Powerlifting w. Boxing as Conditioning?

Hello Dr. Feigenbaum and Dr. Baraki. I would like to thank you first for all you have done for the strength and medical community. I am a big fan. Second, forgive me if this isn’t the right place to post this, as it’s my first post.

I am a powerlifter at heart, my dream is to eventually become a national level powerlifter in the 93 kg weight class. My lifts are currently about 405/300/450 (just started BM Intermediate programming). I’m currently doing the 4 Day GPP Hypertrophy to lose some weight (since listening to Uncle Rip got me to 245 lb @ 41 inch waist). Anyway, it has become increasingly important for me to learn how to defend my family, the people I love and myself. I hate fighting, but if something goes down I want to be the one to decide who’s gonna get hurt (or IF someone gets hurt). For that reason I have decided to learn Martial Arts for Self-Defense, and want to start with Western Boxing. Learning how to punch someone and avoid getting punched is crucial IMO for self-defense.

My question is, would it be reasonable to ask how to mix boxing training (how many times per week, how much time per training session) and a strength template of yours that would continue to make me strong on a regular basis, while still learning boxing? My thoughts were to do boxing 2-3 times per week as conditioning and just keep lifting. I don’t know if this will lead to constant increases in 1RM Performance, which is my primary goal.

If this is simply too specific to answer in this forum, I understand. Any answer would be appreciated. Thank you!

I think using the boxing training as your conditioning twice per week combined with regular training is a reasonable approach. We can’t predict whether anything will result in “constant increase in 1RM performance”, however – that will be something you’ll have to re-assess as you go.