Tapering For Fights
Gabriel Hunter Stubbs - Photo Taken by Charlie Hyams
Tapering for fights should, physically, be the easiest part of the camp. This comes down to the athlete having done all the hard graft in the weeks leading up to the fight, including tracking their food as well as recovering. The accumulation of this training, tracking food and living like a monk, will result in peak performance. In this article we are going to talk about how to taper to reward ourselves after all that hard work with that peak.
Being on Weight
Firstly, you cannot expect great results if you’re going to have to throw the best part of yourself away to burning energy for the scales. I have seen many a fighter with all the skill to win tournaments and championships throw it away because they have had to suck themselves down to a weight the day before a fight. This article is helpful, but it isn’t magic.
You should have been tracking your weight up to the fight and only have a few lbs of weight to drop before the fight through temporary weight loss strategies (like water weight). In the week leading up to the fight, you should be taking notes on your weight and energy, tracking carefully, knowing where you are and where you need to be at. You are not going to be able to cram in to the last 2 weeks building up to the fight the benefits of 8 weeks’ worth of quality training and nutrition.
You should only have a little bit or weight to lose in the last week of the fight if you have been training, dieting and recovering well . I would recommend using a nutritionist who works in performance sport to help you with this rather than freestyling it, I personally recommend Sinead Roberts (Instagram: sinead.feedfuelperform, or name Dr. Sinead Roberts PhD.) - she works with many combat sport athletes and I have personally reaped the benefits of hiring her. Hiring a good nutritionist also means knowing what to eat immediately after weighing in. Just general advice though, do not go eating anything stupid right after weighing in. Refrain from eating massive amounts of food or junk food or any food you haven’t been used to eating in camp, this will impede your energy and performance.
Physical Recovery
There are rarely any camps that have an ideal lead up to the fight. Athletes are normally struck down temporarily with illness from over training or other and as we know, the risk of injury is high in contact sport. I don’t think I could count past one hand the amount of athletes in contact sports who aren’t nursing some kind of minor injury.
The point I am making is training hard is part of training, injuries occur, illness occurs. As long as you have done everything in your power leading up to the fight know you deserve the tapering week. The tapering week is part of your training. You want to recover harder than your opponent. Your CNS (central nervous system) and muscles (to use very crude terms) need to recover so you can be sharp, coordinated and switched on in the fight.
What the sessions during tapering, should look like: You want to be working on specific boxing drills on the bags or pads. You don’t want to exert yourself too much in these sessions working at a high intensity for too long. Make sure your heart doesn’t stay over the anaerobic threshold for too long, a good rule of thumb is to have these training sessions 20-40 mins long. These are basically active recovery workouts, allowing you to recover from the week before. Use these sessions to go over in your head what you want to practise and what you might encounter in the fight.
Use low intensity cardio sessions for recovery in-between the specific sessions like swimming, running, cycling. Make sure you are keeping on top of your stretching and mobilising also.
Mental Recovery: You will most likely be very stressed in the week leading up to the fight. If it is your first fight it might feel incredibly overwhelming. Aim to relax as much as possible, stick to your routine in terms of sleeping and eating. This will make you feel more grounded as well as making sure you are getting enough rest and refuelling properly. Do not try and ignore or suppress if you are feeling stressed out or anxious. This will only ease the minds of people who are nervous for you. Accept what you are doing is nerve wracking, dangerous and demanding. Once you have accepted and identified this (which is completely just) you might feel a lot less nervous.
24 hours before the fight, elect someone to handle your calls and texts. Family and friends will want to see you and some of them won’t be so understanding of how important and taxing the hours before a fight can be. You don’t want to be stressing about where Uncle Dave is going to find parking whilst you’re trying to get your head right.
Summary
Have faith in the training you have done and put in, in the dieting you have been doing, as well as the rest and recovery you should have been giving yourself throughout the camp. Bring this mindset with you, one that you have done everything in your power to succeed.
Do not over train in the last week, no more than 20–40-minute sessions. These are active recovery sessions going max X percent (or something like that).
Lean in to overcome the anxiety, it is there for a reason and denying it only makes things worse.
Use others to help you out on the day of the fight so you can be your best.
