Improved boxing performance through strength training

By Dave “Scooter” Honig: A properly created and explained strength program is an asset in any athletic endeavor. It is based on deciding which muscles are utilized and how much they can be strengthened for that particular sport.

In boxing, a lot of power comes from a quick rotation of the abdominals, shoulders, and wrists with a pivot over a straight leg. Power is brought up from the base (legs) passing through the hips then the waist. A quick twist over the leg is followed by an extension of the arms. Useful exercises for developing power can include the bench press, clean and jerk, squat, calve raise, and bent leg dead lift. The muscles trained during the session should be the ones used for punching and moving around the ring. Don’t forget the main idea is to not get hit, so good footwork is crucial. This is another reason for leg training. Your legs need to have the endurance to last the complete fight in addition to generating power. These exercises should include squats, plyometric jumps, lunges, and calve raises.

The deltoids and triceps enable extension of the arms. They should be thoroughly trained with dips, the dumbbell shoulder press, and military press. These exercises are not only extremely effective, but are also excellent builders of upper body strength. Many fighters use clenching to protect themselves from getting hit. If you are the offensive fighter, and your opponent is trying to hold your arms, you need to extricate your arms to continue the attack. An excellent exercise to perform this specific purpose is one-arm rows with weight stack using a cable handle or dumbbells. We can also use explosive pulling movement with different strength rubber tubing pulls. The strength coach can have his fighters do wrist curls to strengthen the fighter’s forearms. Perform in a palms up and palms down position. This will also strengthen the wrists.

Strong abdominal muscles are one of the most important things in a fighter’s arsenal. It is the target area of repeated punches. The waist, or the pivot point from where a punch is thrown, is used along with the legs to move your upper body while slipping and ducking punches. The abdomen can be strengthened by various exercises such as sit-ups, Russian twists, crunches, and medicine ball drops. Russian twists are when you lock your legs into a sit-up board, grab a weight, hold it out in front of you shoulder height, lean back at a 90 degree angle, and rotate your waist in a twisting motion from left to right. Also, you can lock your legs, grab a weight, and hold on your chest or behind your head. Then in a seated position, throw punches with a twisting motion.

The strength coach must be in constant communication with the boxer’s trainer. He must make sure that the fighter does not develop so much muscle that it is not beneficial for boxing. Sometimes fighters with their newfound strength, start throwing arm punches. A good strength and conditioning program can be divided into three phases. Each phase is based on the last. This program is beneficial to any fighter as long as they work hand in hand with the boxing trainer. Don’t forget a stretching program before and after you train. Flexibility is invaluable. NEXT UP: Phases of Conditioning

*** Dave “SCOOTER” Honig has been a conditioning expert in the sport of boxing for over 15 years. He has worked with fighters including: Jameel McCline, Vivian Harris, Zab Judah, Kathy Collins, Oleg Maskev, Robert Allen, and Dimitri Salita. He is also now the exclusive strength and conditioning coach for LL Cool J.

Maf's educated opinion;

I don't agree that todays athletes are advancing. Alot of overweight scientists make theories about sports conditioning, but they have less hands on experience with athletes compared to trainers. Its much wiser to follow the training methods of a good trainer. They know more than any scientists, because they have tested it in the best laboratory there is for sports; the gym and the arena.

The calisthenic method of weight training which works muscles in groups has been used for hundreds of years by boxers, and thousands of years by athletes. This ancient wisdom has been tried tested and improved by many generations. I'd rather use that wisdom than the wisdom of the nerds. The nerds have come out with some good things, but they have to just keep on going making training more complicated than necessary.

For example some sports scientists recommend that you isolate muscles (in sport such muscles are not utilised in isolation) with various complicated exercises using dumbells, barbells and complicated benches set at different angles. All them exercises that they preach to work out the upper body are covered in two basic gymnastic exercises; chin ups and dips.

Almost every muscle in your upper body will get a workout from these two simple yet effective exercise. Add a good old dipping belt for added weight resistance and you can build as much or as little muscle as you wish. The strength will be functional as your moving your own body through space and therefore you will develop more strength pound for pound.

Science is useful but the problem is they like to complicate things with fancy jargon and make life alot more difficult. Fitness is quite simple, there is no need to spend hours in the gym trying to find all the equipment and trying to figure out all the different exercises, while your blood goes cold and your sweat dries up. The only strength exercises I found useful for boxing are as follows;

Dips (with or without weight)
Chin-ups (with or without weight)
Press-ups
Squats (all varieties)
Military press

These are the traditional exercises prescribed for boxers through the ages, and they all promote fluidity in motion. If it worked for the fighters from Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey to Ali, Holmes and Tyson. Why should we abandon that knowledge and do the Frank Bruno and Vitali Klitchko routine? It seems that all these complex isolation exercises has made these fighters isolate their punches from their combinations.

Another problem I personally experienced is that as I was spending more time on these new complex scientific routines, I got less time to do circuits, calisthenics and floor work. The result was devastating. My muscles were growing stronger but the scales were growing weaker. At one point I was worried it might just say 'to be continued'. The excessive weight training will make you feel like eating everything, so be careful how much you decide to do.

If you still doubt that modern weight training is over-rated then please consider this. When you box you use all your muscles together, not in isolation. How will isolating the muscles in workouts help your conditioning more than exercises that work them all at the same time. Its logical and the trainers know it. Even the sports scientists know it but they like to complicate things to stay in business.


I have read nearly every sports science book in my university which has one of the best departments for sports science in England. I found a book by the University of Chicago who have worked with many US Olympians as well as the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. They discovered that the best exercises to develop explosive power (what you need in sports like boxing and basketball) are plyometric circuits combined with SPORT SPECIFIC EXERCISES.

This is very important so listen up. The best way to condition the body to transfer the power to the sport was to do an exercise specific to the sport. So for example the Chicago Bulls players use to use a heavy medicine ball and imitate the motions used in basketball during the exercise eg. they would pass the medicine ball as though it was a basketball and also throw it in the air with a hook shot, etc.

Anybody who has been to a boxing gym would have seen these sports specific exercises in practice. The best way to develop in a sport is to make sure that at least 60% of the training is sports specific. I believe this also improves focus and gives you a psychological edge.

I am not saying a little bit of modern weight training exercises will not benefit, but what I am saying is do not get carried away and think you need to do lots of useless and complex exercises. If you stick to the basics listed above and add some exercises to the boxing routine at your club (which should include plyometric circuits), you will be okay.

To work out the entire upper body all you need is three sets each of dips and chins. If you add weight with a dipping belt you can even grow huge and grotesque, if thats your kind of thing. You can keep adding weight to your dipping belt, add a few sets and you will grow large muscles. But unlike the other grotesque bodybuilders you will have explosive strength and more pound for pound power. However if you want to box, then don't add weights because you will find yourself in a weight division above your natural and optimal weight. Boxers should work on speed and endurance with high quantity workouts.


Do this workout three times a week and try to reach 100 repititions per set before adding a little weight. If you are not boxing (or if you are a heavyweight) then add some weight right from the start and stick to 30 repitions for general fitness and 10 if you would like to live it large. For real muscle gains, add extra weight as soon as you can do 10 repititions.

Boxers should stick to higher repititions because this is the nature of the sport. You have to throw punches in high repititions.I found that the military (shoulder) press is a great weight training exercise and one of the only exercises that is used in nearly every boxing gym. Some gyms just have a sets of barbells for this exercise, and nothing else in terms of weights. Three sets of 100 repititions per training session would be a great supplement for the shoulders.

Sorry folks can't help you with the legs, because my legs are naturally very strong, muscular and powerful as well as lean. I never do any leg strength training because I need endurance in my legs. I just try to concentrate on roadwork, skipping and circuits. If you want to strengthen them just ask your trainer how many squats you need to do. I won't advise you to do exercises I haven't tested myself. Unlike the sports scientists.

Remember that the basics are the best and that there is no school like the old school. Don't buy in to the hype. I made that mistake and I know its a load of rubbish. Work harder at what you are already doing before looking for the shortcuts. Improvements take time, and no amount of science will give you a shortcut.

Finally, as with any training advice always use the principal of taking what works for you and rejecting what doesn't. But don't take shortcuts and easier options. I know people that do bench-press because they can't do press-ups, or can't be asked putting the extra effort in to lift their own weight. Do not look for shortcuts when introducing supplementary exercises to your workout and never lie to yourself. Do not use weights as an excuse to avoid the staple training of boxers; floorwork and roadwork.

If you get carried away with weights, then trust me you will get the munchies. Boxing has various demands on an athlete so the training should be the same; cross training. Your slow twitch muscle fibres will be preserved and will get a workout from floorwork. Especially using the punchbags; a sport specific exercise.

Stay tuned and read through the information about complex training that I will be posting soon. This time take in to consideration the purpose of combining sport specific exercises with plyometrics and and strenght training. The strenght training will give you a good solid foundation of all-round body strength. Sport specific exercises will ensure you advance further where it is most needed, with only the necessary muscles doing the extra work.

Finally, plyometrics are the final peice of the jigsaw puzzle. Plyometrics will develop explosive energy which can be sustained over long periods of time, and in short bursts. Just like youneed in most sports.

This is more or less the workout done in a typical boxing gym. If you are free to do what you like during/after training then stick to the mix, don't get lost in the weights section and try out every single stupid machine. Getting carried away will lead to hunger, hunger will lead to eating more, and eating more will lead to weighing more.

Also, don't forget that the fastest fighters never use weights. Roy Jones, Muhammad Ali and a few others never used weights. It's best to see what works for you but the methods of the champions can't be overlooked.

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