In one of my previous blogs, I detailed my philosophy of training and I explained the reason why my classes are so hard. I want each individual person to surpass themselves, and for them to aim to become the best they could ever be.
In order to achieve this goal I have to push them beyond their limits.
However, I'm often criticised about my way of teaching because others might believe that when the body gets tired it will lose its ability to acknowledge and reproduce a move. This is definitely what the books say but I believe in reality it is not always the case.
Studies have shown that athletes that over train on a high intensity level will experience a reduced ability to learn or develop their skills. I completely agree with this, depending on the circumstances!
Let me explain my thoughts:
Let’s take as an example a boxer that performs on a high competition level like a professional or an olympian. His/ her team will have planned an appropriate program for each single day. This will balance out the work over the week and it wouldn’t require the athlete to train at that super intense level all of the time, which will ensure proper progression.
In my opinion this idea doesn’t apply to the general population or a novice boxer who trains in the local boxing club and maybe has the desire to compete in a boxing match one day. Their practice has to be tough, hard and intensive so that they understand what an actual match might feel like.
Remember boxing or any contact sport is a discipline in which participants are hitting each other, so they might get hurt and that’s why the mind and body have to work together and be strong enough to endure this suffering.
I compare this to army training because it really inspires me. The soldiers are prepared in the right way to be able to go to war. Do you think it would be possible for a soldier to accomplish his mission if his/her training wasn’t intensive?
I am pretty sure that you are saying to yourself that boxing is not comparable to war, and you are right but it has a lot of similarities.
The ring is war, a place where two people are hitting each other to win the competition. There is no room for doubt, questioning yourself or moments of weakness. The boxer cannot even get emotional and has to keep a rational mind, otherwise they will pay for the consequences. Their focus has to be on point so they can access all of the skills they have learned in training. All of this requires a lot of courage!
Once the coach has judged that the boxer is fit enough to enter the ring, the boxer is by themselves, and the only thing that will prevent them from getting hurt is all the knowledge and practise they have received in training.
If the training wasn’t intense enough the boxer will face the reality which doesn't always end well unfortunately.
The unspoken thing about boxing is that in a fight, one way or the other, one of the two people in the ring is going to get hurt. But who is it going to be?
Coaches expect from their boxers to hit, move, score shots and defend themselves, but they don’t always provide the appropriate training to make that happen.
“The only way that I can protect my boxers from getting hurt in a boxing match is to deliver a hard and intense training. “
Note that I don't mean in any way that people should train to the point of injury to get better or be prepared. For me it is always about progression with goal of preparation, and not about mindless destruction.
Train hard, fight easy!!!!
Boxing is a beautiful sport to watch. The skills that boxers need to do all those amazing moves in the ring require intense training, that’s why you will always hear me say to my boxers: “ your fitness level has to be on point”.
Intense workouts set people's mind and get them ready to take on and face any challenges.
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