July 12th, 2024
In my last blog post we talked about how to cut weight for a fight. On the flipside of that lies the need to gain weight. So, how does one go about gaining weight while staying in fighting condition?
EXERCISE: Focus on strength training aside from your boxing practice. Most athletes choose to focus on weight training, but it’s worth taking a note out of Canelo Alvarez’s book. He prefers to stick to working with his own body weight by doing exercises like chin ups, push ups etc. Build a plan of action for how many hours of boxing practice you’ll do, and how many hours of strength training.
DIET: Eat lots of protein and carbs, and work on eating many smaller meals throughout the day rather than the standard 3 meals. You can even set an alarm to eat every 3 hours. Building on the above plan of action choose a number of calories to eat for every 100 calories you burn. Additionally, try to keep a high protein drink nearby at all times.
…And drink your water. Staying hydrated with water is still one of the best things you can do and will add water weight, and when you eat carbs the water will cling to them to retain the weight.
TIME: When it comes to gaining weight it’s helpful to give yourself as much time as possible so your body can remain in peak condition for the ring. When you put on too much weight too fast your body doesn’t have time to properly adjust in increments, and this can slow you down, make you more prone to injury, and give you a lack of agility and precision.
It’s like when someone hits a really quick growth spurt it’s typical to become very klutzy before the body can fully adjust to the changes. Source: BBC
