Calzaghe training tips

Another popular question I have been asked and has been a focus of articles in Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness and has also been posted on the net is what is the training regime of Joe Calzaghe?

How was he able to outlast a supremely fit Bernard Hopkins and dominate in the latter rounds?

Read on to see what Joe Calzaghe does to prepare himself for a fight.

Joe Calzaghe – Old school training

What does a typical days training look like?

According to Joe, he walks around at 14 st 5 (201 lbs) between fights so typically has to lose over 30 pounds before a big fight. Whilst this is not as extreme as Ricky Hattons 3 stonnes that he has to lose it is still quite a challenge.

According to an article from Men’s Health and picking up hints from Joe’s autobiography a typical day’s training for Joe would be as follows:

Morning 5-6 mile run at a good pace on the hills around Newbridge.

Afternoon A short, high intensity gym session that would typically include:

• 12 rounds on the bag or speed ball throwing 200-300 punches per round. The focus here is speed, sharpness and timing.
• Sit ups with a medicine ball being thrown on his stomach to toughen up the stomach muscles (ouch)

• Unlike a number of other boxers, Joe Calzaghe does NOT use weights as part of his training. His reasons for this are as follows:

I think there must be something in this when you see how he performed against Kessler and Lacy, both avid users of weights as part of their training. Finally, here is a link to an article from Men’s Health related to Joe Calzaghe’s training regime:

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/Fitness-&-muscle/Train-like-Joe-Calzaghe/v3

What about sparring?

Joe normally starts sparring 4 weeks before a fight but tends to spar less than other boxers as he wants to protect his hands.

Whilst boxing is a solitary sport, he does not train alone as he is accompanied by Enzo Macrenelli, Nathan Claverly, Gary Lockett and Gavin Rees. Here is a link to a good article from the BBC website which details what the atmosphere is like in the Joe Calzaghe camp.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7269586.stm

How often does he train?

According to the BBC website, Joe will start training 8 weeks before a fight so he will have started training for Hopkins from late February. In terms of frequency training would take place twice a day 6 days a week with a run in the morning (1 hour) and a gym session (2 hours) in the afternoon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/justthejob/takeitfromme/star_joec.shtml

Where does he train?

Joe trains in his dad's gym in Abercarn, south Wales. Any run there is by its very nature a heart-pounding slog up a hill. "The great thing about this place is that I basically live in a boot camp," says Calzaghe.

What about diet?

According to Joe himself, food is a big vice when he is outside of training enjoying Italian, Thai food and currys. However, 6 weeks before a fight all of this will end and a more strict diet will begin. A typical day would look as follows:

Training diet

Breakfast Porridge or weetabix with candarel, tea or coffee, skimmed milk

Lunch Pasta

Supper Health meals, plenty of fruit and vegetables

Snacks Diet yoghurts, jelly cubes

Day of the fight diet

Invariably, Calzaghe will be 10 pounds or so above the fight weight after the weigh in which normally takes place on the Friday before the fight. This means he is likely to be around 178-185 pounds on fight night depending on the fight class he is competing in.

Joe is not naturally 168 pounds so to regain some strength tends to eat a decent amount before the fight.

Here is what Joe ate on the day of the Kessler fight. This is from www.calzaghe.co.uk, an excellent resource for all things to do with Joe Calzaghe:

Breakfast 6 weetabix, toast and plenty of fruit

Lunch Pasta

Supper Sweets, plenty of jaffa cakes

UPDATE - Men's Health Article April 2008

In the April 2008 UK edition of Men's Health Magazine there was a ten page section dedicated to boxing. The boxers featured were Cruiser Weight #1 David Haye, Welterweight best of all time Floyd Mayweather and Joe Calzaghe.

The aim of the article was to inform readers of what you can learn from each respective boxers training methods and mindsets.

The Calzaghe section whilst containing some great images is less informative than the section on David Haye. However, I managed to glean some great insights from the article such as:

• Calzaghe will spar between 120-140 rounds before a fight.
• On the day that Men's Health interviewed him he had done 10 rounds sparring and intended to run 4-5 miles on the treadmill that evening.
• The article stated that Joe had 5 rules that helped ensure his continued success. These were:
  1. Work to a goal - Put a date in the diary for a future event and write down the goals you want to achieve in that time. Hatton is another boxer who does this and is known to put a ring around a date on his wall calendar (the fight date) and counts back 12 weeks from this. This is then the duration of his "monastery" training regime.
  2. Use what's around you - Joe does not rely on a swanky gym for getting his training done. Like Joe don't use the excuse of not having a gym membership as justification not to work out. Go for a run outdoors or invest in a chin up bar for you room.
  3. Pace yourself - Don't overtrain. Make a note how you feel after a workout in your training diary. If feeling fatigued take the day off. Vernon Forrest blamed "overtraining" for his defeat to original contender Sergio Mora. Don't make this mistake.
  4. Work out with others - Joe has the benefit of having other boxers to work out with like Nathan Cleverly and Enzo Maccranelli. Try and get one of your mates to join you when you work out. You are far less likely to skip a session if you know you are meeting them at the gym.
  5. Play to your strenghts - Joe cites his strenghts as "speed and adaptability". Indeed, against both Kesller and Hopkins he was able to change his style and approach to cobnfuse his opponents. Find out what your strengths are, whatevr your sport and use them to your advantage.

  
  
  
  

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