2

This booklet will contain general nutrition guidelines which will help you maximize your training
and performance in the ring.
It contains information regarding foods and fluids to consume throughout your training camp to
improve your performance whilst decreasing body fat and helping you to make weight.

It’s not just about making weight

It’s about being fuelled to perform at a high intensity as well as being able to recover from hard
training sessions.
This can be difficult when you’re training two times per day and in a negative energy balance.
Impaired recovery can lead to decrements in performance as well as an increased risk of injury
and illness.
The guidelines here will ensure you are fuelled for training without compromising making
weight. This isn’t a drastic plan to lose weight dramatically over a short period. This isn't
something we promote at Boxing Science. Like all our approaches to training it's based on
scientific evidence and planned and delivered in a deliberate and systematic manner.

Fuel, Train, Recover, Make Weight, Perform

Contents
Carbohydrates 3
Protein 6
Fats 9
Fluid 11
The Diet Plans 14
Fight Week 33
Off-Season Alternatives 34

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Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the main fuel source used for high intensity exercise. Eating carbohydrates at
strategic times throughout the day, phase of your camp as well as before a fight is essential to
perform at high intensity.

Type
Carbohydrates can be broken down into 2 forms; simple and starches.
Simple carbohydrates are generally absorbed quicker than starches because they have lower
fibre.
Starchy carbohydrates generally have a higher fibre content which slows digestion, helps keep
blood glucose stabilised and make you feel fuller for longer.

What Does This Mean for My Performance?

When you’re trying to make weight think about eating higher fibre carbohydrates to fuel training
sessions. On fight night you should consider eating lower fibre simple carbohydrates.





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Timing
Eating starchy carbohydrates 3 to 4 hours before high intensity exercise will give you enough
time for the meal to be digested and top up your fuel stores.
Whilst eating simple carbohydrates 30 mins to 2 hours after exercise, especially after the 1st
session if you’re training twice per day, will help restore carbohydrates and get you ready for
the 2nd session.
Decreasing your carbohydrate intake on rest days will ensure you keep your body fat in check.

What Does This Mean for My Performance?

After a hard conditioning session, eat a simple carbohydrate
meal within 1 hour. This will help you replenish your energy
stores quickly.
However, there will be times when this approach won’t be
optimal.
Eating a starchy carbohydrate meal like brown rice or a
bowl of porridge oats 2 to 3 hours before training will
provide you with energy throughout your training session.

Planning
Increasing your carbohydrate intake around high volume sessions like sparring or interval
training drills will help you keep fuelled.
Alternatively decreasing your carbohydrate intake around lower volume sessions like technical
work is a good idea.
Typically, 4 to 6 weeks out from a fight is when your training volume will be largest. Whilst 1 to 2
weeks before a fight is when you’ll taper and lower the volume of training.
Prioritising carbohydrate intake during these high volume weeks will help your performances in
training. And decreasing carbohydrate intake 1 to 2 weeks before a fight help you lose the
remaining pounds.

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Prioritising carbohydrate intake during these high volume weeks when performing hard double
training sessions at around 3-4g per kg of body mass will help your performances in training. In
addition decreasing carbohydrate intake 1-2 weeks before a fight to 2g/kg will aid you to lose the
remaining pounds.

How Much?
A meal containing 40 to 80 g (160 to 320 Kcal) of starchy carbohydrate 2 to 3 hours before a
heavy session is good practice.

If you’re training early in the morning, eating a high carbohydrate meal before sleep will keep
your carbohydrate stores elevated. You can always top up with a light snack or piece of fruit
before training.

Eating a meal with around 30 g of carbohydrate 2 to 3 hours before a lighter session like weight
training, recovery run, shadow-boxing or technical work will help you to control your weight.

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Protein
Protein is an essential nutrient which plays an important role in recovery from exercise – it helps
muscles repair and grow.
When boxers make weight, they are often in a negative energy balance. When cutting foods out
of a diet, carbohydrates are often restricted, increasing the likelihood of gluceneogenesis.
Gluceogenesis – is the synthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources, like amino acids
(protein) and glycerol (fats).

What Does This Mean for My Performance?

If you’re restricting carbohydrates your body will try to create glucose by other means. Typically,
you’ll break down proteins and fats. If you don’t eat enough protein it can lead to a loss of lean
muscle and performance impairment.
This means boxers and combat athletes need to eat more protein compared to population
guidelines.
If you increase protein intake, it will help you recover from training, keep you feeling full and
help maintain muscle mass.

Type
Protein is formed by multiple amino acids. There are two kinds of amino acids; essential and
non-essential.

The body cannot synthesize eight amino acids and are

deemed essential.

These essential amino acids are mainly from animal

sources.

Non essential amino acids come from plant sources.

These are poorly absorbed unless two plant sources
are combined.

A protein bioavability chart shows that animal sources

of protein (casein and above) are better absorbed and
used compared to plant sources. These are the sources
of which we will get the majority of our protein from.

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What Does This Mean for My Performance?
You’re probably limited by how much you can eat, so you’ll need to select foods with the biggest
impact. By carefully choosing protein sources above 75 on the bioavailability index you’ll be
giving your body the best chance to repair and grow your muscle.

Planning
Throughout a training camp a boxer will typically require a large amount of protein, usually
between 1.5 to 1.8 g per kg of body mass per day.
However, at certain periods this may rise to 2.2 kg when in a period of heavy weight training or
during periods when you’ll incur a large negative energy balance (2 weeks before weigh in).

How Much?
There's an upper limit of 20 to 30 g of protein per meal. Any less will not fully synthesise protein
and any amount higher provides little benefit.

Eating 20-30 g of protein every 3 to 4 hours will help maintain muscle protein synthesis.

The image below shows different examples on what 20 g of protein looks like. (Adapted from
Close with the England RFU)

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What About Protein Shakes?

Throughout a training camp a boxer will typically require a large amount of protein 2g per kg of
body mass per day to increase recovery from training as well as to build and protect muscle from
breakdown when making weight.
Many boxers will be able to eat the amount of protein they need without the need for protein
supplementation. However, in some circumstances you might need a protein shake.
If this is the case it's paramount that the product is batch tested by a company like informed
sport in the UK. These companies are examples of those, who batch test their protein
supplements.

1. MSC NUTRITION PROBIOTIC WHEY
http://www.msc-nutrition.co.uk/shop/probiotic-whey/

2. NUTRITION X BIG WHEY

http://www.nutritionx.co.uk/big-whey-318-p.asp

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Fats
The main roles of fats are to act as an energy source for moderate to low intensity exercise as
well as a vitamin carrier for fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K which have critical roles in health
and performance.
Fats improve food quality because they taste good and provide various food options.
During boxing training, in particular sparring and high intensity interval training, carbohydrates
will be used as the main fuel source.
During low volume weight training and technical boxing work like pad work, footwork, shadow
boxing and skipping, fat contributes a large amount of energy to fuel this type of exercise.

Type
The two main types of fats are saturated and unsaturated (monounsaturated and
polyunsaturated).
Guidelines suggest that saturated fats should contribute to 10% of our daily calorie intake whilst
unsaturated fats should contribute to 20% of our daily calorie intake.
Some sections of the media have deemed saturated fats as bad and continually describe them as
dangerous to health.
The media, however, have taken this out of context. Saturated fats play an important role in
hormone production, whilst unsaturated fats have many beneficial effects including reducing
coronary heart disease.

Figure 1 fat sources

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Planning
When training volume and intensity are decreased like on rest days and when tapering before a
fight, fat intake can be slightly increased whilst the carbohydrates are reduced.
This offers an energy source for the body without breaking down protein. When training volume
and intensity is increased fat intake can be decreased whilst carbohydrate intake is increased.

How Much?
Research has found no performance improvements with fat intake greater than 1 g per kg of
body mass. In some situations fat intake might be slightly higher when carbohydrates are low to
offer additional energy for training.
Alternatively, prolonged periods of fat intake below 20% of daily energy intake is likely to have
adverse health effects and be detrimental to performance by not supporting the absorption of
fat soluble vitamins.

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Fluid
Water makes up around 70% of body mass and constitutes roughly 75% of muscle and 10% of fat
mass. The human body has two fluid (water) compartments intra-cellular and extracellular.

Extracellular fluids flow between cells which includes blood plasma and fluid that hydrates the
spinal cord nerves and the brain.

Inadequate water consumption (negative fluid balance) can affect exercise performance. Just 2%
dehydration can affect cognitive function leading to decreased performance in and out of the
ring.

Type
Water should make up almost all fluid consumption throughout the day whilst milk and
isotonic energy drinks can be ingested in and around training to improve performance and aid
hydration.

Timing
Rehydrating first thing in a morning is a good habit due to fluid restriction overnight. Having dry
mouth can promote illness because salivary immunoglobulin function, which is important to
fight infection, is low in this state.
Drinking water, little and often throughout the day and when exercising should reduce the
chances of you being in a negative fluid balance.

What Does This Mean for My Performance?

Poor hydration practice will affect your reaction time
in the ring as well as reducing your immune system
function which will increase your risk of illness.

Dehydrating beyond 2-3% of your body mass, has

been shown to reduce the space between your brain
and skull.

Therefore, sparring and fighting beyond in a negative

fluid balance could result in significant brain injury.

WARNING: You will get sweaty during this program,

as Callum Beardow displays above!
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Planning
Drinking water throughout the day and during training is important. Drinking 500 ml of milk after
training, on its own or as part of a smoothie will aid your recovery.

Energy drinks also play an important role during hard training or when you’re feeling unwell.

How Much?
An average 75 kg individual should be drinking at least 3 litres of water per day. Milk tea coffee
(with no added sugar) and sugar free drinks are included in this amount.
For individuals larger (80-90kg) 4 litres will be adequate whilst smaller individuals (50-60kg)
should be looking at 2 to 2.5 litres.
During hot days' water and electrolyte intake will need to be increased due to increased
insensible water loss.
Increasing water intake up to 3-5 litres and adding salt to drink and food will help promote
hydration. Ingesting electrolyte tablets or electrolyte drinks like milk, coconut water and isotonic
energy drinks will aid fluid absorption.

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The Diet Plans
In this next section of the Boxing Science Nutrition Handbook will outline the diet plans to fuel
your performance and get you leaner than ever.
The diet plans are structured to support the Boxing Science training program. The diet plans will
ensure you to have the right foods at the right time to fuel your workouts, reduce body fat,
maintain muscle mass and boost recovery.
Before we start, here are some basic tips for getting the most out of your diet plan.

Keep a Food Diary

A food diary will help you record what you’re eating. You can jot this down in a diary or on a
piece of paper, but probably the best way to do this is to use MyFitnessPal. You enter the food
and the calories you’ve expended in each session (from your heart rate monitor) and let the app
calculate your energy balance.

Prepare Your Food

Prepare meals in advance to reduce the likelihood of having meals late, not having all the
ingredients available, cheating on the diet or even skipping meals. Preparation is the key to
success in any domain, especially for your diet.

Try Variations
Try different variations of each meal with the similar ingredients, calories and macro nutrient
breakdown. This will help keep your diet fresh and exciting, rather than being bored from eating
the same foods. Eating the same foods on a daily basis can also lead to micronutrient
deficiencies.

During these diet plans you can rotate certain foods just make sure that you do this by keeping
the macronutrients and kcals of the day the same.

For example, swap 120g of broccoli for any green vegetables, add in different coloured peppers,
and leafy green vegetables during salads, change 120g of chicken for turkey, change white
potato for sweet potato, change your fruits i.e. bananas, for apple, pineapple, mango, kiwi, pear.

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We’d would also suggest that you rotate oily fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel with red meat
sources including steak, lamb and beef mince day to day.

However, be aware that depending on the fat content of these foods the calories will vary
therefore choose the leanest cuts of meat you can and if you need to add some fat to increase
the calorie and fat content of your meal add in a tsp to a tbsp of olive oil, avocado oil or a
condiment such as hummus, guacamole, feta cheese to your meal.

Make sure you log this down so your calories and macro nutrients for the day stay the same.

The Diet
The diet is a 3 phase plan, targeting different calorie intakes and macro nutrient distribution.
These phases will give you different nutritional stimuli to make sure you keep losing body fat,
maintain muscle mass and keep you energised throughout your camp.

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Managing High and Low Days
During a training camp not every day will be the same due to changes in your training volume
and intensity. Therefore, it is important that you manipulate the energy you consume
accordingly. For example, a 12 round sparring session and a high intensity running session will
require a greater energy demand than a taper of a light speed work session. Furthermore, a rest
day will require less energy than a training day.

Despite the need for reducing calories to reduce weight some research has indicated that
increasing carbohydrate intake considerably for a day or multiple days whilst dieting can have
some benefits helping you lose extra fat whilst retaining a greater amount of muscle over a
longer period of time. Just make sure that you use this day or days wisely for harder training
sessions that are not close to your weigh in date.

Calorie Deficit
To lose a maintainable amount of body fat without compromising performance you should be
aiming to have a deficit of 250-800 kcals per day from your daily maintenance kcals to make
weight. This reduction in kcals should equal an average 1-2 pound loss of body fat per week. If
this is higher during the first week do not panic it is just muscle glycogen that you have lost as
well as body fat. However, if you do lose over 2 pounds per week for more than 2 weeks then
you may want to increase your food intake with some fats such as small handful of nuts and
seeds, ½ avocado, or swap from low fat to full fat dairy in your diet plans.

Keep track of your weight if you do this to ensure you are staying in the target ranges of 1-2
pounds per week. On the other hand if you are not losing this much body fat per week we would
suggest you increase your training volume or stop cheating on your diet.

Please see below how we would recommend you structure your high and low days.

High Days

On training days that you know will require a
greater volume and intensity for example a
last hard spar in camp/ conditioning session
increase your carbohydrate intake pre
training session by 40% and in your post
workout meal by 40%.





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This is to help fuel the work required whilst helping glycogen resynthesis following the training
session to improve recovery minimising risk of illness. In practical terms this would mean
increasing your bowl of porridge from 50-70g of oats and increase your portion of pasta from
60g - 85g.

If your weight loss is comfortable and on target you could also consume a carbohydrate drink
such as Lucozade or vita coco coconut water during the training session due to glucose
consumption during exercise increasing brain function especially when swirled around the
mouth due to receptors signalling to the brain extra energy.

Low Days
On training days which require less volume and intensity for example during a de load week to
help adaptation reduce your carbohydrate intake by only consuming carbohydrates in the pre
and post training meal. This will also be the same if you only train once compared to twice in the
day.

Reduce your carbohydrates in your pre and post training meal around the workout you have
missed or not taken and save them for your other training session. On rest days reduce your
carbohydrate intake earlier on in the day at breakfast lunch and early morning snack whilst
keeping carbohydrate intake normal at dinner in order to provide energy for your training
session the following day.

Recovery Days
On recovery days which require less training volume and intensity you will need to reduce your
kcal intake slightly mainly in the form of carbohydrates. I would do this by reducing your
carbohydrate intake at breakfast and in a pre-workout meal.

For example swapping scrambled eggs on toast for a vegetable omelette or swapping a bowl of
wholegrain cereal and yogurt to a yogurt with fresh berries.

However, if you are lacking energy or feeling ill on these days you may want to drop your protein
intake from your pre workout meal/ snack and post workout meal/ snack and keep
carbohydrates the same to replenish muscle glycogen for the following days training.








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High Day or Multiple Days.
At some point during a training camp when training becomes more intense, fatigue can increase
as well as the risk of illness. During this time, typically 4-6 weeks out from a fight increase your
calories by 200-400 kcals per day (200kcals for 50-70kg boxers, 400 kcals for 70kg+ boxers).

Ideally these extra calories should come from carbohydrates to fuel your training sessions. 200
kcals= an extra 50g of carbohydrates 400 kcals= an extra 100g of carbohydrates to fuel your
training.

These should primarily come from the sources you’re already consuming. However as long as
you stick to the kcals for these 2 days your weight should remain on schedule. In addition, these
high days should be placed on hard training sessions and not rest days with minimal exercise.

What About If I Have A Surprisingly High Day?

If at some point during your training camp you have a slip up and you indulge in too many kcals
and carbohydrates you can do two things. Increase your training volume and intensity after the
high day whilst keeping your normal kcals the same for example, extra volume in your strength
and conditioning session or extra rounds sparring/ bag work.

The ideal way to do this is calculate the amount of kcals you consumed on your surprisingly high
day above the 200-400 kcal allowance and burn these off using a heart rate monitor. The second
thing to do would be to keep your training the same but reduce your kcal intake for the next
two- three days by the amount you consumed over the 200-400 kcal allowance. I.e. you over
consumed by 900 kcals therefore over the next three days you need to reduce your food intake
by 300 kcals per day. Please note this can be very difficult therefore try to not go over your
allowance.

What About If I Have A Surprisingly Low Day?

If you have a surprisingly low day during the training camp for example you performed extra
conditioning/ sparring than you anticipated, or you didn’t have enough time to eat you can do
two things. If you feel fine and performance in the gym is good carry on regardless or make up
for the low day either later at night or the next training day.

An example of this would be that you were too busy at work in the day so you didn’t manage to
eat your lunch. At night you could consume your lunch as well as your dinner after training and
before bed or the following training day increase the portion sizes of your foods to make up for
the lost 400-500 kcals you missed at lunch the previous day. As we have mentioned previously
this is why it is very important that you track your diet using my fitness pal.

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Suited to your weight category
This plan is structured from energy expenditures from boxers on the Boxing Science program,
and should help boxers achieve a small negative energy balance to ensure weight loss.


50-60 kg 60-70 kg 70-80 kg 80-90 kg

Pages 22-24 Pages 25-27 Pages 28-30 Pages 31-33

For optimal results, we have set a limit to what your body mass should be prior to each phase.
Below is a table with your target weights relative to your fighting weight. If you are above or
below the phase limit, please see the FAQ’s (Page 22-23)

Pre-Phase 1 target weight = 10% Above Fight Weight

Pre-Phase 2 target weight = 8-5% Above Fight Weight

Fight Week target weight = Below 4% Above Fight Weight

Target Weights for Each Phase

Fight Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Fight Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Weight Weight
10% 8% 5% 4% 10% 8% 5% 4%
(kg) (lbs)
49 54 53 51 51 108 119 117 113 112
50 55 54 53 52 110 121 119 116 114
51 56 55 54 53 112 123 121 118 116
52 57 56 55 54 114 125 123 120 119
53 58 57 56 55 116 128 125 122 121
54 59 58 57 56 118 130 127 124 123
55 61 59 58 57 120 132 130 126 125
56 62 60 59 58 122 134 132 128 127
57 63 62 60 59 124 136 134 130 129
58 64 63 61 60 126 139 136 132 131
59 65 64 62 61 128 141 138 134 133
60 66 65 63 62 130 143 140 137 135
61 67 66 64 63 132 145 143 139 137
62 68 67 65 64 134 147 145 141 139
63 69 68 66 66 136 150 147 143 141
64 70 69 67 67 138 152 149 145 144
65 72 70 68 68 140 154 151 147 146
66 73 71 69 69 142 156 153 149 148
67 74 72 70 70 144 158 156 151 150
68 75 73 71 71 146 161 158 153 152
69 76 75 72 72 148 163 160 155 154
70 77 76 74 73 150 165 162 158 156
71 78 77 75 74 152 167 164 160 158
72 79 78 76 75 154 169 166 162 160
73 80 79 77 76 156 172 168 164 162
74 81 80 78 77 158 174 171 166 164
75 83 81 79 78 160 176 173 168 166
76 84 82 80 79 162 178 175 170 168
77 85 83 81 80 164 180 177 172 171
78 86 84 82 81 166 183 179 174 173
79 87 85 83 82 168 185 181 176 175
80 88 86 84 83 170 187 184 179 177
81 89 87 85 84 172 189 186 181 179

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BEFORE YOU START,,, Disclaimer and Extra Information
Nutrition is a very important but complex area for Boxing and Combat Sports. If done incorrectly,
making weight can become potentially dangerous and damaging to the athlete. This handbook is
a guide to help you make weight better and safer.
However, without monitoring body mass and athlete behaviours, Boxing Science or the author
do not take any responsibility for a boxer or combat athlete in failing to ‘make weight’ for
competition.
Furthermore, our nutritional advice is supported by scientific research granted by ethics
committees. Therefore, this disclaims Boxing Science from any unsafe methods performed by
athletes in an attempt to make weight, as well as consequent injuries or harm during
competition.
This is a guide for boxers to become more educated on nutritional methods to help fuel their
performance and make weight safely, however, it is advised that athletes should seek
professional advice and guidance when taking part in a structured diet plan.
Here are some of the common problems we face with athletes and we offer our answers to help
you through the process.

What if I am more than 10% over my fighting weight at the start of camp?
We would advise you to not start an 8-10 week training camp above 10% of your fighting weight
because this will potentially lead to reduced performance in training as well as increasing the risk
of injury. If at 15% - please contact our team and we can help you kickstart your diet to get in
shape for the programme.

What if I am more than 5% over my weight on fight week?

If you are over 5% from your fighting weight 1 week before you compete and don't have a
qualified nutritionist to guide you, we would advise you to postpone or to fight at a higher
weight category.

A severe weight drop without professional support will increase your risk of severe trauma as
well as reducing your performance in the ring.

How can I track my progress?

We would recommend you weigh yourself in the morning on the same day once per week to
track your progress.

In addition, we would also recommend a body composition assessment by an ISAK qualified

anthropometrist or sport scientist.

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Phase 1
Note: During this phase you may see a higher weight loss at the start compared to the end this is
due to changes in your muscle glycogen following the lower carbohydrate intake. Make sure that
you are prepared during this phase by cooking the meals according to the grams section. A few
grams difference every day can be the difference between making and failing weight, therefore
it is imperative that you buy a digital weighing scale to weigh your food.

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Phase 2
Note: During this phase your training volume and intensity should be increasing whilst dropping
calories. This is the most difficult phase for making weight. If you do not see a change in weight
for two weeks after this change you may need to drop calories lower (reduce carbohydrates in
your dinner) or you need to do more training volume and intensity in the week.

As previously mentioned you can rotate your foods such as vegetables, meats and fish to avoid
micronutrient deficiencies. Just make sure that you track your food on my fitness pal so you are
still hitting the macronutrient total at the bottom of the page.

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Phase 1
Note: During this phase you may see a higher weight loss at the start compared to the end this is
due to changes in your muscle glycogen following the lower carbohydrate intake.

Make sure that you are prepared during this phase by cooking the meals according to the grams
section.

A few grams difference every day can be the difference between making and failing weight,
therefore it is imperative that you buy a digital weighing scale to weigh your food.

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Phase 2
Note: During this phase your training volume and intensity should be increasing whilst dropping
calories. This is the most difficult phase for making weight. If you do not see a change in weight
for two weeks after this change you may need to drop calories lower (reduce carbohydrates in
your dinner) or you need to do more training volume and intensity in the week.

As previously mentioned you can rotate your foods such as vegetables, meats and fish to avoid
micronutrient deficiencies. Just make sure that you track your food on my fitness pal so you are
still hitting the macronutrient total at the bottom of the page.

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Phase 1
Note: During this phase you may see a higher weight loss at the start compared to the end this is
due to changes in your muscle glycogen following the lower carbohydrate intake.

Make sure that you are prepared during this phase by cooking the meals according to the grams
section. A few grams difference every day can be the difference between making and failing
weight, therefore it is imperative that you buy a digital weighing scale to weigh your food.

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Phase 2
Note: During this phase your training volume and intensity should be increasing whilst dropping
calories. This is the most difficult phase for making weight. If you do not see a change in weight
for two weeks after this change you may need to drop calories lower (reduce carbohydrates in
your dinner) or you need to do more training volume and intensity in the week.

As previously mentioned you can rotate your foods such as vegetables, meats and fish to avoid
micronutrient deficiencies. Just make sure that you track your food on my fitness pal so you are
still hitting the macronutrient total at the bottom of the page.

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Phase 1
Note: During this phase you may see a higher weight loss at the start compared to the end this is
due to changes in your muscle glycogen following the lower carbohydrate intake. Make sure that
you are prepared during this phase by cooking the meals according to the grams section.

A few grams difference every day can be the difference between making and failing weight,
therefore it is imperative that you buy a digital weighing scale to weigh your food.

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Phase 2
Note: During this phase your training volume and intensity should be increasing whilst dropping
calories. This is the most difficult phase for making weight. If you do not see a change in weight
for two weeks after this change you may need to drop calories lower (reduce carbohydrates in
your dinner) or you need to do more training volume and intensity in the week.

As previously mentioned you can rotate your foods such as vegetables, meats and fish to avoid
micronutrient deficiencies. Just make sure that you track your food on my fitness pal so you are
still hitting the macronutrient total at the bottom of the page.

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Fight Week
Despite the hard work being done, fight week is the most important stage of training camp. This
is the time you need to make sure everything is done correctly and systematically, there's little
room for error in your training and nutrition.
Every fighter is different, it requires close contact with a nutritionist or team member to guide
you to your fighting weight. Therefore, we are unable to put together a methodical plan to help
you make the weight. However, here’s a guide to what you should consider and different
methods we use with boxers to make weight.

Manage Your Carbs

Training volume and intensity will be reduced for the last two weeks of training camp to taper
for your fight, meaning your energy intake needs to be reduced. When cutting calories, we select
the carbohydrates to be cut down.

Plan to have your carbohydrates around your training window to fuel for your sessions and help
you recover.

• 60g of uncooked brown rice 2 hours before sparring.

• 60g of uncooked brown pasta 2 hours after sparring.

When you finish training 2 days before fight day, a non-carb ketogenic diet should help you lose
1-2 pounds from water retention.

Low Residue Diet

Around 3 days before a fight we can help lose the last 1
to 2 pounds by following a low residue diet. Following
this diet isn't optimal for health, however it can be
optimal for boxing performance by reducing food in
the gut.
This will help make you lighter whilst reducing gut
discomfort. Eat the foods in the low residue food table
in small amounts in the 2 days prior to weigh in.

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Post Weigh-In Refuel
Following the weigh in it is highly important that you increase your carbohydrate intake
considerably to load muscle glycogen in order to increase your performance in the ring. Due to
being on a calorie restriction for a long period of time your appetite will decrease therefore it is
important that you consume carbohydrate dense low fibre foods. For example, basmati white
rice, white bread, white pasta, fruit juice, milkshakes etc.

This will provide you with energy without making you feel very full. For an estimated amount of
carbohydrates, you should consume following a weigh in you need to consume 1-2g/ kg of body
mass immediately after the weigh in and 10g/kg of body mass for the 24 hours following the
weigh in. This would equate to 60g of carbs immediately after a weigh in and 600g of carbs
throughout the day before the fight for a 60kg boxer. Please see below a practical structure of
how this would be achieved.
Weigh-In Day
Pre Weigh In Snacks
Banana, Carbohydrate Mouth Rinse, Small High GI Snacks to maintain
blood sugar levels

Immediately after the weigh in.

500 ml chocolate milk, 2 slices of bread and a banana.

2-3 hours following the weigh in.

Large bowl of white pasta, such as Spaghetti Bolognese with a slice of
garlic bread.

Before bed
1 fruit yogurt, 1 large bowl of cereal with milk

Fight Day
Breakfast
Large bowl of porridge with fresh fruit and honey

Lunch
Large bowl of basmati white rice with sweet chilli chicken stir fry
vegetables

Pre-Fight Meal
large bowl of white pasta with green pesto turkey and broccoli

Snacks
Fruit yogurts, cereal bars, bananas, Lucozade etc

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Off Season Alternatives
Our philosophy is that boxer's should be training all year round, and not just from camp to camp.

This is because to make major physiological and technical adaptations you need to be consistent
and professional in your approach to training. Our nutrition plan is primarily designed to keep
you fuelled for training because this is obviously the stimulus for adaptation.

If you stop training, you’re missing out on a huge window of opportunity to train even harder
than you would during a fight camp. You could make some excellent gains in strength, fitness
and technical ability during this time period. And importantly, if your opponents are having a
break, then you’ll already be getting an advantage over them. But you need to ensure your
eating well to fuel these sessions and recover from them - if you let your nutrition slip you’re not
maximising this opportunity.

Another downside is that even if you’re still training and you let your nutrition slide, or you let it
all slide and stop training and make poor food choices then you could gain excessive weight.
When you eventually come back to training you’re not going to be able to exercise at the same
intensity and if you try and do it you increase your risk of lower-limb injury because of the extra
force you might be putting through your detrained body.

But most importantly, heating a well-balanced healthy diet is good for you and you don’t always
need to be switched ‘on’ or ‘off’ a diet as a boxer.

Here are your portion sizes..

● Your palm determines your protein portions.
● Your fist determines your vegetable/salad portions.
● Your cupped hand determines your carbohydrate portions.
● Your thumb determines your fat portions.

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Breakfast guide
After seep it’s important that you Kickstart muscle protein synthesis as soon as possible with at
least 20 g of protein, that’s why a key focus of our breakfast options are based around high
quality protein sources such as eggs, high protein yoghurt, chicken sausages and oily fish. You’ll
also notice that there’s some good source of fat here too in the form of eggs, yoghurt, oily fish
and seeds and nuts. Sometimes boxer's are frightened to include fat in their diet but high quality
sources of fat are important to overall health and wellbeing so it’s very important to keep them
in the diet and the best time to include them is at breakfast.

In terms of portion sizes follow our guide above and our recommendations below.

Breakfast Wrap:

1 portion of eggs, 2 portions of baby spinach and 1 tortilla wrap.

Baked Eggs

1 portion of eggs, 1 portion of spinach, 1 portion of baby tomatoes - place in a muffin tin and
bake until cooked through.

Greek Yoghurt with Muesli

1 portion of yoghurt, 1 portions of muesli (carbohydrate)

Chicken Sausages, Tomatoes and wholemeal pitta

1 portion of chicken sausages, 1 portion of spinach, 1 portion of tomato’s and 1 wholemeal pitta

Eggs and Mexican beans

1 portion of eggs, 2 portions of beans and Mexican flavour spice mix to taste

Sardines/Mackerel on toast

1 portion of fish, 2 portions of wholemeal bread toasted

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Post Training Snacks
These examples provide you with the key ingredients required for fast recovery, especially if
you’re training twice a day. Of course you can continue to use your favourite recovery
drink/shake but we believe in the power of food and so most of our examples are based around
quick and easy to prepare snacks. The key to recovery for boxer's in weight categories is a good
source of protein for regular training sessions and the inclusion of a good source of
carbohydrates after hard sessions or the first session of the day if you’re training twice a day. In
your recovery snacks try to minimise the amount of fat as this will slow down digestion and
absorption of key nutrients, low fat dairy based products are ideal options at this point in time.

For after training snacks we recommend you have:

• 1 fist size portion of protein

• 1 palm size portion of carbohydrate
• 1 palm size portion of vegetable/salad (if at all)

1 portion of cottage cheese and 1 portion of wholemeal toast

1 portion of overnight oats

1 portion of turkey, 1 tortilla wrap and 2 portions of salad

1 portion of flavoured Quark cheese

0.5 portion of dried fruit and 1 portion of cottage cheese

500 ml of skimmed milk or 1 protein shake (make as recommended)

Half bagel and 1 thumb of low fat soft cheese

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Main meals: Lunch and Dinner
In the table below we have provided you with options for your main sources of protein and
carbohydrate along with vegetables and salads. We’ve also included some sauces and spices to
have with your meals so you can mix and match foods with different spices depending on your
preferences. This will enable you to be more flexible and create with meal planning. The recipes
for the sauces are below.

As an example, you might have chicken breast (1 portion), sweet potato (2 portions), spinach (1
portion) and red pepper (1 portion). Each protein source is high quality and low fat (apart from
eggs). Carbohydrates are mainly low glycaemic index and packed with micronutrients, and the
bean options deliver an extra source of protein and fibre. Vegetables and salads are easy to
source, store and cook with as well as being nutritionally dense. Without fruit and vegetables our
risk of illness becomes heightened and our performance in the gym can decrease due to not
being able to utilise the macro nutrients such as carbohydrates and protein effectively without
the micronutrients in the fruit and vegetables.

The sauces and spices we have provided as examples are low calorie and will enable you to add
variety to your meals or use as base to add other flavours to keep your dieting as interesting as
possible. The idea here is to mix and match according to your access to food, allow you to create
a base for a shopping list and make good food choices when it’s difficult to do so.

For your lunch and then again for your dinner we recommend you have:

• 1 portion of protein
• 2 portions of vegetable/salad
• 2 portions of carbohydrates for lunch and 1 for dinner
• 1 portion of fat (mostly cooking oil here)

See your options table on the next page….

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Treat yourself…. don’t cheat yourself.

During the off season when you don’t have a fight date planned it is important that you take some social
time to relax and reduce stress. Having a meal out with friends and family can be a good way to do this.
However, we at boxing science like to give you the best possible advice of how to do this without
impacting on your performance and physique.
During the off season we can allow some so called cheat meals however the key to doing this is during
certain times. We advise that during the off season you have 1-2 cheat meals per week any more and
this can lead to binging and increasing your body fat over the 10% mark of your fight weight. We would
recommend that you place your meals on training days and not rest days and preferentially on your
hardest or double training sessions. For example for the boxing science boxers who take part in our
sessions on Tuesday and Thursday we would advise having 1 cheat meal on each day whilst reducing
carbohydrates in 1 meal.
A good idea would be having pasta/ rice at lunch then after training at dinner going out with some
family/ friends to a restaurant and having 1 main meal of any kind such as burger and fries or a pizza
instead of your dinner (please note this is a main meal and not a starter, main meal and dessert). On
the other day we would recommend that our boxer craves their sweet tooth with a dessert treat after
training for example reducing the fruit in your post workout snack/ drink and having a chocolate bar, ice
cream or slice of cake/ pie and custard. Please note that for every other meal during the training week
we advise you to stick to the nutrient dense foods listed above.

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Upgrade Your Programme
Get the full Boxing Science Experience with our brand new online coaching service…
With our growing reputation – we have had the pleasure of working with athletes and coaches
all around the world.

We have delivered various types of remote packages – and trialed how we can deliver a personal
yet affordable service for people wanting to gain the full Boxing Science experience.

We’ll Help You Adapt…

The online programme fits with our training philosophy – that it’s not a ‘one-size’ fits all
approach. The TLAC programme is a fantastic tool but we realise that our audience may need to
adapt to suit their situation, training history or environment. This programme will allow our
coaches to help you make these adjustments effectively.

We’ll Keep You On Track…

We also realise following a programme on your own maybe difficult – that’s why we will have
weekly check-ins to see how you’re progressing. We will encourage you to send over your heart
rate data and videos of your lifting techniques.

Monitor Your Progress

We have introduced some monitoring methods for you – however this can be better managed
and analysed in digital formats. We will be providing our monitoring tools on Excel and google
drive to help you get more out of the programme.

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We Won’t Keep You Waiting …
Many mentoring services use top-level coaches that are often busy – leaving members waiting
days for a response. However, we will be managing the process so you will get your answer
straight away! We will be having 2 x 3 hour windows per week dedicated to answering your
questions. Plus, we won’t be overloaded as we are limiting ourselves to 10 members per coach –
with 20 spaces available in total.

Face To Face Contact

You maybe the on the other side of the world – but that
doesn’t mean you can’t have face-to-face contact with your
coach. We will be having group video call drop-in
sessions that will include Q and A’s, demonstrations and
educational workshops.

Continue The Journey….

As you can imagine – developing a programme like TLAC 3.0 can take a lot of time and effort –
which may leave people waiting around ready for their next programme. The online coaching
programme will guarantee your next programme to start when you’re ready so you can continue
the journey to world-level fitness.
The Online Coaching programme is suitable for athletes, coaches and PT’s. Here are some of the
people who have benefitted from our programme in different ways.
“Having the help of boxing science remote programme has been massively beneficial to Lewis
Crocker’s development. Having the structure and plan for every stage of camp is
so important and it has certainly made him a faster, stronger, powerful athlete”
Ray Ginley – Boxing Coach
“Despite being based in Sheffield; I find it difficult to attend
Boxing Science sessions due to work commitments. However, I have
benefitted from individual programmes that are structured in an
understandable format – I feel fitter and stronger than ever”
Muma Mweemba – Professional Boxer
“Boxing Science have influenced my practice for almost three years now both as a coach and as
an athlete. Their remote packages are great and I certainly recommend it to
athletes and coaches as they are raising the bar for all combat athletes”
Shannon Lawson – Amateur Boxer and S&C Coach

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Your Coaches
Your coaches will be Danny Wilson and Dr Alan Ruddock. Both have a
lot of experience in boxing – working with over 200 boxers from
schoolboy amateurs all the way to world champions. Most importantly
– we’re pretty nice guys J

So …. Here Is Everything Involved…

• 1-1 Coaching through WhatsApp
o 2 x 3-Hour Windows Per Week (however, you can
message us anytime)
o Individual programme adjustments
o Feedback on sessions / lifting techniques
o Weekly tasks / goals
• Weekly Group Video Call Drop-In Session
o Zoom drop-in sessions – live Q and A
o Demonstrations on how to use monitoring tools
o Educational workshops
• Access to monitoring tools
o Programmes sent out in Excel format so able to log training loads
o Access to google forms to monitor wellness
• Rolling Programme
o The journey doesn’t end after TLAC 3.0 – we will send you an updated programme
to continue your training process.
o Individual adjustments will be made towards your training needs.

How it all works?

We will be taking our first group for online membership on the Monday 13th August 2018.
Our first zoom online chat will be on Wednesday 15th August – teaching you how to use the
monitoring tools for the programme.
First payment will be on the 13th August 2018 – then payments will be a standing order of £40 on
the 30th of each month to Boxing Science.
You will be assigned a coach for 1-1 WhatsApp support – however will have access to both
Danny and Alan through the Zoom online chats.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST BY E-MAILING US – [email protected]

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The Authors
Lee Rickards BSc, MSc, ASCC – Boxing Science Nutritionist –
Sheffield United Nutrition Consultant and Strength and Conditioning
Coach
Lee Rickards is a nutrition consultant and sport scientist currently
working at Sheffield United Football Club and with professional
combat sport athletes competing for regional, national and
commonwealth titles. Lee is an UKSCA accredited strength and
conditioning coach (ASCC) and an accredited body composition analyst by The International
Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK).

Lee was awarded his Bachelor of Science in Sport Science for Performance Coaching in 2013 and
Master of Science in Sport and Exercise Science two years later at Sheffield Hallam University.
Lee has now taken on a PHD in Polyphenols and Recovery from Exercise.

Danny Wilson BSc, MSc, ASCC – Boxing Science Co-founder and

Strength and Conditioning Coach
Danny is a UKSCA accredited Strength and Conditioning coach and
has an Undergraduate and Master’s degree in Sport and Exercise
Science from Sheffield Hallam University. Danny co-founded Boxing
Science in 2014 following building the successful Boxing
programme at Sheffield Hallam University where he has coached
over 100 boxers as a strength and conditioning coach.

Danny has prepared many boxers competitive bouts, including IBF welterweight world champion
Kell Brook, WBA Bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell, Kid Galahad, Anthony Fowler and
many more aspiring professional and amateur boxers. He is also the lead for sport science
services to England Boxing and is an England Boxing Level 1 qualified coach, enabling him to
volunteer at Sheffield City ABC.

Danny is also a regional strength and conditioning coach for England Golf, working with Yorkshire
U16’s, U18’s and working with national level players. Danny has other experiences in youth and
professional standards across a range of sports, including internships at Sheffield United,
Sheffield Eagles and Chesterfield FC.