Strength and conditioning workout inspired by the heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua. Intense work!

Anthony Joshua is one of the best heavyweight boxers in the world and what makes him special from our point of view is his high-level strength and conditioning workouts. 

Anthony Joshua is one of the most athletic heavyweight boxers of all time and his impressive physique reflects this fact.

Joshua is massive like a bodybuilder, but doesn't look like a bodybuilder. Mass is good as long as it comes with performance.

We have said time and time again that the athletic physique is the highest ideal and that it is achievable with the right training and the right amount of effort. 

If you train like an athlete, you will eventually look like an athlete. If you train like a regular gym bro, you will surely look fit but not get the athletic look or the performance of an athlete.

Your physique is the reflection of your performance and athletic ability. Most people try to fake their bodies by trying to look the part but not act the part. To really be the real deal, you have to act the part.

The reason athletic training and movement training creates different looking athletic physiques is that the muscles are trained differently and as a result the consistency and quality of their muscles are also different. As we stated in the previous article:

Muscles have different fibres and density. Size is only one of the many attributes of the muscles - you can also develop the "depth" of your muscles and this happens by versatile and comprehensive training. 

An athlete whose muscles are fine-tuned for explosivity (fast muscle fibres) and strength endurance (not purely slow twitch fibres but not pure fast either) will have a very different muscle consistency than a person who has only focused on heavy lifts.

If you look at boxers or fighters in general, they are not pure power athletes, but not pure endurance athletes either. Their training is focused on strength endurance with a hint of power training.

With the correct type of strength and conditioning, a fighter can have a great edge because he will be physically more capable than his competition. The same goes for all sportsmen, martial artists and anyone who is striving for strength.

Here we have selected some of the best exercises we have seen Anthony Joshua use in his strength and conditioning workouts. Obviously, we also love these exercises and have used them for years!

These 7 exercises target the entire body and are great for improving athletic ability. Especially the lateral movement exercises such as the skater jump and monster walk are important.

In most gym programs lateral movement is almost always neglected although the priority should be the same as with the standard lifts such as the squat and deadlift. 

You can do 3-5 sets per exercise and 8 to 14 repetitions per set and achieve great results. Keep rest times short from 30 to 60 seconds.

Weight is not very important here - in athletic training the weight is always secondary and never the goal of any exercise. Light weights typically work better than heavy weights because you can perform the exercises with a better form.

Skater jump is a fantastic explosive lateral movement exercise. You press sideways with your legs developing the lateral glutes. Quadriceps and core will also work hard. 

The benefits of the skater jump

The important cue is to keep the core stable and keep the form tight and upright in a way you maximally isolate lower body movement. 

Monster walk is one of the favorite exercises of Anthony Joshua (judging from his Instagram) and many other athletes.

You move laterally from side to side without letting your knees cave in. The resistance bands are great because they allow you to keep constant tension in your glutes. 

The benefits of the monster walk: 

Picking a resistance band too strong is the most common mistake because it will usually force your knees to cave in. Light resistance bands work very well as long as you manage to keep tension in your glutes. 

Renegade row is a pulling exercise in the plank position. It's one of the best ways to row because core stability is integrated into the movement. 

The benefits of the renegade row:

Avoid rotating the core - this way your core needs to work against rotational force (anti-rotation). Rotating the core is not wrong but it focuses more on the obliques than the back.

Bulgarian split squat is one of those leg exercises that should never go out of fashion. For athletic ability, the bulgarian split squat is one of the best leg exercises.

The benefits of the bulgarian split squat: 

Keep the core tight so you can generate all force with your legs. 

With the ball slam you need a ball called a slam ball which doesn't bounce off the floor. You can use also use medicine balls but they aren't as convenient for the obvious reasons.

You first raise the ball overhead, then by fully extending the spine and raising on your toes you slam it to the floor with the most power possible. 

The benefits of the ball slam: 

The better you can focus on flexing from the hips and using your lats to generate force instead of your arms, the better results the exercise will produce. 

Single leg deadlift is another exercise that is just superb for athleticism and it's no wonder Anthony Joshua also likes it a lot. 

The benefits of the single leg deadlift:

One of the greatest benefits of the single leg deadlift is that you will develop one leg balance, hip stability and unilateral strength.

The end goal of the exercise is to be able to do the exercise without support but beginners can hold onto something. 

Push up is a stable exercise of any training program and as a general rule we would prioritize it over the bench press. 

Why? Because push up develops core stability which is something all athletes should be focusing on. Bench press is still worth doing, but not as a priority. 

The benefits of the push up:

It's advisable to do different variations to emphasize different areas of the body. There are many ways to do the push up but when it comes to general athleticism, core stability should be the focus.

I hope you liked the video and article. A workout like this can be utilized 1-2 times per week. 

Train hard, stay safe.