Dog Days

Training
21

donnydarkoirl,

I am sorry to read about the injury, but if you are working with a qualified physio than you are in good hands.

It isn’t exactly hard training, but watching tape of fighters who excell at doing the same things you do can do some good/keep you thinking properly.

Taking this time to fix all the little, neglected things like LondonBoxer mentioned is sage advice. That might mean other nagging injuries, or it might be aspects of your game, or how to deal with different kinds of opponents.

To everyone reading,

[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
Obviously both my coach and myself are gutted, but I actually see this as an opportunity. If anyone has any experience of training one armed, or with any restrictions I’d appreciate your input!

[/quote]

This tells volumes about the attitude successful, high level fighters have. Take note about how his mind goes to getting better instead of fixating on a lost opportunity/cursing fate. I know there are plenty of lurkers on this board, and this log has a very, VERY big lesson.

Thank’s to donnydarkoirl for sharing it.

Regards,

Robert A

22

[quote]LondonBoxer123 wrote:
Sorry to hear about the ligament mate.

I dislocated my shoulder a couple of times (once during a fight). I spent the next two months shadow boxing and keeping up with my road work.

I used the time to focus on my defense and footwork. It was one of the periods in my training where I made the biggest leap forwards. All the pressure of ‘being a fighter’ was off my shoulders, and I could just relax and work on the 50% of boxing that inevitably gets neglected. We obviously place a lot of importance on punching effectively, and always punching better or harder. It’s not so easy in a sport where your pride is so openly on display to ignore throwing punches, and focus on moving nicely, efficiently, and effectively. It’s also not a sport where it is easy to make defense your main focus. Right from the first time sparring, the blokes that stick it out tend to be the ones that get hit and think ‘right motherfucker, I’m gonna get you for that one’. Most don’t get the opportunity to spend weeks or months perfecting their defensive qualities. I would see the injury as potentially a hidden blessing, although it is only what you make of it. [/quote]
Thanks for the good wished pal.
And sorry to hear about the dislocations! THats a painful injury!

I’m trying to take the positives like that. I want to use this block to improve as an athlete and also improve technically. Its going to be an interesting period, but at the moment I have to say, boxing is providing me with an interesting story to tell.

23

How much can you still do? Footwork? Shadowboxing? Study film? It’s a set back for now certainly, but in the long run it could make you an even better fighter. Some of my biggest leaps have come from training around injuries.

I really enjoy the log, I haven’t trained in a dedicated boxing gym in years. It’s interesting to follow your routine.

24

[quote]Robert A wrote:
donnydarkoirl,

I am sorry to read about the injury, but if you are working with a qualified physio than you are in good hands.

It isn’t exactly hard training, but watching tape of fighters who excell at doing the same things you do can do some good/keep you thinking properly.

Taking this time to fix all the little, neglected things like LondonBoxer mentioned is sage advice. That might mean other nagging injuries, or it might be aspects of your game, or how to deal with different kinds of opponents.

This tells volumes about the attitude successful, high level fighters have. Take note about how his mind goes to getting better instead of fixating on a lost opportunity/cursing fate. I know there are plenty of lurkers on this board, and this log has a very, VERY big lesson.

Thank’s to donnydarkoirl for sharing it.

Regards,

Robert A[/quote]
Thanks for the good wishes Robert; I have a really good physio on board and he’s pretty optimistic, that thios wont inhibit me in the long run.

This sport can be wonderful, it can also have some huge challenges. But I think if you really love it, you have to embrace both.

I’ll try fill this log as much as I can and maybe it can help someone else.

Thanks mate.

25

[quote]Melvin Smiley wrote:
How much can you still do? Footwork? Shadowboxing? Study film? It’s a set back for now certainly, but in the long run it could make you an even better fighter. Some of my biggest leaps have come from training around injuries.

I really enjoy the log, I haven’t trained in a dedicated boxing gym in years. It’s interesting to follow your routine.[/quote]
I can do quite a lot really, but anything that requires impact or tension through my wrist/forearm is out.

Thinking of taking in a sports psych too. I’ve never had a period like this before, so be interesting to see what demons I have that need exorcising!

26

23.05.13

AM
Hit the Gym yesterday morning for a test session.
Walked the mile to the gym, so I was warm coming in

Mobility Circuit;
Toe Touch Squat 10, 10
Broomhandle Shoulder Dislocates 10, 10
Scap Pulls 10, 10

Plyometrics;
Broad Jump into Box Jumps 3 x 5’s
Rotational Med Ball Throws 3 x 10’s
(Rugby throws; uncomfortable at a distance, kept close to the wall and it took the shock out of the ball)
Hamstring Throws 3 x 6’s

Strength Phase;
Back Squat: 5 heavy sets of 5.
Obviously restricted with the wrist so used the “safety bar.”
Glute & Ham Curls: 4 x 8s.
Bodyweight Only.

This wasn’t bad. I may perform a bulked up version of this Monday morning.

PM
In the boxing club. Such a weird feeling; sauntered across the gym to the changing rooms and instinctively fired a jab at the nearest bag…
That took the strut out of my step; I assure you :smiley:

I’m damaged goods, so my session was all alone.
Warmup; Joints and muscles. I put all the major joints through their ranges of motion and performed a 3 minute aerobic warm up; almost dynamic stretching I guess.

Agility Ladder; took 3 x 1 min sets.
First set was a two footed movement.
I tried to keep the two footed movement anaerobic and just walked back to the start for a repeat.
Second Set were single footed movements.
The same pattern was the first set. sprint out walk back
Third Set was more complicated; just working on co-ordination.
Tried to keep the pace high, which was more mentally challenging than anything else.

4 x 3s Shadowboxing.
This was just a revision of all the facets I want to introduce to my boxing.
When I’m thinking I tend to slow my movements down, concentrating on form and posture.
i wonder if this makes my efforts more aerobic and extracts some of the explosiveness from my boxing?
I could do far more than 4 x 3s, but I remember Emmanuel Steward chewing Jermaine Taylor out for having sparred 12 rounds.
Steward felt that doing anything for too long a duration meant that you could not be entirely mentally focused, or you would fatigue… either way you would start taking shortcuts and commit bad habits to muscle memory.

4 x 2’s Drilling
These 4 rounds I just used the mirrors

  1. Countering from headmovement
  2. Countering from footwork; Pulls, Drop Shift, Side step, Hopkins/Dempsey Step etc.
  3. Countering from static/guard defense
  4. Unorthodox leads; Hooks, right hands, Uppercuts (my weak area are uppercuts.)

Anything else I did was experimental and ended with me singing to the bad 80’s musci we had in the gym.
We need not go there.

27

Quiet weekend of training…
I returned home Friday and brought my daughter to the park.
As she fell off the slide I grabbed her and secured myself with my damaged arm.
Stopped the little one falling; hurt myself in a serious way.

So it was all running haha.
Going to the boxing gym later and will try get together a focused training plan.

28

Delighted to meet with the physio and get approved for some upper body training.
Got a report and first port of call was my good friend a S&C coach. With a few mods, can get back training hard.
Feeling very elated and looking forward to keeping this log filled with some actual activity!

29

Awesome man, good to hear.

But I was kind of looking forward to the gym karaoke videos

30

[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
Delighted to meet with the physio and get approved for some upper body training.
Got a report and first port of call was my good friend a S&C coach. With a few mods, can get back training hard.
Feeling very elated and looking forward to keeping this log filled with some actual activity![/quote]

Great news mate. Sounds like a quick recovery is on the cards.

31

[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
Delighted to meet with the physio and get approved for some upper body training.
Got a report and first port of call was my good friend a S&C coach. With a few mods, can get back training hard.
Feeling very elated and looking forward to keeping this log filled with some actual activity![/quote]

Fantastic to read.

You have a good physio and a good S&C coach.

DO

WHAT

THEY

SAY

Compliance can be the difference between lingering injuries/incomplete recovery and being better than ever 6 months from now. When you know you are jacked up, following orders is easy. However, following through gets harder when the pain stops and there is less perceived “need”.

Treat the rehab and pre-hab like road work and just let your work ethic carry you through.

Regards,

Robert A

32

04.06.13 - am

You know it’ll be a good day when you blink awake- on autopilot - before the alarm.
Started to sleep with the blinds and a window open.
I didn’t just steal this from Rocky Marciano, its just something that seems to have been aiding my sleep recently.

6.00
Mobility
Toe Touch Squats 10, 10
Broomhandle dislocates and Overhead squats 10, 10
Side Lunge 5s, 5s (These evoked some eh… “unparlimentary language” For shame.)

Plyometrics
Broad Jump into Box Jump (48") 5, 5, 5, 5
Stat. Med Ball Throw 3, 3, 3, 3 (each side)
Squat Jumps 10, 10, 10

Strength
Back Squat
Warmups Sets; 5 reps @ bar, 40k, 50k, 60k
Working Sets; 5 reps @ 70, 75, 80, 80, 80k

NOTE: Pleased with hip Mobility, was squatting nearly to the floor. Forearm/wrist started to burn, will be changing to safety bar next Monday.

Rehab;
Plate Pinch. 5sets
Terra Band Work. 10mins
Flexibility

Terrificly painful session; left the gym like a disciplined child.
I am excited for more regimented, focused training now.
Some nice tempo runs tomorrow will be welcome change from today’s agony :smiley:
(No call nor reason for this grotesque torture at all. Flexibility my ass.)

33

04.06.13 PM
Back in the boxing gym last night. Decided to bring my camera with me for critique.
All 3 Minute rounds and trying to keep movements short fast and explosive

Warmup; Good aerobic warmup with some dynamic stretches. The gym was well over 25 degrees last night, so I was loose coming in!
(Loose and Melting!)

1 Shadowboxing; Have a habit of being overly aggressive, so was certainly concentrating on defense and composure in attack.
2 Agility Ladder; Two feet, Two foot diagonals, Two footed split
3 Shadowboxing; Combinations and headmovement.
4 Agility Ladder; Single feet 1/2, Single feet diagonals 1/2, Split to single foot
5 Shadowboxing;
6 Agility Ladder; Two foot lateral hops L/R, single foot lateral hops (1,2) L/R*, Lateral Shuffle L/R
7 Shadowboxing;
8 Agility Ladder; Miscellaneous coordination
9 Shadowboxing;
10 Agility Ladder; Boxing movements; Fw/Bk (front leg in), Lateral, Fw/Bk (rear leg in)**

1x3 One handed bagwork.
My God, thanks God this was a cool down because
a) It was tough mentally. You never realise how much you rely on the lead hand.
I don’t know that I use a combination with subsequent right hands without starting/finishing with a left.
This made very interesting bagwork, and FORCED me to use feints :smiley:
b) If it had been at the start of my session I certainly would have broken my wrist :smiley:

*I love this one as it translates directly into boxing motion.
**Utilising the ladder I have a physical insurance that my feet will remain in the right place as I drill short movements and try to remain fast and explosive.

SIDE NOTE:
Last year our boxing gym was treated with a new system of thermal insulation. This made training and coaching through the winter pleasant and enjoyable.
Now that summer has arrived it means the gym escalates to in and around 30 degrees Celsius during a session.
For many countries this may be normal, expected or even enjoyable…
But for young men in the West of Ireland, with all the physical attributes of snowmen, this poses difficult.

34

06.06.13 Pm

Arm was bad last night, so set to work on my feet.
6 x 3s Footwork Drills;
These are my own that I ripped off from various coaches I’ve travelled to. I like them and I’m looking forward to drilling them the next few weeks.

4 x 3s Circuit

No.1
Tyre Flips
Barrel Jumps (Jumping up inside the tyre Thai style)
Sandbag step ups onto the tyre.

No.2
Agility Ladder; Split foot Fw
Cone drill; agility skis
Star cone drill

No.3
Skipping (tempo++)
Tricep dips (off ring; nice angle for the wrist.)
Box Jumps (to Ring apron)

No.4
Suicide Sprints (very short 2m, 4m, 6m repeats for 1m)
Heavy Bag Carry (2m, 4m, 6m repeats for 1m)
Med ball throws

3x3s shadowboxing.

too hot to be Ireland… TOO HOT!

35

13.06.13 PM

Gave the site a bit of a reprieve from my rambling, but I wasn’t taking a layoff, I was having the forearm/wrist treated. It seemed to work as I got back training last night. I had shied away from the open boxing sessions and for good reason. When I returned last night one of our old pro’s had come back for a session and one of the top amateurs was looking for some sparring. I couldnt say no. Or more accurately I didn’t want to.

Warmup;
Very basic traditional warm up.
Star jumps, Fw/Bk, Knees up etc.; all the old basics, got a good sweat up.
Drilled some basic combinations, military style and geared up for sparring.

Round Robin Sparring 6 x 3’s
1 x 1.5 with partner a, straight into 1 x 1.5 with partner b. 1.5 mins break then as they spar.
The Irish saying goes “a rest is better than a cure.” I may not be cured, but I felt great last night.
I knew my fitness wasn’t up to scratch so it created a much more cerebral challenge and I feel I rose to the occasion.

My feet were of vital importance, but I didnt want to concede much ground against two bigger stronger guys.
I planted the lead foot and circled using the rear (as discussed previously with London) This created several counter opportunities, so I was quite satisfied and smug.

3x3’s skipping
I never skip because of notoriously tight calves, but I launched into it last night 20 low intensity 10 high intensity. Very tight and sore calves after, But didnt I look cool?
(No, no I didn’t)

3x3’s Bagwork
I proceeded to do 4x3’s bagwork utilising only my back hand. I found myself very inclined to switch southpaw, but I tried to insist upon myself remaining orthodox.
During the earlier sparring, I had landed one very good right hand lead (set up by the feet) and I would be anxious to make this a recurring theme in my sparring!

I was given a pardon from pressups and floorwork after training because of the wrist.
I never threw it hard all night and only felt one twinge when I landed a hook to the body.
Its not better, but its no longer an excuse to slack off.

An rpe last night of 8, because I find it tough getting back into it.

This came on as we finished.

36

keep it up man.

37

hey mate,

great.detailed log.really paints a picture.

any idea what the theory is behind sleeping with the blinds and window open to assist waking up?i’m intrigued to learn Marciano did the same thing.

38

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
keep it up man. [/quote]
Thanks my friend; I’ll try :slight_smile:

[quote]flipya4it wrote:
hey mate,

great.detailed log.really paints a picture.

any idea what the theory is behind sleeping with the blinds and window open to assist waking up?i’m intrigued to learn Marciano did the same thing.[/quote]
Thanks pal; its just a little extra incentive for me to get back on the horse :slight_smile:

I know that Marciano for large portions of his childhood slept beneath an open window, regardless of the weather. Later in life he attributed his strong immune system to this practice.
Now this could be placebo or coincidence, but I can only imagine in his youth this could have led to some cold nights and perhaps the cold/dampness did build up an immunity.

For me, I simply feel the circulation of fresh air is nicer to breath. I never slept with the blinds open previously and have even opted for black out blinds in times of sleep disruption.
However, for a person whose mind wanders (a lot) just enjoying the evening keeps my mind off boxing, work and the day to day events.

39

13.06.13 PM

I was coaching last night and decided to lead by example.

Warmup; Cardiovascular and Dynamic stretches.

3x1 min footwork drills to elevate the heart rate.

Circuit (accompanied by 2 partners.)

Station 1
1 min Agility Ladder (Split)
1 min Lateral footwork cone drill
1 min Star cone drill

Station 2
1 min Tyre Flips
1 min Tyre jumps (Front Middle back)
1 min Barrel Jumps (Up through middle of tyre.)

Station1
1 min Sandbag Squats
1 min Sandbag Lunges
1 min Box Jumps

Station1
1 min Planks alt.
1 min Pressups
1 min Dips

3x3s bagwork (one armed again)

Having a tough time with sleep and energy levels. I think this is being out of the 2 a day routine and nutrition being less than optimum.
we’ll work on it at the weekend.

RPE: 6

40

[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
keep it up man. [/quote]
Thanks my friend; I’ll try :slight_smile:

[quote]flipya4it wrote:
hey mate,

great.detailed log.really paints a picture.

any idea what the theory is behind sleeping with the blinds and window open to assist waking up?i’m intrigued to learn Marciano did the same thing.[/quote]
Thanks pal; its just a little extra incentive for me to get back on the horse :slight_smile:

I know that Marciano for large portions of his childhood slept beneath an open window, regardless of the weather. Later in life he attributed his strong immune system to this practice.
Now this could be placebo or coincidence, but I can only imagine in his youth this could have led to some cold nights and perhaps the cold/dampness did build up an immunity.

For me, I simply feel the circulation of fresh air is nicer to breath. I never slept with the blinds open previously and have even opted for black out blinds in times of sleep disruption.
However, for a person whose mind wanders (a lot) just enjoying the evening keeps my mind off boxing, work and the day to day events.

[/quote]

interesting-thanks for that.