VIDEO: Nicolie Campbell Strength and Conditioning Camp
Boxing prospect Nicolie Campbell has towards the end of a long and successful training camp, shown massive improvements and ready to put them to the test on Saturday 21st November at the Magna Centre, Sheffield.
The ‘Pretty Boy Assassin’ has recorded some wicked results during post-training camp testing at Sheffield Hallam University.
Now campaigning at super-middleweight at just 5% body fat, he is punching much harder, with 17% increase in his left punch, improved his aerobic fitness by 10% and his leg strength improved 11% pound for pound.
20 kg reduction in body mass
Nicolie returned back from his family holiday weighing in massively over the 168 lbs limit. He knew it was a big task, so he linked up with Boxing Science Nutritionist Lee Rickards.
Lee put an effective plan in place so Nicolie lost weight gradually. Avoiding a rapid weight loss meant that Nicolie found dieting easier and did not affect his training performance as much.
The diet also made sure that Nicolie primarily reduced his body fat, this helped maintain muscle mass that contributes to force production, contributing to being stronger at the lighter weight of 76 kg.
Lee says “We have used a balanced diet to avoid no nutrient deficiencies and to ensure he is fueled and can recover from training. Which allows the adaptions to take place. He listens to what we do and asks plenty of questions, showing he is committed and dedicated to the plan”
See Lee’s Carbohydrates article here.
Smarter Strength Training
With the amount of weight Nicolie had to lose, I knew that we had to be smart about his strength training. Excessive resistance strength training whilst on low carbohydrate and low calorie diets can increase muscle soreness or even the likelihood of injury.
Nicolie’s program focused on speed and dynamic movement, including ballistic and plyometric exercises as well as Olympic lifting variations. This consisted of small training volumes, reduced weight load and less eccentric demand – this helped develop the rate of force development whilst reducing the likelihood of muscle damage.
The same rule applied with maximal strength exercise – we couldn’t totally drop this as we needed to maintain strength levels. Deadlift variations were selected for Nicolie’s main lower body lifts as this has less eccentric demand for the squat. Speed squats on 60-80% 1 rep max loads were used as research suggests that lower loads performed at speed can improve strength whilst reducing the amount of muscle damage caused.