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Flyweight Professional Kyle Yousaf is currently preparing for his 3rd fight whilst on the Boxing Science training program… and he is fitter, faster and stronger than ever.

Danny Wilson shares some of the training methods that’s helped the Golden Kid achieve 16% improvement in lower body strength that’s transferred to a 12% increase in punching hand speed.

Kyle Yousaf Training Camp

Introduction to Olympic Lifting

Kyle’s previous camp has focussed on him becoming strong and competent on the main compound lifts (squat, deadlift, romanian deadlift). The natural progression was to introduce him to Olympic lifting.

We started from clean pull from blocks, and quickly progressed to pulling from the floor. Kyle is really strong for his weight, so it was difficult in selecting a load to stimulate strength-speed adaptations without breaking technique.

It’s working progress, but Kyle has improved by looking explosive and smooth his when lifting his bodyweight.

Click here to find out more about Olympic Lifting in Boxing

Results: Countermovement jump, he has improved by 6% on top of his last scores back in September 2015, and 16% since he first started the Boxing Science program. Also, his Squat Jump has improved by a massive 14%,

Impact: Kyle can now produce more lower body force, this can contribute to harder punches and more explosive actions in the ring.

Next Steps: Kyle can now progress to hang / hip cleans, or clean pulls with higher weight loads.

Strength and Explosive Training

As said previously, Kyle shows great strength for his weight. He showed this last camp as he hit 1.5 x BW squat for 3 reps.

Instead of continuing to load Kyle up, we had to consider Kyle’s fighting weight and the relative load he could lift. Looking at his progress, Kyle could’ve hit 1.7-1.8 x BW squat. However, a sharp increase could put strain on tendons and ligaments. Was it worth the risk?

With this in mind, we opted for Eccentric Squats with Pause. This was to improve the drive from the bottom that can increase high-threshold motor units and neuromuscular function without loading up the bar too heavy.

We also integrated explosive exercises such as Box Jumps, Loaded CMJ and Landmine Punch Throw (click to find out more about each exercise). This helps him express high forces in fast, explosive and punch-specific actions.

Results: Kyle has improved his punching speed on the right and left arms by a massive 12% since December 2015. In this short-time, the smallest worthwhile change would be between 4-6%. The biggest improvements in the test were on the middle weight loads (25-30 kg) where he saw between 17-19% improvements on both left and right hands.

Impact: Kyle can now produce to faster and stronger punches at a lighter weight.

Next Steps: We will start to progressively load Kyle up on the squats, and continue to work on explosive training methods.

Aerobic Conditioning

We prescribed Kyle a training block using the curve, where he performed 10-30 seconds sprints with a long recovery (1-3 minutes).

This is training Kyle to be able to produce, repeat and endure high-intensities. But what’s happening physiologically?

Improving the function of how the muscle utilises oxygen. These are what we would call peripheral adaptations – neuromuscular function and mitochondrial enzyme activity!

Click here to find out more

A video posted by Danny Wilson (@wilson_boxingscience) on

Results: Kyle equalled his previous best on the 30-15 treadmill test. This is an impressive result, as we say that this is the level where boxers achieve world-level fitness. This leaves Kyle in a fantastic position to work from for a 22-year-old with only 6 fights under his belt.

Impact: Kyle finds lower intensities easier, therefore reducing the risk of fatigue. Also, he is more capable at performing at higher intensities.

Next Steps: We will continue with different variations of sprint protocols on the curve.

Want to train like Kyle?

Then you should try………

Accelerated Performance Series

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