Boxing Strength & Conditioning Made Simple w/ Caleb Handley (SSOF Ep 135)

Caleb Handley1:39

And then when I finished my undergrad in 2019, that's where my brother actually went pro for boxing. So he had his first fight and then I guess that's how I started to get into doing S&C for boxers. Did his programs and then the people from his gym started hitting me up for programs. And then wasn't really too into the whole online thing.

I think, still being a young coach, I wanted to get that in-person experience as much as I could. Because with online it's very different to coaching in person. I think you learn the most if you're in person coaching. There's only so much you can do online.

So tried to get as much experience as I could in person, then started my masters. That just dragged on for absolutely ever because of COVID. Pretty much started that at the start of 2020, got accepted for it, and then just all went down the drain with COVID. That was just an absolute nightmare. Ended up being four and a half years instead of two.

James de Lacey3:02

Yeah, not fun.

Caleb Handley3:02

I actually finished it when I about halfway through my time living in London, after starting it in 2020. So yeah, 2020, 2024, halfway through there. It was just, man, I couldn't do it. It was like I got so close to the point I was just like I'm done with this.

But yeah, just before we started recording, kind of before about six months before I moved to London, the online stuff started picking up. Was picking up more boxers and yeah, moved to London. London's [expletive] expensive, sorry for the swearing, but it was, it was expensive. So I was like I need to get a job straight away.

And then whilst I was doing the online work with the boxers, luckily got a job at the Royal Ballet. And yeah, it's all kind of grown from there. I kind of decided working in person full-time wasn't for me. I think as an S&C coach it's hard to have that work-life balance.

James de Lacey3:58

It's impossible.

Caleb Handley3:58

It's impossible. Very impossible. During my, I mean you would have had the same thing, doing an internship, my first internship I was doing two at the same time, not getting paid for obviously, getting super valuable experience, but I was just working in a little Egyptian takeaway store just to make ends meet. And I was just like, what is this? Is this going to be it?

James de Lacey4:25

You wonder why most S&C coaches are divorced and [expletive] like that.

Caleb Handley4:51

Exactly, exactly. And I just recently met my partner. I was pretty much all weekend at the fields or catching up on study or doing my internship or whatever it was. So was just like, [expletive], is this is this what it's all about? You see the flashy lights of, exactly, you see the flashy lights of pro sport and everything. You're like, if it's like this, I don't know if I really want it.

And also I think it's partially I started following Keir around that time, and that's when he was really posting that Strength Coach Move stuff. And I was like, I'm just going to do this and see what it's like. And I was saying I started picking up a few boxers online. I was like, maybe this could work, but didn't really put too much effort into it. I was saying I got to London and then stuff started slowly building and building.

And then unfortunately for me, but also I mean I was traveling so I can't really complain, that's when stuff really started picking up within the last six, eight months. And then I kind of made the decision, I was like, let's just see if I can do this full-time. And yeah, now I'm at the point where yeah, just working full-time with boxers online. So kind of a, I guess, dream come true in that sense that I can have that work-life balance.

James de Lacey6:06

Nice. It's good once you once you get that nailed down. And you realize, I mean I think you have to go through it though, the coaching full-time, coaching in person, and then seeing this is what the environment's like and this is what it's going to be. And then once you start having sour experience in places that makes it worse.

Caleb Handley6:33

Yeah, to be honest I never really had that. So after I finished my internship at AA, as I was doing my masters, I got a job at a high school with my old boss Elliot Taylor. And he kind of was also training some combat guys, so that's kind of where I was also getting more interest into it.

But as much as I enjoyed working at school, a school, a high school in the sense of a private high school, was like they've got the funds. We had a really nice gym. As I was working at the high school we had an amazing facility. And then I was also doing this internship at the Kings, the Sydney Kings basketball, and we were training out of a 6m by 3m gym that was pretty much nothing, all the scraps. But then I was at this high school and we had everything.

And so I had really good experiences, so I I I think I was lucky in the sense that I didn't really have the experience of having a bad boss or athletes are just terrible. But yeah, I was kind of lucky in that sense. But I started to realize quickly that just working endless hours and especially weekends, I was just like maybe this isn't for me.

But I think that's where kind of online is that saving grace, because you can get to the point where you're working online and then if other opportunities come back up in person you can start to take those more if you want. It's not like you're relying on that coaching in person.

James de Lacey7:23

Yeah, that's a good call. You obviously mentioned, you talked about a little bit about the Royal Ballet. Is there anything from there that's influenced your, I guess, influenced you as a practitioner now, in terms of maybe there's things you take from programming for ballet that has made its way over into your boxing S&C?

Caleb Handley7:49

Yeah, I think there, I honestly had no idea what ballet was about when I got into it. I was literally, I was saying, got to London, needed a job, the online stuff wasn't really paying the bills, so I got the job and was kind of like alright, let's just see where this takes us. And luckily for me, my boss there, Shane Kelly, who's also Australian, kind of just threw me in.

The deep end was like, "Here's the dancers you're going to be looking after. Go for it." It was a really good staff there, so you could bounce questions off them, you could ask for advice and all that sort of stuff. But it was definitely the most elite environment I've worked in in that sense.

But I think the main thing that I probably took away from it is that S&C is so supplementary to the sport that you should never be ever taking away from the sport. You should always just be doing the bare minimum to make sure that they're ready to perform for that night. Because even in the ballet world, it was – I think it's changing now, but five, ten years ago – the dancers would tell me that you would just never jump into the gym because they were scared of being bulky, they were scared of slowing down and all these things. And it's such an aesthetic sport as well along with the athleticism of it that they were just too scared to really do anything.

And I think in that sense, boxers are very much the same. I post about it all the time that you're not going to get bulky from lifting weights and you're not going to slow down. And there's still all these guys that are like, "No, you lift a weight, you're going to turn into a bodybuilder or your muscles are going to get too big."

So I think probably the biggest thing is making sure that you're doing the bare minimum just to make sure that they're ready for the rehearsals or whatever it may be. And then that carries over into the boxing – you're not going to smash a big session before a sparring day or you're not going to do some crazy conditioning the morning of your sparring day or whatever day it may be.

So I think just really emphasizing to the guys that I'm working with now is that your sport is the main thing and that's what we're always going to try and emphasize, but we're never going to really take away from that.

James de Lacey10:21

Well, I know this is a very general question, but what would you see as that bare minimum to move the needle for most boxers in terms of maybe it's S&C frequency, volumes in those sessions, maybe even number of exercises or anything that you would say would be that bare minimum?

Caleb Handley10:46

Honestly, I don't know if you've seen much of my posts recently, but just lifting some heavy weights. I think so many boxers are so accustomed to – and boxing is such a traditional sport in the sense of heaps of running, heaps of these hit circuits that their gym will call their S&C sessions, but in reality they're just making you feel tired, doing all these things that basically just make you feel tired for the sense of like, "Okay, I've done the work, I don't really need to do anything."

And probably the biggest thing I found to move the needle for most boxers is lifting some heavy weights. I mainly preach just two full body sessions a week. And we're going to do some sort of hinge, some sort of squat over those two days. We're going to do all the standard movement patterns like vertical push pull, horizontal push pull, all that sort of stuff, and fill the areas.

But the bare minimum is just two full body sessions a week where they're actually getting some good quality strength work in. And it doesn't have to be these crazy high volumes. I've had some guys come to me and they're doing 4x8 or 4x10. I'm like, "Let's just do three by... let's just do a 3x5 for the first four or five weeks and let's see what happens."

And nine times out of ten they're going to get stronger, they're going to see that their punching power is starting to improve, they're noticing less injuries because they're not overtraining from these crazy high volumes of strength training. They actually feel fresh for their boxing session.

So the bare minimum I'm getting most of my guys to do at the moment is just do a good block of heavy lifting. But, as I was saying before, the main thing is telling them you're not going to turn into this bodybuilder if you start lifting these weights. Most of them are going to be in these maintenance calories or in a deficit anyway, especially if they're going into camp.

It's going to be pretty much impossible to put on some good size. So let's just lift heavy for a little bit, see what happens. And, like I said, nine times out of ten they're going to get some good effects from it because the hit training that they're so accustomed to, the bodyweight circuits, the running – it's hitting that point of diminishing returns.

James de Lacey12:46

Is there a bare minimum conditioning that you typically add or you just leave that on the sidelines until maybe further down the line?

Caleb Handley12:46

Yeah, so I'm pretty much programming conditioning for both those full body days. Now obviously depends on where they're at in camp and what the conditioning is.

So when I start with the boxer, we're doing some testing just to get some benchmarks, and then pretty much from the get-go we're doing some form of conditioning. I know my ideas of conditioning are slowly starting to change and be more in line with a bit higher intensity work. I think a lot of boxers are getting that low intensity work from their low intensity technical work.

A lot of them are still running regardless – even if I preach that running's [expletive], a lot of them are still running. And nine times out of ten, it'll just be a casual 5K two or three times a week or that low intensity. So my idea on conditioning and thoughts on conditioning are slowly moving towards the higher intensity model.

So if we're out of camp, we're probably going to be doing some form of longer hit, a little bit lower intensity. As we start to transition into getting closer to camp, we might transition to some shorter hit, a bit higher intensity. And then typically throughout camp, if we've got a four to eight week camp where we're really pushing it, that's when I start to go to more Sprint interval stuff.

A lot of my stuff is based off Andrew Usher and Bri [Bri], I think that's... yeah, who I've listened to on your podcast before and looked into. Those are some of the most influential and popular podcasts because Andrew is telling me he's been hit up by so many different coaches just from those podcasts. And yeah, I think it's changing the game, changing – I mean, conditioning is especially in boxing, but in the S&C world, obviously a lot of coaches are super nailed in on the strength work and can program strength and power till the cows come home.

But I was that like, as I was doing my internship, it was mainly being on the gym floor, coaching strength and power, plyos, all that sort of stuff. And so my conditioning got left behind and I never really thought that I would go down the route of boxing where conditioning is a massive element for them. So as I started getting more into the boxing side of things, I was like, "Whoa, I really need to touch up on my conditioning and how I'm actually programming that."

So, like most people that are working with combat athletes, probably read Joel Jamieson's book. And that's where I based a lot of my stuff off. And then, as I started listening to the podcast with those guys we mentioned before and then reading up on those research, they've been super influential in how I start to program as I get closer to camp.

James de Lacey15:30

Yeah, it's definitely shifted my whole conditioning perspective too. Same thing – I think we all come in from that strength power background for sure, just because it's – I think that's just what's taught really. Conditioning isn't really – conditioning is left for the endurance sports. You learn that physiology, but for everyone else, team sports, it's all strength, power. And then the conditioning is like, "Oh, we just do," you know, if it's a rugby, we just run Malcolms and coathangers and random drills and stuff like that.

Okay, cool. But then when you start diving into it more and you start, as you mentioned, the first resource is often Ultimate MMA Conditioning. And you go, "Oh, Zone 2." Then obviously Zone 2 is a big thing now, and then you're like, "Wait, did they really need it?"

Caleb Handley16:26

Exactly. I was like – I was so – everyone was like, what was it, a year and a half ago, two years when Zone 2 started to become a massive thing? I was like, "Zone 2 is all they need. They don't need anything else. For a high intensity sport, they only need Zone 2 and they're going to become elite athletes off Zone 2."

But then started to think more about it – I'm like, you need that much volume for Zone 2 to do anything. They're already probably hitting it so many times throughout the week. What's the point in me really just prescribing another hour and a half of that throughout the week, which is for...

One, just boring. If you've ever actually sat there and done zone two work, I'm like I do 10 minutes of it, I'm like, "Well, this is boring, I'd rather do something else." And for boxers who already have no time throughout the week, they're already doing all these other things when it comes to training. I'm just going to load them up with that? So that's when I started to transition to that long HIT, short HIT, and then getting into that sprint interval stuff.

Funnily enough, obviously when it became very popular as well, I was thinking back the other day just to all the first athletes and teams that I've coached to, and I was like, "I've never actually programmed low intensity steady state for anyone for any of the sports." I think like, I didn't even realize it's just not even a... Even after reading that, it just didn't fit. I had other models. So just not saying I was like, "Oh, didn't need zone two at the time, whatever," but it's just thinking back and like, "Huh, cements the idea maybe it's not something that is needed."

And obviously with the research coming now and what they're doing out of Avatarr University there, it's kind of like there's potentially a better way to go about it. And as you mentioned, man, schedules are packed. I'm sure, how many times a week are your boxers boxing? It's up to six plus times.

James de Lacey18:27

Oh man, some guys, I've got a guy in camp at the moment fighting March first and he's doing, I think he's doing doubles most days. Yeah, that's obviously not all boxing, but he'll be boxing at least seven, eight times a week. And then on top of that with his S&C, and then his gym has him running as well. So yeah, it's too much to then ask him to be like, "Go and sit on a bike for 45 minutes twice a week" or whatever it may be.

So I'm just like, what can we do that's going to be the bare minimum? Obviously it becomes a thing of, where do we fit in everything? How are we going to manage the stress over the week? And that's where I'm mainly trying to use that high-low system. But even then with boxers, it's tough. They always think that sessions have to be really hard or it doesn't really matter. So then it's just about figuring out where, what, where everything fits.

Caleb Handley19:16

How does that typical week structure look for you then? What would be your ideal way of setting it up, and maybe what is the compromise then that you've had to make for someone like that?

James de Lacey19:16

Yeah, so typically I try and compare it to a sport that has that one game day. So typically with sports it'll be like a Saturday game day. So with boxing, it's usually they have a big sparring session on that Saturday. This particular boxer is sparring twice a week, so he's on a Wednesday and a Saturday. And they're pretty... I wouldn't say the Wednesday is as hard as the Saturday. Saturday is pretty much a fight simulation.

And so we're basically just basing those S&C and the conditioning around those days. So obviously the Saturday is probably going to be one of the highest days of the week in respect to intensity. So where I'm typically trying to get him to do that other S&C session on that day... I'd like them to, if they can, pair their strength and the conditioning on the same day. Some guys prefer to do it on other days, but at the moment he's doing sparring in the morning and then S&C in the evening on that Saturday. So that's going to be one of his higher days.

And then the Wednesday is also a really high day, so he's going to do... I think he's got at the moment, strength in the morning on that Wednesday and then the sparring in the evening. Strength and power in the morning, sparring in the evening. So Wednesday and Saturday are basically his super high days where yeah, he's cooking his central nervous system. It's going to be pretty intense in that respect.

And then we're basically fitting in everything else around that. So he's also got his technical stuff, a lot of partner work that we got to fit in around that. So typically the Thursday is a bit of a lower day after that Wednesday, which is a high day. And then Sunday he typically has off. And then we basically just build up. So Monday he builds up, Tuesday is a medium day, Wednesday is that high day, Thursday back low, Friday a little bit medium, and then Saturday again is that big, big high day. So trying to fluctuate between intensities throughout the week.

But again, sometimes their gyms turn around, be like, "Actually, we're this day," or trainings change to this day. So we just... I think that's the main thing with online coaching is you got to be responsive and reacting to what they're doing. Especially with boxers, because their schedule can change like that and their coaches can be like, "Oh right, we're doing this this day" and everything else. So it's just managing them throughout the week.

Obviously you're writing the programs and everything, but I'd say a lot of my time just comes down to reorganizing what's going on throughout the week, because yeah, stuff changes all the time.

Caleb Handley21:52

For sure. You mentioned as well, I think it was conditioning tests they do when you initially come in. Do you want to maybe just run through some of those and what you're looking for?

James de Lacey21:52

Yeah, so that's... I think that's also changed within the last... I wouldn't say the conditioning per se just by itself, but what I'm actually doing for the test in general. Because online coaching is way harder to do testing, because obviously you're not there with them. You can't stand a lot of things. You don't have the equipment that you might have in... You might not have the technology in person.

So I was initially, when I started, I was doing jump tests with my jump lab. I was doing strength tests, had some VBT there, and then was doing the conditioning. And then I just figured, "This is way too hard. Boxers already are thinking about way too much, let alone having to set up the camera and film himself jumping and all these complicated things." So I've tried to make my testing basically as easy as possible for them.

So at the moment we're just doing, for lower body power, we're just doing a broad jump and triple hops. Upper body power, just do a med ball throw at 5% of that body weight. Then we do a trap bar 3RM, bench 3RM, max chins. And then for the conditioning, I've tried to make that as easy as possible as well. So we're just doing a 10-second max effort three times and just looking at that peak power output. And then on the assault bike again, we're just doing a 5-minute time trial just to get a measure of, I guess, their aerobic capacity.

So that's when I then use that for that long HIT, short HIT stuff. Because yeah, I think I was doing RPE-based conditioning for that longer HIT, but I've just found either they're taking the piss or they're just thinking, "Oh, they're just thinking it's a sprint." So they're like, they'll turn around to me... It's like, so typically a first workout conditioning might be a long HIT: 4 minutes on, 2 minutes off at 90% or whatever it might be. And when I was giving RPE, I'd do a 7 to 8 RPE for that 4-minute interval.

And they'd turn around to me like, "Oh, that was way too easy," or another boxer would be like, "Man, I was gassed after a minute." I was like, "What are you doing?" Like, "Yeah, I sprinted the whole time." Like, that's not what we want. So that's when I was like, "Alright, I'm going to transition to something where it's just hit this meters and that's all you have to do. Don't worry about anything else."

So in that respect, everything's... I'm slowly transitioning to just making it as easy as possible. Because I don't want anyone to have to think about what they have to do. I just want them to be like, "Alright, this is the numbers, this is what I have to do." So yeah, those are the two conditioning tests I'm doing. So just that 5-minute time trial, and then the 10-second max output for the peak wattage on that.

Caleb Handley24:33

Do any of the tests further influence your programming? So just if that power output during that 10 seconds and the 5-minute time... I don't know, maybe it's some kind of arbitrary ratio, or the jumps or throws or anything like that. Does that influence maybe which direction their program goes?

James de Lacey24:58

Yeah, somewhat. I feel like a lot of coaches would be like, "This is going to completely influence my program." But for me it doesn't. It will, but it won't. I'm not going to change my whole program just to hit these certain numbers or... Say their broad jump is terrible, I'm not going to be like, "We're just going to focus on getting that broad jump up." Obviously I'm going to put some things in it, but I don't think it completely influences my program.

I just want to make sure that they're not the worst athletically wise for their strength and power and all these things. If they are, then maybe we'll push those things...

Caleb Handley25:47

A little bit harder, but typically most of my programs will follow some sort of team sport model in the sense that they've got their off-season, they're out of camp, they're transitioning to their pre-season, they're in that out-of-camp phase, and then they've got their competition period so they're going to be in camp. We're still going to build some capacities out of season or out of camp and all these things, but I don't think it influences as much as most people sometimes say theirs influences them.

And again, we're doing some pretty basic testing. It's not going to be the most influential stuff, if you know what I mean.

James de Lacey26:14

Not for sure. You mentioned obviously that off-season, pre-season, in-season. Do you want to maybe just run through generally how some of that program changes? You talked about how the conditioning changes. Maybe even the stuff in the gym, the strength training stuff, how that generally changes throughout those periods.

Caleb Handley26:41

Yeah, for sure. So I guess I usually work back from when their fight is going to be. I see the main quality that I'm looking to develop for a boxer is around that reactivity or that reactive strength. That is probably the main thing that I'm working towards as we get towards fight night. So I'm basically working back from there and figuring out what's going to influence that as we get closer.

Typically, for example, if we're out of camp and there's not really a fight in sight, we're going to be doing some sort of accumulation/capacity block. So we're going to be having some higher rep ranges in our strength work. Typically our plyometric work will be more extended, our ballistic work will be more extensive, not really hitting high intensities. But again, if I've found something in testing that they are just absolutely terrible at, then I might just put a bit more of that into their program.

Similarly, as we start to transition and we're like 12 to 16 weeks out, that's when we might really start to hit that strength work. That plyometric work will start to increase in intensity, become more repeat efforts rather than just single effort stuff. So typically my plyo work will be single effort jumps, more extensive in nature with the plyometrics. And then as we get sort of middle ground, we'll be more continuous, maybe up the intensity. And then as we're really into fight camp, I'm really looking at quicker ground contacts, really high intensity repeat jumps.

And then with the strength work, it's basically what most team sports models would be like: full range out of camp, higher volumes. But again, the volumes aren't really that high. The most sets I would ever hit would be like four sets, but even that's very rare. And then as we're getting closer, reduced range for the strength work, up the intensity a fair bit. I like to keep a lot of strength work in throughout pretty much all the way up into camp, sorry, up into the fight night.

I think it would follow generally what a team sport athlete would do, but with reactive strength and reactivity being my goal that I'm really trying to hit as we get closer to the fight night.

James de Lacey29:01

Do loaded variations like jumps and things like that also come in through that time?

Caleb Handley29:01

I mean, again, that's something that's changing for me all the time. If they do come in, they're further out. I like them. I know I'm still so torn on whether loaded jumps are actually going to do much for them. On one hand I'm like, yeah, well they're working power. Or on the other hand are they just expressing their power?

So same with med ball work. I'm also like, does med ball work actually work to increase their power outputs, or are they just expressing their power outputs with that med ball work? So I'm still torn on where that fits in the program. But if it does fit in the program, it's usually more that outer camp phase, because obviously with that loaded work, they're going to spend a lot longer on the ground, they're going to have more time to produce force.

So that will be more out of camp. And then as we get closer to camp, I'm more thinking on reactivity, how quickly can they produce that force. So that's when it's purely bodyweight stuff. But my thoughts are always changing on that loaded stuff. It's a tricky one.

James de Lacey30:01

Did you see that paper recently with medicine ball throws, rotational medicine ball throws, and correlating with isometric mid-thigh pull and counter-movement jump?

Caleb Handley30:01

No, I actually, I think I saw a post on it. You'll have to flip it over to me so I can have a proper read. What?

James de Lacey30:28

Basically there's not much correlation between them in terms of jump kinetics and isometric mid-thigh pull force. I think it was peak relative force on there. So basically being two independent qualities. So you could say medicine ball throws in that instance, whether it's a quality or a skill, it's separate from, well, separate enough to be a distinct on its own compared to say jumping and isometric mid-thigh pull. So potentially jumping higher or having better impulse during jumps or producing more force in mid-thigh pull may not carry over to the rotational throw unless you may be doing rotational throws.

Caleb Handley30:59

It's interesting. I thought it was an interesting paper. I'll have to get a read because I think, I can't remember who posted about it, but they posted what their whole thoughts on med balls were. And this would have been maybe a year ago now. And I just started thinking about it more, because again, they're in that loaded realm, right, where it's not completely, you're not completely working velocity on one side and you're not completely working high force outputs on the other side.

But I guess where I do like med balls and where I really preach med balls is some high velocity core work and also working that coordination or getting that force through the kinetic chain, for lack of a better word. So I do like it in that sense. And then obviously before a workout, just to really prime the nervous system or fire the nervous system up, because whether they're actually producing force or increasing power outputs or whatever it may be, if you throw a med ball as high as you can, you feel pretty powerful after it.

So I still think there's the psychological benefit of getting ready for a session, all that sort of stuff. So I still definitely think med ball work has value. But I think I have to dive a bit deeper into where it's actually improving qualities that people think that it might be improving, so like punching power or whatever it may be.

James de Lacey32:22

Nice. You also mentioned about lifting all the way through until the fight, didn't you. Maybe just give a breakdown of the final couple of weeks leading into a fight, how the S&C might or might not change.

Caleb Handley32:22

Yeah, so I did a post about this the other day about tapering and going into the fight. So typically, let's say we're still four weeks out, my fourth week will pretty much be the exact same as what the previous weeks would look like from an intensity and volume aspect. And then pretty much from that third to second week out is when we really start to taper. So maybe the third week we're tapering down to 80% of the volume, keeping the intensity pretty much all the way up to fight night.

And then second week out we're probably at like 50 to 70% of the volume that we had previously lifting a few weeks out. And then that's the second week. And then the week out from the fight, I usually just have the one session if they've just been doing the two strength and power sessions. But that will just be a combination of the two sessions that we have been doing, but typically it'll be the plyometric work that we've been doing from both sessions, the ballistic work that we've been doing, and then maybe one small strength lift.

So similar to just a priming session, because I think it's important that we're not just fully cutting everything out that week of the fight. Obviously it can be pretty tricky because you've got weight cutting going on, if they have media stuff, they've got to look after all of that, so there's a fair bit going on that week of the fight.

But I do like them to try and get some sort of session in, even if it's the typical priming session might be the night before the game or whatever it might be. But most boxers aren't going to want to do anything the night before the fight, they just want to chill out.

So we'll probably do a priming session, I like to call it, even though it technically isn't, maybe the Wednesday or the Tuesday, just to make sure those qualities are still sticking around. Because you could have that full week off of just cutting weight, but then fight night comes around and, you probably know it yourself, you don't do anything for a week and you feel sluggish. So I just like to get moving.

But typically from that fourth week or third week we start cutting that volume, and intensity is pretty much staying the same throughout, is that on that final week as well.

James de Lacey34:59

Is their conditioning involved in that week?

Caleb Handley34:59

It depends. It depends what their focus has been leading up to it. Typically I'm working that sprint interval stuff. If we're doing longer sprint intervals, like that 30 seconds, probably the max sprint that I would be prescribing, then no, I just reckon that's probably going to carry too much fatigue if we've noticed that maybe their power output isn't where it was, where I'd hoped it would have been.

Then we might have had really short sprint intervals. Some ones I typically use will be like a 5 seconds on, 55 seconds off, really emphasizing a max intensity. Then that might be, again, it just depends on what they were doing leading up into that fight. But if it would, then it would follow the exact same thing as the strength and power work in that three weeks out. Maybe we've still got all of the conditioning in. Maybe two weeks out we've got half of it.

And then if they're doing those shorter sprint intervals, they're still going to do it. Maybe they're just doing five or six reps. Obviously you're not going to get a massive conditioning stimulus from it, but I think again there's value in doing that just from making them feel like they're going to be super powerful and giving them that priming effect.

James de Lacey35:51

Nice. I saw a post recently you did on hand and wrist care for boxers. Want to just dive into some, because that's often a forgotten area, at least with the combat sports strength and conditioning programs.

Caleb Handley36:18

Yeah. I actually had one of the amateurs I was working with had a pretty bad TFCC injury that was ongoing for ages, and I guess that made me dive deeper into that sort of stuff. Obviously you're fighting with your hands and that's going to be the first point of impact. I got more interested into that and how we can actually fit that into a program and from a few coaches implementing robuster circuits or resilient circuits or whatever you call it.

Basically I've just tried to give people a three to four exercise circuit that they can just put in the end of their session. For this boxer that had that TFCC injury, that helped for a bit, but he ended up having some pretty bad tendon flicking every time he threw a punch or every time he clenched a fist, so we had to look into that further.

But yeah, I think the main principles around hand and wrist injury would be similar to any other joint or muscle group, like trying to make everything around that area as strong and robust as possible. Pretty much we're working through grip strength. I love hangs for that, so any sort of hang variation, whether it's a dead hang, single dead hang, alternating, massive one for me. Supination, pronation, and then obviously flexion, extension, and then more previously I've just been prescribing a lot of radial and ulnar deviation.

I don't think it's anything groundbreaking, but I think it's a small thing that a lot of boxers can implement just at the end of their session. You don't really need much to get in some extra work. You could do, like I was saying, three to four exercise robustness circuits just at the end of your boxing session. Most boxing gyms will have something you can hang from, a kettlebell, and maybe some bands or something you can do some wrist extension, flexion.

I've tried to integrate that a lot more because most boxers would have had some sort of hand or wrist injury throughout their career and probably will definitely experience something like that. So if there's just something we can add into there to get hopefully a bit more volume, more strength around in that area, then I mean I'm definitely going to be all for it.

James de Lacey38:32

Are you typically putting that at the end of the strength sessions or maybe even at the end of the technical boxing sessions as well?

Caleb Handley38:32

Typically it depends on how long they've actually got for that session. I like to keep the strength and power sessions the meat and potatoes of the stuff that we're going to do because, again, like we mentioned before, they already don't have that much time, so I want to make sure that when they're in the actual gym they're doing stuff that's actually going to move the needle.

Typically I'll put that just as a separate session. So yeah, three to four exercise circuit where they're just hitting the main movements, so some grip strength, some supination, pronation around the wrist, forearm, and then some flexion, extension, maybe some of that other stuff I was mentioning. And trying to get that done for at least two to three sessions per week.

Some of them like to do it before their session as a bit of a warmup to get everything fired up. Some of them are like, "I don't want to do anything before my boxing other than skip and shadow box," and that's fine. But I think if you're getting two to three of those in per week, and again it can be on one of those low days—if they don't have enough time in those strength and conditioning sessions, those low days can be a really good place to put any of those extras that you might not have time for throughout the week.

So like, yeah, the wrist and hand, the neck, the shoulder, where it's not going to be too fatiguing but it could potentially save you from getting an injury in one of those areas.

James de Lacey39:38

An example for that wrist and hand could be like a dumbbell wrist curl, wrist extension, then hanging for time.

Caleb Handley40:05

Yeah, and just like that kettlebell supination.

James de Lacey40:05

The Triple G special?

Caleb Handley40:05

Yeah, every time I post that everyone's like, "Triple G did, Triple G did it first." I'm like, "Yeah, I know, I'm not saying I came up with it." That's the thing with Instagram. Everyone's always going to say that someone did it first. I'm like, "Yeah, no one's recreating anything new on Instagram. It's all just the same [expletive], it's all recycled."

James de Lacey40:05

Exactly, with a different hook. "Do this and you'll never get injured."

Caleb Handley40:29

But yeah, typically, a few of my favorites would be the kettlebell turnovers. Massive fan of wrist rollers where you've got the band on the end of the barbell and you're rolling that up, focusing on both flexion, extension. Hangs—yeah, I've been programming hangs for two or three years now. I think they're massive value for grip strength, but also if you do a good hang then your forearms will be absolutely pumped off it, so yeah, they're a massive part of my programming.

And then yeah, just standard supination, pronation stuff, and then some good ones recently just the radial and ulnar deviation. Like I was saying, I think for those types of things it's important that they're as easy to do with minimal equipment. Because if you're telling someone to do it two or three times a week and they have to go to the gym to do it or they need all this equipment, then it's just never going to be a thing that they actually do.

So those robustness circuits, just try to make them as easy as possible. If it's not bodyweight, then it's like you need a kettlebell and one small dumbbell or something like that.

James de Lacey41:27

Have you done any of it with towels yet, like towel hangs?

Caleb Handley41:47

Yeah, I've actually got that in one of my programs at the moment. Yeah, towel hangs.

James de Lacey41:47

I love them. I love the towel variations. Towel pulls-ups, to farmer's walks. Even at one point, I had—what part of the season was it with the team? Maybe it was coming to the end of the season. So for our arm workout we just did partner arm workout, so obviously someone's holding the towel for resistance, the other person's doing curls. Like you're in jail, a prison, a jail workout.

Caleb Handley41:47

I have to get my co-workers to the gym with me so we can do some work together.

James de Lacey42:11

Oh man, it looks funny. It's good, it's a good easy, cheap tool too.

Caleb Handley42:11

Oh yeah, but don't use cheap towels, for anyone listening. Cheap towels will have you punching yourself in the face or anything.

James de Lacey42:11

Exactly. I think that's everything I had for you, Caleb. Where can people find and follow you?

Caleb Handley42:40

Yeah, so just on Instagram, Handley Performance Coach. Posted that, don't worry about TikTok. I just repost all my [expletive] there. I can't be bothered to remake everything there.

James de Lacey42:40

Yeah, be an amazing part. Perfect. I'll link that up in the description as well for anyone who wants to get in touch there and follow you. Your Instagram's growing nicely, so for anyone who's after some boxing content, make sure you hit them up. But I appreciate you coming on, Caleb.

Caleb Handley43:04

Thanks man, appreciate it.