Do boxers lift weights?
Should boxers even include lifting weights in their strength and conditioning training?
The typical vision of a high level boxer is a ripped, muscular, elegant moving pugilist without a lot of muscle mass, but massive KO power in his hands.
But in modern day boxing competition, are traditional training methods of chopping wood and road running sufficient to make a complete boxer?
Do boxers lift weights in their modern day strength and conditioning programs?
Yes, boxers do lift weights as part of their strength and conditioning.
But the type of weight lifting and goals of their weight training sessions are focussed on developing muscular endurance, speed and power over typical bodybuilding weights sessions focussed on mass alone.
So what types of weight lifting do boxers engage in in order to make a complete fighter that can compete at the highest levels of modern day boxing competition.
We look at this in more detail in this post.
Will lifting weights make boxers slow?
This is dependent on the type of weight lifting boxers do.
If you follow the typical bodybuilding style of lifting to induce hypertrophy or muscle growth alone, and you do not incorporate sufficient flexibility and mobility work, then lifting weights can potentially make boxers slow.
But with the right program of lifting weights, any boxer can benefit tremendously in terms of muscular strength muscular endurance, speed and power – all without suffering loses in boxing technique.
Let’s look at sprinters, who’s main concern is speed and NOT becoming slower are well known for pushing a lot of weight in their training.
And they are also known for having very muscular physiques.
And this is just one example of where the right type of weight training done in the correct volume, intensity and focus can help any athlete improve in their given sport and not become slower at all.
MMA fighters and those at the highest levels of the UFC are known from coming from a lot of traditional martial arts where lifting weights was thought to make them too bulky and slow.
But even these high level fighters lift weights in order to improve in their overall MMA game and increase speed, strength and power while maintaining and improving technical skills.
So if done correctly and in the right volume, weight ranges and intensity then lifting weights should not make a boxer slower in the ring.
Does lifting weights make your punches stronger?
Many professional boxers and trainers believe that knockout power is something you are born with.
And there is generally not a lot of correlation between how heavy your bench press is and how hard you hit or how much knock out power you have.
True punching power comes from the ability to explode and draw power up from the ground and your legs and unleash this power into a dynamic punch.
And even the skinniest boxer in the gym can possess massive knockout power that would put the heaviest sparring partners on the floor with a single punch.
But there is definitely a lot of room to improve your punching power and make your punches stronger by lifting weights in the right way.
This is especially so, if KO power and explosive punching technique is not the strong suit or a boxer.
A boxer who does not have that explosive KO power can definitely improve their punching power and produce stronger punches through the right type of weight training.
What kind of weight training do boxers do?
The specific type of weight training exercises needed by the individual boxer can depend a lot on which areas of strength and conditioning a boxer is trying to improve.
More important is how lifting weight sis incorporated into a boxers strength and conditioning program in the most efficient way.
This way a boxer can lift weights to gain the maximum benefit while not impacting technical skill, movement, mobility or endurance.
So while most trainers would agree that maxing out on bench press, squats and deadlifts is not the ideal type of weight lifting for a boxer, these exercises can still provide vast improvements to a boxers strength and conditioning is a well designed strength and conditioning program.
Such a program should compliment technical training, sparring and of course road work and cardio training.
And the best way to incorporate lifting weights into a boxers strength and conditioning is through periodization.
How Boxers Should Lift Weights to Keep Improving in Technical Skill and Cardio
Periodization is key when it comes to strength and conditioning for any combat athlete.
Whether is be a Boxer, Muay Thai fighter or MMA fighter, technical skill should still be at the very top of a fighters training goals.
And periodization is the best way to keep improving technical skill while also improving power and speed through strategically placed weight training.
Periodization means dedicating blocks of training to achieving different goals within their overall training programs.
Without proper periodization, injuries can become a major issue as fighters try to do everything at once, like sparring heavy, lifting heavy, running and cardio several days a week as well as bag and pad work.
12 Week Periodization for Boxers
So let’s discuss more about periodization and how boxers lift weights in order to get the most out of their gym sessions to:
- maximally benefit their game
- prevent injury
- keep improving cardio
- improving technical skill the whole time
For example in a 12 week fight camp strength and conditioning periodization may look like this:
- Weeks 1 & 2 : Base level strength focusing on ligaments and mobility in the major joints such as hips and shoulders. 2-3 times per week lifting.
- Weeks 3,4, : Core strength and “heavy lifts”. Getting stronger in the core and major lifts such as Squats, Bench and Deadlift while paying a lot of attention to recovery and mobility with foam rolling and a lot of soft tissue work. 2 times per week lifting.
- Weeks 5,6, Olympic style lifting and focus on speed and power. 2 times per week.
- Weeks 7,8,9 Adding more sets and reps while maintaining clean technique and relatively heavy loads. 2 times per week.
- Week 10, 11, de-loading on sets and reps but keeping intensity high with much less sets and reps. Twice per week.
- Week 12: no lifting
