GET SPRINTING

Sprints are key to fighting fitness. They stretch you physically and mentally. Boxing is anaerobic, which means you need to conduct activity without much oxygen. A boxer will need to be able to stress the muscles at high intensity for bursts at a time. Although long runs are great for overall fitness, sprints are the best way to condition your body. Sprints consists of high intensity running for short amounts of time repeatedly.

A professional boxer fights for three minutes and must maintain a heavy work rate in each round for numerous rounds at a time. An 800-metre sprint would be the closest to mimicking the fitness needed in one round. You must remain at the highest pace during the interval to bring your heart rate to anaerobic levels. It is important to only run sprints a maximum of three times a week and not consecutively; as the intensity requires you to rest and recover.

An easy set of sprints that will get your heart beating is: 1km warm up jog, two x 800 metres with one-minute rest between each interval, two x 400 metres with one minute rest between each interval, four x 200 metres with 30 second rest between intervals — end with a cool down walk for 500 metre. If on a treadmill, your pace should be at 17km/h.