Nerdcore Boxing

I weighed in Saturday at 173 lbs! 1.4 lbs down.

I’m almost to my goal of 170 lbs and I’m starting to wonder if I couldn’t make 165. I’ve never had a six pack before, actually I never thought it was possible with my metabolism. Right now I have a 4 pack, I’m thinking I want to enter the ring for my first fight sporting a six pack.

I credit my weight loss to my new daily cardio regiment, consisting  of 40 intense minutes (30 on the elliptical walker and 10 on the bike. I’ve also added a 20 minute jump rope marathon to my Saturday routine. I figure, why rest on my laurels?

Of course sometimes you have to ask yourself the age old sports question: am I hurt, or am I injured? But barring injury you should really think twice about turning down sparring.

I know, just like most people I’ve refused sparring opportunities for a “good reason.” Maybe you just finished up your 3rd round and you’re too exhausted for another. Maybe you think, “I’m not ready for that guy.” Or you feel inexplicably tired and go home early to rest.

Or you might not even have a good reason. You look at that one fighter in your gym that makes you nervous and you feel the impulse to protect your ego and avoid him. You know, the super mobile guy with the fast heavy hands. Or the pretty boy or nerdy guy that you’ve seen best some traditional “thugs” in the ring. You don’t want people to see you get beaten up by that guy. Maybe you fear getting your face marked up at the hands of a superior boxer who’s a little bit rough. Maybe the resident body puncher scares you.

But think about this for a minute. You’re damn lucky to have those sparring partners. The worst possible scenario would be spending all your training sparring chumps and to step in the ring to compete with a guy far better than what you usually face.

Even with a gym packed full of great boxers, they might not always be available. Tonight I had my second training session in a row where no sparring was available. It made me regret all the times I turned down sparring and it made me appreciate the boxers that have schooled me in the ring, even when they bruised me up a bit.

I only did 30 minutes of cardio instead of my usual 40 and I lifted a little weights tonight.

I have got to find a way to drag my butt out of bed at 7:00 AM to go the gym and get my cardio out of the way early. While I’m engaging in self deprecating complaints, I also need to go to boxing class 3 times/week, not my usual twice weekly. Right now I’m sparring an average of 6 rounds/week and it will take forever to hit the 90 round mark which my boxing club requires before your first fight. I’m definitely a victim of my own laziness.

Last week I gained 4 lbs after skimping on my workouts and a run-in with Cinnabon. But one good thing can be said about sudden weight gain: it can turn into sudden weight loss.

Today I am happy to say I weighed in at 175 lbs, well on my way to the goal of 170.

How did I do it? Well, with Memorial day it’s not as if I had a great week of working out, but I stuck to my diet and the weight came off. As a side note I cut out a high calorie Saturday breakfast ritual: Chiliquilas, which are scrambled eggs, tortilla strips, salsa and ranchero with a side of refried beans, mmmm…