slow movements in that task. However there is a difference between being slowed down due to resistance and the cerebral cortex sending the signal to intentionally move slowly. I believe you are confusing me for one of those people who favors deliberately slow movements where you are intentionally pushing slowly. Now when training for explosiveness you shouldn't be backing off in speed on purpose. Any perceived slow movement outside of the system should be as a result of inertia or resistance slowing you down. Muscle fibers do not contract at varying speeds, each of the three types contract at their own speed for all movements. The nervous system recognizes the intended strength of contraction based on the frequency of the signal sent by the brain. It then activates a certain number of muscle units in a certain ratio to produce the desired result. If the desired result is not achieved a feedback system recruits further units. It doesn't differentiate nor know what it is doing. It is simply firing be it to lift a weight or run really fast it makes no difference what matters is that the signal from the brain to give it your all is responded with a massive recruitment of fast twitch fibers. This is a conditioned response.
Ah, now you are making sense, confused me with your other post. Training for speed, attempt to move fast and even if you are not moving fast because of resistance, you are still recruiting the same muscles. Another question, is it simply about the quantity of muscle fibers or does quality of the muscle fiber come into play too? Can you make your fast twitch type faster than it already is or is it simply about conversion? I mean fot example, You have 50% ST, 25% FTa and 25%FTb. To improve speed, would it simply be a case of converting the FTa to FTb so you would then have say 35%FTb and only 15% FTa, or can you improve the quality of your FTb fibers and make that even faster than it already is through training? I ask because say if guy a has 30% slow twitch, 70% FT vs guy b who has 60% ST and 20%FTa, 20%FTb, even if guy B was to convert all of his FTa fibers to type B, he will still not have in proportion as much FT fibers as guy a. In that case, obviously in sport technique will help too but can 40% be better than 70% if the 40% is of greater quality?
good stuff m8, cheers. Now you got any sample exercises for developing those muscles specifically for boxing?
My coach says it all starts in the feet. Explosive power comes from the pivot and weight transition. Example: Left Hook - At the beginning of the punch your weight is on your lead leg, front toe dug in, rear heel raised. As you turn your torso you should be transferring weight from the lead leg to the rear leg, and turning your body into the punch. When done properly the lead foot pivots as the weight is transferred to the rear foot, and at the end of the punch the weight is on the back foot, which is flat. The amount of snap in your twist creates the explosive power you are seeking. The other thing my coach says all the time "We are learning form. Speed comes from repeating the motion, power comes doing the motion correctly and quickly. Boxing is about balance and movement."
