Muscle and strength is more important in some athletic venues than in others. In wrestling and boxing, where your physical strength plays a considerable role not only in your performance but also what weight class you compete at, your muscle weight and strength is of the utmost importance. These athletes typically want to maximize muscle weight while minimizing the amount of weight devoted to fat deposits. Strength training is critical to achieving these results.
Strength Training Effects
Strength training creates stress on the muscles through exercise. This stress is used to create an adaptive response by the muscles, in this case leading to the development of new muscle mass to make the body better able to bear this stress and workload. Strength training also encourages the development and maintenance of your bone density and strength, making it less likely that you will suffer broken bones resulting from stress in competition.
Weightlifting Benefits
Of the various types of strength training available to you, lifting weights provides your muscles with the greatest degree of stress possible. This allows you to build muscle mass and strength at the quickest rate possible. You can choose to vary your routine with other exercises that build muscle in different ways, such as with resistance tubing or body mass workouts, but if you are trying to increase mass --- particularly to meet the maximum threshold of a specific weight class --- lifting weights will help you get there quicker.
Schedule
An effective strength training routine requires consistency, regardless of why you are doing it or for what sport. It is generally recommended that you strength train several times a week, but with a day of rest between workouts --- lifting more often will deny your muscles the opportunity to recover, leading to a reduced ability to build muscle mass and strength and increasing your odds of suffering an injury. Additionally, strength training sessions should exercise the muscles in a variety of ways to maximize the stress and exercise achieved.
Considerations
Efficiency is a very important component of both wrestling and boxing. For these sports, fat is inefficient weight because it does not perform any work for the body. Because boxers and wrestlers are divided into weight classes, even a small amount of added muscle mass can provide a benefit and advantage over the same amount of weight as fat. You can reduce your body-fat percentage with aerobic exercise that burns calories and diminishes fat --- do this several times a week in conjunction with your strength-training program.
Posted in: Boxing Training