I gotta ask though, you seem to underplay the effectiveness of the back squat on HIP STRENGTH development. Am I wrong?
I would say most people overplay the effectiveness of the back squat for hip strength development.
I mean, what does “hip strength development” even mean? The hip complex is one of the most nuanced and complicated regions of the human body, alongside the foot and ankle
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Pure strength is almost irrelevant for boxing. You can’t grind out a punch. Power and endurance are what you need, which is why I suggested clean pulls and power cleans.
If you are desperate to keep squatting, do it after your power cleans and clean pulls. They’re far more necessary.
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You’re my hero
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I don’t see why you feel the need to squat three days a week, that is some high frequency powerlifting stuff and not even all powerlifters squat that often. I compete in PL and last year I cut squatting down to once a week and continued making progress, seems like less is more in some cases.
If you don’t do some other heavy lower body work another day like deadlifts then maybe squatting twice a week is a good idea, but you are trying to be a boxer and not a powerlifter, correct?
There is an old article by Fred Hatfield about how he trained Evander Holyfield leading up to his fight with Tyson, I suggest you try to find it.
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OP: I want to train UPPER BODY ONLY
also OP: Oh btw, I’m still gonna squat 3x/week.
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I don’t consider squatting 3 days a week with weights a good deal below your max capacity to be truly part of your training. It’s maintenance.
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When I saw the title I thinking this is for a bench specialist or a parapalegic… man was I off 
When I did MMA I cut out my lifting for 2 weeks, and then added 2 whole body sessions a week. I did 1-2 big compound barbell lifts like squats, powercleans, or presses, 1-2 compound bodyweight and/or single arm lifts.
For example, a session might be:
Hang Power Clean 2 reps EMOM for 10 minutes
Bulgarian Split Squat / Weighted Feet elevated Push up antagonist pairing
Just enough small accessory work to keep from getting hurt w/out hurting ability in the MMA gym
I came from a PL background so my goal was to translate my PL strength into power and being able to move my own and other’s body around.
I found this exercise awsome for helping make that link between my PL strength and a strong right hand. I really felt it way more in my lower body and core than anything.
Hi folks.
I’m having a hard time deciding which path to choose. In a previous thread, I mentioned three goals that weren’t really gonna work together, at least simultaneously. The big thing, though, is the leg strength versus cardio part. I did some thinking a little bit and finally decided my true priority, which is to become competitive in amateur boxing. That’s my end goal, long term goal, before moving onto other things.
So I have the option of lifting heavy with squats and building up strength and muscle in my legs, or just go the other route of being cardio-focused and minimizing my heavy squats. For boxing, I need good cardio. I wanna know if it’s a better path to jump on cardio now as someone with weak legs and going all the way with it, or if it’s better to wait it out, build lots of leg strength AND THEN work on conditioning.
Which do you think is the better path?
I should also mention that I’m very fat, so losing weight is gonna be a part of it all. So diet is key too. But I’m only asking about training in this thread for the sake of boxing performance.
Thanks folks.
EDIT: This post was originally gonna be its own thread, but instead got moved here. That’s why it’s written weirdly.
You can get bigger and stronger legs whilst maintaining or improving your conditioning, you just need to train smarter. Also, as you lose fat your conditioning will improve.
Train your legs heavy once per week. I would prioritise trap bar deadlifts or squats, not both. The second session will focus on speed of movement and alactic conditioning. If this sounds familiar, it’s your standard conjugate layout.
DAY 1: HEAVY LOWER
On this session you will
- Hit 1-3 hard sets of 3-5 on a heavy lower body exercise
- Perform a low volume of jumps
- Perform a moderate to high volume of med ball throws/explosive upper body and/or rotational exercises
- perform a moderate volume as assistance exercises for hamstrings, glutes, abs, lats, traps, triceps, shoulders etc.
DAY 2: HEAVY UPPER
- Hit 1-3 hard sets of 3-5 of a heavy upper body exercise
- Perform a moderate to high volume of jumps
- Perform a low volume of med ball throws/explosive upper body and/or rotational exercises
- perform a moderate volume as assistance exercises for hamstrings, glutes, abs, lats, traps, triceps, shoulders etc.
On four of the other days per week, sit on an assault bike or walk with a weighted vest for at least twenty minutes. Let your actual boxing training handle your high-intensity interval/lactic work, and use your training to develop your aerobic gas tank.
If you train like this and your strength or conditioning regresses, you’re either wiping out your sessions or not sleeping and eating as necessary
Alright, so you’re choosing the do-mostly-cardio path right? And minimize heavy squatting? Just double-checking here.
I’m saying do both, but do both intelligently
I’m sorry but that doesn’t answer the question. BOTH propositions make me do BOTH. And “both” is a tricky word. If in one training block, I go super-focused on pure strength for 2 months and then spend the last month doing mostly conditioning, I technically did BOTH. If I do both in the same weekly program where I only squat heavy once a week and do mostly cardio, which is what you’re suggesting, I also did BOTH.
It didn’t answer my question.
I am considering doing that program you gave me, though.
But did you do both intelligently?
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You have some backwards ideas. No wonder you are having problems.
Looks like the answer is right there. How much do you need to squat to be competitive in amateur boxing? Is there a squat-only meet after the weigh-in? Squat once or twice a week and don’t overdo the volume, if you are weak then it’s easy to get stronger and improve conditioning at the same time. Just if you do more than you can recover from (which sounds like your plan) then you won’t go very far.
Clean up your diet, do the necessary conditioning, and lift some weights a couple times a week. Sounds pretty straigthforward.
Did you find Fred Hatfield’s article? That might be the best guidance for strength and conditioning for boxing you will find. It worked out alright for Holyfield too.
Conditioning. More specifically, conditioning through doing the activity you’ve chosen to Excell in.
It seems that the subject of your attention is boxing.
Do you have a coach? The importance of this can not be understated.
Do you currently box/spar/follow coaches training advice?
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Did you not read a single thing I wrote earlier?
Fuck. Squats. You need to lose weight and get more conditioned.
Here’s a rough, basic outline I’d give you if I was your coach:
UPPER
Push press
- 6 sets. Sets 1-2 SS with triceps extercise, 3-4 SS with front delt exercise, 5-6 SS with lateral raise exercise
DB bench (preferably incline)
- Something like 2-3 sets, SS with high rep facepulls or other rear delt exercise
Ass-load of chins
- SS with some biceps stuff if you desperately want.
Abs
- Do some ab work. Russian twists are great.
HIIT
- Battle ropes, ball slams, wall balls, whatever. Use tabata, 30 sec on/off, EMOM, doesn’t matter. This will work your power endurance.
LOWER
Clean pulls/power cleans/hang power cleans
- High number of sets, low reps. Typical strength/power stuff.
Squats
- Low-to-mid range reps. Something like 3-4 sets.
Hamstring work
- Leg curls, RDLs, something. Shoot for total reps vs sets x reps.
Abs
- All the ab work. Just all of it. Preferably rotational and standing.
Prowler OR high-resistance exercise bike
- I like something like a 2:1 work-rest ratio here. If you don’t have a prowler, crank the resistance up on an exercise bike. Just something to get your legs working.
Other than that, 2-3 days of high incline treadmill walks with varying speed would do wonders.
This is only the non-boxing stuff. Boxing needs to take a higher priority over weights, especially when you’re learning, which is why I wrote it for 2 days a week. You’re still get stronger, if you push hard on the lifts you’ll get bigger too, but if BOXING is the goal, weights are secondary.
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There is no reason that you cannot build strength and cardio at the same time, unless you are at some elite level of either of those right now, which you are not. Lifting activates different muscle fibres than cardio, so the impact of one on the other from that perspective is minimal. The main impact of the cardio is that it burns calories, and you will have a hard time building strength or size while in a calorie deficit. So, your diet becomes very important in this if you are serious. Squatting three times a week while cutting weight will make recovery very difficult for your muscles. Once a week allows you time to re-build the damaged muscle from lifting while still repetetively using the slow twitch fibres for cardio work. It doesn’t actually matter if you are fat for boxing, it matters that you can punch and move for all of the rounds and not run out of gas in round 2. Conditioning and cardio in general does have the side effect of fat loss in most guys, and boxers are lean - at least in part - because of the intense volume of cardio required for conditioning for that sport.
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