Entry #446

Weigh-in: still at 230 lbs. There's still plenty to do with my diet, so this is to no frustration.

DE upper-body

Heavy bag warm-up:
Excellent jab, again. I'm throwing it in conjunction with better footwork, and the result is a much more powerful shot. Even while circling, I make subtle changes in weight distribution  when I throw.

Speed bench:
8 X 3
185 lbs.

Barbell skullcrushers:
4 X 8
100 lbs.
Somebody swiped the bar from my bench while I was getting a drink, so I used the heaviest pre-constructed barbell they had. It was much too light.

Chin-ups:
4 X 8   1 X 5
I was strict on time here, and the shorter rests fatigued me. I stopped before absolute failure on the final set.

Hise shrugs:
2 X 15
245 lbs.
With this, I'm using as a tool to become more and more accustomed to the squat position. I'll continue to incrementally increase the weight week by week, even through cycles. This has a long-term place in my routine.


George and I went out to spar, under boxing rules. Because of his implied reluctance, I made the criteria so that he could hit me full-contact, but I could not do anything except work defense and throw pulled punches at him. I only included the latter to exercise capitalizing on openings in the opponent's guard. It should be noted that, although he's a trained martial artist fully able to throw a punch, he isn't a boxer, and none of this is to his discredit.

I mostly kept my hands low (intentionally) and simply dodged him with effective head movement, but I also did some excellent parries that he never found an answer for. Out of twenty minutes, his glove only fully made contact with my face on one occasion, and square in the jaw, no less. It was a right-hand lead, which breaks the pattern of setting up with a jab. I can't be drawn in to what I perceive as predictability. Anticipate, but don't predict. Simply react.

On occasion, I would throw some combinations, pulling back at the last minute, but they clearly would have gone through. It was very unsatisfying to restrict myself like that, but it was an example of my progress in technique.

There are no complaints with form that I can note, however limited a session that may have been. The biggest problem were my legs. They began to feel like lead after a few minutes. Granted, I've just gotten serious with lower-body lifting these past weeks, but it feels like I need to condition them for better staying-power. It may also be a factor of simply being too tense with them. I'll work on this.