Sunday, April 11, 2010

April 10th

Day of the fight.

Diet
Breakfast: Loads of oatmeal with honey
Lunch: Chicken lasagne and chips
Pre-fight: A stress-filled few mouthfuls of noodles, half an oat bar
Post-fight: Lamb, mash, veg. Beer, Jaegermeister, champagne (thanks Matt Edwards!), Margarita (thanks Matt Harrison!)

Good times. Beer tastes superb after 4 months.

Exercise
Warmup: Nervous skipping, nervous shadowing, nervous pad work
Fight: 3 x2 minutes.

Okay, the day itself:

1. Woke up pretty early, no way I was going to get back to sleep.
2. We went shopping to get me something to wear after the fight and take my mind off everything. Worked quite well.
3. Got stressed around lunch, all short tempered and irritable. Didn't feel like eating, but was forced (rightly) to eat something.
4. Played a bunch of computer games and ate a bit more, getting more and more wound up.
5. Got 'good luck' phone calls from Shirley and Mike, Andy, Aileen and Olivia. Was great to hear from them.
6. Kirsty drove me down to the venue, and I saw the set-up for the first time. That helped with the nerves. Saw all the other guys in the dressing room, pacing and chatting, and that helped a bit more.
7. Went through a rehearsal of coming down to the ring for the parade and what to do when our fight is called. Amazing set up, silhouette screens, drums, fireworks, smoke machines, lasers. Unbelievable.
8. Sat in the dressing room listening to my ipod, reading my book and notes, and trying to stay hydrated and relaxed.
9. Did the boxer parade, we all waited back stage until they told us to go to the ring. Made our way in slowly, massive cheering and yelling from the crowd. It was amazing to see the huge ballroom full, and everyone so excited to see us fight.
10. Just before the first fight went out, I went and did some skipping, then got warmed up with some shadowing and pad work while I waited to be called.
11. Went out to behind the screens at the top of the catwalk, and waited for my cue. Music started and I went down to the ring.
12. Alexis gave me a final few tips and put my headguard and mouthguard, the referee gave us our final instructions and the bell rang for the first round.

Note: I still haven't seen the tape of the fight, so my version is just the best I remember and might not be totally accurate. Once I've seen the video I might revise it all.

ROUND 1: As we thought, Snelly started fast, and I had to cover up and back off as he came steaming in. I managed to catch most of his shots on my gloves, but he landed a few good punches on me. I caught him with a couple of rights as he came in, and landed a few good jabs from the outside, but overall I think the round was pretty even. The main difference was him being very aggressive and me trying to be more conservative with my punches. No doubt he used up a lot more energy than I did, which Alexis and I had thought might happen. We'd hoped that he'd tire before me, and I'd score better in the second and third. Despite this, I was a little worried by the end of the round that he was just going to keep going.

In the corner Alexis told me that I needed to throw more punches, especially rights, but that I was doing pretty well, guarding myself and landing well. The main message was that I needed to carry on doing what I was doing; trying to catch him on the way in with my right, and jab from the outside the rest of the time.

ROUND 2: Snelly came out quick again, but slowed down quickly. I was feeling good and starting to find the range with my jab. I carried on doing what I was doing before, counterpunching him on the way in or covering up so he just hit my gloves. I landed more often from the outside as well, jabbing through his guard. I landed a 1-2 about half way though the round that made him drop his guard and forced a standing eight count. I got quite a bit of confidence from that and came forward more. I landed some good shots towards the end of the round.

In the corner Alexis asked me if I was feeling fit. I felt fine, I hadn't gone nuts with wild punches so I still had a lot of energy. I didn't sit down between 2 and 3, just stayed on my feet pacing and bouncing. The talk was to just carry on doing what I was doing, but more punches, more combinations while he was tiring.

ROUND 3: Snelly didn't start so fast this time round, but he did try a few combinations early on, and as usual I covered up and took them on the gloves. He seemed really tired by this point, and I landed some really solid rights, including one about a minute in that rocked him right back on his heels, I saw his eyes cross, and the ref gave him another standing eight. I was throwing a lot of punches by this point, not all of them with decent control... Didn't matter to me though, by this point I was feeling really confident and started to really go after him, I chased him around the ring landing some good punches. Finished strong.

After a bit of chat, with the ref holding me and Snelly by the hands, the announcer said "Unanimous..." then "...from Macclesfield..." and I just went nuts. Everyone on my tables started yelling and screaming. Amazing.

We both got presented with medals, and I got a cup trophy. Kirsty came running up to the ring for a hug and kiss, then I went down to my tables for more hugs, handshakes and congratulations. It was so cool to see everyone there, and they were all so happy for me, saying how well I did and how impressed they were. I was just buzzing and bouncing around.

Went back to the dressing room and saw the rest of the guys, they were still worrying about their own fights, but they'd been watching on the dressing room screens and generally thought I'd boxed well. I'd been relying on their feedback all the way through training so it was good to hear what they thought of my real fight.

Showered and headed back to the table to see everyone. I watched the rest of the fights, which were all SUPERB, seriously, I'd go to the event again, even if I didn't know any of the competitors. Drank too much and had a thoroughly awesome night.

I think at this point I should thank everyone who came to support me. They were simply amazing, made loads of noise and made me feel brilliant. They'd got all the tables near them cheering for me as well. The Deutschebank guys who were there supporting Paul Gamble were shouting loud for me apparantly. I met a lot of them afterwards, thoroughly lovely people.

I certainly need to say something about the trainers. Alexis and Andy were amazing all the way through, incredibly patient with all of us, teaching us everything and putting in a lot of their own time for free to get us ready for our fights. Can't thank them enough. From a personal point of view, without the extra training and encouragement from Alexis, I'm certain I wouldn't have won. Ian, Nick, Michelle and everyone else at Vanda deserve a huge thankyou as well, the scale of this event is immense, and they all did a huge amount of work to make it come off without a hitch.

The only other thing to say is about Snelly. On the night I beat him, but he's a talented boxer and an amazing competitor who gave it 100% every second of the training and the fight. It could easily have been different.

I'll make one or two more blog posts in the next few days with lots of links to photos, and if I can write them without sounding too cheesy, some final thoughts on the whole experience.

0 days to go...

Been waiting a while to write that.

April 9th

This is late, very late! However, I'll try to write this as if it was Saturday morning and we can all pretend.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Pasta with a ton of chilli and tomato

Really nervous all day, had to force myself to eat sometimes because I felt sick.

Exercise
None

As I said, really nervous. I kept obsessing about my plan for the fight and getting a bit stressed.

1 day to go...

Friday, April 9, 2010

April 8th

Another rest day leading up to the fight, so not a lot to report, apart from being extremely nervous.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: German bread with chutney, sausages with sauerkraut

Stick with what works! I’m trying to keep my diet pretty constant leading up to the big night. My brother and his wife arrived today, and we went out for dinner to Brotzeit for dinner.

Exercise
None

I’m feeling pretty stressed and nervous, which is only going to get worse the closer we get to the fight. Hopefully I can keep it under control and remember what I’ve been taught in training. As long as I do the basics right I should be fine.

Got final instructions from Andy about what to expect on the night. Turns out we’ve got dressing rooms and so on backstage, so I think I’ll take my iPod and skipping rope to keep me relaxed and warmed up. Also thinking I’ll make myself a crib sheet to remind me what to do: 1) Keep right hand up when you jab 2) Move in, hit and move out. And so on, that’ll give me something to focus on.

It’s so awesome that Neal and Kate have come all the way here to watch me fight, still can’t quite believe they’re here!

2 days to go…

Thursday, April 8, 2010

April 7th

I decided to go with my original rest plan and not go to Vanda for a final session. I want to be totally rested and recovered for the fight on Saturday.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Bibimbap (Korean dish with veg, rice and stirfried beef. I made this at home, turned out pretty good)

Still sticking to the diet. I think it's important not to change anything this close to the fight. I also had a few crackers as snacks during the day.

Exercise
1km swim, alternating breaststroke and crawl.

Just a light workout, didn't want to go too nuts, especially not on my arms or my ankles.

To be honest I'm getting slightly paranoid about injuries at this point, really worried about getting hurt and not being able to fight, letting everyone down and making everything I've been through a waste of time.

I really hope I can just make it to fight night in one healthy peice.

3 days to go...

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

April 6th

Really tired today so I didn’t end up working out.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal with sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Stirfry beef with egg fried rice (Kirsty made this from a Jamie Oliver recipe, really tasty)

Normal, healthy stuff

Exercise
None

I got home from work exhausted, couldn’t face going to the gym.

I’ll probably be at Vanda tomorrow night though for the final session before the fight. So near the end of the road now!

4 days to go...

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

April 5th

Savage workout today, due to a mixup at the gym.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal with sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Post-workout: Energy drink
Dinner: Caesar salad, beef ribs, mashed potato

Back to normal weekday diet, except I went to Brewerkz after the gym and gorged myself on beef. Nice though.

Exercise
Warmup: Skipping, 3 x3 minutes, 1 minute rest between sets
Speedbag: 3 x3 minutes quick punches, 1 minute rest between sets
Heavy bag: 3 x3 minute general work, 1 minute between sets
Incline situps: 2 x50
Heavy bag: 6 x 30 seconds quick drills, jabs, then crosses, then punchouts
Circuit 1: 10 pressups, 10 crunches, 10 Russian twists, 10 squat thrusts, 10 burpees, 10 ring jumps, repeat 3 times.
Circuit 2: 10 pressups, 10 crunches, 10 Russian twists, 10 squat thrusts, 10 burpees, 10 ring jumps
Shadowing: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute rest between sets
Pad work: 1 x2 minutes with a partner, full pace
Stretches

I was told I needed to finish off some filming I’d missed when I away in Thailand, so I went to the gym an hour early to get it out of the way. I warmed up, and the crew still hadn’t arrived, so I carried on. An hour later and they’re still not ready to shoot me. So basically I did an hour before the normal class, then did the whole class as well.

Knackering.

Still, I managed to do it without dying, which I couldn’t have 12 weeks ago.

5 days to go...

Monday, April 5, 2010

April 4th

Only did a short workout today, more like what I’ll be doing after the fight to keep my fitness up.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and honey
Mid-morning: Bagel with a little cream cheese
Lunch: Soup with a chickpea and salad wrap
Post-workout: Strawberry milk
Dinner: Cottage pie with baked beans (Kirsty made this, was utterly delicious)
Snack: Chocolate cornetto

I was going along pretty well until the cornetto…

Exercise
Warmup: Skipping, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Core: Medicine ball 300
Cardio: Interval rowing, 10 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets. Average 2.06 per 500m
Stretches

The rowing was HARD, especially after the core work. The whole session only took about 45 minutes though, which is ideal for a quick workout in the evening, and it was very intense.

I didn’t do more because it’s less than a week before the fight, I’m about as fit as I’m going to get at this point, and I just need to stay loose.

6 days to go…

Sunday, April 4, 2010

April 3rd

Saturday training at Vanda. Wasn't many of us there, but a good session anyway.

Diet
Breakfast: Oat bar
Post-workout: Strawberry milk
Lunch: Large pizza
Dinner: Roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, steak, fried onions and tomatoes

My streak of terrible weekend diets continues...

Exercise
Warmup: 3 x2 minutes shadowing, 4 minutes skipping
Set 1: 15 pressups, 15 crunches, 15 russian twists, 15 squat thrusts, 15 burpees, repeat immediately. Rest 1 minute, then do the whole lot again.
Heavy bag: 5 x2 minutes various punching drills, 1 minute break between sets

Found this pretty hard. Not sure, but maybe since we started sparring and focused less on fitness my cardio isn't as good as it was. Still loads better than where I started, obviously.

7 days to go...

Friday, April 2, 2010

April 2nd

Nice relaxing lie-in, and worked out in the afternoon.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and honey
Lunch: Skinny pizza (crusty flatbread base, with meatballs and rocket)
Pre-workout: Pretzel
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Chinese, various beef, chicken, fish and rice

Sort of crappy really, again, ate at the wrong times.

Exercise
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes
Core: Medicine ball 300
Planks: 4 x2 minutes
Weighted punches: 1 kg each hand, 3 x2 minutes
50 pressups, 50 burpees

Not bad, although I'm dialing it down slightly. Felt good and sharp.

Only got a few more days of exercise before I start my pre-fight break.

8 days to go...

April 1st

Back on the case today, and didn't feel too bad.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Beef stew with crusty bread

Good diet, getting close to the fight, but still keeping it up.

Exercise
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes
Core: Medicine ball 300
Planks: 4 x2 minutes
Heavy Bag 1: 3 x2 minutes general punching
Heavy Bag 2: 3 x2 minutes punchout
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes

Decent workout, went at it pretty hard and didn't feel too bad. The bit of time off I took to recover seems to have helped a lot.

9 days to go...

Thursday, April 1, 2010

March 31st

After a day of intense internal debate I decided on another rest day.

The reasoning behind this was mainly that if I’m too knackered to give anywhere near 100% at training, I’d have a crap sparring session, do my technique no favours, and my confidence no good at all.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Chicken, sausage, roasted peppers and homemade beans

Good diet. Dinner was tasty.

Exercise
None

Today I felt better than Tuesday, but still weak and generally run down. I reckon Thursday I’ll be ready to start again, even if it’s just a swim or short run to stay sharp.

10 days to go…

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

March 30th

Rest day, mainly because it’s finally time for the WEIGH IN!!!

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli with rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Pizza and a little pasta

Went out for dinner after the weigh in, and relaxed slightly on the diet rules. After all, in pro-boxing they try to pack on the pounds after the weigh in, right? right?

Exercise
None, but probably lost a few pounds through nerves

Well, it’s not every day you take your shirt off on a stage in the middle of a crowded bar. Well, it used to be, but I haven’t been a student for a while.

The weigh in was a right laugh, exceptionally well attended with the whole bar packed with cheering people having a good time. They announced each fight in turn, we went up to the stage, shirts off and got on the scales. After that there was a short interview and then your opponent was announced. More cheering, he gets weighed and interviewed and then you pose for some pictures.

In my interview the guy said I was the most improved guy in the training group! That was amazing to hear, especially because I know how hard everyone’s worked, and I can see how much better they’ve all got. I was a bit taken back, so I fluffed my answer when I should really have thanked Alexis and Andy. Bit annoyed about that.

Anyway, important parts:

I’m fight no. 2 of 8
I’m fighting Chris “The Pikey” Snell

Having an early fight is good for several reasons: 1. I’ll be able to watch the other fights from the audience with Kirsty and my mates; 2. Less time hanging around backstage getting stressed; 3. My workmates won’t have had time to get completely hammered and might even remember my fight.

As for Chris, I’ve sparred with him many times, and he’s a very good fighter so it should be an interesting and even match. I need to start figuring out some sort of game plan!

Kirsty’s got a load of pictures which I’ll add to here when I get a chance.

11 days to go...

March 29th

Not a great day, still extremely tired and couldn’t train properly.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli with rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Chicken with rice and veg

Good diet. Chicken in the evening was delicious

Exercise
Warmup: Shadowing, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute rest between sets
Pads: 4 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets
Speedbag: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets
Wall pad: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets
100 incline situps

This was a PT session rather than the usual Monday at Vanda, and I tried to push myself to get the most out of it, but I’m just exhausted at the moment. I need a break. The hard part is figuring out how to take time off with less than two weeks till the fight.

13 days to go…

Monday, March 29, 2010

March 28th

Very bad day, just felt exhausted the whole time

Diet
Breakfast: Curry puff
Snack: Chilli with rice
Lunch: Bread with apple chutney, sausage with sauerkraut and potato salad
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: BBQ kofte and steak with salad and baked potato

Ate reasonably well, just at the wrong times I think.

Exercise
Cycling: 16 minutes of intervals
Weights: Freeweight press, 15 kg each hand, 3 x10. Lateral raises, 2.5kg each hand, 3 x10.
Running: Did 2k at 11kph, then started feeling dizzy and had to stop

Ands that's it! I tried to do some situps at the end but just felt terrible and left the gym.

Overall, not a great day. My tiredness and dizzy feeling I can only guess are from a combination of eating at the wrong times and not getting a lot of sleep the night before. Must make sure I’m well rested on the big night; going into the ring feeling like I did today would be a disaster.

On the plus side, my parents arrived today for a 2 week visit! It’s going to be great to have them here, should be able to take some time off and relax with some golf, which will probably do me a lot of good in the run up to the fight. In the meantime though I just need to keep training.

14 days to go…

Sunday, March 28, 2010

March 27th

PT session with Alexis rather than training, got some sparring in which was good.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and honey
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Lunch: Minestrone breadbowl
Dinner: Chilli and rice

Not bad for a weekend really

Exercise
Warmup: Shadowing, 3-4 x2 minutes
Attack/Defend Drill: 4 x2 minutes, worked with a guy called Mike, nice guy, good boxer
Hook drill: 4 x2 minutes, again, working with Mike practicing left and right hooks to the head, and ducking to avoid hooks
Sparring: 4 x2 minutes with Mike, light sparring.

Good session. Mike controlled his punches really well, so I didn't get hurt, but he landed a lot of good shots. His style was very agressive, and he was excellent coming forward. Great practice for me, and I got some good tips from Alexis on what to do to counter that.

The tactic I should use is to put up a tight guard and move away quickly. I'd then look for an opening, and throw a really quick right when my opponent is drawing his hands back from a punch. Ideally, I should catch all his shots on my gloves, and the counterpunch, if it lands, will be very powerful against the guy's forward momentum. That's the theory anyway, and in the sparring session I managed to pull it off a few times, but sometimes I was put off balance by Mike's quick attack, and my counterpunch was either inaccurate or had no power.

The other lesson of the day was my own attack. As well as practicing the hook, I also need to work on moving forward with my jabs. If I do it right I can take a small forward step when I punch, which gives me more power in the attack, and also puts my weight on my left toes, allowing me to either carry on the attack or spring backwards quickly.

Anyway, next sparring session should be Monday, and I can work on these things more.

15 days to go...

Saturday, March 27, 2010

March 26th

Less tired today, but still nowhere near 100%.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chappattis, channa massala
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Tom Yum soup, steamed rice, thai shredded beef, frozen yoghurt

Bit of a slip today, should have done better.

Exercise
Warmup: Skipping, 3 x2 minutes, 30 seconds break between sets
Set 1: Medicine ball 300
Set 2: Weighted punches, 1 kg each hand, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets
Set 3: Planks, 4 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Stretches

Short, but really intense workout. I moved between sets really quickly.

Feet still healing, which is good.

16 days to go...

Friday, March 26, 2010

March 25th

Impromtu rest-day, one of those times when I know I'm too exhausted to train properly.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Beef stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Snacks: About 6 cream crackers
Dinner: Stirfry beef with egg rice (Kirsty made this, delicious)

Not sure why, but my normal food didn't fill me up properly so I had some crackers.

Exercise
None, just put my feet up and relaxed.

With 17 days to go before the fight, a day off probably seems like a strange choice, but when it feels right, it's probably right. As I've said before, there's not a lot of point in a 60% session, you're going to get no benefit and possibly injure yourself with crap technique.

Hopefully on Friday I'll feel up to getting back on the training case, and I've got a PT session on Saturday instead of the usual Saturday morning training, so that'll be an intense day.

Feet are healing nicely, nowhere near 100% yet, but better than they were. Nose hurt a little in the morning, but feels fine now. Whatever was wrong with it, sparring on Wednesday doesn't seem to have done any lasting damage. Once the fight is over I'll go see a doctor to put my mind at ease.

17 days to go...

Thursday, March 25, 2010

March 24th

Bad day. Feet hurt lots, no energy at training.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Butterbean stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Post-workout: Energy drink, strawberry milk
Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs

Meh, normal diet

Exercise
Warmup: Shadowing, focus pads, 4 x2 minutes
Heavy bag: 3 x2 minutes general work, jab drill, cross drill, punch out.
Defend/attack drill: 2 x2 minutes
Sparring: 3 x2 minutes
Circuit: 15 pressups, 15 squat thrusts, 15 crunches, 15 burpees, 15 ring jumps, repeat, rest 1 minute = 1 set. Did 2 sets.
Warmdown: 2 minutes shadowing
Stretches

Hard work. I was tired when I arrived at the gym, and after the warmup and bag work I was knackered and sparring didn’t go very well. I wasn’t moving properly, punches weren’t accurate, and I just didn’t have any real snap. On the plus side, I didn’t get hit too much at all (notable exception of one big right from Simon that I didn’t even see), and got in some good shots of my own. Also, my nose hurt a little bit, but seems to be pretty much fine.

I practically mummified my feet before training, to try to cushion my existing blisters and prevent any new ones. Mildly successful, but part of my movement problem was the pain from my toes. On the night, I’m sure they won’t be a problem. I’ll be well rested and pumped full of adrenaline. Hopefully my punching will be better for the same reasons.

In summary, I’m minorly injured, majorly exhausted, and really looking forward to a rest. Current plan is to have my last full training session on Tuesday 6th April, hopefully a final PT session with Alexis to go through a plan for the fight, then have 3 full days off to relax before the big night.

18 days to go…

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

March 23rd

Personal training session number 6 today. Good session, but my feet are still a big problem.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Beef stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple, oat bar
Post-workout: Can of pepsi, chocolate milk
Dinner: Meatballs, tomato sauce, pasta

Normal stuff. Pasta for dinner was good.

Exercise
Shadowing: 6 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Focus Pads: 6 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets
Movement Drill: Worked with another guy in the gym, one of us attacked and the other defending, just movement, no punching
Shadowing: Shadowing with the same guy, basically the movement drill above but with shadow punches.
Speed bag: 3 x2 minutes
Wall pad: 3 x2 minutes, mainly practicing rights
100 crunches
Stretches

Very hard session, but happy with how it went.

I’d covered by feet with plasters before I started, but I just ended up with blisters on the bits I’d missed. It’s pretty serious, I was struggling to walk all evening. On the plus side, since I've been planning to take a few days off before the fight, I'm pretty sure I'll be healed up and okay on the night, it's just a matter of how well I can train in the next few weeks.

My nose feels better, so I’m not going to bother with the doctor. I think I must have just bruised the cartilage or something equally minor. In two minds about whether to spar on Wednesday. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

19 days to go...

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

March 22nd

Nose still hurting, so decided not to spar and did heavy bag training etc. instead.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Homemade chicken curry, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Homemade chicken curry, rice, mango chutney

The curry is basically chicken in a tadka daal, so lots of lentils and spices. Didn’t go well with lunchtime vegetables though, so won’t be having it for lunch any more.

Exercise
Warmup: Skipping, 5 minutes or so
Heavy bag: Worked for about 30 minutes, doing various exercises including punchouts, jab drills, combinations, 2 minute rounds.
Weighted punches: 3lb hand weights, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Incline situps with twist: 2 x50, 2 minute break between sets
Circuit: 10 pressups, 10 crunches, 10 russian twists, 10 squat thrusts, 10 burpees, 10 ring jumps. Repeat, rest 1 minute = 1 set. Did 2 sets.
Warmdown: 2 minutes shadow boxing.
Stretches

Good hard session. I wish I could have done sparring though. I’ve been told that we don’t spar after the weigh in, so we’ve maybe only got 2 sessions of sparring left before the fight.

Felt pretty good, was hitting the bag well and felt quite fit. I could do with more sleep though.

Weighed 74.8 kg this morning, still losing weight.

20 days to go...

Monday, March 22, 2010

March 21st

Normal weekend day, good exercise, terrible diet

Diet
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Goulash ‘Breadbowl’ (massive bread roll hollowed out and filled with stew, you eat the stew, then the bowl)
Snack: ½ bowl of chips, pint of lager shandy
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Barbeque pork loin with baked potato and salad

Yup, pretty bad.

No regrets on the lunch though, that thing was delicious, shall certainly be having again. And I couldn’t resist having a (sort of) beer and chips in the afternoon; we were sitting outside and it was all summery. First alcohol in 3 months!

Exercise
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Core: Medicine ball 300
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Weighted punches: 1kg each hand, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Planks: 4 x2 minutes, front and sides
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
50 pressups

Good intense workout, its good to just keep moving all the time, skipping between exercises. I think in future I’ll knock the breaks down to 30 seconds though. My ankles and knees felt okay but I’ll keep an eye on them.

Injury wise, but feet are feeling a bit better, but we’ll see how they go on Monday night during proper training. The only other thing is my nose. I hurt it last Wednesday in sparring, and it’s still uncomfortable. It’s just the very tip of my nose that hurts, but even a light tap is pretty painful. On the plus side it’s obviously not broken, but I’m slightly concerned. If its still annoying on Monday I’ll consider not sparring.

21 days to go…

Sunday, March 21, 2010

March 20th

As I said yesterday, I didn't think training at Vanda (jogging, shadowing etc) would be a good idea, so I trained at the condo.

Diet
Breakfast: none
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Lunch: Chicken biriyani
Mid-afternoon: Frozen yoghurt with cornflakes and strawberry sauce 
Dinner: Steak with homemade baked beans

Ha! Thats a terrible day for the diet. The biriyani was a real treat, and the steak was delicious.

Exercise
Warmup: 5 minutes crosstrainer, stretches
Weights set:
  • 100 incline situps
  • Lat pulldowns, 52.2 kg, 3 x8
  • Shoulder press, 52.2 kg, 3 x8
  • Chest press, 52.2 kg, 3 x8
  • Lateral raises, 2.5 kg, 3 x10
  • Bicep curls, 7.5 kg, 3 x8
Cycling: 16 minutes, lvl 6 intervals
Then I repeated the weights set and the cycling again
Stretches

Good set, but because I did it pretty much as soon as I got up, no breakfast, so I was a bit low on energy.

I don't regret skipping normal training at Vanda, my feet feel better for it. I know I won't have missed any sparring, because we don't do any on Saturday, and I had a good session at home.

I also bought some special 2 layered socks, apparently one layer sticks to your foot, and the other sticks to the shoe, thus preventing blisters. Thats the idea anyway, we shall see on Monday.

22 days to go...

Saturday, March 20, 2010

March 19th

Rest day, so not much to report.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg plus some biriyani rice with curry sauce
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: 1/2 small pizza with salad

Normal really, had a little extra lunch because of a safety meeting. The pizza seems way out of bounds, but it was a home cooked jobby, so not to bad for me really.

Exercise
None

Feet are healing nicely, but still pretty bad. I'm pretty sure I'll be skipping Saturday training at Vanda and doing something at home instead that won't make my blisters worse.

23 days to go...

Friday, March 19, 2010

March 18th

Personal training session again today. Hard work as usual. My feet are a mess.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Thai yellow laksa with chicken and potatoes, frozen yoghurt

Me and Kirsty both felt in need of a treat, so we went to Thai Express for dinner (living large!) and as usual it was delicious, if drenched in unhealthy coconut milk.

Exercise
Movement: 4 rounds of what was essentially shadowing-without-punching. Really good drill actually, not throwing punches makes it easy to concentrate on correct footwork and guard.
Shadowing: 4 rounds
Focus pads: 6-7 rounds, working on combinations and guard. I’m still dropping my hands when I get tired
Speed bag: 4 rounds, 2 working on snapping back my jab, 2 endurance and timing
100 crunches

Hard work, but I’m getting better at the focus pads drill, throwing quick punches and moving well. I’ve still got the usual issues to iron out::

1. Dropping my right hand when I throw a jab
2. Lifting my back foot when I throw a right
3. Not fully turning my hips and lower body when I throw my right, and so losing power

We worked hard on #3, practicing that turning motion over and over. If I can get it right my cross should be a useful weapon for the fight. The other 2 are habits, with enough practice they’ll fade and I’ll be a better fighter when they do.

In between getting shouted at for my faults, Alexis told me he was impressed with how much I’d improved since I started training back in January. Was good to hear, and I’m pretty sure that 3 months ago I couldn’t have done today’s session without collapsing.

Feeling good health wise, not real injuries except for my feet which are shredded. Kirsty suggested I take a photo and put it on here, but that’s disgusting. Just take my word for it. I covered both feet in plasters before training, which made it bearable but after the session they really started to hurt. By the evening I was hobbling around like a right idiot. I don’t have time to give them the fortnight off that they’d need to heal, so I’ll just keep slapping on plasters and training as normal. Having said that, it’s tempting to skip Saturday training (we’ll probably go for a run, which would be agony) in favour of training at home where I can row, cycle or swim instead and give them a chance to mend. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

23 days to go…

Thursday, March 18, 2010

March 17th

Second sparring session of the week today, turned out to be pretty interesting.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Double tuna, 2 ricecakes, apple
Lunch: Butterbean stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Double tuna, 2 ricecakes, apple
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Baked tandori chicken, boiled rice

Didn’t have my usual pre-workout food, and felt better for it. I eat my ‘mid-afternoon’ food about 3.5 hours before the gym session, which is easily long enough to get it digested, but not so long that I don’t have any energy.

I’d run out of eggs as well, hence the extra tuna.

Exercise
Shadowing: 2 x2 minutes, rest 1 minute between sets.
Sparring: 4 x2 minutes, rest 1 minute between sets. This was the interesting bit; there were only 3 of us there in our weight class, so our rest times were much shorter. 1 minute is exactly what we’ll get on the night so it was interesting to see what that’ll be like.
Circuit 1: 15 pressups, 15 squat thrusts, 15 crunches, 15 burpees, 15 ring jumps. Repeat, rest 1 minute.
Circuit 2: 10 pressups, 10 squat thrusts, 10crunches, 10burpees, 10ring jumps. Repeat.
Planks: 2 x1 minute, rest 1 minute between sets.
Stretches

When we were sparring Andy told us to go even easier than usual, about 40%. I think the reason for this is that with the shorter rests we’d get tired, and when you get tired you can easily get sloppy with your movement and guard and get hit extremely hard. We stuck to it well and had some good rounds.

I got in some good shots and got hit pretty rarely so I’m happy with how it went. I felt like I was moving well. After the session the guys I fought complimented me on my defence.

After the session I asked Andy for some tips, and he recommended that with my height advantage, I should try to stay on the outside, throwing lots of jabs, then when my opponent moves in to get past my jab I should be throwing hard rights. At that point I can either move out again or take the opportunity to land a combination. Seems to me that this could be an excellent tactic that suits my style and strengths. Next sparring session I’ll try it and see what happens.

The 1-minute rest made the sparring experience very different. Even at 40% we were all getting very tired by the end of our second rounds. It seems like it’ll be impossible to keep up a 100% work-rate for the whole fight, but adrenaline is a funny thing, so we’ll see. One thing’s for sure though, in the later rounds guys will be landing some big punches as arms get tired and hands drop.

With regards to the nerves I was experiencing before sparring, they’ve now mostly gone. I felt relaxed before the session, and wasn’t worrying all afternoon about it. Like anything, doing it over and over takes away the fear-of-the-unknown aspect.

Only bad part of the night is my right foot, I’ve got blisters on top of blisters and it’s a right mess at the moment. I’ll patch it up with plasters for personal training tomorrow and hopefully it’ll be okay.

Lastly, I weighed in at ~75kg (11 stone 11 pounds ) today, so I'm down 7kg from where I started. That's the equivilent of a full set of golf clubs, 3-SW. That's quite a lot!

24 days to go…

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

March 16th

Personal training session #4 today.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post workout: Strawberry milk
Dinner: Thai chicken stirfry with rice

Had the oat bar at 4 for training at 6.30. Felt good, so I'll follow this timing to follow in future so I’m not working out when I get a sugar ‘crash’

Exercise
Warmup: Shadowing, 3 x2 minutes, stretches
Technique Work: About 20 minutes or so of work on sparring technique. We did a sort of ‘If your opponent does X, you do Y’ set of exercises, and some ‘under no circumstances should you being doing Z!’ stuff
Focus Pads: 15 minutes or so working on combinations, movement, slipping punches
Speed Bag: 3 x2 minutes timing work, good for endurance as well
Wall Pad: 3 x2 minutes, concentrating on one type of punch. Started with crosses, then jabs, then 1-2 combinations.
50 situps, 50 pressups, stretches

Good session, the sparring technique lesson in particular was very useful.

Alexis didn’t have much feedback on my performance in sparring on Monday, saying that I’d done well, and simply needed to do everything “better”. Basically this just meant that I needed to move quicker, throw harder punches, snap back my arms to guard more quickly, and so on. Only real criticism was my continuing issue keeping my right hand up when I jab.

Another thing Alexis mentioned was ‘killer instinct’, which apparently I’m not demonstrating in my fights. I agree with him, but its hard to reconcile ‘killer’ with the ‘50%’ we’re supposed to be running at during sparring. I’m sure that if I was a more experienced fighter I could do both, for example by throwing very quick punches without putting my weight behind them, but I’m simply not good enough to do that. I’m trying to hit with some control, and that means I sometimes go slow.

On the wall pad at the end, I was tired and was throwing my usual right hand punches with my elbow way out to the side. I need to watch out for this, can’t afford crappy technique, even when I’m exhausted.

All in all, good session, I feel like I’m quickly improving both my fitness and boxing skill. Hopefully I can keep getting better.

25 days to go…

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

March 15th

Monday means sparring at the gym, which is good. I still got nervous before hand, but less than last time so its fading. I also found out that they didn’t do any sparring at the Saturday session I slept through, so I didn’t miss out too much.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post-workout: Strawberry milk
Dinner: 1 fish fillet with baked beans

Usual weekday food. I’ve started doing 6 boiled eggs at a time so I don’t need to go through the hassle every night.

I felt really sluggish at training, and I think eating the oat bar 1 hour before training isn’t working well. I always feel better towards the end of the session, roughly 2 hours after eating. This week I’ll have my bar an hour earlier and see if I feel sharper.

Exercise
Warmup: Shadowing, 3 x2 minutes, skipping 3 x2 minutes
Sparring: 3 x2 minute rounds, 2 opponents, usual drill.
Set 1: 10 pressups, 10 squat thrusts, 10 crunches, 10 burpees. Repeat, rest 1 minute. Did 2 sets.
Set 2: One arm planks with twist. 10 each side, rest 1 minutes, 10 more each side.
Stretches.

Sparring was pretty average. Before we started I was telling myself to stay calm, pick my punches and relax, which I managed reasonably well. I stayed quite aggressive, moving in to throw right hands when I could. I got in some good solid shots, but I also took a few to the nose. As I said above, I felt slow and sluggish, so I know I could do a lot better.

Interestingly, either my style is more economical, or I’m in slightly better shape than the guys I’m fighting, because in the later rounds I still felt good with respect to punching power and movement, whereas they’d slowed down noticeably. They come charging out of the corner and spend their first 2 minutes throwing punch after punch and circling like mad, but can’t keep that up for 6 minutes. This could all change when we do 1 minute between rounds rather than 4, but its potentially the basis of a fight strategy; weather the storm in the first round, let them get tired and then have 2 rounds of hopefully heavy scoring when their guard drops and they stop moving so quickly.

26 days to go…

Monday, March 15, 2010

March 14th

Good day, worked out really hard.

Diet
Breakfast: Oat bar
Lunch: 3 ham and turkey sandwiches with kettlechips
Post-workout: Strawberry milk
Dinner: Beef and vegetable stew (homemade) with bread, boiled egg

Not a great day for the old diet, but I’m pretty much writing off weekends at this point, as long as I do a good workout I have to be satisfied.

Exercise
Warmup: Skipping, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Set 1: Medicine ball 300
Set 2: Planks, 4 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets. Alternated front and each side
Set 3: Heavy bag, 3 x2 minutes general punching and movement, 1 minute between sets
Set 4: Heavy bag, 3 x2 minutes punchouts, 1 minute between sets
Set 5: Skipping, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets
Set 6: Heavy bag, 2 minutes of jabs, 2 minutes of rights, 2 minutes 1-2 combinations. 1 minute between sets
Set 7: 15 pressups, 15 squat thrusts, 15 crunches, 15 burpees, repeat, rest 1 minute = 1 set. Did 2 sets with 1 minute break between.

Really pushed hard, especially with the punching; made sure that I was throwing every punch hard and pulling my hands back quickly.

In the interests of pushing myself I think it's probably time to move to 90 second planks, I'll try next time.

Sparring tomorrow, hopefully I won’t be too tired. I’m a bit more confident about sparring now, at least I have the confidence that I won’t get badly hurt. Between the heavy gloves, headguards, and the defense techniques we’ve been taught I know I’ll be okay.

27 days to go…

Sunday, March 14, 2010

March 13th

Ooops, overslept and missed morning training. In my defense I probably needed the sleep; I hit snooze and woke up over 4 hours later...

Diet
Breakfast/pre-workout: Oat bar
Post-workout: 2 chocolate milks
Lunch: Gourmet pastrami salad sandwich
Dinner: Thia curry, steamed rice dry fried thai beef, chicken drumsticks

Not a great diet, but its was the weekend and we had a friend's BBQ in the evening, hence the Thai feast.

Exercise
Warmup: 3 x2 minute skipping
Set 1: Medicine ball 300 (10 more reps per exercise than usual)
Set 2: Heavy bag, 3 x2 minutes. General punching, combinations, singles etc.
Set 3: Heavy bag punchouts, 3 x2 minutes, throw as many punches as possible.
Set 4: Interval rowing, 10 x2 minutes, 50 seconds rest between reps. Managed 2.06 per 500m, about 3 seconds better than my previous best. Getting fitter.
Stretches

Hard workout. I looked back through my blog and I haven't rowed for AGES, which is silly because its cardio that really lends itself to boxing in my opinion.

My heavy bag was really good, its doesn't swing too much, and when it does it easy enough to stop with a hard right as it swings forwards. I think I'll get a lot of benefit to having it in the house. The only drawback I can see is binding my hands up takes a bit of time, which doesn't fit with a quick 15 minutes of punching when I'm bored.

Not happy I missed training, especially if they were sparring. Can't do anything about it now though.

28 days to go...

Saturday, March 13, 2010

March 12th

Friday, so a rest day. I'd done a pretty hard set of weights on Thursday night as well, so a night off was in order.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Dinner: Beef kofta, salad, yoghurt, flatbreads

Good diet today, dinner was some delicious kofta we found at the butcher, will be having again.

Exercise
None

Normal rest day really. I should be in good form for the gym session on Saturday morning.

29 days to go...

Friday, March 12, 2010

March 11th

Alexis couldn't fit me in for personal training tonight, so I was on my own.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg
Lunch: Chilli, rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: 1/2 tin French onion soup, box of raisins

I was at work until quite late, so by the time I'd worked out and sat down for dinner it was about 9.30 and I wasn't hungry.

Exercise
Warmup: 5 minutes on the crosstrainer
Stretches
Circuit 1:
  • Free weight chest press, 15kg each hand, 3 x8 reps
  • Lateral raises, 2.5kg each hand, 3 x10 reps
  • Lat pulldowns, 52.2kg, 3 x8 reps
  • Shoulder press, 52.2kg, 3 x8 reps
  • Chest press, 52.2kg, 3 x8 reps
  • Incline sit-ups with side twists, 50
Circuit 2:
  • Free weight chest press, 15kg each hand, 3 x8 reps
  • Lateral raises, 2.5kg each hand, 3 x10 reps
  • Lat pulldowns, 52.2kg, 3 x8 reps
  • Shoulder press, 52.2kg, 3 x8 reps
  • Chest press, 52.2kg, 3 x8 reps
  • Incline sit-ups with side twists, 50
Cycling: 16 minutes intervals
Stretches

Good exercise session I think. Worked hard, my arms were knackered by the end of it all. Should have done more cardio, but ran out of time. Tomorrow maybe.

Also, Steve sent me a video of my Wednesday sparring, and apart from my last round I was pretty crap, so I should probably stop remembering the session in such a positive light. Oh well.

30 days to go...

Thursday, March 11, 2010

March 10th

More sparring today. I was nervous again, but not as bad as before. I think I'll gradually get over my nerves, it'll just take a while.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Butterbean stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, boiled egg, apple
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post-Workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Small portion of shepherds pie with baked beans

Same old food, not bored yet though

Exercise
Shadowing: 3 x2 minutes
Skipping: 10 minutes, on and off
Heavy bag: 10 minutes, on and off

Everyone did the shadowing, then we split into 3 groups by weight for sparring. Our group was in the ring last, so we did the skipping and heavy bag work while the other groups had their sparring sessions. I say "on and off" because we were half watching the other groups fighting, and making sure we didn't go too hard and get ourselves knackered for when it was our turn to spar.

Sparring: 3 rounds of 2 minutes against 2 different opponents, 4 minutes rest between rounds. I fought Chris and Simon.
Set 1: 10 pressups, 10 squat thrusts, 10 crunches, 10 burpees, repeat, rest 1 minute = 1 set. Do 2 sets.
Planks: 60 seconds, rest 1 minute, 90 seconds.

Good sparring session. I was nervous in my first round and got hit more often than I'd have liked, but after I relaxed and found my range I did well. I was particularly happy with my final round where I felt like I controlled the fight well, especially when counterpunching with my right as he came in. I landed some really solid shots and took very few hits.

I got a lot of compliments after the session, guys were praising my footwork, jab speed, defense and punching power. Felt really good, but I've got to make sure I don't get overconfident; it was only one session and I've got tons of work to do before I'm ready for the big night. Besides, I had plenty of faults as well:

1. Still not throwing my right hand often enough. Improved on previous weeks but got to keep at it.
2. Not controlling the fight properly. One of the guys said I often allowed my opponent to dictate the tempo, and I was being led around the ring rather than forcing my own agenda on the round. Fair point I think, and I definitely need to work on my movement.
3. STILL not snapping my hands back quickly enough after punching. I'm trying but I need to improve this urgently. I'm going to look for an exercise to train this.
4. Not enough lateral movement when defending. When my opponent moves in to throw a combination I have a tendency to move straight backwards when covering. A small movement to the side would disrupt his rhythm and save me a few knocks.
5. Follow-up. I was often landing a nice jab but not moving in to take advantage. A jab doesn't even need to be particularly powerful to put a guy off balance and more vulnerable to a quick combination. I need to be throwing the jab and being right on my toes to power in and land some solid hits.

In conclusion, I'm improving but have still got a long way to go.

Steve sent me some video he'd taken on his phone of us sparring on Monday. I've put them on YouTube, links below. I'm the one on the black, any comments welcome.

Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3

31 days to go...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

March 9th

Personal training session tonight, Alexis putting me through the wringer again.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, sugar, yoghurt drink
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Butterbean stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Shepherd’s pie (Kirsty made this to a Nigel Slater recipe. Delicious)

Good diet today

Exercise
Stretches
Shadowing: 6 x2 minutes, 1 minute between rounds. Alexis had me practising various things, such as moving forwards while throwing combinations, and kept reminding me to keep my hands up, something I wasn’t doing well on Monday
Focus pads: 6 x2 minutes, 1 minute between rounds. General work: 1-2s, double jab, 4 punch combinations while moving back and forwards, in-throw-out combinations etc. Then we moved on to block-to-combination work; basically catch your opponents right hand on your guard, step inside and throw a quick group, get your guard up again and move out. Good fight focused, practical drills.
Speed bag: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute between rounds. Timing and endurance work.
Wall pad: Throw 10 hard rights, rest a few seconds, repeat 5 times, rest 1 minute = 1 set. Did 3 sets.
Abs: 3 x30 situps/crunches.
Stretches

Hard work!

Before we started Alexis told me that at sparring on Monday I wasn’t throwing my right often enough, and I was dropping my right hand when I threw jabs, apart from that he seemed pretty happy with my progress.

So during the shadowing and focus pad work he made sure I wasn’t repeating these mistakes (Mostly by clocking me round the ear if I dropped my right hand!) while we worked on my punching. My footwork seems to be improving; he has to tell me less often to keep my back foot on the ground when punching, and to keep my feet pointing forwards.

We tried a little work on hooks, but I wasn’t any good. Interestingly, Alexis reckons that for my first fight I shouldn’t be worrying about throwing anything other than straight punches. At first I was a bit concerned that only having 2 punches is going to make me too 1-dimensional, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Reason 1) As I’ve mentioned before, for my weight I’m quite tall, so to throw body punches I’d have to squat down to my opponents level, making me more vulnerable and taking away my height advantage (usually he’s punching upwards, I’m punching downwards). Reason 2) Hooks, uppercuts etc. are technically difficult punches to master. If you don’t master the technique but try to use them anyway they’re slow, weak and leave you wide open to a quick counterpunch. I’m 4 weeks from the fight, nowhere near enough time to learn these punches properly, so they can wait. Reason 3) The jab and the straight right, in their various combinations, are easily the most useful and damaging punches any boxer can throw. My time is therefore better spent practicing these punches, my defence and my footwork.

I think I’ve written enough for one day, so I’ll leave it there. More sparring tomorrow to practice what I learnt today.

32 days to go...

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

March 8th

‘Sparring Monday’ went well for me, others not so lucky.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, rice cake, apple, boiled egg
Lunch: Chilli, rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, rice cake, apple, boiled egg
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post-workout: Chocolate milk, 2 slices of ham

Got back from the gym after 9pm, so wasn’t particularly hungry. Should have eaten anyway but couldn’t be bothered.

Exercise
Warmup: Shadowing, 3 x2m minutes
Sparring: 3 rounds of 2 minutes, swapping opponents after 1 minute. I fought Chris and Steve.
Heavy bag: Informal/non-timed punching while I watched the other guys sparring
Set 1: 1 sets of 50 incline situps, alternately twisting to left and right.
Set 2: 10 pressups, 10 squat thrusts, 10 crunches, 10 burpees, repeat, rest 1 minute = 1 set. Did 2 sets.
Stretches

I really felt like I’d improved in the sparring, I was nervous for most of the afternoon, which only got worse right up until I threw my first punch! I guess that’s how its going to be for me. It might be like that for everyone and they just hide it well, who knows.

During the rounds I was getting in some good punches and for the most part avoiding the mistakes I’d been making in the past (slow pullback after jab, rushing in etc.) I felt like I moved pretty well, and landed some good combinations like I’d been practising. I didn’t get many comments from the other guys, but Steve and Chris both said I’d improved. Good to hear.

The main criticisms from Alexis and Andy were that I wasn’t throwing my right hand often enough, and that I was dropping my guard, especially my right hand when throwing a jab. Hopefully I’ll get more feedback from Alexis tomorrow at my PT session, and we can work on my faults.

Apart from a very slight pain in my neck and a small mark at the side of my nose I’m pretty much unscathed from the sparring. Its not that I didn’t get hit, its that the combination of the heavy 16oz gloves and us all going at about 50% is supposed to keep injuries to a minimum. That’s the idea anyway, and my group (the lightest guys ~80 kg) stuck to the rules, didn’t get overly aggressive or wade in throwing wild punches. This wasn’t the case with the heavier groups, and last night we had one possible broken nose, and other guys bleeding or quite badly bruised. Don’t get me wrong, this is boxing and the idea is to damage your opponent, but NOT during training and sparring. On the night, everyone should be trying for a knockout, but we’re 5 weeks from d-day, and if you get a broken nose now, you might not get to fight. No-one wants that.

33 days to go...

Monday, March 8, 2010

March 7th

Plan for today was to go for a bit walk with Kirsty, so we get exercise AND spend time together. Also we had a picnic. Not exactly Rocky jogging in the snow, but still.

Diet
Breakfast: Pesto pasta
Lunch: Ham sandwich, 1 chicken leg, crusty toast with hummus, pesto pasta, cloudy lemonade
Dinner: Chicken kiev, jacket potato

Okay, not a great day for the diet, but bear in mind that we had to walk about 5 miles up a hill to have the picnic and it’s far less bad

Exercise
Lots and lots of walking up large hills
Swimming later

Was too knackered after the walk to do much else, and my arms still ached slightly anyway. Should probably have done more, especially with the fight only a month away, but I’ve got an extremely hectic week planned, so that’ll make up for it.

34 days to go…

March 6th

Final filming day at Vanda, which means I’ll have to do funny poses for the camera and try to look tough. Its one of those times where you feel stupid doing it but know it’ll look good when its finished. That’s the hope anyway.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal with nuts and honey
Post-workout: Strawberry milk
Lunch: 2 fish fillets with baked beans
Snack: 2 small bits of bread with butter, roast chicken leg
Dinner: Thai chicken stir fry with rice

Yeah, weekend diet is never very good. The snack was part of the food I was preparing for Sunday’s picnic with Kirsty. The chicken just looked too tasty to ignore.

Exercise
Warmup: Couple of minutes skipping (still trying to spare my knees and ankles when I can), speed bag
Set 1: 3 x2 minutes heavy bag, variety of drills
Set 2: 10 pressups, 10 squat thrusts, 10 crunches, 10 burpees, repeat, rest 1 minute = 1 set. Did 3 sets
Set 3: 3 x2 minutes heavy bag, punchouts. Couldn’t finish the last one. 2 minute punchouts are hard.
Filming: Hit the heavy bag a few times then stare at the camera
Stretches
Swimming: 20 minutes of intervals, 1 km total.

So nothing too strenuous. I was on the bag with 2 of the other guys, and they pointed out a few things I should work on, as well as showing me some techniques for counterpunching to the body and head. Frankly, they’re better boxers than me, so I’m taking what they told me seriously, and I’ll try the counterpunching techniques in sparring on Monday. As well as pointing out where I was going wrong, they said I’d improved a lot as well, and looked in good shape. Always nice to hear that sort of thing.

Went for a swim in the evening because my arms were aching a little.

Only other things to note are that I bought a head-guard, so hopefully that’ll fit better for sparring. Also, I FINALLY got my heavy bag put up at home. I was at the gym when the contractors turned up, but Kirsty says they did the whole thing in less than 5 minutes…that’s what comes of having the right tools for the job I suppose. In any case its up now, gave it a few hits and I think it should be great.

35 days to go…

Saturday, March 6, 2010

March 5th

Normally this would be a rest day, but I had that holiday the other week, so better hit the gym.

Diet
Normal, fish-fingers for dinner.

Exercise
Warmup: 5 minutes on the crosstrainer
Weights Set:
  • Free-weight chest press, 15 kg each hand, 3 x10
  • Lateral raises, 2.5 kg each hand, 3 x10
  • Lat pulldowns, 52.2 kg, 3 x8
  • Shoulder press, 52.2 kg, 3 x8
  • Machine chest press, 52.2 kg, 3 x8
  • Incline situps, 80 (tried to do 100, couldn't)
Cycling: 16 minutes of intervals, lvl 6.
Then I did the weights set again.

Good session I reckon, didn't have time to do another lot of cycling (still not jogging, ankles) but I can lift more weight, more reps, so its going well.

36 days to go...

Friday, March 5, 2010

March 4th

Woke up feeling pretty well rested, no aches after Wednesday training.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and a little sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, apple
Lunch: Chilli, rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, apple, boiled egg
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post workout: Strawberry milk
Dinner: Lots of steak, lamb, chicken and salad at a buffet

It was the last night with Kirsty’s parents’ visit so we went to Carnivore. Great buffet and I tried to keep it healthy by sticking to meat and salad.

Exercise
Personal training session #2 with Alexis. Worked hard with him pushing me along, but I still need a lot of work on my fitness and technique.
Set 1: Shadowing, 5-6 rounds of 2 minutes, 60 seconds between rounds. Concentrating on moving forwards while punching and throwing longer combinations of punches
Set 2: Heavy bag, 4 rounds of 2 minutes, jabs, right, combinations. Concentrating on punching power
Set 3: Speed bag, 3-4 rounds of 2 minutes, concentrating on getting my hands back to guard quicker after each punch
Set 4: Wall bag, 3-4 rounds of 2 minutes, concentrating on longer combinations of punches, up to 8 in a row
Set 5: Focus pads, 4-5 rounds of 2 minutes, working on punching while moving forwards and backwards, as well as the combinations from the earlier sets

General points
  • I think he’s happier with my fighting stance now, and was correcting me less. My left hand is lower and I’m standing more upright and side-on
  • Alexis seems to have also noticed that I throw too many individual jabs, hence the focus on combinations
  • He also seems to agree that I’ve got to concentrate on getting my hands back to guard a lot quicker after punching. I think it was Steve who first mentioned this after sparring. It’s a big deal; if my hand is back I don’t get punched, if it’s not I get a hard right to the face.
  • I’m sometimes lifting my back (right) foot slightly when I throw a punch. I think this happens when I try to reach too far forward, and I’m sacrificing power and balance when I do it. It’s a fine line between a pivot on the ball of your foot and going off balance, but this is definitely something I need to work on
  • When I throw a right hand I sometimes “open up”. As a rough idea, The correct way to punch is something like holding your right elbow against your ribs and straightening your arm. What I sometimes do is bring my elbow up to shoulder height, at a right angle to my body, then straighten my arm. Not a great description I know, but the upshot is that I’m throwing a slower punch that puts my body out of position and leaves my head wide open to a counter-punch. All round bad
  • My observation, not Alexis’: For the first 30 seconds of each focus pad round I was throwing hard, accurate, quick punches, moving well and keeping my guard up properly; after that I got progressively and markedly slower and less accurate until the end of the round. Okay, so I’d been throwing punches for a continuous 45 minutes already, but the message is clear; I need to work on endurance in my arms. If I can do the full 6 minutes on the night like those first 30 seconds, I’ll be happy
So those were bad things, among others. I did get some compliments when I did things right, and Alexis seemed to be mildly impressed with my punching power, saying I’d be “fine” and “surprise” whoever I end up fighting. I have NO idea what to make of that! Best just keep training!

In any case, The next group sparring session is Monday, and I’ve got a PT session booked for Tuesday. My hope is that Alexis can pick up things I need to work on from the sparring and we can work on them the next day.

37 days to go...

Thursday, March 4, 2010

March 3rd

Ached slightly when I woke up, but that’s to be expected after a bit of a break. Very hard workout at the gym today as well.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, apple, boiled egg
Lunch: Butterbean and pork stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, apple, boiled egg
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post-workout: Energy drink, chocolate milk
Dinner: Steak with home made baked beans

Good diet day, with the possible exception of the large Wagyu steak in the evening. Delicious though.

Exercise
Warmup: Skipping, 4 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between rounds
Sparring Drill: Not proper sparring, more of a technique drill where you practice set sequences and footwork. About 30 minutes.
Set 1: 15 pressups, 15 squat thrusts, 15 crunches, 15 burpees = 1 set. Do 3 sets with no breaks. Rest 1-2 minutes, then do another 3 sets.
Set 2: 30 seconds plank, 30 crunches. Repeat 3 times.
Stretch

Very hard work, especially Set 1. I think that’s the hardest set we’ve done, I tried to do the full 15 of each exercise, but by the 4th-5th set I was at a stage where I could barely do 2 pressups in a row, so I skimped slightly. I think I’ll start doing this at home instead of the 100 pressups/100 burpees.

The sparring drill was useful because it allowed us to slow down a sequence of movement (eg. step in, 4 punch combination with a sidestep to the right, block a counter-punch, move out) and make sure we were doing it correctly. Important to practice things like this as well as doing the full contact sparring in my opinion.

I’ve got my next PT session with Alexis tomorrow, looking forward to it.

38 days to go…

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

March 2nd

Back on the case after the holiday

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and a little sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, apple
Lunch: Chilli with rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, apple
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Dinner: 3 fishfingers on bread with tomato sauce, 5 nuggets with tomato sauce

Exercise
Warmup: 1 km rowing
Skipping: 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between sets
Set 1: Medicine ball 200 workout
Set 2: Planks, 4 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets. Usual switching between front and side planks
Set 3: Weighted punching, 1 kg each hand, 3 x2 minutes, 1 minute between sets
Set 4: 100 pressups
Set 5: 100 burpees

Thought I might struggle after a few days off, but didn’t find it too horrible. My knees ached during the skipping, so I need to be careful there. I think I’ll stick to low-impact things like cycling, swimming and rowing where possible.

Went all out on the punching, just trying to throw as many punches as possible in the time available, no style at all, a bit like the heavy bag ‘punch-outs’ we do at Vanda. It’s a conditioning exercise for the arms, not a technique drill.

Given up trying to install my heavy bag on my own, my drill is just too puny for concrete. Rather than blow a lot of money on a power tool I’ll only use once I’ve decided to buy an installation service for $80. They’re coming on Saturday so barring any issues I’ll finally have my punching bag.

39 days to go…

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

February 26th - March 1st

Back from a long weekend in Thailand, and feeling suitably refreshed and recovered.

Diet
Awful, terrible, gluttonous. However you put it, I did not eat healthily. I had the best of intentions, and the first night I had a reasonably virtuous dinner, but after that I yielded to temptation and indulged myself with all the other goodies I’ve been denying myself since 2009. Bread, pasta, ice-cream, bacon, chocolate, fizzy drinks; no sugary or fatty treat was safe.

Exercise
Again, good intentions at the start. The resort had a gym, so I went down there on the first morning and started doing some cycling and weights but the equipment was pretty crappy so I wandered off to lounge around by the pool. I suppose I could have stuck with it, but when the bikes don’t run properly and the weights are falling to bits its hard to really get into the workout, at least for me.

Sleep
Lots, and some more. And then a lot more.

Lots of negatives in all that, and taking so much time off a month and a half before the fight does not, on the face of it, look like a good idea. But there are positives:

All my little injuries have faded and gone; my knee, foot, hands etc. all feel completely fine. Who knows, when I started training again they could all return with a vengeance, but for now all is well with my fragile body. I also feel totally rested for the first time in ages, having slept and relaxed properly.

In short, I feel better. My state of mind is much improved, my enthusiasm for training is back at a peak and I can’t wait to get stuck back into sparring. I've got the same excited feeling I had at the first “You’re in” e-mail, hopefully I can hold onto for a month and a bit...

Great news on the personal training as well; Ian has agreed that I can have the sessions with Alexis, so from tonight (2nd March), I’ll be back at Vanda every Tuesday. That takes my total training to 4 times a week at the boxing gym, plus at least 2 sessions a week at home. Come April 10th I should really be ready to put on a good show.

40 days to go…

Friday, February 26, 2010

February 25th

Rest day. I’m tired and feel slightly like I’m falling to bits; my left knee, right foot, right ankle, lower back, both hands and neck are all somehow painful.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts, sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, apple
Lunch: Chilli with rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, apple
Dinner: 3 fish-fingers on bread, 5 nuggets with tomato sauce
Snack: Large fat-free smoothie with lots of berries

Dinner of champions. I fancied a treat and it was awesome.

Exercise
None

I needed a day off. Had some thoughts on this…

Because of the short time-frame and the naturally competitive and comparative nature of boxing, its normal to wonder if you’re improving as quickly as your fellow competitors, and to therefore push yourself particularly hard in training. This is a great thing when it motivates you to do that extra set, or to put in an hour at the gym when you really don’t feel like it; but it can also make you go too hard, too fast. I’m pretty certain this is the cause of the majority of the little injuries we’re all suffering.

Even ignoring true injuries, I’ve certainly had sessions where I’ve only been able to give 70% or so because I was still feeling the effects of a previous workout. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure 2 sessions at 90% is a great deal better than a 110%/70%.

or maybe I’m just a wuss.

p.s. Did some clothes shopping in the evening. I’ve lost 5 inches off my waist since I started. Not bad huh?

44 days to go…

Thursday, February 25, 2010

February 24th

Average day. More sparring at Vanda and a bit of bad news.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and a bit of sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, apple, boiled egg
Lunch: Chilli with rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, apple
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: couple of chicken nuggets with low-fat mayo. Just wasn’t hungry

Good day really. Remember that the nuggets are only 6% or so because they’re healthier oven versions!

Exercise
Warmup: Skipping. Not sure how long we did this for, seemed like about 6 minutes. Foot hurt a little.
Parry/Jab Work: In twos, one attacks and the other defends with parries and blocks. I tried to do what Alexis was telling me and kept my arms lower and more relaxed. Worked well when I was attacking but made parrying slightly harder.
Heavy bag: Various exercises in sets of 1 minute. Jabs, rights, quick punchouts.
Sparring: As before, 2 rounds of 2 minutes with a longish break in between. I fought Chris and Steve.

Did below average at the sparring, I’d give myself about a 4/10. I did manage to step in and land some good combinations, but I also got hit often, and I’m still not defending very well against flurries.

I wasn’t helped by the fact that my head-guard didn’t fit properly, so whenever I got hit on the side of the head, even on my guard, it shifted by a few inches. This meant I had to back away as quickly as possible, half stop and readjust it; didn’t fancy taking another hit with my ear screwed into a ball and the chin guard up by my nose. I’ll buy my own headguard next time I’m at the gym, could save me some pain.

As before, its hard to judge from inside the ring, so I’ll list some of the comments I got from the guys watching (paraphrased)

1. I was all attack and no defence – Fair comment I think, I was trying to stay aggressive and come forward as often as possible to try to land combinations. In doing so I sometimes forgot the parry/counterpunch side of things. I’ll remember this for next time.

2. When I moved in it was slow and obvious – Again, I take the point. I was getting frequently getting counterpunched on the way in, even if I often managed to avoid taking the full force of the hit. The guy who told me this recommended mixing things up more; coming in throwing 2 punches one time, trying 4 punches another time, or just moving in, throwing a quick jab and moving out. Variation is important.

3. Guard was weak against central punches – This was from Steve, who said that I wasn’t doing a good job of blocking punches aimed between my gloves, eg. right at my nose. I know this is true since he got me like that a fair few times. I need to either parry or move out of the way.

4. Too many single punches – This was from our trainer Andy. He’s spot on, but I’m working on it. I think that often I’m jabbing too frequently, instead of just holding back, waiting for an opportunity and landing 2-4 quick hits. Its hard to line up a combination like that if you’re throwing jab after jab after jab, which I have a tendency to do.

5. Pulling my hand back after my jab was too slow – Very good point, and I really need to work on this. In point 2 above, I was moving in behind my jab and getting counterpunched with right hands. If I can get my left hand back quicker I can block that punch and hopefully be move effective and take less damage.

If that all sounds negative, I got some positive comments as well, but only constructive feedback like the above is going to make me a better fighter, so I welcome any criticism I can get. There’s no point trying to figure out everything on your own when you’ve got 18 pairs of eyes watching and analysing every second of your fight.

Only other things to note are that I was less nervous going into the ring today; I was really apprehensive on Monday, but I think that’s only natural and by April 10th it’ll just be exciting to step through the ropes.

Nick from Vanda spoke to me after the session and explained that I have to take up full membership of the gym in order to have personal training sessions. That’s a blow from my point of view, but I see where they’re coming from and at the end of the day it’s their gym and they make the rules. I’ll just have to work harder at home.

Injuries are pretty minimal; my foot hurts slightly, and my nose might hurt a little tomorrow, but that’s about it. I’ll miss the next 2 gym sessions because I’m on holiday, and I think the rest might do me more good than training, been exhausted recently.

45 days to go…

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

February 23rd

Good day today. Had a personal training session booked with Alexis. I wanted the opportunity to get individual feedback on my technique and faults that’s just not possible in a group of nearly 20. First impressions are that it’ll really help.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and sugar
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Lunch: Chilli with rice and steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg
Post-workout: Chocolate milk
Dinner: Grilled ½ chicken with veg and potatoes

Good food. Went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant and managed to find reasonably healthy chicken on the menu. Glazed with Tequila apparently, and delicious as hell.

Exercise
Shadowing: I must have done 6-7 rounds of 2 minutes with Alexis giving me directions on my posture, footwork and punching technique. Among other things we worked on:
  • Relaxing. My guard was high and slightly away from my face and body, which made me very tense. This is bad for movement and endurance as well as punching technique. Alexis wants me to guard a little lower, with my arms relaxed, and only to move my hands up to cover my face when blocking punches. 
  • Footwork. I have a tendency to turn my right foot sideways, which hinders my movement and hip rotation when I throw a right hand.
  • Jab and move. Standard movement when throwing a jab is to move right slightly, away from your opponents powerful right hand. I was too static.
  • Power Jab: Alexis highlighted the difference between a normal jab (snap out the left hand as quickly as possible) and the power jab (similar, but with a weight transfer in the direction of the punch for more power) and when to use each one.
  • Movement after punching: Worked on pivoting to the right after throwing a right hand, and practicing throwing a 4-punch combination then moving backwards and to the side. I sounds so basic, but I wasn’t doing it naturally and in a fight that just means getting hit.
Body movement: Moving forwards and backwards across the ring while ducking underneath a rope at about shoulder height. The idea here was to keep your body in normal guard from the waist up and move from side-to-side underneath the rope using quick footwork and bending the legs. I was pretty poor at this. Sometimes I got it and moved well, but too often I would be ducking my head or bending from the waist. Both of these errors earned me a deserved shouting at from Alexis while I started again. Its an important skill that I need to practice… I’ll get there eventually.
Focus pads: Several rounds of focus pad work, including the elements from the shadowing work; 4-punch combinations, power jabs and pivots. Also briefly worked on how to counter punch.
Speed bag: A few rounds working on speed and reactions.
Wall bag: Basically a big block of foam mounted on the wall. Alexis had me throwing punches and moving around it while he criticised my technique.

Very hard session, pretty much no let up for the full hour. I think I’ll get a lot of benefit and be more effective in the ring as a result. I’m planning to have 6-7 training sessions, once a week from now until the big night.

In between times I’m going to try to practice what I’ve learnt so I can progress as quickly as possible. Step 1 of this is getting my punching bag mounted so I can practice my strikes properly.

Only slight area of concern is my right hand which hurts a little. I'll take extra care wrapping it at my next session.
 
46 days to go…

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

February 22nd

Good day in some ways, frustrating in others…

Diet
Normal. Back at work so back to eating properly. Had chilli for lunch and grilled chicken in the evening.

Exercise
Warmup: Stretches, speedbag
Sparring: Similar as before, 2 rounds of 2 minutes with a longish break between. We were told to go at 50% and concentrate on footwork, movement and technique. I think everyone tried to slow it down a bit, but the punches seemed just as fast and hard as before!
Set 1: 10 pressups, 10 crunches, 10 Russian twists, 10 squat thrusts, 10 burpees, 10 ring jumps. Repeat.

Sparring went well. I concentrated really hard on keeping calm, not overreaching with my jab, and maintaining my guard. I think I improved on all 3 over my first outing, and asking around afterwards the guys  said I looked a lot better and more in control. Really pleased with the compliments, but then again, they're far too polite to say "You were shit." :)

The guys I fought, Simon and Sparky, were quick and powerful, and landed some good shots on me. I got in some solid hits of my own though; a neat double jab on Sparky’s nose, and a good right to the body on Simon. I fought Simon last time as well, when he caught me with some wicked combinations. This time though I defended a lot better, got my guard up quickly, and blocked his flurry while moving out of reach.

On the negative side, I still didn’t land many combinations. I need to get into the habit of following a good connecting jab with a hard right and stepping close to throw a flurry. As it is I’m hitting with a jab and often already moving away. That sort of thing has a place in a fight, but I should be able to mix it up.

We didn’t get much feedback from the trainers on the session, mainly because Andy was taking the class on his own, and had more than enough to do refereeing the sparring and organising the non-fighters. Not his fault and he did a great job, it just would have been nice to get some pointers on where I went wrong during my rounds.

When I got back from the gym I tried to put my punching bag up, but either the wall is too hard or the masonry bit I bought is the wrong type, and it didn’t work very well. I’m going to buy a new drill-bit and try again. Failing that I’ll stump up 70 bucks for the installation service, it cheaper than a new powertool.

47 days to go… (this number seems to have suddenly started falling extremely quickly!)

Monday, February 22, 2010

February 21st

My foot was killing me this morning, so I decided to rest it up and not do anything like skipping or running. Hopefully it’ll be okay for Monday, since I’m pretty sure we’ll be back in the ring doing some sparring.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and honey
Post-workout: Chocolate milk, baked beans on a tortilla
Lunch: Chicken nuggets
Dinner: 1 satay stick, Tom Yum noodles with seafood

Not a good diet day, but weekends never seem to be.

Exercise
Warmup: 1 km rowing, stretches
Set 1: Medicine ball 200 workout
Set 2: Planks, 1 minute front, 1 minute side, rest 1 minute. Repeat 4 times.
Set 3: Weighted punches, 1 kg each hand. 2 minutes, 1 minute rest. Repeat 4 times.
Set 4: 100 crunches
Set 5: 100 squats
Stretches

I decided against the burpees because of my foot, and I tried doing the usual 100 pressups, but got nowhere. I think because I did the weights sets on Saturday evening, by Sunday morning I’m still recovering.

Not a great day overall. I wasn’t really ‘with it’ for the exercising, so the whole thing was less intense that I’d have liked. Looking back through my blog I’ve been skimping on my cardio recently, need to get back on that. If I can’t run then cycling or rowing.

I picked up some gloves today as well, Everlast Protex2. They’re 10oz, so a little lighter than what I’ll be using for the fight, but should be perfect for bag work. They’ve got great padding and fit really well.

48 days to go…

Sunday, February 21, 2010

February 20th

Strange day today; Vanda had organised a filming day, so we spent a lot of the morning session staging shots, taking photos and doing interviews rather than actually training.

Fun though!

I worked out later on at home to make up for it.

Diet
Breakfast: Half an oat bar
Post-workout: Strawberry milk
Lunch: Chicken biriyani
Dinner: 2 fish flllets with tomato sauce on wholemeal bread

Bit of a crappy diet day, but not too bad. The biriyani is reasonably heathly, dry rice with chicken, no sauce or anything really bad.

Exercise at the gym
Bit of jogging, skipping, bit of heavy bag work, nothing too strenuous

Exercise at the condo
Warmup: 5 minutes on the crosstrainer, stretches
Weights Set 1:
  • Free-weight chest press, 15 kg each hand, 3 x8
  • Lat pulldown, 46.7 kg, 3 x8
  • Shoulder press, 52.2 kg, 3 x8
  • Machine chest press, 56.7 kg
  • Lateral raises, 2.5 kg, 3 x8
  • Bicep curls, 7.5 kg, 3 x8
Jogging: 2.5 km @ about 11 kph (I had to stop because my right foot started to hurt)
Weights Set 2: Same as above

I don't know what I did to my foot, it just started really hurting. Worrying and something to keep a close eye on.

I also picked up my own heavy bag yesterday. Lugging it through Marina Bay shopping mall was entertaining for onlookers, but I eventually got it home. I'll mount it on its bracket tomorrow and hopefully post some pictures. Its a 31 kg bag, just shy of 70 lbs, which is slightly on the light side perhaps, but close enough to the reccommended "half your body-weight" measure. Its also got a hook on the bottom which I'll use as a tie to stop it swinging too much when struck.

49 days to go...

Saturday, February 20, 2010

February 19th

Rest day, so little to report.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal with nuts and honey
Mid-morning: Tuna, ricecake, apple, boiled egg
Lunch: Butterbean stew, steamed veg
Mid-afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, apple, boiled egg
Dinner: Lots and lots of meat. We went out to a Brazilian restaurant with an all-you-can-eat meat buffet.

Exercise
None

50 days to go...

Friday, February 19, 2010

February 18th

Splitting headache this morning, I suppose that’s normal. I took some painkillers and it cleared up by lunchtime. My neck feels like I’ve got mild whiplash (I obviously haven't though), and various parts of my face and head feel painful to the touch.

Overall though, I don’t feel too bad, and apart from the cuts and bruises on my arms, don’t look too bad either.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal with nuts and honey
Mid morning: Tuna, rice-cake, apple
Lunch: Butterbean stew, steamed veg
Mid afternoon: Tuna, rice-cake, apple
Snack: Peanuts
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post workout: 2 cartons of strawberry milk, 6 chicken nuggets with ketchup

Average diet really. Bad dinner again because I didn’t finish my workout until 10, and wanted to get to bed.

Exercise
Skipping: 4 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between reps
Set 1: Medicine ball core workout
Rest 1 minute
Set 2: 4 x2 minutes plank, (front 60 seconds, side 60 seconds) 1 minute between reps
Rest 1 minute
Set 3: 4 x2 minutes punching with 1 kg in each hand.
Rest 1 minute
Skipping: 4 x2 minutes, 1 minute break between reps
Rest 1 minute
Set 4: 100 pressups (raggedly, do as many as possible, rest ~15 seconds, repeat)
Set 5: 100 crunches (2 sets of 50, ~20 seconds break between sets)
Set 6: 100 burpees (5 sets of 20, ~30 seconds break between sets)
Stretches

Worked hard. Stuck rigidly to the short breaks between sets to make sure the workout was intense all the way through. The planks are getting easier, albeit slowly, so are the burpees. I’m pretty respectable at skipping now as well; I was usually doing the whole 2 minutes in 2-3 tries.

Damage
Grazes and bruises on my arms
Right foot hurts slightly
Back pain slightly reduced
Jaw fine
Cheek fine

 51 days to go...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

February 17th

Big day today, we started sparring. Its so different from the rest of our training; Imagine practising golf by swinging a club but never hitting a ball, and the difference between that and 18 holes of matchplay. Also imagine that whenever you mess up a shot you get punched in the face.

Diet
Breakfast: Oatmeal, nuts and honey
Mid morning: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Snack: 4 chicken nuggets
Lunch: Butterbean stew, steamed veg
Mid afternoon: Tuna, ricecake, boiled egg, apple
Snack: 4 chicken nuggets
Pre-workout: Oat bar
Post workout: Ikea currypuff, strawberry milk

Won’t be having the nuggets again, they’re horrible cold. Dinner was crap because I went straight to Ikea after the gym and didn’t have time for anything better. Also chewing was difficult after getting punched.

Exercise
Warmup: Bit of skipping, stretching, bit of jab and parry practice.
Sparring: We were split us into two groups, small guys (including me) went first. Eight guys in the ring at once, two fighting, the others waited in the corners with gloves, headguards and mouthpieces in and ready to go. The first guys fight for 60 seconds, then Alexis swaps one of them out for one of the guys in the corners. Another 60 seconds, and swap again. So each person fights for 2 minutes before being swapped out. That matches what we’ll be doing on the night, except that during sparring we got a longer break between rounds.
Circuit: 15 pressups, 15 burpees, 15 squats, 15 crunches. Repeat.

The sparring session was incredibly intense. Everything happens very quickly, and for most of us, things like footwork and proper punching technique went straight out of the window after the first few hits. By contrast the guys with some sparring experience kept their form during the rounds, looked far more in control, landed a lot more punches and got hit much less.

What I learnt: Relax and don’t rush; throw punches and move like we’ve been shown; If you take a few hits, get your guard up and move away.

I came out of the ring pretty demoralised; I felt like I didn’t land a punch, and my opponents hit me every time. Speaking to the guys afterwards, a lot of them felt the same way about their fights, and the guys I fought told me I caught them with some good shots. I spoke to the guys watching, and they reckoned I was about even in the rounds, moved well, and landed about as many punches as I took.

What I learnt: From inside the ring its almost impossible to tell how well/badly you’re doing, or what your tactics should be. Someone honest on the outside to break things down for you is essential.

For my weight/group, I’m quite tall. This means that I have more reach than some of the other guys, but I’m less muscular and powerful. Because of this, Alexis’ advice was to use my jab as much as possible; hit and move away. In my rounds I often found myself leaning forward with my jab, going off balance, and getting counter-punched hard. A few times I ended up on the receiving end of a 4 punch combination for the error of missing one punch. Sometimes though, things went right and I’d land 4-5 unopposed jabs in a row and the guy wouldn’t get close.

What I learnt: Don’t over-reach with punches; stay balanced all the time. Being off balance means you’ve got less power, your guard is open, and your movement will be compromised.

Even with over 5 minutes break between rounds, by the third set of 2 minutes almost everyone was showing signs of serious fatigue, and I was no exception. My guard was shabby, I was moving more slowly, everything was just poor. Seems to me that on the night, with 60 seconds between rounds, conditioning is going to play a HUGE part in the outcome of the match.

What I learnt: Fighting technique will improve through sparring, which I guess we’ll be doing 3 times a week from now on. However, conditioning work at Vanda has all but stopped, and is going to come down how much effort each fighter puts in between sparring sessions. I need to build up stamina in my arms, and my cardio in general, so in the final round I’m still moving well and throwing hard, accurate punches.

Damage (new section!)
Grazes and bruises on both forearms from taking punches on my guard
Painful jaw (took a cracking punch from Lee in my first round; everything went slightly green/grey)
Slight graze on my right cheek.
Right foot slightly painful, but feeling better
Back still aching

52 days to go…