Breaking news, the importance of weight training for athletes has been on a rise. The potential of athletes to maximize performance can be achieved by supplementing their programs with weight training.  Boxers mind set as always been that weight training will make them slower, bigger, and so on. Let me just tell you that resistance training can only make you better if you follow a few basic facts. So here we go, pay attention:

What is muscle contraction? Just think that every movement your body makes is a result of a muscular contraction.  If you want to get faster and more powerful results you will have to increase the size of the functional unit of muscle tissue. For those of you concerned with getting big, that is hard work and over time, and usually happens after a great deal of effort in attaining maximum muscle mass. Not in this classroom, we are not teaching you to go on a food rampage and weights so let’s get that out of our systems.
Boxers focus on neural training and myosfibril & hypertrophy . There is no reason for you as boxers to train as bodybuilders, so if you have that bodybuilder trainer, please be aware of the difference in training.  Boxers don’t get significant gains in muscle mass, they gain and increase flexibility by doing full range movements during weight training.
Just because there are people that complain about being inflexible when weight training does not mean that much, after all there are people who never held a weight and are inflexible. If you discipline yourself to a stretching routine while weight training you will increase your flexibility, you can take my word on that.
For your general knowledge, boxers don’t focus on being flexible; being excessive in flexibility may be detrimental to force production. The magic sentence is high reps and light weights, the opposite of a weight training discipline, a boxer needs to practice it on occasions and all will be fine.

Think about it this way, jumping rope, running, hitting the heavy bag and so on is all about performing muscular endurance, and when you weight train you should be in a different mindset, this will allow you to develop multiple motor qualities required to become fit. Strength, speed and endurance are in that category, and if you follow a program you will get there.
Your goal to improve your absolute strength is through the training with heavy weights, to increase your speed-strength by moving moderate weights at rapid speeds. The stimulation of fast-twitch muscle fiber will achieve the increase of absolute strength, and speed strength.

Please keep in mind that if you use light weights and high reps you will end up recruiting slow twitch fibers, opposite of what we want to achieve in our weight training.

Force Production by Muscles

1) Motor unit recruitment.                                                                              

All muscle fibers are grouped together as motor units. A motor unit is a nerve and all the muscle fibers innervated by the nerve. All the muscle fibers in a motor unit are the same type. If the fibers are slow twitch in a motor unit the unit is considered a low threshold unit. This unit requires light tension for recruitment. When the fibers are fast within the unit it is considered a high threshold unit. Heavy tension is required for the recruitment of high threshold Motor unit’s. When a motor unit is sufficiently activated the entire pool of fibers contract. If the message from the nerve is too weak nothing happens. This is called the all or none principle. Increasing the number of units recruited greatly increases strength. Beginners usually have little success in recruiting numerous motor units. Advanced athletes have the capabilities of recruiting multiple motor units, which increases force production.                                                            

2) Rate coding.
The firing rate of motor units usually increases with training. This is called rate coding. When a muscle fiber is stimulated it twitches. With increasing nervous system stimulation the twitches begin to overlap. When this happens rate coding is in action, which causes increased force production. When intensity levels are between 50-80% of 1RM increased motor unit recruitment is the main contributor to strength increase. When the intensity level reaches between 80-100% of 1RM in a given movement, the main contributor to increasing force production is the increased firing rate of motor units.             

3) Intramuscular Coordination.
This refers to the body’s ability to maximize the synergist effects that varying muscles display in order to perform a movement
                 

Absolute Strength                                                                                                     

The maximum force an athlete can exert with his or her whole body, or part of the body, irrespective of body size or muscle size. no visible increase in power takes place without a substantial gain in absolute strength. Absolute strength forms the foundation for increasing speed-strength

Speed Strength
Strength divided by time, or force x distance divided by time.  Another way to define speed strength is by the speed of muscle contraction. I would describe it in 2 parts.                                                                               
1) Starting Strength. The ability to turn on as many muscle fibers as possible at the beginning of a movement. (Examples: The snap in throwing a quick knockout punch or the quick release of a NFL ball in a long pass). 
2) Explosive Strength. The application of peak amounts of strength for short periods of time, usually periodically, such as in running, sprinting or quick punching combination. 
Remember that each fighter is different. Many strength coaches fail to appreciate this. The same program will not serve well to every individual fighter. So first understand your weakness and your strengths and work within that frame work. So work on making your weaker point stronger while not compromising on speed.                                                                                                                                                                      

Be well and train proper if you want to achieve your goals, boxing is a mindset that improves your way of life, it did for me.