Much can change in a year. In May 2024, Anthony Cacace de Belfast faced Joe Cordina in a fight he had almost granted to the Welshman. Less than eight rounds later, Cordina was low and Cacace was having a raised arm like the new FIB Pen World Weight Champion.
Now, 12 months later, Cacace has voluntarily emptied this title to expand his boxing horizons, and comes as a favorite for his next fight: a clash with Leigh Wood on Saturday, May 10.
The strength and conditioning coach, Mason Mclintock, has been working with Cacace during the last six weeks to make sure he is ready for the fight, with the couple training at the Holy Trinity Boxing Club in Belfast.
“Anthony is already an elite level athlete with exceptional resistance and a powerful coup capacity,” says Mclintock. “While the areas of improvement of each athlete hash, it was difficult to identify any important weakness in its performance. Since it was all the conditioning or our sessions, my goal was to maximize the histutive and guarantee and guarantee and ensure and guarantee efficiently in a fight.”
A key part of this was to incorporate pliometry: an energy development training technique that Mclintock describes as a “trick code” for athletics.
What are pliometric?
The term ‘pliometry’ can be applied to any exercise that involves rapid stretching and then hiring a muscle to generate strength, think about jumping, limiting and launching.
“I think Plyometrics is an athletic trick code because they improve the qualities that separate an average greed from an elite athlete; explosiveness, speed and reactivity,” explains Mclintock. “They train the stretched shortening cycle [where a muscle is stretched then quickly shortened]Improving an athlete’s ability to absorb and reuse energy quickly, which means that they can perform explosive athletic movements with less effort. “
It is for this reason that Plyometrics is a favorite among boxers and their coaches.
How to use pliometry
The previous video shows how Cacace has been using Plyometrics, along with other speed and energy exercises, in its training.
“Many people focus mainly on strengthening through weights,” says Mclintock. “This is certainly important, but that force becomes useless as a boxer if it cannot generate it quickly. His blows can be strong, but they will be slow and very easy to defend.”
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This is the reason why many of the exercises in the cacace session, such as the lateral hops, the blows of a medicine ball, the ball ball shots, the fall jumps and the launches of the ball of the ball of the lie, focus on their rather possible force development rate.
“These types of exercises close the gap between brute force and the ability to apply force quickly,” explains Mclintock. “They help improve drilling power while teaching the body to generate strength at a much faster rate.”
Variations that involve rotation movements, such as side medicine ball (or rainbow), also have bonus benefits.
“These energy -based exercises involve the nucleus and make it stronger, improving the torque and rotation power, which is vital when hitting.”
Other elements of Anthony Cacace training
In the week prior to Leigh Wood’s fight, Cacace aimed to maintain the intensity of the training while remained in adequate weight and avoiding injuries.
“[He did a] Good light combat with elite opponents to maintain the sharpness of the fight, as well as make any final adjustment or correction that should be done, “says Mclintock.” Hello, he also used the race to remain conditioned and for the management of the opportunity. “
Together with the specific work and time of boxing in the ring, Cacace also built general physical skills, such as aerobic capacity and strength. To develop strength, Mclintock prefers Calisthenics, Falls and Pull-Up exercises in particular.
“Personally, I think these are some of the best movements at the top of the body to build strength and resistance,” he says. “I like to do this with weight and maintain low repetitions to hit all the main muscles of the upper body and develop crazy levels of force.
“Strong in these two exercises,” he adds, “not only helps you produce more strength, but also plays a crucial role in strengthening your joints and tendons, which makes you more resistant to injuries.”
Both exercises work on the shoulder through a wide range of movement, the joint promotion resilience.
“This is key to resisting intense boxing demands and preventing lesions for excessive use,” says Mclintock. “A solid base in this area can significantly improve both performance and longevity in sport.”
The feet and coordination exercises, including skaters on a platform and alternative landing boxes with a single -leg, were also used to be caught before their next fight.
Mclintock says that the thesis, twin with plyometric work, can help improve neuromuscular efficiency, helping the boxer to react faster to avoid any blow or be able to throw a shot when he sees the opportunity.
The final piece of puzzle
The resistance and conditioning sessions of Cacace and Mclintock ended up with anaerobic -centered ending, a series of short and acute efforts to prove the power and send the sky of the heart rate at the end of a training:
Every minute for 10 minutes, complete:
– Medicine Ball Slam X10
– Maximum sprint in a remote machine x10 seconds
The aerobic term simply means ‘with oxygen’. Therefore, aerobic exercise is any activity in which its heart rate rises, but the intensity is low enough so that it can use oxygen to produce enough energy to support the muscles that work. For example, a stable state execution.
Anaerobic, on the other hand, translates approximately as ‘without oxygen’. Anaerobic exercise implies intense activities in which oxygen demand exceeds the supply, so the body must generate energy without it.
“The focus boxers largely in the aerobic aspects of their training, such as long races, jumps or specific training for sport, but dedicate a lot of attention to their anaerobic systems,” says Mcintlock.
However, anaerobic aptitude is crucial in boxing, feeding short and explosive efforts, in addition to allowing athletes to maintain the power in the last rounds of a fight.
“When training this system, it is improving its explosiveness, resistance and ability to quickly recover among these intense activity explosions,” adds Mclintock. “This is very important to give that elimination power when the opportunity occurs.”
Strength and conditioning the coach Mason Mclintock the three exercises not sensitive to boxers for boxers
- Medicine Ball Rotational Throw
“Improving the force of the rotational nucleus as a boxer is an absolute non -negotiable, since this is where a large number of its power source origins. [This exercise] It helps to develop the ability to transfer force from the bottom of the body through the nucleus and to the hands, imitating the exact movement pattern used when making a blow. “
“This is an excellent way to develop strength from the bottom of the body and the full body power, especially through the hips and the posterior chain. A strong base is essential for everything in boxing, from maintaining the ground and generating energy to the absorption force.”
“The fall jump is key to developing explosive force and rapid force production, which directly improves the drilling power. Trains the body to absorb strength quickly and then bounce with maximum speed and efficiency. More strength from the ground and transfer that power efficiently through the kinetic chain to the blow.”
