How to Adapt Your Training for a Competition

When preparing for a competition or upcoming fight, I split my training camp in to different stages. Totalling 12 weeks, this camp puts me in the best position to deliver on fight night, and is designed to manage my training load effectively.

Pre-camp

Outside of camp, during my offseason, I mainly focus on “tick-over” training, comprising of different activities that are less intense than the rigorous training I go through during the build up for a fight. Realistically there’s no need for me to be at the peak of my fitness year-round, as this could cause me to burn out through overtraining and ultimately affect my performance when I come to step in the ring.

12 weeks out from fight night

Camp officially starts 12 weeks out from a fight. I’ll start with some low-intensity steady-state cardio (LISS), like long runs, to build my engine and get my body used to longer periods of exertion, and incorporate some weight training that’s mainly based around building strength and power. I’ll also throw in some functional training to mix up my days and keep it exciting.

The actual boxing training at this stage is very technical as I focus on boosting my fitness and endurance.

8 weeks out from fight night

8 weeks out from my fight is when I would start sparring. I usually hold off until this point to reduce the chance of injury and to preserve my body as much as possible. I’ll spar 2-3 times a week, with the goal of building my speed and technique.

I’m still working on building my cardiovascular fitness at this stage, and will start to introduce sprint work here to ensure I’m fighting fit and have the lung capacity to reach a higher gear in the ring if needed.

I will, however, stop any form of functional training and intense weightlifting to remove the risk of an unwanted injury, which at this stage could put the fight in jeopardy. I’ll need to begin to focus on cutting weight too, so don’t want to be putting on much muscle with unnecessary heavy lifting.

2 weeks out from fight night

After 10 weeks of serious training, my energy levels are starting to drop, and my body is beginning to fatigue. I’ll start a tapering period here that leads all the way up to my fight – at this point all the hard work has been done, so I’m just staying sharp and fit to ensure I’m in the best shape possible on fight night.

Find out more about Chantelle’s average training day, including the equipment she uses, the exercises she does and even the music she’s listening to in our interview.