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Top strength and conditioning coach reveals the three exercises no boxer should be without
Building a boxer is a balancing act. Yes, you need muscle, but not so much that it hampers mobility or means an athlete misses weight. Yes, you need endurance, but not so much that an athlete neglects the fast-twitch muscle fibres behind their knockout power.
Instead, coaches must craft a multifaceted training programme capable of balancing the many attributes required by a successful fighter.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Sonny Cannon knows this only too well. The experienced strength and conditioning coach specialises in boxing, with athletes such as Johnny Fisher and Skye Nicolson among his client roster.
He says there are ‘still a lot of bad habits in boxing, in terms of training methods’, with some athletes wasting time on exercises that offer poor return on investment.
By contrast, there are three exercises that Cannon says should be non-negotiables in pretty much any boxer’s training plan, offering impressive bang for your buck.
Trap bar deadlift for developing absolute strength
Absolute strength is the maximum amount of weight a person can lift for a single repetition – e.g., a one-rep max.
“Absolute strength underpins all power and speed, so developing this is a must for me,” Cannon says. “In the same way we understand that a good aerobic base is the foundation for the cardio-respiratory system, the same principles apply with absolute strength for our anaerobic energy system and the strength continuum.”
The strength continuum describes the various ways muscles can produce force. It comprises absolute strength, strength speed (the ability to move a relatively heavy load quickly), speed strength (the ability to move a relatively light load quickly and explosively) and absolute speed (the ability to move at maximum speed).
As a boxer, it is imperative to be able to express force across all of these areas. Without a good level of absolute strength, the relative weights you move during more-explosive exercises will feel heavier, leaving you less able to generate speed and power. For this reason, absolute strength lays the foundation for all strength training.
Cannon says the trap bar deadlift, performed with a hex bar, is his go-to method for developing absolute strength. It is a compound exercise that allows you to engage large muscle groups across the upper and lower body while lifting heavy loads. It also puts less stress on the spine than a conventional deadlift, reducing injury risk.
During Jonny Fisher’s preparations to take on Dave Allen, his goal was to work up to lifting 2.2 times his body weight. Cannon says this is a solid general target to shoot for.
Plyometric press-up for developing explosive punching speed and power
Plyometric training involves eccentric loading (the lowering phase of an exercise) followed by an explosive concentric phase (the lifting portion of an exercise), utilising a muscular process called the stretch-shortening cycle.
It is used to develop power by challenging athletes to perform explosive exercises such as jumping and bounding. It should also, says Cannon, be used to target the upper body through exercises like plyometric press-ups.
“This is not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination, but plyometrics can bridge the gap between gains made in the weight room and the ability to generate power and speed,” he explains.
For example, he adds, incorporating plyometric press-ups into your training can carry over to improved punching power.
A 2022 study published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health set out to see whether 12 weeks of speed strength training (largely plyometric exercises including plyometric press-ups) could improve the punching speed, punching power and punching effectiveness of members of the Chinese women’s boxing team.
After a series of pre- and post-study tests on an experimental group and a control group of athletes, researchers reported that the former saw improvements in speed strength.
“With the improvement of the athletes' speed level, the athletes' punching power and punching speed were directly improved so that the athletes could better play the technical characteristics when attacking with straight punch, swinging punch and hook technique,” the study concludes. “[It also] improved the athletes' striking effect, thus increasing the possibility of winning the match.”
Fan bike intervals for developing maximum power output and repeat power ability
There are three energy systems; the phosphagen system (prioritised during high-effort, very low-duration activities), the glycolytic system (prioritised during short, intense efforts) and the oxidative system (which uses oxygen to create fuel indefinitely during longer efforts at a moderate intensity or below).
“Boxers generally do some form of strength training and have a good aerobic base,” says Cannon. This latter point means they are capable of taking in and using plenty of oxygen during exercise, allowing them to sustain moderate-intensity, steady-state activities for long periods. “
However, he says that anaerobic training is often a missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to boxing.
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He explains: “Breaking down and understanding the ATP-PC [or phosphagen] system, then specifically training this energy system for maximum power output and repeat power ability, is a must for boxing.”
The phosphagen system is the primary energy system used during short (10 seconds or less) explosive efforts such as sprinting, attempting a one-rep max lift or, critically, punching.
A 2023 narrative review of energy system contributions during combat sports, published in the Metabolites journal, states that the phosphagen system accounts for 10 per cent of energy during boxing matches, with the oxidative (or aerobic) system contributing 86 per cent. However, it is explosive movements that often decide a boxing match, so it pays to practise accessing them at any given moment.
The research explains: “The ATP-PC system has a higher metabolic power (i.e. rate of energy transfer per unit of time) due to a low number of reactions needed to resynthesise ATP, but a low capacity (i.e. total amount of energy that can be released) due to limited substrate stores.”
In other words, it is an immediately available, yet incredibly limited, fuel source. To develop this system, allowing you to generate power quickly and repeatedly, Cannon prescribes intervals on a fan bike.
“I would typically start with a 10-second max effort, followed by 50 seconds of rest, then repeat between 12 and 15 times,” he says.
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