Entry #329
Bodybuilding day. Seemed to have drastically dropped gains in bench press, but I was running on little sleep, not to mention a shorter resting period. Only managed 225 lbs four times (no spotter). This situation will be established next week; I'll be resuming powerlifting. This bodybuilding attempt has been constantly interrupted by injury after injury and I can't afford to wait any longer. Perhaps I'm to blame. This was supposed to be a sort of rehabilitation period coming off of the extreme loads, but I ended up training even harder than before. Speaking of injuries, I hurt my shoulder today. At least it's not the rotator cuff again.
Ran to the track at night to jump~rope, but there was a game going on.
Diet was one thing that went well. I ate until puking point. Must keep the nutrition coming; I can't fall further behind on injuries.
Breakfast:
10 egg whites
2 whole eggs
6 small tomatoes
8 slices of salami
2 waffles with butter and syrup
2 slices of wheat toast
1 cup of milk
1 multi-vitamin
I think I'll continue eating like that, and save the weightgainer (which I have chosen not to use thus far) for another part of the day.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
Entry #328
Completed a bodyweight session for quads and hammies. The focus here was muscle endurance, with thirty second rests in between sets. Was strong on hindu squats, but my legs gave out on bootstrappers. Still completed it with just a slight decrease in repetition quantity.
Bag training:
Experimented with peek~a~boo stance. Projected great power like this. Upon leaving, there was a large indentation left in the bag. It just feels more natural to have my hands in even space. I don't think this is something I'd want to start with, however.
Completed a bodyweight session for quads and hammies. The focus here was muscle endurance, with thirty second rests in between sets. Was strong on hindu squats, but my legs gave out on bootstrappers. Still completed it with just a slight decrease in repetition quantity.
Bag training:
Experimented with peek~a~boo stance. Projected great power like this. Upon leaving, there was a large indentation left in the bag. It just feels more natural to have my hands in even space. I don't think this is something I'd want to start with, however.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Entry #327
The sparring match is off. He said his leg's bad, and today he left for L.A.
Ran to the track at night and mixed shadow~boxing with jumping rope. I stayed from southpaw stance. My left has improved substantially. Jabs with this arm were snappy and coordinated. At this point, I'm about equally comfortable with conventional and southpaw.
Really need to work more with the jump~rope.
The sparring match is off. He said his leg's bad, and today he left for L.A.
Ran to the track at night and mixed shadow~boxing with jumping rope. I stayed from southpaw stance. My left has improved substantially. Jabs with this arm were snappy and coordinated. At this point, I'm about equally comfortable with conventional and southpaw.
Really need to work more with the jump~rope.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Entry #326
Year two of this training journal. I'm not going to post and compare my lifting progress annually anymore as it's redundant, since I make note of gains to the day.
One attribute worthy of mention is how I've come to train with preperation of an actual opponent in mind. Before, I would simply do cardio to raise my stamina, lift heavier weight to get stronger, and hit the bag to get practice on form. Everything was simple and seen in a black and white view; if I lost at something, it meant I didn't spend enough time on it. It was a matter of quantity and not quality, but now there's much more to training; I actually take into consideration a particular style of how I go about this. For example, I've never utilized uppercuts in fighting with George. Today, I practiced a strategy of playing the distance game with jabs and front kicks, and then rushing inside with something that he's not expecting while he's comfortably fighting in the area that he's used to. He can't backpedal faster than I can go forward. Of course, if the opponent had the same thing in mind and planned on also coming in to confuse me, it'd be fine because what I trained for was just the means to get to this position anyways and I was obviously already prepared for it.
Basically, it just shows how more thought goes into this compared to before, when a plan against someone would be to the extent of, "I'll run more so I don't get tired." This is what happened when I boxed Marty (10/15/04, see entry #11).
Speaking of boxing, I've been breathing it the last few days. Today I spent all of my leisure time analyzing old Marciano videos.
Year two of this training journal. I'm not going to post and compare my lifting progress annually anymore as it's redundant, since I make note of gains to the day.
One attribute worthy of mention is how I've come to train with preperation of an actual opponent in mind. Before, I would simply do cardio to raise my stamina, lift heavier weight to get stronger, and hit the bag to get practice on form. Everything was simple and seen in a black and white view; if I lost at something, it meant I didn't spend enough time on it. It was a matter of quantity and not quality, but now there's much more to training; I actually take into consideration a particular style of how I go about this. For example, I've never utilized uppercuts in fighting with George. Today, I practiced a strategy of playing the distance game with jabs and front kicks, and then rushing inside with something that he's not expecting while he's comfortably fighting in the area that he's used to. He can't backpedal faster than I can go forward. Of course, if the opponent had the same thing in mind and planned on also coming in to confuse me, it'd be fine because what I trained for was just the means to get to this position anyways and I was obviously already prepared for it.
Basically, it just shows how more thought goes into this compared to before, when a plan against someone would be to the extent of, "I'll run more so I don't get tired." This is what happened when I boxed Marty (10/15/04, see entry #11).
Speaking of boxing, I've been breathing it the last few days. Today I spent all of my leisure time analyzing old Marciano videos.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Entry #325
May have sustained more damage from Friday that I thought. Shins felt sore during jump~roping.
That preceded shadow fighting. As mentioned before, I need to warm~up smarter. In practicing this I focused on snapping and pulling back whatever attack I threw. Didn't throw anything big; instead I worked on tools to chisel away and pick at an opponent, like jabs and fronts. This is specifically for my final match with George before he leaves for L.A. I'm already well~off while inside; now, I need to be able to fight from a distance if rushing in isn't an option.
Also opting out of resistance training for the first half of this week in order to be up to par.
May have sustained more damage from Friday that I thought. Shins felt sore during jump~roping.
That preceded shadow fighting. As mentioned before, I need to warm~up smarter. In practicing this I focused on snapping and pulling back whatever attack I threw. Didn't throw anything big; instead I worked on tools to chisel away and pick at an opponent, like jabs and fronts. This is specifically for my final match with George before he leaves for L.A. I'm already well~off while inside; now, I need to be able to fight from a distance if rushing in isn't an option.
Also opting out of resistance training for the first half of this week in order to be up to par.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Entry #324
Sparring:
Took place at Fisher. Concrete ground. Sparring gear was rather uneven. 4 oz. gloves on both of us, but he got the shinguards and mouthpiece.
Injured back (reason for the hiatus) was feeling better by approximately 95%, more or less. Just some small discomfort during warm~up stretches.
Contemplated on an orthodox stance, but ultimately went with comfort and fought south~paw. First round went great, technique~wise. Agreed to go at 50%. I intended to start off more aggressive rather than waiting to counter, but he telegraphed his first kick so early that I took that instead. Grabbed it and got him in right in the chin. Kept him at bay with muay thai front kicks. I was excellent in utilizing these. The bagwork has payed off.
Second round was hard~contact. I gained the upper~hand on pure power alone. The exception were the front~kicks again. These were being pulled off nearly as proficiently as my jab. He anticipated my boxing and kept his hands glued high, which left numerous opportunities for body kicks. Also made use of knees. These worked well in both getting his hands to drop and in blocking, although the advantage I'd normally have in my knee hitting his shin was moot with his shinguards. Still proved effective because he'd be trying to gauge his distance with a kick, and I'd negate whatever he was doing by charging in with a knee. If he pulled one off I'd usually manage to grab it and nail him in the head. I don't know why I stopped making a conscious effort to do this the last few years, but it works. This eventually backfired because I got in the habit of dropping my hands to grab him when he kicked, and if I missed I'd be rendered completely open, which he was more than happy to capitalize on. Got me in the eye this way, which I shook off but felt foolish for falling for. What I should have done was knee the low ones instead of reaching out. Guard must never drop like that.
Killed myself in the third~round. At this point we seemed to unconsciously shy back to what we knew best: he kicked, and I boxed. I was at a severe reach advantage here; I spent most of the time chasing after him (at no expense to his integrity; it worked on his part). I'd rush forward, see him back off, stop myself, and wait for him to return. Again, this was to my disadvantage because of the reach (if this was a ring, I'd have cornered him, but this was open ground). In one kick, I made a grab for it and then stopped myself at the last moment to keep my guard up and knee. This essentially left my open hands a free target for him to hit in my moment of relapse, and my fingers took the full punishment. Didn't even feel it during the round so I continued with no second thought. I did realize how predictable I was getting, however, so instead of stopping in exasperation and waiting for him, I ran forward and caught him with a straight in the jaw. Didn't follow up with anything, though. This holds true in general. I have a bad habit of letting the other guy fall back and gather himself before moving in, in some unfortunate form of chivalry (and despite all of my work in coherent combinations).
In overview, I'm my own worst adversary. My sloppy technique seems to get more and more glaringly apparent the stronger I get. Didn't get hit by any big shots, but I've got more than one sore appendage at the expense of poor form (i.e., accidentally blocking with my fingers, stubbing my toe). I can safely come to this conclusion in seeing him with a bloody mouth (with a mouthguard), but my fingers and toes gnarled like an old man's. My method has a lot of catching up to do with my power.
Also note: eat earlier before a spar. Was struggling not to puke by the end.
Sparring:
Took place at Fisher. Concrete ground. Sparring gear was rather uneven. 4 oz. gloves on both of us, but he got the shinguards and mouthpiece.
Injured back (reason for the hiatus) was feeling better by approximately 95%, more or less. Just some small discomfort during warm~up stretches.
Contemplated on an orthodox stance, but ultimately went with comfort and fought south~paw. First round went great, technique~wise. Agreed to go at 50%. I intended to start off more aggressive rather than waiting to counter, but he telegraphed his first kick so early that I took that instead. Grabbed it and got him in right in the chin. Kept him at bay with muay thai front kicks. I was excellent in utilizing these. The bagwork has payed off.
Second round was hard~contact. I gained the upper~hand on pure power alone. The exception were the front~kicks again. These were being pulled off nearly as proficiently as my jab. He anticipated my boxing and kept his hands glued high, which left numerous opportunities for body kicks. Also made use of knees. These worked well in both getting his hands to drop and in blocking, although the advantage I'd normally have in my knee hitting his shin was moot with his shinguards. Still proved effective because he'd be trying to gauge his distance with a kick, and I'd negate whatever he was doing by charging in with a knee. If he pulled one off I'd usually manage to grab it and nail him in the head. I don't know why I stopped making a conscious effort to do this the last few years, but it works. This eventually backfired because I got in the habit of dropping my hands to grab him when he kicked, and if I missed I'd be rendered completely open, which he was more than happy to capitalize on. Got me in the eye this way, which I shook off but felt foolish for falling for. What I should have done was knee the low ones instead of reaching out. Guard must never drop like that.
Killed myself in the third~round. At this point we seemed to unconsciously shy back to what we knew best: he kicked, and I boxed. I was at a severe reach advantage here; I spent most of the time chasing after him (at no expense to his integrity; it worked on his part). I'd rush forward, see him back off, stop myself, and wait for him to return. Again, this was to my disadvantage because of the reach (if this was a ring, I'd have cornered him, but this was open ground). In one kick, I made a grab for it and then stopped myself at the last moment to keep my guard up and knee. This essentially left my open hands a free target for him to hit in my moment of relapse, and my fingers took the full punishment. Didn't even feel it during the round so I continued with no second thought. I did realize how predictable I was getting, however, so instead of stopping in exasperation and waiting for him, I ran forward and caught him with a straight in the jaw. Didn't follow up with anything, though. This holds true in general. I have a bad habit of letting the other guy fall back and gather himself before moving in, in some unfortunate form of chivalry (and despite all of my work in coherent combinations).
In overview, I'm my own worst adversary. My sloppy technique seems to get more and more glaringly apparent the stronger I get. Didn't get hit by any big shots, but I've got more than one sore appendage at the expense of poor form (i.e., accidentally blocking with my fingers, stubbing my toe). I can safely come to this conclusion in seeing him with a bloody mouth (with a mouthguard), but my fingers and toes gnarled like an old man's. My method has a lot of catching up to do with my power.
Also note: eat earlier before a spar. Was struggling not to puke by the end.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Entry #323
Replaced resistance day for lower body with bodyweight drills due to lingering throe in my back. Barbell squats require too much stability from the back for comfort in this condition. Felt extremely light on my toes with shootfighters, though legs felt shaky after a few sets from the unfamiliar rep range.
At this point I'm most comfortable with the brief, burst movement that powerlifting entails. I wonder how much of an influence this has on my style of fighting. My guess would be little. My contention with muscle endurance seems to be specific enough to not be much of an issue; I feel like I can go all day in sparring and bag training, just not these exercises. Food for thought.
Attempt for the following set of boot~strappers resulted in increased back pain, so I cut it short. I'm stretching in the evening to relieve this.
Shadowboxing and bag~work are currently on hold.
Replaced resistance day for lower body with bodyweight drills due to lingering throe in my back. Barbell squats require too much stability from the back for comfort in this condition. Felt extremely light on my toes with shootfighters, though legs felt shaky after a few sets from the unfamiliar rep range.
At this point I'm most comfortable with the brief, burst movement that powerlifting entails. I wonder how much of an influence this has on my style of fighting. My guess would be little. My contention with muscle endurance seems to be specific enough to not be much of an issue; I feel like I can go all day in sparring and bag training, just not these exercises. Food for thought.
Attempt for the following set of boot~strappers resulted in increased back pain, so I cut it short. I'm stretching in the evening to relieve this.
Shadowboxing and bag~work are currently on hold.
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Entry #321
Bare~knuckled the heavy bag. Made huge progress on maintaining form. My
wrists didn't bend at all in the later rounds. Ironically enough, safe
form means I'm punching harder so I drew a lot of blood. Stayed with
the familiar stance today.
I've also just realized that I'm a right~handed southpaw.
Bare~knuckled the heavy bag. Made huge progress on maintaining form. My
wrists didn't bend at all in the later rounds. Ironically enough, safe
form means I'm punching harder so I drew a lot of blood. Stayed with
the familiar stance today.
I've also just realized that I'm a right~handed southpaw.
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