This is awesome to read. Glad you can be an asset to the team, and good to see it’s getting you more opportunities. What you described about your sparring was why I loved boxing so much. On the surface, it appears so simple: there’s “only” punches. But because of that simplicity, there is SO much complexity there. There are levels to the offensive and defensive game, and so much room for creativity and ingenuity. It truly is “the sweet science”.
I brought a taste of it into Tang Soo Do the other day. We were doing partner 1 step defense drills, and the instruction was “throw unconventional punches for your partner to defend against”. I went with a Dempsy roll into a hook and blew my partner’s mind, haha. In a martial art where “everything is allowed”, a “simple” punch can be mindbreaking.
@T3hPwnisher That’s awesome that you utilized the Dempsey roll in Tang Soo Do. Some of my favorite training log posts were your sparring accounts way back in the day. And yes, the seeming simplicity of only having two fists to attack with masks an insane amount of depth. I found that when I was sparring in Muay Thai, I had a stronger jab game than most and would use my basic boxing to my advantage, but here where everyone is boxing, it’s exposing holes in my game and forcing me to improve.
Before leaving for the camping trip on Friday, I knocked out a lower-body workout. 20 squats with 225 super-set with 20 deadlifts with 225. Made a point to squat pretty slow to avoid reinjuring my groin. It held up fine, as did my back. Legs got pretty sore from this despite not being a difficult super-set.
Ate a lot of good food thanks to our gas camping cooker. Didn’t need any of the canned sardine, tuna, or Quest bars I brought when there was grilled salmon and grass-fed hot dogs. On Saturday morning, I had a steak breakfast with green tea and my Kindle open with Iron Samurai by Louie Simmons when it hit me what a kickass camping trip this was.
Ran out of time so I’ll finish the rest of the workout this afternoon. Pleased with what I accomplished here, though. I misread what I was supposed to hit on power cleans and did that extra set of 210 when it should have been 220. 220 wasn’t too hard.
Deadlifts were interesting: I didn’t get psyched up at all like I do when they’re the lift of the workout. I had synthwave playing in my earbuds instead of loud metal and I walked up to the bar each set feeling calm. It was just another exercise.
@simo74 Thanks man. I’ve been paying attention to @T3hPwnisher favoring this stoic approach and how it helps with recovery not to get amped up.
Wide-grip pull-ups: 5 x 10
Super-set with SSB JM press:
170 x 10
180 x 10, 10, 10
180 x 9
SSB good mornings
150 x 3 x 10
Super-set with dumbbell curls: 35s x 3 x 10
5 minute jump-rope round
Back was a little sore from deadlifting, so went light on the good mornings. Biceps have also been perpetually sore from a bevy of activity last week: lifting a 132-lb espresso machine from the ground up to a counter at work to the amazement of my coworkers and all the gear carrying for the camping trip.
Got invited by the coach to spar his fighter again this Thursday. It’ll be an hour and a half after I get out of work so I won’t have to rush out this time.
Also got in another 5-minute jump-rope round before breakfast and work this morning.
2 rounds of jump-rope, 5 minutes each
1 round of shadowboxing, 5 minutes
2 rounds on the heavy bag, 5 minutes each
10 minute jog
Been noticing a little knee pain in my right leg. It’s different from what I’ve felt before: everything will feel 100% until I get a jolt of pain if I put weight on it in the “wrong” way, and then it’s gone for the time being. Will watch out for that and do some of my favorite knee health exercises: tibialis raises and backwards hill jogging.
Sparring yesterday kicked ass. We went the hardest I’ve experienced at this gym. Ate some big right hands that made everything ring for a second, but gave a lot in return. Did an overall better job of actually blocking instead of frantically trying to parry everything as a reaction when under fire. Still need to bob and weave more to make less hits land on me, but consistent blocking is an improvement.
Cornerman said after the first round that I looked “very good” with “nice footwork” and that I’m moving around well. Advised me to throw more rights to the body.
Round 3 is where I really opened up. Lots of right crosses slipped over his left hand and landed, and I dug in some hard body crosses and hooks. Left hook also kept landing. Felt like his cardio started to fade near the end as it became just me throwing and backing him up.
No headgear issues this time. Got it plenty tight and it stayed that way. Made such a big difference not having to constantly adjust it during the action.
Afterwards, I got told by someone watching that I was a one-armed fighter the first round, mostly throwing jabs, but I improved a lot in the second and third. He happens to be the uncle of my former Muay Thai coach, so that’s cool. My sparring partner also came up to me and proudly showed me his bloody gums.
This morning was a 5-minute jump rope round before work.
Holy cow, what a small world, haha. That’s a really cool connection there. Glad to hear it was a good experience there! I absolutely had that “one armed fighter” thing myself. Hard to let that rear hand open up, but definitely worthwhile to do so.
@T3hPwnisher Thanks man, it’s yet another thing that needs to be done away with as a habit with experience. Funny how I never had such a problem in Muay Thai. The lack of boxing training people showed made me more comfortable about opening up with my hands to make up for my poor kicking game.
Friday night:
Log clean and press
217.5 x 0, 0, 0
205 x 0, 2
220 x 1 (PR)
200 lb sandbag carry: 3 rounds, 1 minute each
200 lb sandbag floor to table: 5 reps
200 lb sandbag floor to shoulder: 1 rep
A lot of misses on the log before my form came together. I kept losing balance just before lockout. Suddenly things clicked and the log flew up.
Didn’t max out on the platform loading reps; I was good at 5. Never attempted to shoulder a sandbag before, but that came pretty easy.
I signed-up for sparring on Tuesday before it inevitably got full. It’s been a challenge to sign-up for classes on time sometimes - they fill-up within an hour of the email going out. If coach sends me another invite, that’d be sparring twice next week.
After spending family time on Saturday, I trained three times on Sunday.
Morning:
Axle clean once and press
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 4 + 1
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15
SSB front squats
240 x 5
265 x 5
300 x 5
Super-set with neutral grip pull-ups: 3 x 12
Dumbbell incline press
85s x 8, 8
80s x 9
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 80s x 3 x 10
As soon as I pressed 135, sharp soreness in my triceps and shoulders flared up and stayed present the rest of the day. My traps also started to ache from cleaning the axle. Seems like I wasn’t fully recovered from the grinding log reps I’d done on Friday. I was moving S-L-O-W on the dumbbell pressing, too.
Got that done, and then a few hours later:
2 rounds of 5 minutes jumping rope
1 round of 5 minutes shadowboxing
1 round of 2 minutes weighted shadowboxing, 3 lb hand weights
3 rounds of 5 minutes hitting the heavy bag
After dropping my visiting brother off at the airport, I came back and went on a 2.73 mile jog in 34:23.
In the middle of all that, I got a text from the coach asking me to spar his guy on Thursday. So I’m doing general sparring on Tuesday and then his sparring on Thursday.
I woke-up today feeling like I got hit by a truck, but glad I got a lot of training in before a busy week. Have also lost 5 lbs since last weigh-in and am down to an even 200.
Woo, sparring yesterday was rough. Dealt constantly with equipment malfunction again. I figured out that cutting my hair makes my headgear fit loose and that I need to tighten it each time.
Got paired with a very big 6’3 guy (we compared heights and reach afterwards). I’ve trained with him in class before - we always pick each other for partner drills because we’re the two biggest and most muscled trainees in intermediate. Right away he starts throwing heavy bombs. His jab actually jolted me the first time I felt it. It was then I realized that getting hit was shifting my headgear in front of my eyes again. At one point he cracked me and as I was stupidly adjusting my headpiece right in front of him he smashed me with a clean cross. It was also the first time I’ve ever been staggered in sparring. Didn’t feel things go dark, but I got knocked off balance three times. Each time he’d hold his glove out and ask if I was OK, which pissed me off in the heat of the round more than the hits themselves. I went for a lot of body shots but had a hard time seeing where his strikes were coming from and should practice keeping my eyes up more when level changing to go low. I ate a big uppercut when going for the body at one point.
By the middle of the third round, he slowed down and I was starting to land 1-2s and some hard right hands of my own, backing him up. Despite my earlier beating, I had more success with a looping overhand right in the third round than I’ve ever had before. The final round ended with me teeing off on him as he was against the ropes.
I have to say that I was the least tired I’ve ever been sparring. Part of that is being at the point where I’m not tense under fire. I can take a hard shot and not wilt, which negates tension and anxiety over getting hit in the first place. And my home conditioning with 5-minute rounds has just been plain working. When round 3 was over, I wanted SO BAD to go more rounds and was genuinely shocked that the round was over so soon.
Afterwards, I noticed my Adam’s apple hurt like hell and it was painful to swallow, similar to when you’re sick with a sore throat but worse. Eating a steak dinner was annoying later that evening, but manageable.
As soon as I came home, I grabbed the 50 lb kettlebells and did 21 ABCs in 6:30. Right after that, I did a 5-min shadowboxing round and a 5-min heavy bag round.
Yesterday morning before work: 10 rapid roundhouse kicks for each leg, 20 burpees, and 50 1-arm kettlebell swings with a 25lb bell
Went for the first swim of the year in the evening. Took a cold shower at the pool before entering and really enjoyed the aftermath of the cold shock. Community pool is too small to make counting laps worth it, but I swam at a brisk pace for 8 minutes back and forth.
Looking noticeably leaner. My first 2 meals of the day are just eggs in bone broth, and dinner has just been chuck roast with nothing else. Lunch at work has been ground beef with some cooked veggies mixed in. Carbs in the form of oatmeal with berries are still coming in before and after lifting, and before boxing.
Throat and neck feel better. Ready to spar after work. I’m eager to practice my defense.
Had a totally different experience sparring yesterday than I did Tuesday. Started off with aggression at the forefront of my mind and right away I was tagging my partner with jabs, landing a follow-up right on his chin, and bobbing and weaving more than ever. Landed a lot of body blows and slipped tons of shots. Didn’t take any real damage as a result, which is good because while I’m healing up my throat and neck still feel a little sore from Tuesday.
My corner coach actually had to tell me to hold my hands LOWER! That was fascinating. I also drift to standing more square when bobbing and weaving a lot, so that’s something to watch out for. I also overtightened my headgear so it wouldn’t slip around and it was like a brain parasite clamped onto my skull.
After a really good first round I felt slower in the second. Not gassed, but not going as fast as the first. Gotta be careful I’m not staying tense when I’m the aggressor. I was probably TOO relaxed on Tuesday, which is when I got lit up but felt like I had cardio for days and days. Need to find a balance. I didn’t bob and weave as much in the second, but had a lot of moments of leaning back with a low guard and making his strikes miss Muhammad Ali-style, since he too slowed down and I could see his shots coming.
After only 2 rounds the coach had me switch out so someone else could challenge his fighter, and then I came back in for one more round with a different sparring partner, someone else I’ve trained with a lot before. He hits hard on the pads but goes very light and slow in sparring, so I eased up on power when I realized how much I was landing clean.
After I was done for the day, I worked the heavy bag for an hour rather than stand around and watch like most other people in the sparring class were doing. I did partake in viewing here and there to lend the other boxers the courtesy of an audience, but mostly I wanted to work. Coach Gabriel, who was my sparring partner for awhile before, approached and said I looked a lot better compared to when he sparred me. He said he’s training for a fight and that I should talk to the other coach inviting me to these sessions about getting one going if I’m so inclined (I am).
At night I stepped on the scale and weighed 198. I’m looking forward to a big carb-up Saturday and weightlifting.
