Been super busy fixing up the new house, hosting family visits, etc. I haven’t been boxing in 2 weeks but this week I’m getting back into shape so I can start at the MMA gym next week.

Here is the strength and conditioning program I’m going back on:

Running – I ran three 8 min miles yesterday. I mainly use steady distance running to work out the soreness in my legs from squatting and to check my endurance increases from sprinting.

Before I was doing 3 miles in the late 7 mins and occasionally would sprinkle a fast (7 mins flat) mile in the middle of the run. Someday I want to run two 6 minute miles.

Sprint Intervals – Tonight I’m going back to a favorite workout of doing 5-6 intervals of 400m sprints followed by 20 push ups.

Other Intervals – I take various exercises like pushups, squats, lunges, jump rope, shadowboxing, sledge hammering and burpees, and pick 6 of them. I do the 6 for 30 sec each over the duration of one 3 minute round. Then I repeat this for a total of 3 rounds.

Injury prevention – Rehab exercises for rotator cuffs and work on neck flexibility and strength. I have to get my neck strong for grappling.

Maximal Strength Training – I had lifted at the boxing gym where I just let my membership run out, so I have nowhere to lift until I sign up at the new MMA school. I was doing Olympic lifts and sort of following Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength program but doing 2 sessions/week instead of every other day.

Even though I’m not under the stresses of camp, and I’m in great shape, dragging myself to the gym has become a dire chore. With each failed effort to get serious again I continually think back to when boxing was fun. The truth is I can barely remember that far back. But yet I don’t want to quit.

I need a break, but I don’t want to gain weight, lose my skills and be deprived of the rush of combat sports. I’m thinking of switching to a reputable MMA school a few minutes from where I just bought a house. I can keep sharp with some MMA, kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu training, and come back to boxing when I’m mentally reset. This school does have a boxing program too, but I’m undecided on if I’ll go take advantage of it immediately.

I spent some time working out on my own at the new gym and letting the trainers see my skills before they try to sell private lessons to the new yuppie. This plan appears to be working, as two trainers approached me complimenting my skills and offering to train me for cut rates.

I started working with one of these trainers and have corrected issues with not rotating on my feet enough, which has made my right hand crisper and improved how long I maintain my punching power. I think I lost some of the foot twisting when I worked on recruiting more of my thighs and glutes into my punches. It’s kind of hard to describe but delivering the power is more efficient with the foot twist and uses less energy increasing my “power endurance.”

My conditioning is left up to me. If I can solve this mystery everything will come into place. I’m doing lots of intense lower/upper body intervals and for the first time in my boxing training, taking strategic rest days.

I occasionally feel discouraged as if at the age of 35 I’m battling Father Time in a futile attempt to build twenty-something-person stamina, but I’m not willing to give up. The thing is my endurance to do any given difficult activity (run, punch, etc.) for a long time is excellent, I’m just having difficulty maintaining speed, power and explosiveness during these periods.

A week and a half vacation, followed by an illness, then a long-weekend/wedding has mostly derailed my training.

Last night was the first night I’ve been at the gym in a while. I performed ok, but am now up 5-6 lbs weighing in at 181.5.

The next 3 days my goal is to ramp back into my routine. I’ll go to the boxing club tonight, run and lift tomorrow, then a light run Sunday. Monday morning I’m back in my normal routine.

My prior training conditioned me into a groove where I could do all sorts of crazy running distances and paces without severely taxing myself. Yet my new upper/lower body conditioning intervals are kicking my butt and making my shortcomings obvious. Even more evidence that I’ve solved my endurance mystery.

I’m going on vacation for a week and a half. I’m going to be doing lots of these condition intervals, some sprints and shadow boxing. I’ll try and find a computer to keep up with the blog.

My current’ gym’s trainers leave conditioning up to the boxer. They’ll give you a general outline of what they want, but it’s all on you to do it. I’m quite happy with this because I’m a hard worker when it comes to conditioning. My past issues were frustrating since I did everything my trainers asked, but they appeared to be flabbergasted as to my endurance issues. The issue was either not training smart or overtraining. In any case I’m confident I can do a better job of it myself.

My focus is to build strength, maintaining punch power through fatigue and build hand speed. For speed I’m doing plyometrics and lots of double end bag work. In addition to my normal roadwork I’m doing upper body conditioning intervals. My previous trainers heavily focused on lower body and I felt like my upper body didn’t hold up through fatigue as well. Rope climbs, sledgehammer, band training, burpees, and such are all part of my current regiment.

I’m coming off an 8 year layoff from weight lifting. I was a hardcore gym rat for over a decade before getting serious with kickboxing and boxing, then I became disillusioned with the bodybuilding style workouts. I think quitting weight lifting worked for me because I brought in such a good base of strength from my lifting days. I think I’ve lost too much of that strength. So now I’m doing Olympic lifts twice/week, it’s the lowest priority in my training but I do want to build back some strength.

Two and a half years ago my wife was pregnant and I figured that my time intensively training in boxing was going to end. I decided to have my last hurrah and start NerdcoreBoxing. Fast forward 8+ months and I’m signing on for a unsanctioned smoker just before my wife’s due date.

My trainers at that time were into the school of hard knocks, hard sparring, wearing guys out with long intensive training and no belief in the concept of overtraining. They also like taking you to other gyms to spar experienced guys you will never see again who will beat you up a bit to gauge what you’re made of. Unfortunately they like to do this right before your scheduled fight.

About a week before the scheduled fight they took me out to a gym to spar some guy. This gym liked to bring in a few other clubs to form a crowd, match guys from opposing gyms and put on a big show announcing the fighters like it’s a real fight. I’ve even heard a couple people refer to this venue as a smoker, but there are no judges or refs so I’d hardly call it that.

That night I end up with this short stocky old guy who I was 100% sure I’d outbox easily. Round 1 opens and I’m coming forward, head moving, throwing jabs. Even though this guy is short, somehow I can’t land my jab and he’s catching me with counter jabs. I’m trying to come in at all different angles throwing off different head movement, nothing. Every time he catches me, changes levels and works my body.

I’m running out of tricks, and I come in and whip my head to the inside (my left). Apparently I’ve done this before because onlookers say he times me with a right hook which I whip right into. All I know is that I stepped forward and felt a jarring impact, but that impact was me hitting the floor which woke me up from unconsciousness.

To this day I have no recollection of the offending punch. As I climb off the ground two thoughts race through my head, 1) I’m not a real boxer, and 2) I should quit. Nevertheless pride kicks in and I beat the standing 8 count.

The rest of round 1 my legs are too wobbly to move around much. Round 2 is more of the same, me being a punching bag, him filming a personal highlight reel. At the end of round 2 I’m completely spent and alternating shelling and throwing girly noodle armed punches. I tell my trainers and they pull me out. The rest of the night was a fuzzy blur like I drank too much. Next day I have a headache and some dizziness.

Two days later I call my trainer and tell him I’m putting off my fight. A week later my wife gives birth and there begins the two years I took off. A number of people told me postponing was the right thing, but I spent 2 years regretting that call. This incident is intricately tied with my current boxing obsession.

With my gym switch I’ve changed from the class format to the more traditional but unstructured boxing gym format. I like traditional gyms, their hours are more flexible and they attract more experience boxers that don’t fit into classes. You also have more control over how much trainer time you get, if you have money that is.

Maybe because I am a white collar guy who can actually box, I am sensitive about getting “taken” by trainers. They charge high hourly rates to newbies who are perceived to have money, then train real boxing prospects for close to nothing. I also dislike the drama of switching trainers whom I’ve established a financial obligation with. For all these reasons I’ve been training myself for the past few weeks while scoping out the available trainers.

I have two trainers I can go with. The one I think I might like the most isn’t around very much at the days/times I train, so I may have narrowed down my guy. This more convenient trainer picked me up the other day and gave me a free workout. He seemed to like me and negotiated way down on his prices. I’m just feeling uncertain if I should commit to him or not. I might cruise solo for one more week to watch another trainer and verify their hours.

In any case I need to get moving. I’m still in shape and my weight is good. I’ve been doing all my runs and getting to the gym for work 3+ times/week. Plus I’m doing new conditioning intervals that are combinations of upper & lower body work.

Once I get a trainer I’ll get back to sparring and we’ll work on getting a fight in the masters division.

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.