England Boxing drills – week 11

England Boxing Performance Coach Mick Driscoll and guests are putting together weekly boxing drills and training techniques that can be used to help keep fit and improve your skills during the Coronavirus pandemic – and here are week 11’s drills.

With clubs and gyms across the country having been now instructed to close their doors until further notice, these socially distanced sessions will help maintain sharpness while regular training is on hold.

After 10 weeks of boxing drills, this week’s exercises are based around running.

All participants must ensure they have adequate footwear and a safe, appropriate space away from roads (such as a park) to train. They must also have no health concerns and participate at their own risk.

The three drills below can be spaced out throughout a week’s training. It is important to make sure you have a thorough warm-up and a good stretch down before each.

It’s suggested that you alternate the running in between other boxing-related training and incorporate rest days when your body needs them.

The drills are all related to speed endurance.

Run One

Find a suitable spacious area and a family member to assist with a stopwatch. On command of the person with the stopwatch, walk for 10 seconds, then jog for 10 secs and then sprint for 10 seconds for duration of a boxing round (Schools: one and a half minutes; Juniors: two minutes, Youth and Elite: three minutes).

When you have completed a round, have a minute’s rest before going again for round two and after a further rest, round three.

Run Two

This one’s simple. Measure out the distance of a mile in a safe space and run it as fast as you can, noting the time as you do it (or get someone else to time you). You can repeat the drill one a week as part of your regular training and see if you can beat your time, giving an indicator over a sustained period of how much you are improving your fitness.

Run Three

This can be done running uphill or on a level surface, depending on how difficult you want it to be. Measure and mark out 80m, 60m and 40m distances. Now sprint the full 80m and walk back to the original mark, using that time as a rest, before sprinting it again. Straight after, repeat the process for 2x60m and then, finally, for 2x40m.