Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Workout #7

Wed we have boxing class. It's a one hour class of mostly technique, some shadow sparring, and the like. It's not too tough a workout, probably really easy for most of the group, but it's mostly to learn skills from a pro boxer. I usually get to the gym an hour earlier to warmup and shadow box.

Total rounds: 7 rounds + class

1) Jump rope - 1 round
  • The head trainer asked me to spar with a young guy so I didn't have that much time to warm up. I saw a bunch of other guys jumping rope, and the better they are you know they're skill is high. 
  • It's actually kind of intimidating to see a great jump roper at a boxing gym since you know they've been doing it for a while. 
  • I hit 10 multiple times as usual, and am getting the hang of two footed jumping. Now I have to work on my one foot alternating jumps. 
2) Shadow boxing - 2 rounds
  • I tried working on snapping my arms back quickly as the trainer told me yesterday. I realize that I don't keep my hands up enough after I throw my combos. 
  • The left hook is still tough for me to do quickly, I use my body and then find it's hard to go back to my original position. 
3) Light sparring - 2 rounds
  • Today they had a 20 year old boxer my size. He was my size when I was 18, over 20 years ago. We were about the same height, and if I lost 35 pounds I might look like him with less muscle of course. 
  • He was an experienced boxer and so many times let me hit him. I didn't hit very hard, but he let down his guard so I could hit him a bit. 
  • He started hitting back, and got in a number of shots. One shot was fairly hard to the head on a left hook, and the other time he got me with a right uppercut inside. For sure, if we were going 100% I would have been knocked down with the upper cut. I went in for a straight right and he ducked under and just got me under my chin. It hurt. I should have had a mouth guard. 
  • A few times he got me in my stomach area, and though he didn't hit too hard, he did hit hard enough that I wasn't breathing very well afterwards. If this were a real match I'd be in real pain today.
  • This guy already had a full hour+ workout and was pretty tired, yet in the ring he was so calm. I guess having great conditioning makes you calm even when you're tired. 
  • The major takeaways for me were: better conditioning, keep my hands up, and use more the drowning style. In particular, my hands have to be up. I can take a shot to the body, but it's much tougher on the head. This guy was great. 
  • If I sparred him once/week I know I'd get much better since he knows he's better, but he does hit back pretty hard. 
  • He's the biggest guy I've sparred so far, and even his light taps hurt. I wonder if I could have been that good if I started in my teens. 
4) Double end bag - 2 rounds

Class was great. We do some shadow sparring, but during the session one of the guys clocked me in the head. I didn't even see it coming. I was so focused on my own combos that I didn't see his hit. It wasn't too hard, but I wasn't hearing headgear and so it hurt. I have to be quicker on my feet. 

I've decided to only do one workout per day for the short term and stop lifting weights for a while until I get in better cardio shape. I get too tired from lifting to focus on my boxing. I'll focus on this after I have my match. I've found myself too weak physically when I get in a morning lifting session. I should focus on my diet, getting rest, and then giving it my all during the daily gym sessions. I want to go on Tuesdays to Saturdays and the occasional Sunday if I have time. Mondays the gym is closed. It's hard to know when I'll have a tough or easy workout. Generally, if I spar then it's a tough workout. Sparring is the single hardest thing about boxing but it's the most fun. 

Once/week I just want to do pure skills. So 10 rounds shadow boxing, maybe 5 rounds each of double end bag and speed bag,  and then footwork. Doing the mitts also is pretty demanding. I barely do any heavy bag work. I don't think I'm quite ready for it yet, mostly I'm not in shape. I'd like to hit the heavy bag once per week too. Ideally I'll do jump rope and at least one double end bag, one speed bag round, and mitts every time I'm in the gym. My focus will be: 

Tue - Full workout (jump rope, double, speed, shadow, mitts, footwork) 
Wed - Skills Class
Thur - Full workout 
Fri - shadow 3R + mitts 2R + Heavy Bag 3 rounds (add one round per week) 
Sat - 10 rounds shadow, 5 rounds double end bag, 5 rounds speed bag
Sun - some kind of cardio, or Full workout

Today I actually felt like a boxer even though I barely got hit. I should never fight that level a boxer, but if I am getting beat really bad the only thing that will save me is conditioning. I'd have to use my jab and walk away, and just try avoiding contact much even if I lose. Use the drowning style of jab and retreat, jab and retreat, etc. If I'm in really good shape for someone my weight, I feel like I could use 80% jabs, 15% straight rights, and 5% other hits. The quickness and not getting tired would allow me to be in the ring and have him chase me. If he got too close, I'd have to use my jab. 

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