December 31st

I still ached this morning but sod it, I can't lose another day.

Diet
Breakfast: Vegetable stew
Lunch: Tuna with low-fat mayo, chocolate milk
Afternoon snack: Small portion of homemade chilli
Dinner: Steak and salad
After Dinner Drinks: Beer (Well, it is new year's eve)

And those are the last beers I'll be having until after the fight in April. Its weird to think that 3 months is likely the longest I've gone without a beer since I was about 16...

Exercise
Warmup: 1 Km row + lots and lots of stretching
Pressups: 20 x1 set (Didn't want to overdo it on the arms)
Planks: 50 seconds x3 sets (Extra 10 seconds)
Russian Twists, 3 Kg medicine ball: 40 x1 set
Interval rowing: 2 minutes/1 minute x10 sets 2:23/500m average

Essentially exercise as normal, and I'll assess the damage tomorrow. With any luck the movement will have loosened up my muscles and joints.

100 days to go...

December 30th

Today was even worse. I could barely move my arms this morning, so I decided to leave the exercise totally and have a relaxing game of golf. I still managed the diet, but another day down the tubes is a real screw-up.

Diet
Breakfast: Bowl of minestrone soup
Snacks: 2 Oat bars
Lunch: Chicken and rice
Dinner: Vegetable stew

Exercise
18 holes of golf. This is not really exercise.

And to top it all off, I wanted a hot bath to ease my aches and pains, but I'm sunburned half to death from golf, so I can't do that either.

Here's hoping I feel better in the morning, can't go on like this.

2 days wasted...

101 days to go...

December 29th

Bad day today. When I woke up my arms were aching like mad, especially my right elbow. I did some gentle stretches in the morning to try and loosen up, but it didn't work, I was still stiff at 6.30 so I decided to just have a swim rather than row or go for free-weights.

I still ache now, but hopefully its all due to my muscles going into shock at being actually used, and it'll wear off by tomorrow. If not I might just have a full day resting. There's no point working out with an injury and making it worse.

Diet
Breakfast: Very big bowl of cornflakes
Lunch: Pea soup
Dinner: Pea soup with 2 poached eggs in it (REALLY nice)
Snacks: The last few Christmas winegums, 2 small glasses of beer because I was pissed off I couldn't work out.

Exercise
30 minutes swimming

1 day wasted...

102 days to go...

December 28th

Free-weights day today, something I'm really not familiar with. I've got a vague idea from a bit of internet research, the rest I'll just learn as I go along.

Diet
Breakfast: Cornflakes
Lunch: Chickpea and lentil curry
Dinner: Thai lentil soup + Korean BBQ

We went out to dinner with some friends, to a Korean place that cooks the meat in front of you on a hotplate built into the table. So a meal out that was 90% grilled meat and vegetables! Good choice if you're on a health kick.

Exercise
Warmup: 5 minutes on the crosstrainer
Weights:

• Single arm row - 10 Kg 10x3
• Bench press(dumbell in each hand rather than long bar) - 7.5 Kg 10x3
• Hammer curl- 7.5 Kg 10x3
• Lateral raise- 3 Kg 10x3

In all of these cases, 10x3 was what I was trying for, often I couldn't make 10 in the final set without resting for a few seconds between reps. Once I can do all 3 sets of 10, it'll be time to up the weight.

Since I hadn't done any core work I finished off back in the apartment with the usual planks and (front, left and right, 40 seconds each, 3 sets), 60 situps, and a 15 minute swim.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with my first time at the weights, but I'll be a lot happier when I've had someone professional tell me which exercises to do and correct my technique.

103 days to go...

December 27th

Diet
Breakfast: Pea soup
Post Workout: Chocolate milk, tuna with low fat mayo
Lunch: Steak and salad (friends visiting, so we went out for dinner. We went to Brewerkz and I managed to not drink any beer)
Drinks: Lime juice

Exercise
1 Km rowing warmup + stretches
Pressups: 20 x3 sets (Extra set added here. Actually only managed 12 on the last set)
Planks: 40 seconds x3 sets (Extra set added here. I found this very hard)
Situps: 30 x2 sets
1 Kg punches: 2 minutes x3 sets
Interval rowing: 2 minutes/1 minute x10 sets. 2:21/500m average

Exercise today was harder than yesterday, and not just because I added some extra work to make it more difficult. Because we were meeting friends I started exercise right after breakfast, and I felt much more tired than usual. I think making sure my energy levels are high before I start is going to be vital to getting the full benefit of the work I'm putting in.

Tomorrow I'm going to try the condo gym, they've got free-weights and various machines.

104 days to go...

December 26th

Boxing Day. Hurr hurr hurr.

Diet
Breakfast: Bowl of cocopops
Lunch: Christmas dinner leftovers (not letting them go to waste, too tasty, diet or no diet!)
Snack: Pea soup (Homemade, pretty much zero fat, just lots of veg)
Dinner: Chickpea and lentil curry (Homemade again, no oil)
Winegums. Quite a few winegums!

Exercise
Back on the case today after yesterday off.
1 Km rowing warmup + stretches
Pressups: 20 x2 sets
Planks: 40 seconds x2 sets
Situps: 30 x2 sets
1 Kg punches: 2 minutes x3 sets
Interval rowing: 2 minutes/1 minute x10 sets. Really happy with the rowing today; managed to average 2 minutes 20 seconds per 500m, which is faster than I've managed over the last few days.
Finish with  some stretching.

So I'm back on the case! I've noticed some very small improvements already, exercises getting easier, so I need to start increasing the effort. Extra exercises tomorrow.

105 days to go...

December 25th

Merry Christmas!

Like I said yesterday, no time off, but the rules were relaxed slightly to accommodate some festive celebrations.

Diet
Breakfast: Crostini, scrambled egg, smoked salmon
Snacks: Pringles, winegums and chocolate
Lunch: Roast ham, roast potatoes, sage and onion stuffing, cauliflower and broccoli gratin, pigs-in-blankets, sweetcorn, gravy
Dinner: More Pringles, more winegums, bread with humous
Drinks: 4 pints of beer, couple of glasses of wine

So yeah, not such a good day for the diet! Boxing day will have me back on the case though. I made a huge pea and ham soup from the ham stock we had so I'll be eating that for a few days.

Exercise
When I went to the final meeting with Vanda, the trainers explained roughly how the workout regime would pan out. It turned out they expect us to exercise 7 days a week. Sounded strange to me, I'd always been told that you need a rest day for your muscles to recover, for various reasons. However, the coaches explained that rather than rest days, we should have 'recovery days' where we'd do low impact work and stretching, rather than just sitting around doing nothing. So yesterday I swam for 30 minutes, then did 20 minutes of stretching, working out some of the tension in my arms and back. I'll be back on the impact regime tomorrow, with another recovery day around the 29th.

106 days to go...

December 24th

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…except me working out

Yup, no time for breaks. I finished work at 3 today, but I stuck to the same routine; eating at the same times and starting exercise at 6.30.

I ached a fair bit this morning, especially my forearms and lower back. Forearms I can blame on the rowing, and the back strain is almost certainly due to sitting at a desk all day with crappy posture. Since I get occasional backache at work, hopefully the training will help relieve it.

Diet

Breakfast: Cornflakes with milk

Mid Morning: 1 apple

Lunch: The last of the bacon and butterbean stew

Snack: 1 apple, small bowl of cocopops (Yesterday I got a bit low on energy during the workout, so trying to eat a bit extra today)

Dinner: Steak with grilled veg (really nice, shall be having more often)

Exercise

I was happy with my effort level yesterday, and finishing the workout totally exhausted is the aim, so I did the same today.

Warmup: 1 Km rowing + stretches

Pressups: 20 x 2 sets

Planks: 40 seconds front, left and right x 2 sets

Russian Twists with a 3 Kg medicine ball: Counted today, managed 22 reps

1 Kg hand weights: Slow speed ‘punching’ again. 2 minutes x 3 sets (Much more like it, yesterday I was being a wuss)

Rowing: 2min/1min x 10 intervals

Swimming: 15 minutes. Was able to do this today after skipping it yesterday. Hopefully it’ll help with the aches.

Because it’s Christmas eve, I plan to undo some of my hard work by going out for a few drinks with Kirsty. I figure that’s fine since I’ve done my workout for the day. I won't overdo it since I want to work out tomorrow as well.

107 days to go-ho-ho…

December 23rd

I ached today, but not too badly so I suppose that’s something.

Diet

Breakfast: 1 apple and a glass of milk

Lunch: Bacon and butterbean stew I made

Snack: 2 apples

Dinner: Bacon and butterbean stew again, 2 glasses milk

So still on the ‘low fat, high protein’ kick, and certainly eating a lot less than I’m used to. However, I was hungry late afternoon, so I might need to eat more. I’ve completely cut out things like biscuits and sweets, and I miss those a little.

Exercise

I went to the driving range with a friend after work, so the workout started slightly later than normal.

Warmup: 1 Km low speed rowing, followed by stretches. This was notably absent from my routine yesterday and I’m maybe suffering for it now. An injury would really screw up what is a very tight timetable, so I need to make sure I warm up and cool down properly in future.

Pressups: 20 x 2 (small improvement, probably because I did them before my main row)

No situps today, I decided to do some planks instead. 40 seconds front, 40 seconds left side, 40 seonds right side x 2 repeats. I read somewhere that these things are better than situps for strengthening core muscles. Then I did some Russian twists with a 3 Kg medicine ball. I couldn’t do many.

Also did some work with 1 Kg hand weights. With a weight in each hand, stand with your arms up in a basic boxing guard. Slowly extend each hard in turn so that your elbow is almost straight, then pull slowly back to starting position and extend the other arm. Hard work on the shoulders. 3 intervals of 1 minute. Could have done more I think.

Rowing: 2min/1min x 10 intervals, same as yesterday. 4.2 Km total

I was planning to swim but because I didn't finish my workout until 8.45 I was too exhausted. Felt a little dizzy until I had something to eat.

Overall I’m happy with my progress so far, such as it is. At least I’ve started. Hopefully by the time the proper training starts my body won’t be too shocked that its being asked to do something more active than type e-mails.

108 days to go…

It Begins

Decided that training starts today. Proper boxing sessions at the Vanda gym begin January 11th, but starting too early is guaranteed to be less painful than starting too late...and getting punched in my unprepared face.

Firstly, I need a baseline:

Current Height 6'0" (183cm)
Current Weight 180 pounds (82kg)
Current Trousers: 36" (Medium-Husky)

NB. I'm not expecting height to change too much, and these jeans are quite baggy.

Resting heart rate is 76 bpm, which according to Netfit is 'Below Average'. I just tried some simple exercises, and right now I can do 20 pressups and 40 situps. That doesn't seem like a lot, in fact I'm fairly sure its complete crap.

This shouldn't come as a surprise. The only sport I play is golf, which isn't noted for producing high calibre athletes.

My other hobbies are cooking, eating, drinking, and playing video games. This lifestyle has given me this body: (I'm also blaming golf for the shorts and terrible tan.)

 

This is obviously not the body of a boxer. Things must change quickly if I'm to stand any chance of avoiding a public ass-whooping.

Diet 
In January the trainers will be giving me proper nutritional advice. In the meantime though, I could certainly cut back on the beers and eat more healthily.
 
Most importantly though I need get out of the habit of eating a big meal at 7pm. The gym sessions and the final fight will take place in the early evening, so its logical to make sure I've got energy around then. The plan is a smallish snack at 5pm, train 7-9, then eat a protein heavy meal when I get home around 10.

Today's menu: Cornflakes for breakfast, rice and daal for lunch, a couple of apples at 5 and then tuna with low-fat mayo tonight. Its worked okay; I haven't felt hungry, and I was able to exercise without getting cramp or feeling low on energy.

Exercise
Again, come January the trainers will be handling all the training (duh). Until then I'll keep it simple, mainly cardio and a few basic floor exercises.
Today I did rowing interval training. 2 minutes on, 1 minute rest, 10 reps. Then pressups, situps and 20 minutes swimming to cool down. All in it took just over an hour.I'll ache tomorrow, and depending on how much it hurts I'll adjust what I'm doing. 

Christmas and New Year
..are both a worry. The reason they start the training in January is so that the fighters can enjoy the holiday season before they swear off the booze and get serious. I don't think I can afford to wait, so the current plan is to train at least an hour every day regardless of festivities. We'll see how THAT goes.

109 days to go...

Introduction

A while back, I put my name forward to participate in a White collar Boxing event.

It breaks down like this:

18 guys, 90 days hardcore training with some of Asia's best boxing coaches and then on April 10th a huge event in front of a large crowd.

I decided to apply for lots of reasons: the challenge, to get fit, to support a good cause (its all for charity), and after a nervous wait I got the e-mail telling me I'd been accepted.

That was 3 days ago.

So I'm committed to a strict diet, harsh exercise, no booze, and getting my ass kicked 3 times a week. Then of course the main event, where all my friends and co-workers watch me get knocked about.

The idea behind this blog is to keep people updated on my training, for me to track my progress, and maybe even help anyone thinking of doing a White Collar Boxing event appreciate what they're in for.

110 days to go...