An eight-week camp, and what each block is for

Highest total workload of the camp and lowest intensity. Long pad rounds, bag volume, running or cycling for aerobic base, strength work at moderate loads. Technical sparring at controlled intensity to keep timing alive. The goal is capacity: everything later in the camp is paid for out of the base built here, and a camp that skips this block runs out of road in week six.

Volume comes down, intensity goes up. Sparring moves to competition intensity in competition-length rounds against partners who fight like the opponent. Pad work shifts from general combinations to the specific sequences the game plan needs. Conditioning becomes interval-based and round-shaped rather than continuous. This is where the fight is actually prepared.

Last hard sparring early in the week, then nothing at that intensity again. Everything from here is speed and precision at low volume. Strength work drops to a maintenance session or two. If you are still trying to build fitness in week seven, the camp was planned wrong and you cannot fix it now — training harder at this point only removes readiness.

Sharply reduced volume, short and fast sessions, full sleep. Weight management should be finishing rather than starting — arriving in fight week more than about four percent above the limit turns the taper into a dehydration exercise and costs you the performance the whole camp was for. Two or three light technical sessions, then rest.