Sheedy’s Shooting for the English Title
Sheffield light-middleweight prospect Sam Sheedy has been on the Combat Conditioning program since February 2015 in the build up to his last fight which he won with a unaminous wide points decision. However, he has been on the hunt for the English title for quite a while.
Sam doesn’t have to wait for much longer as it has been confirmed he will face Rotherham’s Nav Mansouri for his light-middleweight English crown on Saturday 4th July.
The British number 4 has already has already been put through his paces at Sheffield Hallam University, in the lab for physiological testing, shifting some weights around and has endured his return to the curve.
Phase 1 success
When Sam first came to the Combat Conditioning program, he thought that he was there to lift weights and have killer conditioning sessions.
To an extent he was right, although, our primary focus was to improve his movement and activation patterns as well as the ability to work at high intensities.
We developed Sam’s movement patterns so he was activating the right muscle groups needed to produce punching force. I think his opponent felt it with a stinging body shot felt that in the 2nd round. This method was also used to improve co-ordination and to reduce likelihood of injury whilst enduring high volumes of training when on a low calorie diet.
Stripping Down Sheedy
Optimal body composition is important for boxing when making weight for aerobic performance and strength as well as acute weight-loss and refueling strategies.
Sam has a reputation for looking in great shape on the scales, so how could we make this better?
During our physiological testing battery, we found that relative lean muscle of the core had a large relationship with estimated punching force. So our focus would be to optimise the distribution of lean muscle mass.
In preparation for his last bout, Sam improved relative lean core mass by 17%. This means that his increase in core mass whilst ‘making weight’ he improved his body composition for boxing pound for pound. This was also accompanied with a 8.1% reduction in body fat and 2 kg gained in lean body mass.
These results would not be possible with the hard work from Sam, the coaching and guidance of Glyn Rhodes MBE, and of course.. a sprinkle of science.
I look forward to working with Sam and the team in preparation for the big fight and towards big things in the future.
Watch Sam Sheedy interview on the effect of sport science in his Boxing training here.
