Martin has been keeping a training diary in the build up to his first professional title fight, for the Commonwealth title on 21st May. A lot of people have been interested into this unique insight into the training of a professional boxer, and as a result they want to know more! The most common question is “what are hill sprints?”
Well no surprises here, but hill sprints involve sprinting up hills! The first thing to do is find a nice location with a a mixed terrain in terms of the incline of the ground. Generally you will do sets / drills of hill sprints much like you would with a weights session in the gym, for example:
- 5 x 10 metre sprints (10 seconds rest in between each sprint)
- 4 x 20 metre sprints (20 seconds rest in between each sprint)
- 3 x 30 metre sprints (45 seconds rest in between each sprint)
- 2 x 40 metre sprints (60 seconds rest in between each sprint)
- 1 x 50 metre sprint
A session like this can really exhausting, but the super fit can also use the incline of the hills to their advantage by finishing off with some incline pushups and decline situps!
So what are the advantages of hill sprinting? Apart from hitting the road for some early morning runs, most of the training a boxer will do is inside a gym. Hill sprinting is a great way to get outside and perform some high intensity training. It also builds tremendous strength and agility in the lower body, as well as improving coordination and also utilising the upper body (you need to drive your upper body forward and power your arms in order to sprint up the incline). This kind of sprinting exercise is perfect for building that explosive power that is so important for a boxer.
For anyone that has performed hill sprints themselves, they will know what a high calorie burning exercise this is, and many people describe it as a mix between “sprinting and lifting” because of the amount of effort needed to go up the hills.
Additional benefits include “training safety”. Because of the incline, it forces you to take smaller strides so there is less chance of hamstring injuries when compared to sprinting on a level surface. Additionally, hill sprints are generally considered to be less high impact on the joints (because of the incline, and the ground is generally softer than a track).
*** UPDATE – 10th May 2010 ***
Martin has confirmed that for his training, the hill sprints consist of sprinting for 3 minutes but at 80% of his maximum pace. He then has a one minute rest between sprints. This is great training because it fits the exact format of the length of the round and the minutes rest between rounds.
