When it comes to weight training for boxing, no other exercise has made as noticeable a difference in my boxing as heavy squats. When I started boxing, I was coming off years of weight training and had a decent amount of size and strength. Unfortunately, my 5’7″ height and 177 pound weight would not put me in an advantageous position to win fights. In my quest to drop weight and get down to 165 pounds for middleweight, I abandoned most training with weights and limited myself to cardio push ups burpees ab work and of course boxing itself it took me about 4 months to slowly get to my desired weight when I got there I felt great and very light. funny thing was that even though I had sharpened my technique, my power on a single punch had taken a nosedive. I remember early on I could really push guys back with the jab, and I could throw a right hook to the body that resonated in I didn’t worry too much about it at the time, my skills had improved and I thought losing power was just a natural part of losing weight and being more precise with technique.
It wasn’t until I went to the gym with a friend one day about 2 years later that I was reintroduced to squats and deadlifts. I couldn’t believe how weak I had become, it was a blow to the ego that my strength had practically been reduced by half. I set out to get my strength back on the foundational lifts (squat, deadlift, and bench press). After about 6 weeks of steady work, most of my strength started to come back, particularly in the squat where I used to do 4-6 reps with 315lbs (3 plates on each side).
Later I sparred with that weakling to prep a guy for the next Provincials, and after the second round, the trainer came over to my side of the ring and whispered, “Hey, take it easy, he says you’re hitting too hard. “. What!? I laughed at myself, am I hitting too hard!? He hadn’t heard that in a long time, and especially from a guy on this level. But I was on to something, I realized I wasn’t being pushed around as much in the ring, I was able to hold my stance, block shots and then throw with more solid balance. It also became easy and natural to lower my levels to get low shots and rip the body. I found myself transitioning, stopping and starting with relative ease. Essentially, my legacies carried me along like nothing happened. I hadn’t felt this solid since I started, but now I had a whole arsenal of techniques to go with my new found strength.
There is always the question of whether weight training slows it down, my belief is that it doesn’t and can actually speed it up. However, adding too much weight can eventually slow it down and it takes more work on the part of the heart and lungs to support that weight. My advice to you, based on practical experience, is to take squatting seriously and develop as much strength and power as you can in this exercise. Notice how much more solid and agile he becomes in the ring.
