Don’t underestimate Johnny Fisher – the detail-oriented athlete behind the viral social media videos

Fisher and dad ‘Big John’ boast a huge combined social media following thanks to jokey skits and their passion for Chinese takeaways. But strip it all back and you will find a conscientious boxer who leaves no stone unturned in his quest for better performance

It is easy to be fooled by Johnny Fisher. His social media videos are a promoter's dream, regularly reaching enormous audiences by showcasing his winning personality, penchant for Chinese takeaways and internet famous father ‘Big John’. But behind it all is a conscientious athlete.

The former factor is a major reason why ‘The Romford Bull’ has a legion of loyal fans; the latter explains why the boxing world has its eye on the 26-year-old.

As a fitness writer, it was the second subject that caught my attention. In a recent video with DAZN, Fisher has a check-in with performance nutritionist Lee Rickards. He also recently told Men’s Health that he has become more aware of his carbohydrate timing, and the need to source protein from leaner cuts of meat – even if there is still room for chicken balls and crispy aromatic duck in his diet pre-training camp.

With strength and conditioning coach Sonny Cannon, he uses an array of training techniques to improve his performance across three weekly conditioning sessions, two to three strength sessions and two to three active recovery sessions.

“The main aim as the strength and conditioning coach is injury prevention, training load management and athlete development,” Cannon says. “[We want to be] improving our athletic ability for boxing and becoming fitter, faster and stronger.”

Everything the pair does is underpinned by the SAID principle, short for specific adaptations to imposed demands. Each exercise and drill is prescribed with a set adaptation in mind.

Energy system development via running

A boxer needs to be able to draw on all three energy systems over the course of a fight: aerobic to keep moving, anaerobic for short bursts of intense effort, and the ATP-PC system for explosive movements.

Cannon uses something called the Norwegian protocol to send Fisher’s VO2 max (the maximum amount of oxygen you can take in and use during exercise) skywards.

“It’s four minutes at the fastest pace you can maintain, three minutes off, then repeat this four times,” Cannon explains. “This method can be used on a treadmill, track or Assault Bike, and it’s easily tracked and monitored for progression.”

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With boxing rounds lasting three minutes, acclimating Fisher’s heart and lungs to slightly longer intense efforts is a smart way to make sure that they stand up to the rigours of fight night. And the benefits do not end there.

“This is something we’d class as the hurt level,” Cannon adds. “You can get a little bit panicky, a little bit jittery, but even though we are pushing our body, our mind is calm.”

To train the anaerobic system, Fisher again hops on the Assault Bike for intervals of two minutes on, 90 seconds off, for six rounds, a protocol Cannon calls lactate tolerance training.

Then to develop the ATP-PC system, Fisher performs 12 rounds of 10-second all-out sprints on the Assault Bike, with 50 seconds to recover between each one.

“This is very easy to monitor over the course of a camp, so we can see peak power adaptations from combined training methods,” Cannon explains.

Eccentric overload training

If you thought the weights you use in the gym are always limited by the amount of weight you can lift, you are not 100 per cent correct.

In a 2023 training video, ahead of his technical knockout win over Alfonso Damiani, Fisher uses something called eccentric overload training to build serious shoulder strength and muscle.

With a barbell in a landmine set-up, two 20kg plates loaded on one end, he uses both hands to press it overhead. Then, he removes his right hand and slowly controls the barbell back down to his shoulder over the course of three seconds.

This technique relies on the rule of thumb that you can lower more weight than you can lift.

Most lifts can be broken down into three phases, and these are categorised by the type of muscular contraction occurring in the target muscle or muscles.

- The concentric or lifting phase, where the working muscle is contracting and becoming shorter – standing up from the bottom of a squat.

- The isometric phase, where the working muscle is under tension but remaining the same length – the bottom position of a squat.

- The eccentric or lowering phase, where the target muscle is stretching or lengthening – moving from standing to squatting.

Broadly speaking, you can lower more than you can hold, and you can hold more than you can lift. So, by isolating and overloading the eccentric portion of a lift, you have the chance to train with heavier loads.

While the jury is still out, researchers have also suggested that eccentric overload training may provide ‘a potential preferential growth of type IIX [fast contraction speed] muscle fibres’ and enhance muscle hypertrophy (or growth), helping Fisher build and maintain a powerful heavyweight physique.

Twinned with isometric training, Cannon says it can also “[…] build strong and robust joints, which is a must for injury prevention in a tough training camp.”

“These training methods are great for boxers who have to contend with shock absorption and heavy impact,” he adds.

Absolute strength work and contrast training

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It should come as no surprise to anyone that Fisher lifts heavy to achieve his imposing physique and enviable strength levels.

The trap bar deadlift is a favourite exercise of Cannon’s to include in their sessions, representing “the safest method for developing absolute strength and rate of force development when factoring in risk over reward”. Lifting 2.2 times his body weight is the target they’re building towards.

Then, nearer the end of a training cycle, Cannon uses something called contrast training to develop Fisher’s strength and power simultaneously.

Contrast training involves pairing a heavy compound (multi-muscle) exercise with a biomechanically similar explosive exercise. For example, a barbell back squat with a max-height squat jump, or a bench press with a clapping press-up. Perform the exercises back-to-back, with no more than five repetitions of each per set. A favourite of Fisher’s is to go straight from a heavy sled push into a sprint or box jump.

“Contrast training uses something known as post-potentiation activation (PAP),” Cannon says. “We’re trying to get him to use as much force as he can through his quads, then we’re switching to an explosive movement.”

An article by the National Strength and Conditioning Association suggests that “[…] inducing PAP through heavy resistance exercise can increase muscle force capabilities in subsequent high-velocity activities by one to five per cent”.

Or in layman’s terms, your muscles will be more explosive immediately after a heavy lift, so performing them can lead to potentially greater training adaptations such as improved muscle force potential.

Anti-rotational core work

If you ask the average person to strengthen their midline, they will say something about a six-pack, then crank out some sit-ups. But for a boxer, these mid-body muscles do so much more than simply crunching the rib cage towards the hips.

As well as initiating movement around the torso, the core also resists movement, which is vital if you might be on the receiving end of a haymaker or two in your day job.

For this, Fisher performs an exercise called the Pallof press. He attaches a thick resistance band to an upright anchor point at roughly chest height, stands adjacent to it with plenty of tension on the band, then presses the band straight out from his chest with both arms until they are extended in front of him.

Throughout this movement, his core muscles are resisting the band’s best effort to pull them sideways.

The core musculature is also responsible for the transfer of power from the ground, through the lower body and torso, then into the extremities when performing an action such as throwing a punch. For this reason, strengthening it is a must for any combat sport.

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