The
Making of a Champion
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 Can
strength training be too effective? It can be if the results
scare away practice opponents!
This detailed case study covers the strength
and conditioning training of a heavy-weight boxer, Terry Witzu,
who competed at the 2007 World Championships in Kansas City,
August 5th.
Study conducted by Brian D. Johnston, this
hardcover book is imited to 100 copies only, and includes a DVD
showing Terry strength training (with commentary by Johnston),
as well as sparring, pad work, and punching a force gauge meter.
The CD with PDF file also includes the DVD.
NOTE:
This book and DVD has been integrated into the Fitness
Science Library.
The Making of a Champion book and DVD set
is $49.95 Canadian plus shipping; the CD version with DVD is
$34.95 plus shipping. No refunds on PDF books. Not available
as a download file.
DISCLAIMER: We produce DVD-R format.
Some older and 'cheaper' models of DVD players may have difficulties
in reading our DVDs, e.g., skipping or freezing. Owning a quality,
newer player will prevent such problems. If uncertain, do not
purchase as we do not allow returns on CDs and DVDs for piracy
reasons.
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***
***
August 5, 2007 update: For the third year, Terry won silver,
narrowly missing the championship belt by a few points. As disappointed
both Terry is, this needs to be analyzed in perspective generally,
but also specifically in regard to his strength coaching and
training effectiveness.
The person who won this year's
heavyweight championship, O,Brien, has been a lifelong boxer
with over 80 fights, holder of three Golden Gloves Championships,
and holder of 5 World Championships. Terry, on the other hand,
has only five fights under his belt during his 4 years boxing
experience and has won silver three times. After being up against
Terry twice before, O,Brien admitted that there was no way he
wanted to lose to someone with such little experience.
Consequently, O'Brien spent the
last year prepping like never before, including traveling the
US for training knowledge and sparring partners. Terry never
had that opportunity and had regular sparring partners only during
the final two months of preparation. Think about it: a boxer
who receives in-ring sparring training for only two months of
twelve, and because other boxers refused to get in the ring since
Terry hit too hard! O'Brien discovered how much Terry improved
and how hard he could hit, indicating to Terry after the fight
that twice he felt dazed or shook up from Terry's intense blows
(whereas O'Brien's punches never had the same impact on Terry).
This clearly was a sign of the effectiveness of Terry's strength
training.
However, although Terry had the
power and strength to dominate, boxing very much is based on
the points system. With lack of in-ring training against formidable
opponents, Terry lacked the boxing skills to match O'Brien's
improvement over the past year. On that note, it was because
of O'Brien's extensive training and the improvement in Terry's
punching power (via his strength training) that O'Brien has decided
to retire, again because he refuses to lose to someone who should
not be such a good and hard-hitting boxer for having such little
training experience.
Thus, this case study was very
successful from the perspective of improving Terry's strength
and power, which surprised a multi-titled champion; it further
demonstrated the value of effective strength training based on
brief, intense, and very infrequent sessions. Nonetheless, Terry
failed to garner the belt due to insufficient and practical skill
training. That statement is not to demean the efforts of Terry's
boxing coaches, since they did a fine job with what training
occurred (e.g., foot work and pad work), but the unavailability
of challengers to test Terry's ability to the limits. It could
be concluded that the lack of courage shown by the local boxers
to step into the ring more often with Terry was the Achilles
heel.
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