Movement

Question 1

The first two steps a boxing journey should start with are?

Answer 1

mobility and movement

Before we even lift a weight, we need to ensure that athletes have the foundational movement skills to perform exercises correctly. This enables our athletes to achieve better results and avoid injury.

Question 2

mobility benefits

Answer 2

It enables more fluid and faster rotation through the kinetic chain.

• It enables the lower body to produce more force during punching motion, leading to a harder punch.
• It can help to reduce and prevent injury in boxers, which is important for long term development

Question 3

Hip flexor tightness can cause many different injuries and dysfunctions, including

Answer 3

lower back pain and limit glute strength.

Question 4

Rotational mobility is needed to

Answer 4

transfer force from ‘foot to fist’ when delivering punches.

Question 5

tightness in muscles across the thoracic spine can limit rotation, causing the ———————- to play a big role during rotation.

Answer 5

Quadratus Lumborum

Question 6

How to effectively fix Quadratus Lumborum problems

Answer 6

The QL is a muscle in the side of the lower back. Overactivity can cause lower back pain. You can use a foam roller, spend money on a sports massage and try numerous ways to stretch it to make it feel better, but this is likely to be only a short-term fix.

To make beneficial long-term changes, you should focus on improving thoracic and core rotation. This will reduce the compensatory patterns of the QL and use the preferred muscles in your kinetic chain.

Question 7

is an important contributor to forceful hip extension and rotation needed during running, jumping and more importantly, punching

Answer 7

Glute Strength

Question 8

Stronger glutes can improve your ability to

Answer 8

engage and strengthen the core, which can help protect against injuries to the lower back muscles

Question 9

The most effective way to strengthen the glutes would be to

Answer 9

lift heavy using squats, deadlifts and hip thrusts. However, many boxers need to use isolated exercises to help improve activation patterns of the glutes first.

Question 10

Having good footwork is the foundation of many boxing champions, in particular lateral movement. This can be developed through

Answer 10

This can be developed through shadow boxing, pad work and in sparring

Question 11

Using isolated exercises and drills can improve the quality of your lateral movement. This works by

Answer 11

This works by strengthening and engaging the gluteal muscle groups, adductors, and lateral stabilizers of the core. These are the desired muscle groups for effective lateral movements.

Question 12

Mini-bands are a great way to fire up the

Answer 12

glute muscle groups prior to lateral activities

Question 13

Exercise for lateral movement

Answer 13

Main Coaching Points

• Mini band around the knees. Push out using the knees but not excessively.
• Control hips in both movements

Question 14

Exercise for lateral movement

Answer 14

Side Step to Single Leg Holds
This exercise allows you to maintain the desired hip position during lateral movements. Main Coaching Points

• Keep feet hip-width apart, push out with the knees. Keep hips pushed back throughout the movement.
• Raise inside leg to balance on one leg, keep balanced on heels with knee tracking the toe. Keep hips back.

Question 15

Plyometrics for boxing and combat sports

Answer 15

‘Plyometrics’ is a term used to describe jumping and speed exercises. However, by definition, a plyometric action is only achieved when ground contact time is under 0.25 seconds.

Question 16

How can a boxer benefit from plyometric training?

Answer 16

by developing the elasticity of their muscles and tendons. Elastic muscles and stiff tendons contribute to fast feet, good balance, and an effective stretch-shortening cycle.
However, it’s not just a case of performing high volumes of jumping and hopping. Boxers should take a careful and systematic approach to integrate plyometrics into their programs.

Question 17

What is the stretch-shortening cycle?

Answer 17

This is the sequencing of a fast eccentric (stretching) and concentric (shortening) action of muscles. The quicker this happens, the more likely to produce more force.
This plays an important role in sprinting, jumping, hopping and throwing.

Question 18

General Knowledge

Answer 18

Eccentric utilization can be improved by increasing strength levels. However, high-training loads and negative energy balance can make this process slow, as well as making athletes sore for their conditioning and technical training.

Question 19

Boxers should start plyometric training by learning how to land safely.

Answer 19

This will improve the way you control and absorb force. It also isolates the eccentric component of the stretch-shortening cycle and will provide you with the opportunity to develop eccentric muscle action capability.

Question 20

plyometric training knowledge

Answer 20

Boxers should start plyometric training by learning how to land safely. This will improve the way you control and absorb force.

It also isolates the eccentric component of the stretch-shortening cycle and will provide you with the opportunity to develop eccentric muscle action capability.

Question 21

The plyometric journey is as followed with the followng three phases

Answer 21

Land/Jump
jump
loaded

Question 22

Land / Jump Phase

Answer 22

Perform 5-8 reps x 3-4 sets of each exercise
Altitude Landings
Box Jumps
Altitude Landing – Hold and Jump
Countermovement Jumps

Question 23

Altitude Landings coaching points

Answer 23

Start on a platform 30-50 cm from the floor.

- Step off, land softly on both feet with knees slightly flexed and hips pushed back. Hold for 1-2 seconds then repeat.

Question 24

box jumps Main Coaching Points

Answer 24

Perform a small dip of the knees and hips, before explosively extending upwards and jumping on to a box (approximately (20-40 cm).
- Land in a similar position to that which you would in an altitude landing, landing in a strong and solid position. Hold for 1-2 seconds, then repeat.

Question 25

Altitude Landing – Hold and Jump coaching points

Answer 25

Follow the same instructions as Altitude Landings, but perform a jump after a 1-2 second pause.
- Drive through your heels, extend your hips and jump as high as possible.

Question 26

Countermovement Jumps

Answer 26

Start by standing upright, feet hip width apart and hands on hips.
- Perform a quick dip of the hips before performing the jump.

Question 27

Benefits of a Strength and Conditioning warm-up

Answer 27

• Stretching, mobilizing, and activating muscle groups can improve short-term elasticity and stability resulting in more force being produced at high speed.
• Increased muscle temperature improves the ability to perform more forceful actions, whilst increased metabolism benefits performance by changing the energetic state of the muscle and elevates blood flow.
• Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is a phenomenon that acutely improves muscular force output. This is due to increased neural activity, rate coding, and recruitment of fast-twitch motor units. This phenomenon can be stimulated by near-maximal voluntary actions associated with heavy lifting and jumping.

Question 28

Structuring your warm-up

Answer 28

• RAISE – The first phase of the warm-up is to elevate body temperature and blood flow demands.
• ACTIVATE AND MOBILISE – Various dynamic stretches and stabilization exercises to improve range of motion and muscle activation to help engage the muscles that will be used in the workout.
• POTENTIATE – Fast or heavy-loaded exercise that requires near-maximal effort will get the muscles fired up ready for the workout.

Question 29

Raise

Answer 29

Perform low-intensity activities to elevate body temperature and metabolism. This will stimulate the cardiorespiratory system and improve blood flow to the muscles.

• Jogging, Skipping, Shadow Boxing
o 5-10 minutes
o Monitor with heart rate, try to work in zone 2-3 (60-80% max heart rate)

Question 30

Activate and Mobilise

Answer 30

Select exercises that mobilise key muscle groups. We focus on shoulders, hips, core, glutes and thoracic rotation. Mobility exercises can help increase the range of motion and improve force production. Activation exercises are used to fire up the muscles by priming motor units for subsequent neuromuscular activation.

Eagles, Glute Bridge, Side Clams, Glute Stretch, Squat
and Lunges
o Medium Tempo, Progressing to Fast Tempo.
o 8-10 reps / 20 seconds.
o 1-2 sets.

Question 31

Potentiate / Specific

Answer 31

We often use jumping exercises to encourage fast, a forceful extension of the hips. Then transfer this into shadow boxing drills to get the neuromuscular system firing in boxing-specific movements. We encourage fast lateral movements and hip drive whilst using mini-resistance bands around the knees. This fires up the gluteal and core muscles during punching movements.

• Countermovement/pogo jumps
o 3-5 reps, 2-3 sets
• Banded shadow box
o 30 seconds, 2-3 sets