Movement Patterns & Strength Training
Published January 7, 2009 by Martin Bean
Coach Rob Pilger of BoxingPerformance.com breaks down the primal movement patterns of boxing and how to strength train using them for better transfer and fighting performance.
When designing strength training programs you must think in terms of the primal patterns or movement patterns used in boxing. The cns (central nervous system) thinks in terms of movements not muscles. So to make program design easy for boxing lets look at the primal patterns used in boxing. You then use the exercises used in these primal patterns to train for improved boxing performance.
Twist pattern: The power comes from the core no doubt. If you have a weak core, you will have little power. Look at the best punchers of all time and you will see the snap and rotation that they display when they punch. Great rational exercises are reverse wd chops, land mines, med ball throws.
Lunge Pattern: I know boxers don't lunge in fights but they must have strong legs to deliver power.Good fighters drive with the legs to deliver that power. Fighters do lunge in a way when they throw hard or heavy jabs as a way to get more leverage so it's a must to train this primal pattern.
Static lunges, reverse lunges, dynamic front lunges, multi directional lunges, lunge jumps must in your strength training programs.
Squat Pattern: Training the squat pattern is vital for delivering more power in the leg drive I have talked about. Look at how Tyson would drop down and drive up with his upper cuts while in his prime, note the leg drive and the tree trunk legs he had. He would deliver fierce body shots in the same why by driving and digging into the opponents body with his legs.
Front squats, zercher squats, back squats, zercher split stance squats, and explosive jumps work best in training the squat pattern.
Bend Pattern: You can see a bit of the bend pattern when a fighter dips and bends then explosively drives his body up when ripping upper cuts and different angles of body shots. I feel the bend pattern is a big over looked but important in creating a better and stronger fighter.
Some basic bend patterns are Romanian dead lifts, good mornings, seated good morning, back raises, back extension with med ball toss, good morning/verticle jump with med ball toss, kneeling back extension with toss, standing explosive back toss.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rob Pilger runs BoxingPerformance.com a website that provides written articles and video's of Training Workouts For Boxers, Boxing Training Programs and Boxing Training Workout Exercises.
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