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Terence Crawford's brutal workout to build power and strength for Canelo clash
A strong yet slow boxer is unlikely to be a successful one. A quick yet weak boxer will probably suffer a similar fate. Instead, to succeed in the ring, a fighter needs to be a melting pot of many mental and physical attributes.
Terence Crawford is a prime example of this. He is strong, fast and powerful, with immaculate technique, a fluid style and the discomforting ability to switch stances at will.
It should be no surprise, then, that one of his go-to strength and conditioning protocols is a time-savvy technique designed to develop two key physical attributes in one fell swoop: absolute strength and power.
It is called contrast training, and below his coach Chet Fortune explains how the pair implement it to build a fight-ready physique ahead of his clash with Canelo Alvarez tonight.
How to do Terence Crawford’s two-move workout for strength and powerMark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Perform the sequence below for three rounds:
- Heavy sled push x10m
- Band-resisted sprint x10m
- Rest 3-5 minutes
“I’ve worked with athletes from a variation of combat sports but, specifically with boxers, if you can focus on a lot of leg work, most of the power is going to come from their hips and legs,” Fortune says. “It’s the kinetic chain – the body all ties together.
“How I work to avoid sacrificing upper body speed is I’ll leave my heavier lifts for the legs. Even when I do that, I’ll incorporate some fast-twitch movements, so that might mean supersetting [performing two exercises back to back with no rest in between] squats with box jumps, or a heavier sled push with a banded sprint right after.”
This is a technique called contrast training – a favourite among athletes and coaches including record-breaking swimmer Adam Peaty. It involves performing a heavy strength-focused exercise then immediately following this with a biomechanically similar explosive exercise.
Training in this manner is thought to activate something called post-activation potentiation or PAP – priming the working muscles with the heavier exercise so they can produce more force during the consequent explosive exercise.
According to a National Strength and Conditioning Association article, sport science pioneer Yuri Verkoshansky – who popularised the contrast training method – described this phenomenon as “like lifting a half-can of water when you think it’s full”.
It not only targets both strength and power in a fraction of the time it would usually take to hit each stimulus; it may also provide more of the desired training adaptations from the power-focused exercise – improved rate of force production in the working muscles – due to your elevated performance.
In layman’s terms: this training method can make you more explosive, which is a trait on most boxers’ Christmas list.
How does Terence Crawford use contrast training during camp?
For most people, the protocol above will leave them on their knees. For an elite athlete like Crawford, it is one piece of a much larger training puzzle.
Every day in camp includes some form of boxing work as well as strength and conditioning. Each week there are also four more intense 90-minute S&C sessions.
Each one comprises a lengthy warm-up, stretching and movement work, followed by an hour of hard graft. This includes a blend of exercises with barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells, designed to develop absolute strength, power and speed. There is also a healthy serving of core and neck-strengthening exercises to help Bud withstand impacts, as well as plenty of conditioning work through sparring, bag work, skipping, running, swimming and Assault Bike sprints. “We put it all together,” Fortune summarises.
All strength and conditioning work is also tailored to Crawford’s individual needs, with Fortune making tweaks daily to ensure it moves his athlete towards the ultimate goal: victory in the ring on September 13.
“There’s no cookie cutter solution for any fighter,” his coach says. “I’ve been with Terence for a little over 10 years now. Seeing that fighter, day in, day out, I’m always assessing and analysing his needs, and they change every single day.”
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