Catch up with the Boxers – September 2015: Part 4

To conclude our birthday month, we round off our article mini-series ‘catch up with the boxers’. It has been enjoyable to update our readers on the achievements of the boxers our programs, all progressing at different levels and paces.

Our final part we will catch up with some newcomers on the program, whether that be part of the training clusters, Yorkshire program and some of the boxers who attended in Youth Training Camp in August.

To add a bit of variety, we also see what middleweight amateur James Linley is doing, who is one of our longest serving members.

Fitter Faster Stronger for Yorkshire Boxing

Following a three week break, the Yorkshire Boxing Sport Science Program is back up and running, with bigger moves and more intense conditioning. Going into the second part of the 25 week program, the amateur boxers have started to work towards doing full compound lifts.

Using exercises such as barbell box squat and sumo deadlift allows an athlete to perform squat and hinge patterns with an increased weight load whilst still learning the technique. This is an important phase to develop foundational movement and strength to prepare for maximal strength training in future camps.

Following an initial phase of introducing high intensity interval training, the conditioning training has also gone up a few gears. The Yorkshire hopefuls are now performing maximal effort sprint intervals of between 10-30 seconds with an extended rest. The longer rest intervals are put in place as the aim of this training phase is to exercise as hard and as fast as possible

Why? Research has shown that training sessions like this activate enzymes that turn on switches to create mitochondria (our metabolic energy plant).

See more about the program here

The New Boys

Our Tuesday and Thursday morning training cluster has been made up of the same boxers since our launch in September 2014, creating a great training atmosphere and teamwork despite individuals coming from separate gyms. Recently, we have welcomed some new members to the team whilst they have adapted to the pace of the sessions.

Amateur brothers Levi and Dan Kinsiona have now been on the program for the past 8 weeks, showing good improvements in strength and movement whilst reducing body fat in preparation for the new season.  Fighting out of Jubilee ABC in Sheffield, Levi says “I feel like the program has helped me structure my training alot better. Before the program, I always felt like I was over training, whereas now I know when to train, what I’m improving and why” adding “I already feel fitter and stronger”

St. Vincent’s Jordan Davies is now halfway through his first 10 week block and is adapting well. The middleweight competitor has also been attending the Saturday Sessions, and has found the additional session beneficial in getting fitter and learning the exercises quicker so he is better prepared for the next training phase.

Jordan Brittain has just joined us for the past few weeks and already feeling part of the team. Following testing, he has now been given feedback on what to work on ahead of his fight on the Ingle Gym amateur show at Hellaby Hall on Thursday 15th October.

Interested in joining like these guys? Get in touch with Danny at D.wilson@shu.ac.uk

The Machine’s going strong

Nicknamed ‘The Machine’ by his Sheffield City ABC gym mates, James Linley certainly lives up to his reputation. Campaigning at middleweight, the Sheffield amateur has come on leaps and bounds on the program. James was one of the first boxers to attend the Saturday sessions back in 2013, and has been a regular feature in our training clusters.

His regime of squats, deadlifts, Olympic lifting regressions and repeated sprint sessions on the curve has seen massive improvements in lower body force, acceleration, punch force and aerobic capacity.

Keep up the hard work Machine.

Watch a short video about our relationship with Sheffield City ABC here.

Youth Training Success

The youth training workshop we delivered in August was a truly enjoyable experience and we see it as a great success for Boxing Science. Getting the opportunity to have increased and consistent contact time with the young boxers allowed us to increase their sport science knowledge and understanding, as well as giving them the ability to practice this themselves away from the university.

We received fantastic feedback, some of which we shared in previous ‘catch up’ with Leon and Niall. 

We was over the moon to hear from parents and coaches how beneficial the process was to the young boxers. St. Peter’s boxing coach David Wright kindly said “On behalf of St. Peter’s as a coach and a father of my son who attended this week a great big thank you to all involved especially Danny Wilson. Education and knowledge boxing specific which is needed to bring this side of the sport up to date well done and hope Danny and his expertise can take his strength fitness recovery and knowledge of training methods into every boxing gym”

But why is this important?

In a recent interview, I explain the reasons behind why we deliver the workshops and how we see it as one of our main scoial objectives

Watch the highlights of the program here

Within the next week, we will be releasing details of the next Youth Training Workshop that will take place in the October half term break. If you are interested please get in touch, this will help us finalise plans to make it suit everyone. D.wilson@shu.ac.uk

Conclusion

That concludes our catch up with the boxers on the program. Personally, I am really happy and proud at the progress of the boxers and the program itself, so it has been great to write these articles and look back on how far we have come

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Click here to see the Top 5 Strength and Conditioning exercises for Boxing