Hitting Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

Boxing, and combat sports in general, have to a large extent suffered in terms of physical preparation since the sports inception - and particularly since a more recent emergence of Strength & Conditioning specialists. “Suffered” is a bold statement, but something of a fitting one, in a sport in which it is so often ingrained that pain and suffering is the key to success. Now I am by no means saying that there is no merit in some of the darker places that physical training can take athletes, but in a sporting context that has been so often hampered by a craving for specificity, this article aims to delve a little deeper, and educate in to how training smarter, often trumps training harder.

regularly exposing yourself to high forces, at varying velocities, through a structured programme will give you the foundation to start hitting harder.

Force is an essential part of the power equation.Similarly to my recent post regarding developing sprinting speed, force production plays a significant part of the equation if you’re looking to punch and/or kick harder in combat sport. I’ll talk later about transference of force, but having the ability to generate large forces, translates fundamentally to hitting harder. Shadow-boxing with weights in your hand then, is probably not going to lead to great improvements in force production, instead - regularly exposing yourself to high forces, at varying velocities, through a structured programme will give you the foundation to start hitting harder. It is then well documented that high forces are expressed at their greatest through larger compound exercises - so if you want to hit harder and faster, ditch the weighted gloves, and pick up the Hex-Bar.

“But lifting weights will make me slow”, a common painful misconception carried by athletes in a variety of sports, but particularly in combat sport. And yet, recent research from within the UFC Performance Institute, indicates that ~90% of variance in hand speed in elite fighters, can be attributed to differences in force expression capability. As with the vast majority of tasks, the engine built is only as useful as the car it is put in – that meaning, that it’s crucial developing force, but simultaneously, can we develop it’s transference to what matters.

Kinetic links and an effective “core”. Which leads nicely on to the principle of kinetic links, which refers to the ability to transfer force through the body and translate it to the appropriate point of contact – in this case, the fist/shin/elbow/knee. Think of it simply as a whip, your body produces force and waves the handle with intent, and that is effectively transmitted along the whip, culminating in a harsh smash from the end of the tail. The same principle applies to generating punch power, although some sharp shots may be thrown in isolation – with the upper body working independently of the lower body, - the biggest blows come from a transference of force, generated through the legs driving into the floor, transferring up through a rotating trunk, through the shoulder, and into the arm. Again, this is a trainable trait,there are a whole host of gym-based exercises designed to work on that very ability, aiding the collaboration between lower and upper body, to equal heavy hitting.This is where the inclusion of more specific exercises helps translate that new found force effectively. Using landmine variations, and ballistic medicine ball work help translate that new found force into more corresponding movement patterns and skill execution.

This transmission of force is far less likely if your trunk acts as a washing machine, leaking energy in all directions before force can even make its way further up the chain. I don’t particularly like the term “core”, but it’s one which everyone generally thinks they understand. When thinking of the “core” or “trunk” we are referring generally to the musculature, connective tissue, and skeletal structure around the pelvis and lumbar spine. Now this covers an incredibly large and sophisticated network of tissue, and training it is equally as complex. It pains me to see (in all sports!), a desire for athletes to still want to do extra “abs” at the end of the session, consisting of 5 sets to failure of bicycle crunches and poorly executed sit-ups – which almost inevitably leads to lower back complaints further down the line. It’s important to remember that the trunk plays a fundamental part in resisting movement (rotation, flexion, lateral flexion), as well as transmitting force and maintain tension whilst assisting movement. It should then be trained accordingly,and failure to do so is undoubtedly going to leave in kinks in the chain when it comes to force production translating to those knockout blows.

just as the best way to run a faster 10km, isn’t to just go out and run 10km 3 times per week, the same is true for fighting.

Appropriate conditioning.Conditioning in combat sport will be covered extensively in a blog post of it’s own, but is of course worth mention here. Hitting hard is great, but being able to maintain hard hitting for the duration of a 2/3/5minute round, for 3/5/8/10/12 rounds is equally as paramount. Combat sport athletes often get a very real and relevant exposure to fight conditioning in sparring, which particularly in camp, aids in sharpening a fighters condition and getting them ready for fight night. But, just as the best way to run a faster 10km, isn’t to just go out and run 10km 3 times per week, the same is true for fighting. Although many roads lead to Rome, structuring a conditioning programme around targeting different physical adaptations, at different parts of the training camp, should be paramount in elite preparation for competition.It isn’t as simple as some might have you think, in that you do “aerobic” training, and “anerobic” training, but there are varying methods of targeting either central (think of that as heart and lungs, and the availability to transport oxygen to working muscles), or peripheral (think of that as the muscle site, and the cells ability to metabolise fuel in turn for energy) adaptation, and something that is often overlooked in S&C practice. It doesn’t take long on social media to find examples of bad/poor practice and people and athletes being flogged for flogging’s sake, but as is often said, any idiot can make someone tired, but an S&C Coach is tasked with the role of making you better.A good example that I’ve been fortunate to witness first hand is Ricky McFarlane of McFarlane Training Systems (currently also working out of the same facility as PRPerformance). Rick works with a variety of fighters from the elite junior, to the emerging and elite level, but applies sound scientific principles when preparing his fighters, and some of the changes that fighters have made since working with him have been clear to see, and goes to show that effective planning around sound fundamentals breeds results.

Intent Intent Intent.So just as the best way to improve sprint speed is to sprint fast, probably the best way to start hitting harder, is to hit hard. If you’re an MMA athlete, or a boxer, ask yourself, how often do you hit the heavy bag as hard as you possibly can? And I don’t mean how often do you hit it as hard as you can that specific moment in time, (for example, at the end of your 5th 3-minute round), but how often do you hit the bag with as much force as you possibly can produce. Find time within your programme, when fresh, to warm up appropriately, and throw 3 or 4 of your hardest shots at the heavy bag, with an emphasis on producing as much force as you can possibly generate. Then rest, either passively, or active (perhaps shadow working purely on blocks, feints, and head movement) for over a minute, before repeating the process, 4, 5, 6 times.This shouldn’t have you panting and blowing, and it isn’t supposed to, but more regular exposure to specifically moving with real intent, and giving you the opportunity to translate the force you’re developing as aforementioned, is going to lead to devastating results when that strike lands on fight night.

The 52 week fight camp. However, there is still a clammer from fighters, even at the elite professional level to cram training into a 8 week training camp. If you want to make it to the top, then unfortunately, that’s not going to cut it. The 8 week camp following signing on the dotted line should be for refining the technical and tactical game plan, whilst sharpening the tools developed whilst “out of camp”. Out of camp then gives the fighter the opportunity to continue to develop gross athleticism and a solid foundation of strength and fitness, meaning that when the time comes, the money is already in the bank, and the camp becomes about sharpening the tools as opposed to trying to dust them off from a box at the back of the shed.

By no means have boxing and combat sports got it all wrong, and there are preparation/training practices that have since been taken aboard by other sports in the hunt for physical development, and I will definitely be touching on those topic areas in the coming months. But hopefully, if you’re a fighter, this post has made you reflect on your current training practices and remember, PRPerformance offers Strength & Conditioning, and Performance Nutrition Support to combat sport athletes of all levels, looking to develop their physical performance, with a variety of packages available, from fight camp nutrition/weight support, to long term athletic development in gym environments.

Make sure you follow on social media to pick up blog/post updates amongst other news regarding PRPerformance service provision. Even better, have a look through the rest of the website and head to the Contact page to start the conversation, and see what PRPerformance can do for you.

Thanks for reading,

Paul