The Theory of the Sweet Science
The Theory of the Sweet Science
This text is custom designed for fighters. The author trains professional fighters such as Chuck Liddell and various others under contract for a living. So you just know this is the real thing.
This is tough stuff. And a lot of it is no fun, but I guess if we were after fun this would be a site about windsurfing or something sensible like that.
You’ll get a good run-down of why speed-strength and strength-endurance is important in boxing. The strength training procedures make use of partial Olympic lifts to minimize the learning curve whilst developing power. There’s also a great selection of bodyweight exercises that can be performed anywhere and anytime.
The volume provides you with a veritable menu of maneuvers that have the primary goal of functional movement. This book is not a one dimensional approach to combat training either metaphorically or literally. Ross makes sure to attend to the need to train the saggital, frontal and transverse planes of movement - all very important for fighters. All exercises are demonstrated with simple, clear and concise pictures so you won’t be left guessing.
The chapter and opening discussion on isometrics training is fantastic and I think is worth the value of the book alone. He goes on to talk about how you can use this particular protocol to increase punching speed and strength (power).
As an added bonus I like the snippets of advice that you’ll find scattered within the text e.g. ‘clean up your diet’, meaning before you start adding stuff, take the crap out of it first.
While the first half of the book mainly dedicates itself to strength and speed attributes (power) and how to go about achieving them, the second half of the book has a thorough discussion that deals with physical conditioning drills that will prepare you for the ring. You’ll find an excellent array of heavy bag drills that work the upper body, and lower body exercises that will give your legs the stamina and strength that they need.
There is no shortage of training methods and the major ones, I’ll call them folder 1 with them being conditioning exercises, dynamic strength training, core training and isometrics contain variations and those contain further variations. It’s like Russian dolls, or if you’re more familiar with certain aspects of how computers work its like files within folders within folders, so for instance;
As Ross alludes to himself, variation is one of the keys to prevent overtraining. This is all great stuff and breaks you out of the mental box that you may have found yourself in – within your programs
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; there is no substitute for experience and that applies here – This is not a book that you can passively read, especially if you are new to the area of sport conditioning in which case there’s a lot here that will be foreign. It’s a lot to both physically and mentally take in so you absolutely have to be active in the learning process. You will draw much more from it this way then if you just stand back. Read it, practice the drills for a time, see how your body responds to them, then go back and read the whole thing again. In the second reading you’ll gain much more insight and a greater feel for what the whole thing is about. At the back of the book is a sample 50 day program that brings all of what you have learnt in the preceding chapters together.
The book will have you asking yourself questions. What are you doing and why are you doing it? i.e. Are you in a general physical preparedness phase (GPP) phase or are you training a specific energy system today? Etc.
If you are new to the area of strength and conditioning exercise, head on over to the article on boxing with speed and strength first to familiarize yourself with some of the terms that you may come across. Then do yourself a huge favor and buy it.
