45 Minute Full Body Strength & Conditioning

Hi, thanks for coming to my blog. I am not just a fitness professional, author and blogger; I am also a professional boxer, and have been for more than 7 years.  Right now I am training for a 4 round professional boxing match that will take place on July 2, 2016- which gives me 8 weeks from now to prepare myself. Thankfully, I am in generally good shape as I start my “training camp”.  You see, working out with purpose is an important thing to me, and it has been a part of my life for more than a decade, so it’s not like I need a “training camp” to make me workout hard.

I need “training camp” to get me in “fighting shape” because hey, it’s pretty extreme to fight someone, especially a highly trained boxer. So for the next 8 weeks I will gradually step up the number of workouts I do each week as well as the amount of time I spend each week working out, and most importantly I will spend more time boxing, especially sparring.

For the next 8 weeks I will do 30-45 minute full-body strength and conditioning workouts most days- probably 4-5 days per week; which will feature some combination of many of the following:

• Squatting
• Hinging at the Hips (Deadlifting)
• Lunging
• Pressing (Push Ups and various planes of presses)
• Pulling (Pull Ups and various planes of rowing)
• Twisting
• Bracing the Torso and Moving the Body Explosively (Olympic lifts and ballistic exercises)
• Locomotion (walking, running, stair climbing, swimming)
• All-out effort conditioning (this can be rowing, running, punching, biking, swimming, etc.)

Each week I will do each of the previous at least twice which will promote not only help me get stronger as I prepare for a boxing match they will also ensure that I work all of my musculature and practice all of the patterns at the root of human movement.  I will also vary how I perform each of those as well because there are many different ways to perform each.

Variation is a key to reaping as much benefit as possible, keeping the workouts interesting and also keeping me fresh, because one thing I do not want to do is wear myself down. You see, I need to be able to put everything into my boxing workouts, which I will also do 5 times per week; and most importantly I need to be able to put my best into my work as a firefighter because that is my career and I take it seriously even though most people would not consider me a serious person.

To give you a picture of how this plays out for me here are my workouts from last night and this morning.

First, the workout I did last night:

Sunday Night Strength & Conditioning in 45 minutes
+Squats- 5 sets of 5 reps (up to 295 lbs.)
+Deadlifts- 5 sets of 3 reps (up to 315 lbs.)
+Walking Lunges- 100 continuously w/ a 25 lb. dumbbell in each hand
+Barbell Bench Press- 3 sets of 15 reps
+ Pull Ups- 3 sets of max reps
+ Medicine Ball Slams (20 lbs) 3 sets of 10 reps
+ Dumbbell Snatches 3 sets of 5 reps w/ each arm
+ 3 sets of 300 meters of Rowing (57 seconds or less)

• It took less than 45 minutes, and although it demanded that I focus and produce a lot of force it did not crush me, which is a key to working out 10 times per week without wearing myself out.

Then, the workout I did just now, also 45 minutes:

+ Push Ups- 5 sets of 30 reps
+ Sit Ups- 5 sets of 30 reps
+ Push Press- 5 sets of 5 reps
+ Seated Cable Rows- 5 sets of 8 reps
+ Twists w/ a band- 3 sets of 15 to each side
+ Bent-over Barbell Rows – 3 sets of 8 reps
+ Standing Overhead Press w/ Dumbbells- 5 sets of 15 reps

To me, keeping these workouts to a 45-minute maximum is important because, if left to my own devices, I will work myself into the ground in a quest to “work as hard as possible’.  But, I know that working out as outlined here and limiting myself to doing as much as I can in just 45 minutes is better for both the short run and the long run than marathon workouts.  Also, I want to add in that doing 9-10 workouts per week is not something I advise anyone to do; that said, as a professional boxer and experienced personal trainer I need to do it and I think I can do it in a responsible fashion.

Finally, I chose not to do any conditioning today because I come back tonight for a boxing workout, which will consist of 15 rounds of some combination of shadowboxing, double-end bag and heavy bags.  Tomorrow I will not do a strength & conditioning workout because I plan to spar and get in a boxing workout.  Also, I have the luxury of not having to lose much weight for this boxing match, as I am just under 180 pounds at this time and the fight will be at 175 lbs.

Keep checking back here for updates on my training regimen and other health-fitness-motivation related stuff.  If you want to know more about me please CLICK HERE, and if you are interested in what I have to say about health, fitness and life please check out my book, only in Kindle version, available on Amazon- CLICK HERE.

Thanks, and feel free to email me mrsamsuska@gmail.com with questions.