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New Year’s Challenge
Nov 20, 2023

Archetype New Year’s Challenge

Overview

Rules

Weight classes

Below are the basic boxing weight classes for you to choose from.
There are more sub-weight classes in boxing, but we have limited the selection for simplicity’s sake. Should you choose heavyweight, you still need to determine a fighting weight goal or plan to improve your body fat percentage to maximize your success in this camp.

Mindset

The goal of this fight camp is multi-layered. My goal is to have you understand what it feels like to be in peak shape, both mentally and physically. It is geared towards maximizing athletic performance and strengthening your mindset surrounding it. Justifications, the clever excuses we all make to why we can’t do things or why we should prioritize other things are blocking our growth. This 8 week camp will force you to clean up your schedule while prioritizing your health and well-being. Once you understand how good your body can feel when eating clean, exercising daily, and getting the proper recovery, staying in shape year-round becomes much easier.

Begin by thinking: If you were to prepare for a 12-round championship fight, what weight class would you have the best shot at winning? Keep in mind, it's normal for fighters to lose 20-30 lbs in preparation for fights, giving them the best chance at winning the contest. Now, I don’t expect or want anyone to dehydrate and sauna themselves down to the exact weight class, however you should be within 10lbs of your desired fight weight at the conclusion of the 8 weeks.

It’s easy enough to be disciplined in one area of your life, but if you drop the ball in other areas you’re working against yourself. For these 8 weeks, we will be disciplined with exercise, diet, sobriety, and getting a proper night’s sleep.

The Diet

I stole a diet from Tim Ferris and blended it with a diet many fighters have used in the past at World Championship levels.

Rule #1: Don’t eat anything white (No rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, or grains)

Rule #2: Eat the same meals over and over again, especially breakfast and lunch

Rule #3: Don’t drink calories. No alcohol period.

Rule #4: You can eat fruit in the mornings and prior to workouts, limit sugar intake after 4pm.

Rule #5: Eat 1gram of protein per 1lb of goal body weight daily. I pound of meat= 100 grams of protein

Proteins Legumes, Vegetables

Remember to drink plenty of water. If your liver is burdened with dehydration, it won’t metabolize body fat well. Consider taking an electrolyte powder without sugar first thing in the morning with a tall glass of water. We recommend the company Ath.

Support System

All of us coaches are here to help the entire time and committed to aiding you. It’s important that you avoid people who aren’t on your mission while in fight camp. This is the exact reason many great fighters isolate themselves during their fight camp training. Distractions and other people who don’t understand your goals can sabotage progress. I recommend you plan out your weekends different during this challenge. For instance, plan a weekend getaway where you can easily get your workouts in, recover from the week, eat healthy, and walk around and sight see. With the holidays wrapping up, you should have your fill of large social get togethers and parties; work to avoid these during your camp. If possible, convince those closest to you to join you for the diet portion of the challenge. The hardest thing is to share a dinner table with people eating pasta and sponge cake while you eat your lean meat and lentils. Or possibly, eat separately to avoid temptation.

The Training

The rules are simple: 1-2 training sessions per day, 7 days a week. Minimum of 4 boxing sessions/week.
We will track everyone’s daily workouts with the Myzone heart rate strap. We sell the Myzone strap at the gym for $50 cheaper than online.
Things to keep in mind:

Workouts outside the club can range anywhere from running, weightlifting, sprints/speed work, EMOM/tabada workouts, etc. The variety of workouts will also help with recovery. A good strategy is to have an intense workout earlier in the day followed up by a lighter session later in the day to break up lactic acid. For example, if you wake up and jump into a boxing workout, maybe go on an easy run or do a jump rope session/EMOM later in the day. When looking to maximize your overall effort on your Myzone stats, try and mix up shorter more intense workouts with longer blue zone workouts.

If you are already lean and close to your target weight category, the focus of the camp will be getting faster and stronger while maintaining proper habits. The are metrics you’re focused on if weight loss is not the primary need will be speed, endurance, and strength which are easily measured, unlike boxing technique and strategy. During pre-camp for a small price, you can get your VO2 max measured and a full body DEXA scan that will tell you your BMI, where your fat lies in your body, bone density, ect. In addition, time your fastest 2 mile run, your fastest hill sprint, how long you can hold a max effort sprint, how many burpees you can do, etc. If weight loss is needed, you must also get stronger and faster while losing the weight. Remember, this isn’t necessarily about the biggest change in weight, this is about optimizing performance, so you feel like a strong athlete.

Recovery

When ramping up your workouts and cutting calories in your diet, sleep is going to be critical. You will need 7-8 hours of quality sleep per night. And, with your new level of training, potentially a quick 30-min nap.

When training becomes more intense, the follow up workouts are part of the recovery process. You must alter your mind in this respect. For instance, if you do a hard morning workout, a short afternoon 20 min workout can help facilitate recovery and prevent fatigue and muscle soreness. If you’ve watched the Tour De France, the competitors race every single day brutal distances, when they get the rare day off, most of the competitors get out and ride anyway to prevent their body from locking down. Our bodies are designed to handle extreme treatment daily, it’s time to learn more about our individual limits.

Many athletes across multiple sports swear by ice baths and sauna use for recovery. Additionally, the medical literature seems to show extreme benefits to both treatments. If you choose to pay for these treatments, I recommend at least 20 min in a sauna over 180 degrees F, followed by 5 min in a 40-degree cold plunge. If you can add this to your routine during the fight camp twice per week, you would see enormous benefit.

The final key recovery will be following the diet and getting sufficient protein intake. Remember, the recommended daily allowance is NOT optimal for athletic performance and those pushing the limits. Our goal will be to take in 1 gram of protein per pound of goal body weight. So, a person looking to weigh 150 lbs. needs to take in 150 grams of protein per day to optimize recovery. I don’t expect anyone to have to measure out protein, but a simple conversion is 1lb meat=100 grams of protein. I suggest getting a feel for how much protein is in your meals so you can estimate your daily totals. Our goal is to recover properly each day so we give ourselves the best chance to push forward again with the training. Establishing the routine of breakdown, recovery, breakdown, recovery, will get our bodies in peak form.

Goal

Now, this camp is not about weight loss, it’s about peak athletic performance and getting to a weight that gives you the most competitive advantage over the competition. Meaning, we are looking to be at a body weight that gives us the greatest strength to weight ratio possible. I will use myself as an example. I typically walk around 195-200lbs, which would make me a cruiserweight. Now, most cruiserweights are 6’2-6’5 and cut down from 230 lbs, so this would not be an ideal weight class for me to compete in. So, my goal would be to either compete in light heavyweight or even middleweight for maximum advantage. This would mean I would need to cut down 20 pounds at least during my 8-week fight camp, then plan to cut the rest prefight using a dehydration method (we won’t be doing this part obviously). When losing body weight, the goal is to lose 2/3 fat mass and only 1/3 lean mass. Going too extreme can result in far too much lean mass being dropped to quick which is not the objective.

More than any measurable weight loss goal, our purpose is to push boundaries. Our bodies are capable of extraordinary feats. It’s time to take the vehicle off-road, no more nicely paved roads and speed limits. There is no shortcut to anyplace WORTH going. Mental strength, like physical, needs to be built up brick by brick. This fight camp will be a great start to see how far you can go. However, to build long lasting changes, lifestyle and mentality need to be changed. It’s time to think deeper about diet and what you are putting into your body, about exercise and the critical role it has on longevity and mental health, about the people in your life and their immense influence they will have. We are made to toil, embrace your deep archetypes, push the damn boulder up the hill, and feel content. I hope you all join us for this wonderful new year’s challenge.

Sean Apperson
Sean Apperson
Founder