When Should You Stop Training Before A Fight?
If you would ask this question any boxing coach or fighter you can definitely expect to get a different answer every time – some will suggest to stop just a day before, others a week or have no rest at all.
Every fighter is different in one way or another so to expect a single approach to work for everybody isn’t really smart. Anyways, down below i talk exactly about this topic and offer my own opinion on how to go about it.
It’s the time to wind down
It would make sense to think that a fighter which trains harder until the day of the fight will perform better than his opponent who’s taking it more relaxed, but in my opinion that’s mostly false.
I find making your training less intense and not doing some activities at least 1 week prior to the bout is going to make you perform at your best during the big day.
Sparring
During the fight week, you might consider not sparring at all or doing so very lightly. We all heard of those situations when just before a bout a boxer get’s injured, and many of the times that has something to do with the fact that he’s more stressed and that increases the chance of accidents.
You’ve already put all this work weeks prior, so if you’re actually ready to win, not sparring for a week shouldn’t make you lose.
What about cardio?
Cardio wise you shouldn’t really be doing much of it. You can try some light jogging, rope skipping, but don’t go out for your regular intense run during the week.
Strength training
I also suggest neglecting any sort of weightlifting in those 7 days. Some fighters still insist on doing so, but i find that if you indeed continue to lift weights, you can still be sore on the day of the bout and that can make you perform worse.
Going over some technique
The only thing you should be really focusing during this time is on some technical work – light double end bag work, mitts, shadowboxing. You could also try to hit the heavy bag, but be smart to not go too hard doing so.
The last days
4 days before the actual fight i suggest doing absolutely nothing. No technique work, nothing, the goal here is to relax your body and mind as much as possible before the big event. Do activities which make you have fun as i’m sure you’re going to be nervous.
Listen to your body
Ultimately, it all depends on you. As i already mentioned, rest is inevitably going to let you perform at your best before during the fight, but feel free to rest less if you feel like my suggested time is too long.
Need to cut weight?
The amount of work you have to put in before a fight increases significantly if you cut weight, especially a lot. In that case those seven days might still be intense in one way or another as you’re probably going to need to do some sort of cardio, go to saunas to lose the weight.
What you should do
The important thing to do before a fight is to get yourself adjusted. A week before a fight i advise to sleep in such as schedule as if you had to wake up early to get to the competition tomorrow.
Doing so will make it easier to fall asleep the day before you actually will be fighting, and we know how hard can that be, and will generally provide you with the most amount of energy possible.
The stress leading to the fight can make you want to eat more food, especially junk food, so be mindful of how much you eat to not go over your weight class.
Your coach is your guide
These are just tips i personally find true, but as i said before, it doesn’t mean they’ll work for every fighter. If your coach knows his trade well, he should be the one who adjusts the things you do before a fight based on your skill level and experience.