Saturday, August 10, 2013

Workout #5

I was busy today so I ended up eating a late lunch/ate more than I should have b/c I was hungry. I then had to go to the gym an hour and a half after my meal. I thought I would throw up b/c I was kind of full, but to my surprise my large carb intake actually helped me. I felt stronger today, but of course this isn't something I want to do regularly since I'm trying to make weight for this match.

Total rounds: 10 rounds

1) Jump rope - 1 round
  • I still can't jump off alternating feet, but today I was able to go at least 5-6 consecutive jumps without messing up. Hopefully I can hit 10, and then hit my goal of doing a full round of 3 minutes alternating feet. 
  • I can see why jumping rope is so good for a boxer, it really does make you light on your feet. 
2) Shadow boxing - 3 rounds
  • My left hooks and right upper cuts felt much better today. I was using my hips more, and could feel myself getting quicker. Of course I'll still tired out and then end up not rotating my hips, but at least towards the beginning I felt OK. 
  • If I hit my left hook really hard with my hips, I notice I drive my legs into the ground when I twist my front foot. This puts pressure on my left knee. Of course I doubt I could throw a left hook that hard in a real match since I'll be tired, but at least during shadow boxing my heavy weight and hip rotation does cause pressure on my knees. I have to think about this since I've had bad knees for about 6 months now. 
3) Double End bag - 1 round
  • I can do 3 hit combos now fairly regularly, and am working towards doing multiple 4 hit combos. Mostly jabs and straight rights. 
  • If I had more time in the gym, I would benefit a lot from adding three total double end bag workouts into my training regimen. It's not as intense physically as mitts or heavy bag, but thinking about timing while you're breathing hard is really good for the reflexes. 
  • Rather than a heavy bag, I think the double end bag might be the most useful thing to have at home. It's something you can do just whenever you have a free moment, and one can practice combos near it as well. Unfortunately, my place is really small and I don't have any room to get one so I'll just have to do it at the gym. 
4) Light Sparring - 2 rounds
  • My trainer/owner of the gym usually tells me to do some light sparring whenever there is anyone roughly within 5 inches of my height. He himself can't spar b/c of his bad eye. (He was 8-0 as a pro welterweight with 5 knockouts, but hurt his left eye in his last match and had to retire. He's 58 but looks like he could be 40, he's still in great shape.)  
  • My opponent was a guy about my age, but who was in fantastic shape. He was with his 13-14 year old son, so could have been anywhere from late 30's to mid 40's. He was a few inches shorter than me, but looked like he was really experienced.
  • Light sparring has been really good so far for me, since we're not really hitting each other but more like tapping one another with gloves. I do know when they tap my head or stomach that it would really hurt if we were really sparring, so I'm not sure I'm ready to spar at 70-80%. Light sparring at 50% (or less) has been good. 
  • The trainer said I wasn't doing any counter punching, which I guess is common for beginners. Beginners typically do a combo, move away/parry/or step back, and then just think about our own combos. The advanced boxers of course counter quite a bit, and can think about doing combos and then adjusting by countering the opponent's punches. 
  • I still feel like in light sparring all I can do is mostly the jab since we're not really supposed to fight inside/hit one another but just tap. Left hooks or body shots have been mostly ineffective for me since I've been too slow/too far. However, most of my shorter partners have been quick enough to give me body shots. The idea is to protect one's head, and be willing to take body shots. 
  • I'm going to think about just one counter in my next sparring match, whenever he throws a left hook I'll slip and throw a right to the body or a right upper cut to the body. 
  • Also beginners are supposed to learn to finish all their combos with the left hand, to make it harder for your opponent to counter with his (stronger) right hand. These are my two goals for my next sparring match: 1) slip the left hook and throw a right, and 2) finish all my combos with the left. This means I can't just do a one-two combo, but have to either jab-left hook or jab-jab or jab-right-left hook. 
  • I'm also trying to figure out my most advantageous style. I'm shorter limbed, so I have to fight inside a bit more even if I'm the same height as opponent. 
  • Now that I'm actually sparring, even if it's light sparring, watching training videos makes a lot of sense. I can't imagine someone can learn without actually sparring. As they say, the difference between being a boxer and someone who boxercises is sparring. 
5) Mitts - 2 rounds
  • I could barely hit the mitts in the beginning since I went right into it after sparring. The trainer did say my left hooks are improving. Sliding/stepping into jabs has felt more natural, and my straight rights feel like they have more pop since I'm making an effort to use my hips. 
  • Stepping into jabs is still quite difficult, so I'm trying to practice whenever I get a free moment. 
6) Speed Bag - 1 round
  • I look really pathetic doing a speed bag, since I can't go more than 3 hits max. Frankly, one of the reasons I'm even doing the speed bag is b/c I'm too exhausted at the end of my workout to do anything else. My arms burn however during this portion, and my shoulders feel so heavy. 
  • I can tell that whoever can work the speed bag really well has good coordination and rhythm which is really helpful of course. In an ideal workout, I'll be able to alternate 3 rounds of sparring or mitts or heavy bag, with two of the double end bag or speed bag but I think that's only b/c I'm still really out of shape. 

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