Circuit training for boxing.

[foster]

Hi,

One of the boxing coaches at the gym likes to throw in some circuit training every once and a while. Problem is the circuits start from two minutes, then one and a half. one and lastly thirty seconds. The exercises are traditional like, push-ups, sit-ups, squat thrusts in random order. I think two minutes in a circuit is excessive and by the time I have finished I am exhausted! How long should you spend at each station? I am told this should be thirty seconds. How long should circuit training take and at which part of the training session should it take place. This year I hope to be a coach, where do I learn about structureing workouts for boxing?

Thanks in advance,

Keith

[dragon]

The way i usually perform whatever exercises i choose for a desired number of reps for a set period.For example,20 snatches,20 cleans,20 push ups done in that order repeatedly for 3 mins(hope that makes sense).
I choose 3 min "rounds" because that is the same as a boxing round.

Either that method or Tabata which i've mentioned before and is quite popular amongst boxers.

I do this at the end of a workout.

Dragon.

[foster]

Thanks for that,

Should circuits always be done at the end of a workout?

How do I structure a boxing workout?


Keith

[dragon]

I always do personally.
There's no point wearing myself out at the beginning of a workout before i've gone through techniques.It would just make a fighter adopt bad habits such as swinging punches,dropping their guard,etc.

When i used to compete i did occasionally mix it up:-warm up,intense circuit,easy going pad work,intense circuit,easy going bag work,etc.

I only did this to see how i cope with changes in tempo,body temp changes,etc.Certainly wasn't an integeral part of my training cycles.

Dragon.

[mat]

Should circuits always be done at the end of a workout?

As a general rule, yes.

In terms of strength/fitness I don't think it makes a lot of difference.

In martial arts classes, doing circuits at the beginning of a session tires the students out and makes it harder for them to concentrate on what they're doing. I've had positive feedback from students who say they get much more out of a session when they're alert and energised after a short warm up rather than a long warmup followed by circuits. Practising martial arts techniques requires a good deal of alertness and its very difficult to do when tired.

However, we do make a point of occasionally (fairly rarely) doing circuits early on as being able to carry on training when aching & exhausted is a very good mental discipline exercise. I think this is why boxers train this way more often than martial artists.

Mat

[Thomas Kurz]

One of the boxing coaches at the gym likes to throw in some circuit training every once and a while. Problem is the circuits start from two minutes, then one and a half. one and lastly thirty seconds. The exercises are traditional like, push-ups, sit-ups, squat thrusts in random order. I think two minutes in a circuit is excessive and by the time I have finished I am exhausted! How long should you spend at each station? I am told this should be thirty seconds. How long should circuit training take and at which part of the training session should it take place. This year I hope to be a coach, where do I learn about structuring workouts for boxing?

The order of exercises in a circuit is not to be random and there are proven effective ways of progressively increasing intensity or volume of work in a circuit. See Science of Sports Training (pages 208-210).

For info on structuring workouts see my columns (from 12 to 16) at http://www.stadion.com/column.html or the third chapter in Science of Sports Training.

[foster]

Hey,

Thank-you so much everyone for taking the time to reply to me. Mr. Kurtz I have your book the science of sports training, but I found it a little hard to understand. However I think a second reading will be worthwhile, as I know have a better understanding of the training process.

Meantime if anybody could recomend me any books on training for boxing, I would much appreaciate it.

Thanks again,

Keith

[strangedejavu]

Mr. Kurtz I have your book the science of sports training, but I found it a little hard to understand. However I think a second reading will be worthwhile, as I know have a better understanding of the training process.

I've read about half of SOST. It's a technical book and it reads much like my engineering textbooks from college. I would recommend taking your own personal notes as you read it. The information is so dense that it's impossible to remember everything from a casual read. Although it's more time consuming, I probably wouldn't have survived school had I not learned to do that.