Nerdcore Boxing

I’m still running, training, and my weight is good. But I’m not in camp anymore, I’m at a more normal training pace due to a number of distractions.

Originally I planned to fight by my birthday, then I scheduled minor surgery to remove a cyst, and then my house hunting was expected to pick up. Now after postponing competition I’ve had to deal with switching gyms and the impact of these other activities on my training.

The good news is I just went into escrow on a new house. Getting a good deal in a good neighborhood in super expensive LA always seemed like a far off dream, but it finally became a reality. Now things are settling down and I’m picking up the pace of my training again.

Last night I had a good workout at the new club, this morning I clocked 3 miles.

I haven’t gotten around to calling my old trainer yet. I’ve been busy. It’ll be an uncomfortable conversation, blah, blah, blah. Bottom line is I should have done it already.

If I didn’t already think it was going to be an awkward conversation, it just got even more strange. Even though I haven’t been showing up to the old club, I got a voice mail from my trainer. Apparently he’s lined up a Masters division opponent for me in a show next month.

I’ve already moved on, no way I’m going back with them for a fight. But I guess it’s good news about the availability of Masters division opponents. Tonight I got a thing with the in-laws so I’ll call him tomorrow night.

Despite the minor surgery and upheaval moving to a new gym, my weight is still good. Saturday I weighed in at my goal weight of 175 lbs.

The new flexible gym hours are awesome, I worked out Fri & Sat and went back to running Sunday.

This week my top priority is to pick a trainer at the new club and get back to sparring. I’m really curious how this is going to go with the new trainer. I definitely want to get in lots of sparring and tailor my workout to boost my endurance and maintain my speed after fatigue sets in. But what’s he going to want to change in my game? Will there be major stylistic or stance adjustments?

I haven’t posted as much this week due to some roadblocks in training. I had good workout at the new gym Monday but Tuesday morning I had a rather large cyst removed from my back. Nothing serious, but it kept getting bigger and I wanted to avoid looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame in a few years.

Way back when I scheduled the procedure they made it sound really simple, but now I have a stitched up incision which is 2 inch long and infected. The doctors told me to skip training for a few days, but I’ll be back to my usual routine starting Friday.

The past two days my old trainers have been calling me, I need to call them back to break the bad news about switching gyms.

I had become pessimistic about my search for a new boxing gym after my recent visits to clubs in the area. Friday I visited a new club run by Russians immigrants. It’s in a nearby neighborhood where many East European immigrants settle. Coincidentally I am a 4^th generation Polish immigrant, though all traces of my ancestor’s heritage died before me.

At this gym there are no classes. It’s a traditional boxing gym, which I prefer. This means I can go there 6 days a week and train whenever I need to. In a class setting I need to attract trainer attention by standing out, at this gym I’ll pay a trainer’s (affordable) rates to get attention. This means no more dodging cardio boxers that want to do a shitty job holding mitts for me — bonus!

The gym’s facilities are excellent, far better than my old club. I really like the crowd too. They have a good mix of young and old guys, and some of the old guys are very impressive. The trainer told me that there are a few retired pros that workout there to stay in shape.

After the owner gave me a tour and we had a brief Q&A session, there was an awkward silence. It all looked good, but how am I to make such an important decision on the spot? I broke the silence saying, “I’ve been with my last club for 6 years and built up many personal relationships, this is a hard decision.”

The owner is one of those ice cold brands of Russians that don’t smile. But he almost smiled and said, “Make yourself at home. Hang out as long as you like.”

I hung out for well over an hour. As the time rolled on instead of spotting the club’s flaws, I felt increasingly at ease. Then finally it felt like home.

This gym is too hard. This gym is too soft. This gym is just right… After visiting another club last night I kind of feel like Goldilocks in the story of The Three Bears, trying out the porridge and the beds until one fits.

Last night’s club was way too soft, or at least the evening crowd was. They have two segregated groups, their fighters that work out while I’m at work, and the boxing class crowd. There seems to be a giant chasm between these two groups with not much in between. During my tour I saw the boxing class crowd, which occurred at a convenient time, but was way too soft. It was fitness people who can’t (yet) box and there wasn’t much athleticism going on. Also they straight out told me that zero sparring occurs during those time slots.

I have yet another gym visit lined up next Tuesday. It’s a Russian gym that’s a little out of the way, but it’s near where I’m planning to move later in the year. I doubt they’re going to be too soft, I’m just hoping they’re not too hardcore. We’ll see.

This morning I got up at 6:30 AM and ran thirteen 75 meter hill sprints. Tonight I’m doing a 2 hour workout with the trainers.