Burn with Kearns: Heavyweight Hitter, Float like a butterfly, hit like a freight train – Kevin Kearns

by Kevin Kearns, contributing writer on exercise and fitness

I have always been impressed with how hard heavyweight fighters are able to hit. As a young man I watched a pro boxing match with an Irish champion right out ring side. You could literally feel the power of those blows as they landed. For some of these athletes it’s just the way they are built; but for many of them it’s the way they train.

Anytime I worked with a 200-plus-lber I always wanted them to be able to hit hard but also to move well. There is nothing worse than seeing two overweight athletes slug it out and dying in less than one round. The challenge is to have a happy medium between strength and speed. To my fighters I would always say, “Hit like a brick shit house, and move light weight”. To accomplish this task, you must be spot-on with your training and your diet. Most of these guys, if they just look at a bag of crisps, they put on 20 lbs!

As always, I like to go against the grain with my training with my athletes. With heavy weights I’m not super interested in how much weight they can move; I’m more interested in what type of weight they can move. The other concept that interests me is if they can do that after some agility and endurance work.

Since heavy muscle can burn up a lot of energy you need to take care on training them like a fighter, versus a bodybuilder. If they can bench press 600 lbs. that’s great, but if they can’t last 10 minutes doing some agility work, then “Houston we have a problem”.

Here’s a plan for being able to train and develop power like a heavy weight.

Day 1 – Odd object lifts. Quite simply, we’re having them perform similar lifts that you might find in functional training but with non-everyday items. Here are some of the items we will be using .

1. 5 gallon water jug either filled with water or sand – The instability makes it much more challenging on the smaller muscle groups and your core
2. Fence column – these you can usually find in an old junk yard. We like them because they have an oversized grip, and have no place to grip, at the same time.
3. Heavy Med balls – these can go up to as much as 100 lbs. With minimal area to grip and shifting of the hands it adds more benefit to the core and grip muscles.
4. Kamagon – This is an oversized kettle bell that is filled with 50 lbs. of water.

Workout 1 – 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps

1. water jug snatches – stand with the water jug between your legs and perform a KB snatch
2. fence columns squat to press – this is a real bitch because the grip changes constantly, so hold the column in your hands in a squat and they try and press it over your head
3. squat to toss with heavy med ball – squat down with the med ball between your legs then launch it up and toss it as you straighten your legs
4. kamagon Turkish get ups – lying on the floor with the kamagon in one hand perform a KB Turkish get up.
5. kamagon rotational toss- hold the kamagon in your hands. as you go to rotate to the one side toss the kamagon in that direction.

Workout 2 – agility and endurance

the kit you will need is the following

1. heavy jump rope – 4 to 8 lbs.
2. Fitness Trampoline (jumpsport.com)
3. Agility ladder

Workout 2 – agility and endurance

Remember we want them to move like lightweights.

Here is the rotation. 1 to 2 minutes on each station. Each of 3 stations is one round and we will do up to 5 rounds.

Round 1

1. Heavy jump rope double leg jump
2. Agility ladder drill 2 feet in on the forward
3. sprints on the trampoline

Round 2

1. heavy jump rope alternating legs
2. agility ladder ali shuffle
3. sprawls to jumps on fitness trampoline

Round 3

1. heavy jump rope double jumps
2. agility ladder icky shuffle
3. Split jumps on fitness trampoline

Here’s the fun part about these workouts. You can mix them together on the same day, as your athlete can tolerate)

Have fun! Coach Kearns

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Kevin-Kearns

Coach Kevin Kearns, BS FMS  CPT 

BurnWithKearns.com – Direct: 508 404 8503

Both of Coach Kearns’ books may be purchased on www.Amazon.com. For more information about Coach Kevin Kearns, including scheduling speaking engagements and classes (both online and in person), please contact him at 508-404-8503 or [email protected].

Author of “There’s Light In The Tunnel” How to Survive and Thrive with Depression  – “Always Picked Last“ A guide to navigating bullies on Amazon and Audible 

youtube.com/user/burnwithkearns 

https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/burnwithkearns

Coach Kevin Kearns has been coaching in the world of fitness, nutrition, and tactical self defense for over 3 decades. As the former conditioning coach to 15 UFC Pro Fighters, and ranked in the Top 5 in the UFC , he is no stranger to the the importance of proper nutrition and proper mindset programming. He has long advocated to all his clients – athletes or the general population – about the importance of programming mind, body and spirit. 

Coach Kevin Kearns BS FMS CPT – Former conditioning coach to 15 UFC Pros Ranked in Top 5 by the UFC Personal Fitness Coach, Author, Columnist, Motivational Speaker, Corporate Wellness Consultant, Youth Wellness Program Provider, Certification Specialist, Personal Self Defense, and Law Enforcement Defensive Tactics Specialist Www.BurnWithKearns.com