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...