Entry #492

Today was a break day, which means bag work. My back has been getting less and less stiff after every deadlift day, but it was still a hindrance. I also went on a walk, which is only notable in that my back felt much more nimble afterwards.

Just out of curiosity, I looked up a favorite book of mine, POWER by Dr. Hatfield, and they have it for cheap on Amazon. I stumbled upon it a few years ago in high school, in the library. I used to wolf down my lunch and run to the library to read it and The Boxing Encyclopedia for the rest of the period. It will be a valuable training asset.

This doesn't really correlate with any training, but I've also been reading The Devil and Sonny Liston. I used to only know Liston as the "big ugly bear" that a young Muhammad Ali beat twice, but he was a monster in the '50s. He destroyed Floyd Patterson in one round to claim the heavyweight title, and then repeated that first-round knockout in defending his title for the rematch. Genetically, he was born to fight: he was "only" 6' tall, but his reach dwarfed Ali's, despite Ali being 6'3. And he was completely jacked, muscle-wise, for that era. Reportedly, he also had the largest fists in heavyweight history, with solid bricks 15 inches around. Nobody is even certain when he was actually born. He died in 1970 under mysterious circumstances; some allege to murder by the mob he was associated with. Despite his lonely, difficult life and his stone-faced scowl that won fights before he even threw a punch and warranted his nickname "The Executioner", he was said to be very appreciative and jovial to fans and children. A very interesting, however tragic, read.