All Aboard the Pork Chop X-press!!

[Pork Chop]

Intro
Alright,
I'm taking another stab at this here blog thing.
My last one went okay; but I didn't like the fact that I had like 3 separate blogs between the beginning of '06 and the end of '07.
2006 was a tough year for me in my personal life.
2007 was a rebuilding phase, but some things had to be torn down before new things could be built - lost my job, but moved to a new city and found a new one; also got a great girl.
Now, in 2008 I'm hoping I can finally get it right.

In December I joined Gold's Gym here in San Antonio.
I got a personal trainer, but it wasn't working great and it was just too expensive.
Started to do my own thing, but it felt a bit too unfocused and repetitive.
In February I picked up a weight lifting book written by a contributor to Men's Health and t-mag.
It's aimed at shlubs like me, who run back to the gym too quick, get injured, and get caught in a nasty cycle of starting over.
I've been working through the book since February, but wanted to make sure I was sticking to it before I started blogging on it.
FYI, the book is "Better Body Blueprint: The Start-Right, Stick-to-It Strength Training Plan" by Michael Mejia, CSCS.

In addition to Gold's Gym about a month ago I started visiting the local Muay Thai gym. There are 2 coaches there from Thailand and it's definitely a good fit for me - especially the schedule, which was always a problem in Fort Worth. After a couple trial classes I decided to join, eventhough it'll make my budget a little tight.

Methodology
My goals are:
1. Lose bodyfat
2. Gain strength
3. Recover endurance
4. Get in Fighting Shape
5. Fight again (if the circumstances allow me to)
6. Stick to the plan
7. Make sure I don't overdo it (doing too much too soon)
8. Make sure I don't go back to being the guy who does nothing but train (letting other stuff fall to the wayside)

My plan:
1. Set a baseline in Muay Thai of 2 or 3 times a week that I do consistently, week in and week out, without losing too much energy for normal activities (like cleaning my house, professional development for work, and maintaining my relationship with my gf).
2. Set a baseline for fitness workouts at Gold's gym of 1 to 2 times a week, under the same guidelines.
3. Use the above mentioned book for my fitness workouts, adding additional Combat Conditioning type training if necessary.
4. Clean up the diet via the Zone (once I'm done reading the book). Diets and me don't get along, I hate obsessing over what I'm going to eat, so my goal is more "sensible" than anything else.
5. Leave the option open in the case of a possible competition- whereby I step up my training & clean up my diet for a minimum of 6 weeks, with the intention of returning back to the baseline once the competition is over.

The Workouts
My Thai class is pretty much in the hands of my coach; however I will be adding extra heavybag work and Combat Conditioning drills (calisthenics, plyometrics, and interval work). I've been consistent about 2 muay thai classes a week; but I think in the next week or 2 I will move to 3 times.

I've completed the first phase of my workout book, which is aimed at correcting structural imbalances and improving posture. Up till now I've only been consistent with 1 fitness workout a week - I'll need to increase this frequency. I'll detail each phase as I go through it and make extra notes as the book calls for them.

In addition to my scheduled workouts, my girlfriend loves the outdoors. We do a lot of hiking, fishing, rock-wall climbing, and other outdoor activities. These activities have already cut into scheduled workouts somewhat, they can be very tiring, I'll blog about them here as well.

Last, but not least, I've still got a couple of sessions left over with my personal trainer and when they happen I'll blog about them here too.

Thoughts
I just want to be a lot more patient this time around. I don't want to set unreasonably high expectations and feel like a failure when I can't meet them. Some of my workouts may appear to be too easy, infrequent, or conservative; my diet way too unstructured, but I'm reserving the right to play within the bounds of what I can handle, regardless of how it looks on paper. It's been a long road to where I am right now and I don't want to get obsessed to the point that I don't appreciate and enjoy the great things that have come my way.

Starting the next phase of my workout and will blog again later tonight.

[Pork Chop]

In phase 1 of my program I had to set some goals, take some measurements, and find my weak spots.

Overall Goals
Be under 200lbs
Bodyfat %age between 10 and 15%
Bench 220+lbs
Squat 365+lbs
Deadlift 405+lbs
Be able to perform 10 chin ups or pull ups
Fit into size 34 pants

2-week Goals
Lock in a good routine according to the book
Finish the Zone book
Establish a baseline workout frequency, preferably 2 times a week

1-Month Goals
Be under 240lbs
Increase Bench to 155, Squat to 225, DL to 225, perform 3 chin ups
Implement the Zone diet

3-Month Goals
Be under 230lbs
Increase Bench to 185, Squat 275, DL to 315, perform 5 chin ups
Increase training frequency to 3 times a week

6-Month Goals
Be under 220lbs
Bench 205, Squat 315, DL 365, 8 Chin ups

1-Year Goals
Be under 200lbs
Bench 220, Squat 365, DL 405, 10 Chin ups

Starting Stats
Starting Weight - 245
Starting Bodyfat %age - 31.3%
BMR = 2273.5
Recommended calories for medium workout intensity & frequency: 3500

Self Assessment
Standing Profile:
1. Lordosis: Moderate
2. Kyphosis: Moderate
3. Forward

Standing Face Forward:
1. Foot Overpronation - both severe
2. Knee pinching - both severe

Standing Face Backward:
1. Shoulder Blade Winging - both moderate

Overhead Squat - Slight over arching

Lower Body Rotational Test - Superior

Modified Sit & Reach - 11 inches - fair/good

Chin Ups - 2

One-Leg Squat:
1. R Leg - knee out
2. L Leg - pass

Neutral Spine Pushup - 11

Leg Lowering - between 45 degrees and the floor - Excellent

Slow Situp - Torso up, slight heel lift

Cardiovascular - 52.53 mL/kg/minVO2max - Excellent

[Pork Chop]

One Month Synopsis:
Still haven't finished reading the Zone so those related goals haven't been met.
I'll keep reading the book though and hopefully be able to implement it shortly.

Also, hadn't planned on extra assessment workouts to see if I'm meeting my bench, squat, deadlift, and chin up goals. As a result, I am tempted to just evaluate them at the end of one year - once I've had a phase that covers those exercises. I will say that by the end of one month i was able to do 3, 20-second, neutral-grip, negative chin ups with ease.

My frequency needs to come up. Due to some external factors I wasn't able to make it to Gold's more than once a week for the last 2 or 3 weeks. So I really need to step that up.

I did, however, basically complete my 1 month goal for weight.

Current Stats
240lbs
27% Body fat

Phase 2
The last phase focused on a lot of dynamic stretching, a tiny bit of medium intensity cardio, and just a few weightlifting exercises meant to correct imbalances. This phase is more about laying a foundation to build off of, strength wise. The reps are relatively high rep to build up tendons & ligaments a little before starting to lift heavy. Somewhat of a preparation phase but at the same time demanding of my endurance.

The workouts are broken up into the following categories, in the following order:
Flexibility
Strength
Cardio
Endurance (aka Using Weights to Burn Fat)
Core

[Pork Chop]

Warm up
5 minutes on the elliptical at an easy pace

Flexibility
These are done as super sets, with a minute rest between rotations
8 to 10 reps per exercise (4 to 5 reps per side in the case of unilaterals)
Went through 2 rotations using 2 10lb dumbbells

Rotational Squat
Reaching Lunge
Side Lunge & Touch
Spiderman
T-pushup


Strength
This section consists of Alternating Lunges bookended by supersets.
Set, Rep Scheme is 10 reps by 3 sets; doing a full 10 reps for each side on unilaterals.
Rest between sets/supersets is 1 minute or less

Superset 1:

Dumbell Squat, Hammer Curl, Press w/20lb dumbbells
Lat Pulldown w/ 110lbs


Alternating lunge w/20lb dumbbells

Superset 2:

Dumbbell Bench Press with 40, 45, and 50lb dumbbells
One-Arm Row, w/ elbow out, w/40, 45, 50lb dumbbell


Cardio
HIIT on the Elliptical Cross trainer
3 minute warmup
15 sets of 15 seconds sprint, 45 seconds rest
(Total time 18 min)

Endurance
This part is a simple superset
done 1 to 2 times (today I only managed once)
for 15 reps per exercise
30 to 50 seconds rest between supersets (should I have done more than one)

Barbell Squat (just the barbell)
Prone Row (T-bar w/1 45-lb plate)
Incline Reverse Crunch
Incline Press (did a machine with 95lbs loaded)
Side Lunge (w/15lb dumbells)


Core
Did 2 rotations of these exercises in superset fashion with about a minute between supersets

Unanchored Sit Up (10 reps)
Russian Twist (10 reps each side)
Lateral Crunch (10 reps each side)
Swissball back extension (10 nut-crushing reps)


Thoughts
This workout takes about an hour and 20 minutes.
It feels like you're there for 2 or 3 hours.
The Endurance superset is almost impossible to do as a superset; as it had me running all over the gym in between exercises.
For each section there are 2 separate workouts to choose from, I chose workout A. I may choose workout B next time.
Takes a bit out of you by the end of the workout, but afterwards I feel pretty energized.

[Oso]

http://www.amazon.com/Optimizing-Strength-Training-Designing-Periodization/dp/0736060685/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1207694269&sr=11-1

it talks of macro-, meso- and micro- cycles with a macro(edit: oops) cycle being a 'season' as the book was written mostly with the seasonally competitive athelete in mind. However, I think the macro- can be whatever large time frame you decide but the emphasis being that over each mesocycle there be a specific goal (strength, power, endurance) and that as you create the microcycles to reach that goal you can then interchange the workouts to suit what you can do on any given day and as long as you complete all workouts in the mesocycle within the timeframe then you are fine.

I think it's going to help two of my biggest problems:
1 - boredom
2 - feeling done in from a days work and trying to get the workout in between work and teaching classes for two hours.

I feel your last goal and thus I'm only going to hit the gym between work and classes on monday/wednesday and saturday mornings and do what I can do there plus the occasional ride on the bike.

[SevenStar]

Are you still doing the drumming?

[Pork Chop]

Are you still doing the drumming?

Not really.
The group was in Fort Worth, the only close group here is Austin and I don't really have time to be driving an hour and a half up there every weekend.


Went to muay thai last night.
Came home and had some nikujaga (ground beef n potatoes) and some miso soup.
Went to bed late, woke up ridiculously late.
Probably should've had another protein shake yesterday.

[Suntzu]

i have some stuff for u re: the zone diet... i'll dig it up when i get from work... must be nice to have a\coach :o..... i JUST missed your call the other day.... i like the goal setting set up....

[BoulderDawg]

1-Month Goals
Be under 240lbs
Increase Bench to 155, Squat to 225, DL to 225, perform 3 chin ups
Implement the Zone diet

You weight that much and you can't bench press 155? I don't even weight train and I can bench 185.:D

[Pork Chop]

You weight that much and you can't bench press 155? I don't even weight train and I can bench 185.:D

I can bench 90lb dumbells for reps and crank out 50 pushups whenever I need to. I just get performance anxiety when I'm under the bar without a spot.

[Pork Chop]

i have some stuff for u re: the zone diet... i'll dig it up when i get from work... must be nice to have a\coach :o..... i JUST missed your call the other day.... i like the goal setting set up....

Appreciate that man. I'll call you asap and we can catch up. When I come up there next month we gotta hang out in the gym a lot- picked up a lot of stuff over the past couple years (albeit some of it contradictory). If I can make copies, got a lot of stuff I wanna give yah.



Sore as heck today.
Just found out my new dog has distemper and may die- even if he doesn't, the chance for neurological damage is high.
Kind of bummed today; lots of stuff piling up.
Have to work real late but if I can, I'm going to hit up Gold's afterwards.

[Suntzu]

crossfit is BIG on zone eating..... check there nutrition forum http://www.board.crossfit.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8
i haven't gone that deep into it.... but my eating is getting better.... well except for the cookies.... reeses pie and beer :p:D

[Pork Chop]

crossfit is BIG on zone eating..... check there nutrition forum http://www.board.crossfit.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8
i haven't gone that deep into it.... but my eating is getting better.... well except for the cookies.... reeses pie and beer :p:D

Thanks for the hookup.

Overdid it a little on tuesday.
My legs are still hurting.
Last night with everything going on, I got out of work at 8, picked up some beer & sushi at the grocery store, went home and just chilled with my girl n my dog.
This morning the legs are still hurting but I'm going to try to make it to muay thai anyway.
My vacation to houston this weekend might be out the window because of the dog.
so i may be able to throw in an additional workout or two then.

[Pork Chop]

Dog's in the hospital again, this time getting IVs.
Have to go pick him up after work, so it remains to be seen if I'll be able to get back into the gym.
My weekend trip to Houston's definitely a no-go, so at least I'll be able to sneak in a couple workouts.

[Suntzu]

more Zone reading.....
http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/cfjissue21_May04.pdf

[Pork Chop]

Thanks for the additional read.
Finally got back in the gym saturday.
Toned down the weight workout a bit to make sure I didn't overdo it again.

5 minute elliptical crosstrainer warmup

Flexibility
2 supersets, 10 reps per exercise (5 per side), 12lb dumbells
rotational squat
reaching lunge
side lunge & touch
spiderman
T pushup

Strength
3 sets per set/superset, 10 reps per exercise (5 per side on lunges)
Superset 1:
Dumbbell Squat, Hammer Curl, Press w/25lb dumbbells
Lat Pulldown w/130lbs
Alternating Lunges w/25lb dumbbells
Superset 2:
dumbbell flat bench: 50, 55, 60lb dumbbells
1-arm elbow-out row: 50, 55, 60lb dumbbells

Cardio
HIIT on elliptical cross trainer
3 min warm up
15 sets of 15seconds on, 45 seconds active rest, level 17

Endurance
Ended up cutting out this section because it was taking me a minute between exercises and I think just pushing me past the point of overdoing it.

Core
unanchored situps - 3 sets of 10 reps
russian twist - 3 sets of 5 each side
lateral crunch - 3 sets of 5 each side
hyperextension - 3 sets - 6, 10, 12 reps

Chilled out for almost an hour, waiting on my gf to come up.
She said she wanted to learn some boxing.

We did:

3 rounds of jump rope
3 rounds of shadow
3 rounds of heavybag - alternating between just legs and just hands (one bag hung too low for hands, one bag hung high for kicks)

Didn't quite make up for missing one of my 2 muay thai workouts, but it was something.
Ate like cr@p this past week and put on a few pounds.
Got a lot to work on.

[Pork Chop]

So I went back to muay thai again last night.
Workout itself was pretty easy.
Partner wanted to shin bang instead of shinguard up so my shins are a bit tender today but not bad.
Thoroughly convinced that shin banging is not the way to make your shins tough.
I'll keep doing whatever the person I'm teamed with prefers, but if it's up to me, I'm gonna put on the shin guards - so we can speed up the drill a lil.
Going again tonight and (most likely) tomorrow as well.
Not sure when I'll fit in Gold's gym this week - probably friday and saturday.

Diet hasn't been too bad lately, but I don't think I've been eating enough.

[Pork Chop]

Went to muay thai again
pretty good workout
coulda done a lil bit more pad and bag work
sparred my coworker (it was either that or wait on the round robin to get 1 round with the more advanced guys).
had a lot of height and weight on the guy but he did a lot better than I thought he'd do.
likes to pull of taekwondo kicks, so occasionally he'd throw the really quick, kinda uncontrolled stuff; but all in all it was good.
worked on my defense and trying to stand in close range without going immediately to the clinch.
wasn't trying to win but still wasn't 100% thrilled with my performance.
gotta give the guy credit tho; he's fast, he moves a lot better than a lot of the beginners & caught me quite a bit.
guess i forgot to cut my pinky toenails coz he was cut up pretty good at the end - felt bad about that.
stayed after to do some heavybag but a bunch of noobs took all the banana bags so i was stuck with the punching ball - worked a lot of punches, elbows, and knees. finished up with 30 rear leg kicks on the one banana bag i was able to snag just before they locked up. next time i'm pushin the noobs out the way.

[Pork Chop]

Muay Thai again tonight.
Almost wasn't gonna go.
Was feeling sore and sleepy.
Glad I went.
Found my new workout partner.
He's a lil taller- maybe 6 or 6'1.
He's about the same size - 240, but he looks a lot more muscular, less bodyfat.
His technique's pretty solid too.
We sparred at the end of class; couldn't tell you how long.
We were pretty evenly matched.
Me maybe a lil quicker with a lil more experience.
Him more powerful and slightly cleaner technique from that confidence.
I'm really splitting hairs though, coz it was pretty dang even.
It was awesome, we could throw a bit and not worry about injuries.
We were going at an even pace so we didn't have to worry about a spazz injuring us.
Coach had me stand in front of him.
This is something that I've been nervous about for years, solely due to the lack of consistent big guy training partners.
I think maybe I picked up some more power since moving to Texas coz I can remember pulling strafing runs on larger guys in the past, but standing pretty much toe-to-toe wasn't bad.
For once I could put together hand and foot combos without some little guy doing a flying sidekick into my ribs......
Just a lot of fun.
I could see myself becoming a legitimate heavyweight sparring this guy and some others around the gym.

[Vankuen]

Eric....what's the guy's name you're working with?

I'm only able to make it to Phets during the days....

[Pork Chop]

his name's Brad
he goes in during the afternoons as well.
don't know how long he's trained, but his technique was pretty clean so I'd be surprised if he hadn't been doing it a while.
One of these days I'll have to go on an afternoon as well - maybe veteran's day or something.
craving thai curry today.
gonna hit gold's tonight- 3 straight days of contact training a week is about my limit right now with these old bones.
Shame too coz boxing night fridays is a lot of fun with guys like marcell and the others.

[Vankuen]

Man...you keep talking like you're actually old. Aren't you like 30 or 31? Same age as me pretty much.

I do notice a bit of difference on how things wear on my body as opposed to ten years ago, but at the same time, a lot of good fighters are in their 30's and you can develop more muscle mass (more easily) in your 30's as opposed to your 20's.

I don't think I know Brad. Marcell is a tall skinny black dude with glasses right? He just sat on the couch all day when I was there!

I met a guy named Ray, been going for about 6 mts--good though. Black guy--stocky--probably a heavyweight. There's a white dude that drives a hummer as well, a little more muscular than Ray. I haven't sparred anyone there yet recently.

[Pork Chop]

The marcel I'm talking about is the diesel looking fillipino dude.

I've really felt a huge slowdown over the last 3 or 4 years.
A lot of it is old injuries that never healed 100%.
I'm still working on it tho.
As long as I take my time, I can increase my training volume - just gotta make sure I don't let my ego get the best of me and rush it.

Friday night I fell asleep after work- I was zonked.
Today (Saturday) I had too much stuff to do and didn't make it into the gym either.
Planning on going tomorrow (Sunday) to at least get one weight workout in.

Next week I'm tagging along with my coworker to his mma gym.
We're gonna do his weight routine.
Plus, thursday I have a pt appointment.

[Pork Chop]

This weekend was bad.
Had a radiating pain coming out my right side and around my back - kinda where a "liver" or "kidney" shot would land.
Didn't get hit there in sparring.
had no energy this weekend.
Slept till 3 in the afternoon on Saturday- which is why I was so busy trying to play catch up with the rest of the day.
Sunday - didn't leave my apartment; stayed on the couch or in bed all day.
What can I say? it didn't happen.

Monday I wasn't feeling great either but I wanted to go work out with my coworker at his gym.
Pretty nice place.

Our workout looked like:

Superset 1 (done 3 times)
-lat pulldown - 8 plates 30 reps
-calf raise - almost the whole stack 30+ reps
-arm curls - 10lb dbells 30 reps ***EDIT: These were standing dumbell flies for the shoulders not arm curls ***

Deadlifts - lots of knee bend
135lbs x 10 reps
205lbs x 10
255lbs x 8
275lbs x 6
275lbs x 5

Little bit of jump rope until the jostling made my side hurt too much.
Switched to shadow for 3 rounds.

heavybag
2 rounds normal
1 round with sporadic sets of 20 knees mixed in (we'd alternate between knees on the teardrop bag & normal bag work on "our" individual bag; switching off)
1 round with sets of 40 punch outs mixed in (punch outs on the teardrop)
1 round with intermittent "sprawls" called out
1 round with sets of 10 fast roundkicks each leg mixed in (on a specific banana bag)

cool down
walking with ab work: 70 crunches, 70 bicycles, 70 frog kicks, 70 leg lifts
stretching
light takedown sparring (he would go for the fit and I would try to defend)

pretty fun workout, probly go back today for more ground type work.

Doctor's appointment wednesday to maybe get some blood work done.

[Pork Chop]

Man, I've been bad about keeping this thing up...

Tuesday
Started out teaming up with my coworker again.

strength circuit, 3 rotations, 30 reps per exercise:
bench pushups (alternating circuits between wide stance & diamond)
preacher bench curl on ez curl bar w/ 10lbs each side

grappling:
ran through some submissions - triangle from guard, armbar from guard, some kind of rolling head & arm choke that you initiate while the guy's in a 4 point stance

standup:
30 minutes on the heavybag working on teaching my coworker the stance transition and weight transfer involved in throwing hooks. Started out on thai pads & ended up on the bag.
threw a good round or two of pure kicking in there as well.

muay thai:
went home after the mma gym, walked my dog, and then caught the last hour of the muay thai class. Lots of heavybag work- kicked the bags approx 200+ times each leg, worked techniques with this girl who can really fight (but was playing gentle with me), and no-contact sparred one of the youngins in boxing (he's a good 170~180, but could probably be 150~160 easy). Good workout eventhough somewhat short, i'd lost all my steam by the end.

I've been having problems with liver or kidney on my right side - i think it's linked to my fatigue lately & it's prevented me from contact sparring and jump rope.
so Wednesday I tried to get it checked out at the doctor.
First appointment got canceled coz i was running late.
Stopped into a clinic and waited for 3 hours until the doc saw me - only to tell me he really couldn't test it.
He thought it was a muscle problem, eventhough I demonstrated no pain in performing any of the exercises that utilize the muscles around the area involved.
He still gave me a couple sheets of exercises anyway.
He said if it wasn't muscular, then there's a chance it's shingles.
Wasted my entire day at that doctor and it was really a waste of time.
Need to find a regular doctor (PCP) so I can actually get a blood test & figure out what's going wrong. Think it may be kidney stones- coz i notice it gets worse when I eat really sugary foods or drink dark-colored drinks (black coffee, iced tea, diet cola).

As a result wednesday was a bust - took a cheat day coz it was the only opportunity to spend any time with my gf until sunday.

tonight I have a personal training appointment.
if i can i'll swing by the muay thai gym afterward.

[WinterPalm]

Good work man!
I've seen your blogs over the years...your ups and downs...seems like you're in a good place right now! Keep training hard!

[Pork Chop]

Thanks WP :)
And you keep those san shou vids coming.
Can't wait to see what you picked up from lkfmdc's seminar.

Hit up my personal trainer tonight; apparently i've still even got 1 more session after today.
I take back anything bad I ever said about the guy.
He put me on a workout of a few supersets that were mostly bodyweight & mostly complex exercises.
Kicked my azz....I was sweating like crazy
had me doing stuff like:
front shoulder raised combined with a side lunge; supersetted with lunges combined with arm curls; and finally pushups into a plank.
The first two exercises were just with 10lb dbells; but that superset was ROUGH - bad enough that i can't remember if i did it two or three times.
The other supersets were no cake walk either.
Very consistent with the supersets from my training book, so pretty stoked.

Afterwards; he used the foam rollers on my shins.
Felt like my calves were giving birth.
Hurt like he||, but wow, what a difference!
I normally have a lot of swelling in my lower legs - so bad that usually when i take off my socks it looks like i've been wearing rubber bands.... poof 15 min of heck and it was gone
not only that, but i've had this lump on the inside of my shin that i got about a month ago when my lead leg was "d@mn near broken" and afterwards my shin felt smooth again.
Marked reduction in the stiffness & pain in my ankles.
Me likee :D
Gonna see if i can get a foam roll once a while to keep my legs functional.

Didn't make it to muay thai afterwards coz i was staying late with the foam roller treatment.
Don't mind too much though coz i think it's really beneficial in the long run.
Boxing night's tomorrow and i haven't decided if i'll go ahead and spar.
Probably try it out for a lil while, keep it light and controlled, and stop if i have to.
We'll see what happens.

[Suntzu]

foam rollers are great...... tennis ball work real good on legs and upper back.... tennis ball + foam roller = all most heaven......

[Pork Chop]

wednesday when i went to the clinic i ran into my gf's friend.
she was there with a sore throat.
i guess i picked it up.
today i'm sick
i woke up with a sore throat
i was trying to see if it would get better and then just go train without sparring or something.
it got worse as the day's gone on.
live to fight another day i guess.
my gf's working all weekend, so i'll have a lot of free time for working out.
my gf's friend was fine after a steroid shot; hoping a good night's sleep will be good enough for me.

[Pork Chop]

So I've been sick since the 25th.
Forum user vankuen called me last night (the 29th) to see if i'd meet up with him for muay thai class.
I was still real congested and couldn't make it.
Sorry dude.

Having to cancel really bothered me; especially after canceling my personal training appointment on Monday.

I think the frustration over getting sick might've had something to do with it; but I woke up early this morning, feeling good for once.
I had great sleep last night.

Technically my cold's in my chest right now, but I took some mucacin and i was good to go.
so tonight i went back to muay thai.

got to practice early so the fact that practice didn't go til 9 didn't affect my workout.
gym looks a lot different now that the mma guys are gone.
did a lot of mitt work and technique work.
my nose started bleeding a bit in the middle of the workout, but i didn't really feel like i was overdoing it.

he said saturday is the day to go to get full on fighter training.
Since the mma guys are no longer there, we can show up as early as 11am.
probably gonna do that on saturdays from now on.

[Pork Chop]

went back to muay thai again today.
solid workout for sure
20 minutes of heavybag
about 10 or 15 minutes on focus mitts
15 minutes of technique work between 2 sessions of 10 or 15 minutes on thai pads
one of the best workouts i've gotten down there.
kinda wussed out on sparring but i don't feel like i'm in the stage yet where i really need it.
at the moment i'm trying to drop weight and get my endurance & technique back, while getting as few injuries as possible.
sparring's integral for timing and hopefully i can get that from some of the back and forth technique work; otherwise my power, form, and speed i can get from the thai pads, and a lot of the strategy is coming from that technique work - which is kinda like one step sparring with a specific attack/counter.

[Pork Chop]

Friday night i hit the gym late.
Cut out a bit of the workout, but it was still a good volume...

Flexibility
3 sets of the following superset, 10 reps (5 each side), 10lb dumbells:
rotating squat
reaching lunge
lateral lunge
spiderman
T-pushups

Strength
3 sets of each superset, 10 reps
compound 1 (squat + bicep curl + vertical press) w/ 30lb dbells -> lat pulldowns with 140lbs
alternating lunge (right foot step forward, right foot step back) x 5 reps x each leg w/30lb dbells
bench press -> 1 armed row x 10 reps each side with: 60, 65, and 70lb dbells

I was pretty dead after that workout.

Saturday was a nightmare.
Got to the gym later than i wanted.
Did a good slam ball workout (medball on a rope)
came back in and loosened up with some shadow

moved on to technique drills with young kid david.
david's 120lbs and about 5'3
The kid has no control, or doesn't feel he needs to because he's small.
kicked me in the funny bone so hard i can't straighten my arm today
"but i'm going light" -him
I take a break to walk it off
next drill he lays a full out round kick on the front of my thigh that wasn't really part of the drill
"it's a great technique, see?" -him
"umm, i'm breaking my back pulling every technique so i barely tap him and he's laying into me"
-me to assistant coach that's "supervising" us
"aww, he's just a tough little kid; he's going to be a champion at 115 soon" -assistant
"whatever" -me

i ask to work on clinch work/neck wrestling to keep it friendly
guess he gets tired of getting embarrassed in the clinch, so he throws 3 knees to my junk
(mind you, we're not wearing cups or mouthguards)
i decide leave my knee up for a while occupying space between us (no contact); eventhough it's hanging there a few seconds he decides to go for a 4th knee to the nuts & jacks up his own thigh on my knee - which was doing little more than protecting my groin
around this time he decides to stop "letting me" get to the clinch (revenge for jacking up his own leg?)
so as i close distance to re-engage the clinch wrestling, he starts throwing kicks and punches.
i catch one of his kicks and literally toss him - he had a good second of hang time.
we take a little break
then he starts up with the same cr@p again - punching & kicking with no shin guards, no cup, no mouthpiece (alternating his targets between my nutz and my head)

i get him in the clinch again, making the mistake of trusting him.
i wrestle him to a position, where i could totally knee him in the head, put my knee in front of him- no contact, i let him back up and he does a quick, full force skip knee to my thigh before he's even upright, followed by a huge punching flurry to my face (see comment about mouthguard), finishing up with a big uppercut to my throat.
i just turn around and walk off, trying to shake off a couple of cheap ones...
"not trying to be a wuss; but you caught me in the throat" -me
"no, it's ok, if you get hit in the throat you get hit in the throat" -him
"yah, i took a break to keep it friendly" -me
"i was going light" -him
"you're concept of light and my concept of light are completely different" -me
end of session.

think i'm gonna call the coach today.
i've been stewing on this cr@p all night last night, i'm ticked, and my thigh & elbow are aching.
at least with a big guy, if he hits me hard or with a cheap shot i can hit him back
but this guy's so tiny, and just a kid...
i want to put him in the hospital soooo bad but doing everything i can to take it light with him...
still, i can't be his punching bag

depending on the reaction from the coach i may not be working out there anymore...

EDIT: Called coach, explained my situation, and he was real understanding.
Gave me some encouragement not to take the stuff so personally.
Said he'll keep an eye on us if we get paired up in the future.
We were laughing by the end of the phone call and it really helped me deal with the anger that was eating me up.

[Pork Chop]

muay thai tonight.
yesterday i was supposed to work out with my coworker at power team but i was busy and starting to feel sick again.
workout tonight went pretty well, eventho still a bit congested.
wish the pad work was more intense.
shoulda done more bag work at the end.

got to meet forum member vankuen; hopefully we'll get to hang out more next time.

[Pork Chop]

muay thai today
got dropped today
sparring with athletically gifted noob.
he's about 6'1 and has a perfect build for 170 or 185lb weight class.
we were doing head movement earlier in the class and i was working with an orthodox fighter.
this guy's a southpaw.
southpaws mess up other southpaws more than the mess up orthodox fighters.
all my reactions were basically wrong.
i did something and the kid lost his cool.
started throwing bombs on me in the corner.
I slipped a couple
guess he got frustrated, because he hammer fisted me on the base of my skull.
lights went out for a split second, as soon as my knee hit the canvas, it woke me back up.
I was on my feet in seconds, but slightly dizzy.
They gave me a few seconds to recover and gave me some headgear, then we were back at it.
Sparred one more guy later on - we had an agreement to take it easy to the head; still caught him throwing a few shots up top - but at least they weren't bombs so it was all good.
got a lot to work on.
hate to brush off the flash KD but i think almost anyone hit in that spot woulda had the same experience - his targeting was perfect.

[Vankuen]

PORKCHOP?!

Who ko'd you?! I've never seen the guy...but he apparently is in the same general weight class as me. I'm 175lbs.

I'm not going to be going to any more of the night classes...the only time I'll be available for MT now is during the day, and probably only on Mondays when summer session at UTSA starts again.

Who do you train with at Power Team? Are you going to Marraj's near Blossom or Rodrigo's near Brook Hollow? I tried that place out and decided to go with a Judo place in Universal city.

I had a decent rolling session last night, no subs on me but I didn't sub anyone else either. Tried to get a triangle on a green belt but couldn't get my fat legs around his fat neck. I gassed out and just turtled for the remaining time...I often times wonder how things would turn out if I could use strikes...but that's not why I'm there, I know.

I didn't know you grappled...maybe we'll get together sometime on an off day. I suck at groundwork so any training will help me. With you outweighing me by so much it will force me to work on technique and not muscle.

[sanjuro_ronin]

muay thai today
got dropped today
sparring with athletically gifted noob.
he's about 6'1 and has a perfect build for 170 or 185lb weight class.
we were doing head movement earlier in the class and i was working with an orthodox fighter.
this guy's a southpaw.
southpaws mess up other southpaws more than the mess up orthodox fighters.
all my reactions were basically wrong.
i did something and the kid lost his cool.
started throwing bombs on me in the corner.
I slipped a couple
guess he got frustrated, because he hammer fisted me on the base of my skull.
lights went out for a split second, as soon as my knee hit the canvas, it woke me back up.
I was on my feet in seconds, but slightly dizzy.
They gave me a few seconds to recover and gave me some headgear, then we were back at it.
Sparred one more guy later on - we had an agreement to take it easy to the head; still caught him throwing a few shots up top - but at least they weren't bombs so it was all good.
got a lot to work on.
hate to brush off the flash KD but i think almost anyone hit in that spot woulda had the same experience - his targeting was perfect.

Timing and even foot work is specific to training, you fight MT righties, you have difficulties with MT lefties ( or vice-versa) or you have difficulty with anyone that doesn't "flow" like you are used to.
Its one of the problems with sparring in a given rule set / style, you footwork and timing become "sport specific".
Not much you can do about it though other than "ignore your opponent", but that doesn't really apply to sparring/training , only to fighting.

[Pork Chop]

vankuen
The guy that caught me was Jerek - the tall kid with the emo hair cut (he said 6'1, but he looks at least 6'2 to me). I've been KO'd before and that causes a nasty headache that lasts for weeks. I don't have the headaches or any signs of a concussion. It was more like getting stunned for a split second. It was kinda scary, coz I felt the shot and it wasn't a hard one, it was just in the right spot. Kinda like Steve Jennum - Paul Varelans in the early UFCs, but I didn't take a nap - just dropped and got right back up.

I want to try an afternoon class, maybe on the next holiday. I heard it's a lot of fun. The guy I sparred after Jerek was from the afternoon class- he wears Reyes and is also about your size I think.

My coworker that works out at Power Team off of Evers is an American-born Japanese guy named Ken. The gym's at Evers and 410, i don't know any more specific than that. I mostly go to Power Team to help my buddy with standup, lift weights, and just to work on simple grappling stuff. I'm not a huge fan of rolling after a bad experience in maryland but it's something i want to try again some day.

You woulda loved it last night - I fit in a PERFECT seionage on Jerek (just before the hammerfist) - it just came out automatic. Just scored the kuzushi and fit, didn't complete the throw.

I'll talk to Ken. I was supposed to meet him at Power Team monday but got stuck at the DMV renewing my license. Think he might be a lil ticked. Next time we go workout I'll give u a heads up. He likes to work out real early for me - starting at 4pm; so we usually jet work early. He's got a wrestling background and I'm sure he'd like any takedown practice he can get.

sanjuro_ronin
Yeah, in general I was doing alright. Kicked him in the head (lightly) a few times. It's just when he jumped on me with that flurry, i zigged instead of zagged. Instead of using head movement, in retrospect i wish i'd opted for parrying, counter punching, and/or maybe shielding.

I stopped working with a pro boxer a year or two ago because he was dropping elbows on the top of my head anytime i bobbed & weaved under a punch. This was kind of a similar thing.

New guys have funky enough rhythm to deal with, but noobie southpaws should be euthanized. :p

[Vankuen]

Timing and even foot work is specific to training, you fight MT righties, you have difficulties with MT lefties ( or vice-versa) or you have difficulty with anyone that doesn't "flow" like you are used to.
Its one of the problems with sparring in a given rule set / style, you footwork and timing become "sport specific".
Not much you can do about it though other than "ignore your opponent", but that doesn't really apply to sparring/training , only to fighting.

Good point. Another thing to work on is to become ambidextrious in one's stance work so that one no longer has a preference on which is the lead side. When I teach people something...EVERYTHING is done on both sides, and whatever side was worse, gets more practice than the strong side until there is consistency in application with one side relative to the other.

I fight both in an orthodox manner and as a southpaw (if you want to use boxing terms). In fact, I don't really ever think about what "side" I'm on, I just move in relation to my opponent. I may end up after a kick with the right side forward, fight like that for a bit, and follow through with a left overhand, left low kick or something, and now I'm a left lead.

But I never really thought about it to be that big of a deal to be honest until I sparred with someone who said that he couldn't figure me out because I kept switching stances on him. Interesting...I used to think everyone did what I did.

[Pork Chop]

yah i learned orthodox lead first so in retrospect i shoulda just switched- coz i know i can reverse the southpaw game better than this new guy can play it. gotta go back to training the other side.

[Pork Chop]

Saturday
boss took us to the bar on friday and a beer on an empty stomach hit me hard; so i missed training that night. i was anxious to get in the muay thai saturday and sweat some of it out.
showed up a bit early and started jump roping, did a bunch of slam ball stuff wearing the weight vest.
had a great workout, but about an hour ~ hour and a half in it came to a screeching halt when i had to teach this new kid. finished relatively hard with some pad & technique work.
went home, showered up and drove to houston.

sunday
wanted to make up for my missed workout on friday so i lifted weights at my folks place.
Was using these adjustable bowflex dumbells and a weight bench.

Flexibility - 3 circuits, 10 reps (5 ea side), 7.5lb dumbells (thought that was 7.5lb each side, confusing)
twisting squat
reaching lunge
lateral lunge
spider man
T-pushup

strength - 3 sets, 10 reps
squat, curl, press complex straight into 2-armed lying row (17.5, 35, 35 lb dbells)
forward & backward lunge complex (35lb dbells)
bench press (165) into 1 armed, elbow-out, bent row (52.5 dbell)

afterwards i went swimming for almost an hour.

Don't usually work out on mondays and don't think i'll work out tonight - didn't sleep much last night, if i workout that's 3 days straight & it might hurt me later in the week.

[Vankuen]

when is the sat class at phets?

[Pork Chop]

He changed the time on it.
Saturdays used to be 2 to 4
These days it's 11ish to 1ish.
Dunno if you heard, but Saturday's become kind of the "fighter day", supposed to be a harder workout, more geared to folks who may want to compete.
So, as a result of that, I was a bit surprised at having to spend so much time on Saturday coaching a total noob - he probably shouldn't be going to that class.

[Vankuen]

Aw c'mon Porkchop...everyone has to start somewhere...and to be honest you shouldn't have to be coaching anyone. That's Phet's job. If he was your partner holding the pads or something than coach him on how to hold the pads, or have Phet pair him up with someone else.

I personally like teaching new people...I like the enthusiasm levels and the yearning for knowledge. I also like seeing the progression. Anyway...looks like I can't make Saturdays either. I won't be going to Phet much any longer it seems during the summer because of school/work scheduling conflicts.

[Pork Chop]

Phet told me to teach him, it was only his 2nd class. I usually love coaching people, but this kid just didn't seem to want to do anything and wasn't great at picking things up. He started complaining of sore forearm minutes into the workout and didn't seem to want to work hard.

I would've been more than happy to help him on a normal class day, but seeing as how it was a class that was sold as "fighter's day"; it wore my patience a little thin.
Still, I tried to do what i could - half the time spent on proper technique, the other half just jumping head long into mixing up the kicks n punches (at Phet's recommendation).

He was a nice enough kid, i just felt like there was more I should've been doing.

[Vankuen]

Hmmmm...yep...Phet sometimes has a habit of having the more experienced students teach the noobs. He wouldn't let me put that big black dude into class until I went over the basics with him.

You've got to expect that from Phet and try to get involved with another higher up guy and start going to town there so that he sees you're busy. That's the trick. I learned that about Phet many moons ago.

[Pork Chop]

good workout today, was doing like 10 minute thai pad rounds.
Worked a good 10 or 15 minutes of clinch wrestling at the end.
Got there a half hour early and ran through a stretching routine.

Just found out today on extremely short notice that I will be in Maryland Thursday so all my peeplez keep an eye out for me. I'm going to try to say "hi" to as many of you as I can. I'll be in town until sunday.

[Pork Chop]

had a fun time in maryland.
really great to see you guys again.

friday had a pretty good workout.
was barely counting rounds, mostly just hitting stuff
decent amount of pad work.
was trying some new combos that julio wanted me to get - really awkward stuff.
wrestled with big 280lber and got dominated - think he's top 5 high school wrestler in state of md.

saturday
worked out again.
this one was a little lighter.
hit the sauna and did a TON of flexibility exercises.
shadowboxed a bit then did a few rounds on mitts - again, trying out crazy combos.

took off sunday coz i was traveling and i need a day to rest up after that trip on monday.

Tuesday
hit gold's for a workout in the AM.
going to muay thai in the pm.

morning:
10 minute warm up on elliptical cross trainer, was feeling a little sluggish.

dynamic stretching - 5 each side, 15lb dumbells
rotating squats
reaching lunge
lateral lunge
spiderman crawl
T pushups
note: heavier dumbells took a lot out of me, plus working out in the AM means my heart gets racing pretty quick

strength 3 sets of each number, 10 reps each exercise
1-
squat-curl-press complex with 35lb dumbells
lat pulldown with 140lb
note: long rest after 2nd set, 3rd set went up easy, am workout is rough

2-
step forward, step backward lung x 5 times each leg x 35lb dumbells

3-
dumbell bench w/70lb dbells
one arm, elbow-out, row w/70lbs

crawled out of the gym and went home to get ready for work.
working out in the morning really is an endurance trial.

[Pork Chop]

Tuesday part 2
Okay so i got to the gym around 6:15 today.
had a good workout going.
was supposed to work pads with this guy i work well with
coach stuck me with another guy i kinda get along with, who's bigger.
i was a lil ticked coz the first guy and i have this whole pad routine down
the second guy just hold the same combo until i start wanting to vomit - occasionally trying to smack me in the head with the pad in the middle of a punch (ie i'm throwing a right upper cut and he's smacking me in the face on the same side i'm punching with).
thai pads come and it's more of the same bs - i throw rear round kick continuously for 5+ minutes.
of course i hold for him and he does maybe half the workload.
the pads he chooses stink by the way, i think i've got a forearm bruise - there's no padding.
after pads i'm pretty much done and have to take a break - dehydrated & overheating.
then we work technique drills
these go well

then he decides he wants to spar.
in the back of my mind i'm like 'f*ck no, you're wearing 14oz reyes gloves you've been using for 2 or 3 years'; but i man up and go for it anyway.
we're doing alright, but he parries my jab and fires a jab over - catching me real good and knocking my contact out (not to mention stealing my favorite technique).
i say "i don't mind you hitting me in the head, but can you take it easy on my eye?"
his response "you're running into it" (umm no, you're parrying me as i'm coming in and popping me, there's a difference).
so we go a little more i catch him a lil bit, then he does it again.
this time the contact rolls back in my eye.
"can you ease up a lil on my eye?"
"you're running into it".
We start going again and I catch him, but also get a little sloppy coz i don't want to give him the opportunity to pop me in the eye again.
He asks "so I take it you want to step up the pace?"
i say "go hard if you want to go hard, your call man"
he takes a break to go get a mouthpiece.
this time i start shelling, he starts swinging away with a flurry - with 14oz reyes with no padding even "soft" shots don't feel that soft.
he starts to say "look you're running into it"; but he's smoking crack coz i caught his shot with my glove, i reply "i caught you, you didn't even catch me".
I pop him one and roll out, again he says "so you want to step up the pace? coz you're going hard"
I say "go hard as you want man"
This time I stop throwing altogether.
For about 30 seconds I stop leading the dance.
I make him come to me.
parry for the most part and don't even fire back.
he rushes in and i pop him one time pretty d@mn good.
He starts whining at the coach "he's going too hard"
I'm like "i give up... if i tell you that you're going too hard you tell me i'm running into it; but if i catch you good, then i'm going too hard...wtf?" and take off my gloves- I know i'm losing my temper and if i keep going with this guy it's gonna be a war.

we have about a minute or two of b!tch session time.
i bite the bullet and blame myself.
i do feel bad that i was losing my cool; and was kicking myself as i left the gym after profusely apologizing - promising to give him a freebie next time.

Afterwards at the grocery store, i start replaying the events in my head coz it's bothering me and I kinda have a change of heart in regards to my guilt.
I know i was being sloppy and not being a good partner; but am I really being that wrong?
I ask you to ease up after you knock my contacts out of my head and you dismiss it, saying it's my fault; but then expect me not to catch you when I've got an open opportunity?
oh well.
i hate sparring; especially at this place.
If it's boxing sparring, just go hard.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Ah dude, its a contact sport, if you/he doesn't like the contact, don't spar.
Now, its not like you were going full contact ie: going with intent for the KO.

In sparring you need to his hard enough to keep it real.

That is why I Spar with only a handful of guys at both the boxing gym and the MT gym I go do, combined.
The rest I don't bother with.
Every time I spar someone "new" it end sup like what you described, more or less, the only difference is that I tend not to be as nice as you.

[Pork Chop]

I'm trying to get the thai pad work to the point that it's like a good spar- lots of going back and forth, defense & offense, getting hit if i don't defend, but still being able to throw good, full-force shots. I've got a guy that I've been working with who's really starting to get it down- just need to help him put together good fight strategy so he can kinda "mold" me with the pads.

Thursday was a really good muay thai workout.
Killed it in the gym.
jump rope - taichi - ram muay - stretching - heavybag - thai pads (for over an hour) - heavybag - ab work
Left almost everything I had there.
finished up with ab work & didn't get through as much as i wanted before having to take a rest.
coach wants me to work on abs a lot more.
he said i was in good shape though. :D woot

met water dragon last night too; after talking on the phone with him a few times. it was fun, real cool guy.

[Water Dragon]

Yeah, we gotta kick it again.

[Pork Chop]

Yeah, we gotta kick it again.

definitely :)



Saturday was a good day.
didn't sleep much friday night so i had a "5 hour energy" to help me wake up.
mighta been a mistake with the 90+ degree heat.
worked on a lot of crossfit type combat conditioning stuff after some jump rope.
slam ball, sand bag pulls, sand bag carries
mixed in some calisthenics
by this point i was pretty much dying
then the whole gym helped one of our guys get ready for a fight june 21
so we all just tried to wear him out
pad work - clinch - sparring - more clinch
first clinch round i had went well but i gassed after
forgot my mouthpiece so my first round of sparring was kinda short
finished out another round of sparring well
and i finished out a really good half round of clinch after that
we did light sparring for a few rounds too till the guy was all but fried
really great guy to work with though, skill level very high & a joy to spar.
*gasp, i actually had fun sparring someone* :D

worked with another guy to finish out class- teaching him the basic defense drills and some light freestyle with them afterwards (in other words, light sparring).

learned a lot too, constantly picking up clinch tricks; we all like clinch and i think we're going to have pretty advanced clinch for americans in muay thai.

coach told me to add 2 miles of jogging in a day and calf raises - he thinks i can build up my lower legs, which are pretty small. it can't hurt so i'll do my best.

afterwards i rested an hour or two

then i went to gold's gym:
20 laps of swimming freestyle
10 laps of butterfly down, backstroke (just kicking) back
I believe the pool's 25 meters

lifted weights
used 10lb dbells for my dynamic warm up coz i was a bit drained
rotating squat, reaching lunge, lateral lunge, 1-legged calf raise, spidermans, t pushups

squat - curl - press complex w/30lb dumbells -> independent pulley pulldown machine w/120lbs

lunges w/30lb dumbells

hammer strength bench (70lbs each arm) -> t-bar row w/70lbs

finished up with 25 minutes on the treadmill; didn't make 2 miles coz i was beat.
jogged a mile and walked 3/4s of a mile.

afterwards i went to my friend's house for a big UFC party and watched it with one of Mario Sperry's IFL fighters - the guy who beat ivan salaverry was a personal friend of his and we found out the results of that fight before the event even started airing. awesome party. TONS of great barbecue.

[Pork Chop]

monday every gym was closed and i had a little too much fun cooking beer boiled brats so Tuesday i had to recuperate.

I finally got back into the gym Wednesday
Woke up at 6:00 and got there by 6:45

cardio warm up on the treadmill; attempted to get 2 miles again.
In all I ran 15:30.
Warmed up the first 2:30
Ran the next 10 minutes at 7mph
cooled off the last 2:30 for a total of over 1.5 miles
running hurts - my hips, knees, and back are suffering.

after that it was on to dynamic flexibility
10lb dbells, 5 reps each side (10 for bilaterals), 3 times through
twisting squat, reaching lunge, side lunge, calf raise + shoulder press, spiderman, t-pushups

strength exercises was rough, my endurance in am workouts isn't so great
Only went through each superset twice.

superset 1:
squat-curl-press complex w/40lb dbells
lat pulldown w/150lbs

superset 2:
step forward, step back lunges w/40lb dbells x 5 reps x each side

superset 3
dumbell bench x 70, 75lb dbells
1-armed wide elbow row x 70, 75lb dbells x 10 reps x each side

I was basically dead after this workout
went home, showered up, then went to work.

in the evening, it was off to muay thai:
got there early
15 minutes jump rope (hope to maybe hit 20min)
taichi
ram muay
flexibility
intense bag work
held pads for a while
thai pads

1 step sparring. Worked with a small guy, think he was young. He kept trying to "win" eventhough we said no contact due to him wearing mma gloves & neither wearing mouthguards. He kept flurrying up on me & trying to run me over while we were doing 1-step attack/counter drills. first time he ran me over, i accidentally clocked him on the jaw with a reverse elbow just trying to catch my balance. next he went for a knee that caught me in the thigh, i got full clinch on him and held him down, i mighta landed a full power knee in there, not sure, I was trying to keep it light for the most part - but i think i landed one thing hard. 10 seconds later he kneed me in the nuts when i tried to let him up out of the clinch. Kept just reminding him to keep it simple & work on the basics, that i wasn't punching when he was flurrying, coz i was trying to let him get some work in. he kept trying to punch me when i was slowly feeding him leg kicks to catch - he tried to imply i was dropping my hand when i kicked, so i hooked over the top of his little cheap shot & caught him (extra gently). later he tried flurrying up again - this time i shielded up and caught him with a slow motion uppercut that i just pushed right up on through. i think he got the hint. once he settled down, he was a pretty good kid. I think he comes from an mma background so the concept of going light is still very new to him. he's lucky i was, coz with 100+ pound weight advantage & better skill I coulda put him out of commission without half trying. i was doing everything i could to stay calm and not escalate it with him; in the end I think it worked and it turned out half decent.

after that i jumped in the ring with one of the advanced guys and we had a great spar for a couple rounds. i noticed i am really timid to throw my cross and i kept putting myself in bad position by trying to use my lead hand too much. gotta work on that. Otherwise, the advanced guy was a way awesome spar.

came home and took my dog on a long walk.
still rehydrating and wondering if i should do some ab work; reluctant to coz my lower back is aching.

Going to try to work out again tomorrow coz of the damage i did on monday.

[Pork Chop]

okay, so my back's killing me.
what i thought was just a minor ache from the jog, appears to be a pulled muscle in the lower back.
couldn't wake up to go to the gym, got up so late that i really shouldn't go to muay thai class.
plus, I'm not sure i can throw any kicks with my back like this.
I just don't think jogging's going to work out.
I can handle jump rope, so I think I'm going to equate jumping rope for 10 minutes as 1 mile.
Maybe when I drop another 10~20 pounds I can give jogging another shot, but right now, this ain't good.

[Vankuen]

You know Chop'....there's nothing wrong with resting when your body needs it.

[Pork Chop]

it's just...
when you're a big tubby guy, everyone wants you to do more than the little guys...
in other words, you gotta work harder & do more to make up for the fact that you're built the way you are...
That's the mentality i came up with at most of the places i've trained...

in my head i know - a heavier body means you're already doing more work, that the intensity is higher for even "easy" stuff just because of the extra weight, that it's not how hard you work in the gym, but how much you're body reacts to a given stimulus (how much it heals up & improves from the heck you put it through), and that overdoing it is a bad thing.

the thing is i try to follow whatever people tell me - especially trainers.
if there's extra credit to be done, i'd like to do it.
I know ideally, i should probably be going to gold's 5 days a week and muay thai 6 days a week.
the thing is, i know my body can't handle that volume of training for very long.
even in 05 when i was doing well, the few times i tried to step up my workout from 4 or 5 days a week to 6; i lasted a week or two before i had to take off.

right now i'm doing pretty well working out 3 times a week.
it's a constant struggle to remind myself not to overdo it.

everyone says the reason i'm still big is coz i don't run.
and phet wants me to run too.
but i gotta be honest, running for me, right now, is the difference between having a productive workout week and overdoing it.

today was a pretty good day, but a little light compared to wednesday.

slept for 9+ hours last night
my back is feeling better
but i didn't make it into the gym in the morning
instead i got out of work around 5:15 and headed over to gold's

at gold's i did:

dynamic warmup with no weight and only 2 times through each circuit.
I wanted to use it for it's original purpose, ie dynamic flexibility drills to warm me up and get me ready for other exercises; not something I really had to struggle to get through.
twisting squats, reaching lunges, lateral lunges, overhead reaching calf raises, T pushups, spiderman

strength workout:
again, i went pretty light, mostly on the leg stuff - because i was nervous about re-injuring my back.
EDIT: I also went for speed, and limited rest between sets.

superset 1 - (3 times through)
squat - curl - overhead press complex with 15lb dumbbells x 10
lat pulldown with 100, 120, 130 x 10ea

superset 2 - (3 times through)
step forward lunge - step backward lunge x 15lb dumbbells x 5 x each side
in between each lunge set i did a set of 10 calf raises

superset 4 - (2 times through)
dumbbell bench press x 75lb, 80lb dumbbells x 10
one-armed, wide-elbow row x 75lb, 80lb dumbbell x 10 x each side

Felt alright after this, not overly energized/fresh, but not dead; sweating pretty good & breathing hard.

then I went to the muay thai gym:
20 minutes of jump rope
taichi
rammuay
quick stretching routine (mostly static stretches)
heavybag for 15 minutes
thai pads (holding & hitting, switching off every 2 rounds) for a total of about 8 rounds; it was really hard work coz we were freestyling legs first, legs + hands next & we're both big guys so we didn't have to recover from hard blows much as padholder (30+minutes)
then heavy bag for about a round or two
finished out with 20 minutes of light boxing sparring with a new guy - he was really good about hearing me out on the purpose on the sparring being to refine the technique and build up the reactions.
we were slowly freestyling boxing attack/counter drills so we could lay the ground work for better reactions when we speed up.
It was kind of shocking to see how many times I kept putting myself in the same bad positions that i would get in when the sparring was more intense.
eventhough i've been doing this a good long time, i really see the need for going back to this stuff every time you come off of a long layoff - sometimes your body forgets the right way to move.

all-in-all it was 3 solid hours of working out
a little shorter than i had planned and i didn't really leave it all in the gym, but i guess that's a good thing if I want to work out tomorrow morning.
I did learn some stuff though and hopefully was able to clean up some of my technique.
EDIT: The temp in the gym today was about 93 degrees Fahrenheit; so that does strange things to your endurance.

[Pork Chop]

Killer workout today.
2 hours of really hard work.
lots of slam ball, medball, and sandbag work at the beginning
lots of muay thai drills/sparring/clinching in the middle
and lots of heavybag work at the end
i love this gym, coz not only am I getting good workouts, I'm learning a lot.
helping out another training partner get ready for a fight in june, so we really killed it.
going swimming in a little bit - shoulders kinda sore.

[Pork Chop]

My saturday swim was pretty light - put in some jacuzzi and sauna time too in order to be a lil nice to my body.

Sunday I went to Sea World from 10 in the morning till 5 at night.
The first half of the day was walking around the park looking at the fish stuff
the second half of the day was spent at the water park.
got pretty sunburnt (even with sun screen) and my feet got all torn up

Monday my coworker invited me to one of his semi-private late-night training sessions at his mma gym with Marcello Salazar. (http://www.ifl.tv/Camps-World-Class-Fight-Center.html) I'd met Marcello a couple times before and he's a real good guy. I hit the bags for 30+ minutes and mostly just watched the no-gi grappling. I explained why I'm nervous about the ground and promised to do more next time (Thursday). I ain't gonna lie though, a big part of it was because I'm still healing up from my Sea World trip.

slept in till almost noon this morning. I was draggin a$$ the day before at work and told everyone i was going to come in late- just sleep as much as i needed to so i could actually be productive. I may still be in trouble, i dunno. Probably not a good idea to jet out of here to go to muay thai at 6. So I think I'll work late and go to gold's later tonight. Hope I can work out - my feet are pretty scabbed over.

[Vankuen]

it's just...
everyone says the reason i'm still big is coz i don't run.
and phet wants me to run too.
but i gotta be honest, running for me, right now, is the difference between having a productive workout week and overdoing it.


Speaking in a non-martial arts context...Phet and everyone else probably are not experts in the field of weight loss the best / healthiest ways to workout. Most people are parrots that simply repeat what they've been told. You know that running isn't the end all exercise, and that there are ways to lose fat percentage without destroying your back, hips, knees, and ankles. If you can't run right now--no problem. My advice would be to get some answers from medical docs as to why your back and whatever else hurts when you run. There might be something out of alignment, could also be something due to your running methodology, could simply be the weight. If it's the methodology or the weight, do some research on either ways to run "better" or find running alternatives.

Since I've started doing interval training in almost everything I do (bag work, pad work, judo, running, swimming, etc) the fat percentage seems to be falling steadily.

FWIW, my back kills me when I run too. I'm working on ways around it...I have an overpronation problem and there are some other things about my anatomy too that cause this, but since I don't want to give it up I've also done the NB shoes thing like you did -- though that didn't help. I may need to stick to swimming instead or using the eliptical. To me...it's all about the heart rate when it comes to cardio.

BTW...I went by Phet's yesterday after class...I guess he's not there around 130pm on Mondays? I told him my new work/school schedule was going to retard my training frequency, an he told me to come whenever that he's always there. Guess not! lol

[sanjuro_ronin]

Even a moderate paced HB workout burns more calories than jogging.
Not sure why anyone would recommend jogging to burn fat ( LOL ) to anyone that is probably doing enough cardio (moderate paced) as it is.

[Pork Chop]

BTW...I went by Phet's yesterday after class...I guess he's not there around 130pm on Mondays? I told him my new work/school schedule was going to retard my training frequency, an he told me to come whenever that he's always there. Guess not! lol

I dunno I haven't been there for an afternoon class ever.
The class times from what I remember are 11-1; 2-4; and 7-9.
The next 3 day weekend I'm hoping i can go work out at all 3 classes.


Not sure why anyone would recommend jogging to burn fat ( LOL ) to anyone that is probably doing enough cardio (moderate paced) as it is.

There is a long standing tradition in boxing and muay thai that road work is where you get your endurance and weight-loss from.

Thinking back, in 05 i was working sprint sessions pretty religiously on the elliptical crosstrainer and I could go all out in boxing sparring at my old gym - guys trying to kill me & me trying to hurt them right back; for 3+ rounds straight without really breathing hard.

Guess I'll stick with my preferred method of endurance work- just need the confidence to follow my own way sometimes I guess.

[SevenStar]

IThere is a long standing tradition in boxing and muay thai that road work is where you get your endurance and weight-loss from.


Bingo. roadwork is at the heart of many a fighter's training and has been for ages... It's like stancework in CMA. Can I find more efficient ways of building leg "strength"? sure I can. Better ways to learn footwork? sure I can. But stance training remains a CMA staple anyway.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Bingo. roadwork is at the heart of many a fighter's training and has been for ages... It's like stancework in CMA. Can I find more efficient ways of building leg "strength"? sure I can. Better ways to learn footwork? sure I can. But stance training remains a CMA staple anyway.

Old habits die hard.

[Pork Chop]

Last night I ended up putting neosporin on my cut up feet and calling it a night.
Just walking my dog was agonizing.
Then, the little git ate my dirty rice. :mad:

My Top Ten gloves came in last night, I'm really anxious to try them out.
They're "sparring gloves" but I gotta break them in for the next week or two.
Plus, Top Ten foam rarely breaks down, so I think it'll be cool.
Once my Title gels come in, I'm pretty sure I'll have a 4 glove rotation.
It's the sweat that really breaks gloves down and gloves last a lot longer if they get more time to dry between uses.

It's time to start a new period in weight lifting, I feel.
I'd been doing the last one about 8 weeks.
Helped my endurance but I'm starting to dread the workouts - they're getting a little stale.

[I'll edit this post later with the plan I come up with]

[sanjuro_ronin]

Last night I ended up putting neosporin on my cut up feet and calling it a night.
Just walking my dog was agonizing.
Then, the little git ate my dirty rice. :mad:

My Top Ten gloves came in last night, I'm really anxious to try them out.
They're "sparring gloves" but I gotta break them in for the next week or two.
Plus, Top Ten foam rarely breaks down, so I think it'll be cool.
Once my Title gels come in, I'm pretty sure I'll have a 4 glove rotation.
It's the sweat that really breaks gloves down and gloves last a lot longer if they get more time to dry between uses.

It's time to start a new period in weight lifting, I feel.
I'd been doing the last one about 8 weeks.
Helped my endurance but I'm starting to dread the workouts - they're getting a little stale.

[I'll edit this post later with the plan I come up with]

Speaking of gloves, I did 8 rounds of HIIT with 16oz gloves the other day, wow, they made a huge difference let me tell you !

[Pork Chop]

Speaking of gloves, I did 8 rounds of HIIT with 16oz gloves the other day, wow, they made a huge difference let me tell you !

Yeah, my Top Tens are 16 oz, have the padding of a 16oz, but are streamlined and look more like 10s or 12s. They're awesome. Sparring they're going to make my defense so tight!
I usually use my Ringside IMF 16oz gloves, but will occasionally switch things up with my 12oz Grant superbag gloves (which are kinda skimpy on the knuckle protection).


Okay, my new workout phase.
Each workout will be done once a week.
The goal of this workout is to go heavy and put on some strength, with more rest between sets.
Looking at it, I was probably going too heavy on my earlier phase.
My ultimate goal may be to lose weight, but I want to make sure I'm not losing too much strength while doing it.

Workout A:
Barbell Squat: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Lying Leg Curl: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Dumbbell Bench: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Cable External Rotation: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Incline Reverse Crunch: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Weighted Russian Twist (med ball twist situp): 2 sets of 5 to 6 each side

Workout B:
Barbell Deadlift: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Dumbbell Lunge: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps each leg
Assisted Chinup: 2 sets 8 to 10 reps (or 2 sets x max reps if doing > 5 full chinups)
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
One-arm Row w/Elbow Out: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps each side
Back Extension (roman chair?): 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Lateral Bridge: 2 sets of 4 or 5 reps each side
Swiss Ball Crunch: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps.

Cardio
I'm going back to sprint sessions on the elliptical crosstrainer: 2 minute warm up followed by 10~11 minute active and 2 minute rest.
This will be at the beginning of the workout so i can get the most out of the sprints.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday
Today was a good workout, but painful.
My feet got cut up at Sea World and I made the mistake of wearing the same shoes that cut them up, thinking it was only because they were wet- well the plastic ankle support inside of the shoe has bent inward making them almost unwearable.
FYI- these are the expensive new balance joints.
On top of that my hand's cut up - on the inside from my dog's leash, on the outside from a fingernail that tore in half

Skipped cardio coz of my choice in footware and lifted weights first:

Barbell Squat: 135 x 10, 185 x 10; 185 was a lil tough but not bad
Lying Leg Curl: 110 x 10, 155 x 10; first set too easy
Dumbbell Bench: 80lb dbells x 10, x 2 - hurt myself on this one, will explain later
Incline Reverse Crunch: 2 sets of 10 reps
Cable External Rotation: 20lbs x 10 x 2 x each arm - this was murder
Weighted Russian Twist (med ball twist situp): 2 sets of 5 to 6 each side using medball w/handles

The injury i got on the dbell bench was due to the only open bench being a decline bench.
Had a hard time getting on the bench with the weight- no spot.
First time, some a-hole nearly clipped my arm - mighta clipped the weight, and i kinda lost it for a sec- this mighta been when i hurt it. Second set I tried doing it differently and my left arm lost it again worse - so i picked them back up & sat the other way on the bench, making it an incline. Right now my shoulder is really sore about an inch outside that bump on the top (trap insertion point? scapula?).

Got some protein afterward then went to muay thai.

Didn't jump rope at muay thai coz my feet were still hurting - just did taichi and some stretching before hitting the heavybag with my new Top Ten gloves- which were murder to break in due to the aforementioned hand issues.

Did a lot of sparring (like 6 to 8, 2min rounds nonstop) and got hit a lot - resigned myself to just getting beat up. I guess I did pretty well; but I was mostly just thinking about survival.
First few rounds were boxing, and eventhough my left shoulder was hurting, i managed to land it a couple times alright - if it was in top form i would've been able to defend myself better; took some shots i didn't have to.

My new, sleek, gloves didn't help my defense any- which is actually a good thing. They're 16 ounce gloves but less bulky than 12oz gloves, with no wasted padding; all of it residing on the knuckles. I got hit a lot but in the long run it'll help me get better. Oh yah, I also love my new-ish Title MMA slip on shinguards, they're even better than my windy's.

Finished up with a lot of technique work with a young kid and tried to stretch a minute or two before going home.

Pretty good day I guess, we'll see what tomorrow brings - want to try to hit up the night time class at 11 and I have to be somewhere saturday so I gotta get whatever workout I can get in.
Hope my shoulder feels better tomorrow; though it could very well be serious.

[Pork Chop]

went back to muay thai thursday
did my 20 min jump rope and all my calisthenics before class officially started
did about 25 min of heavybag straight
then i started holding mitts for a newer guy
then i had to work the jab for about 10 min while he worked his defense
in the second hour i sparred a relatively new guy
someone i'd worked with a week or two earlier
i tried to do the same slow sparring we did before
but he didn't want to do slow, 1 and 2 step sparring
he started turning it up - trying to run me over with combos
then i started turning it up
i turned it up just enough so that we were both scoring - he wasn't an easy spar
figured i was just more tired than i thought i was
turns out the relatively new guy's been working out down at the gym for 7 or 8 hours a day
must be nice not to have a fulltime job
he's become a beast in a very short time
it's like people going to camp in thailand i guess.
boney dude, i got all banged up - didn't think i'd need shin guards.
happy he's getting so much better.

[Vankuen]

http://www.muaythaistuff.com/products/thaismai-shin-guards-black-tsm-lp182-black/

I got a pair the other day with some dragons on them...can't get away from the whole asian thing ya know.

I'm going to invest in some thai pads and a body protector so I can get with a partner to work on the stuff. I don't particularly like Phet's equipment and he won't order this stuff because he won't be able to sell most of it to the people there.

[Pork Chop]

I love the gear on that site but the shipping fees are just too outrageous.

I don't like the black foam (top contender?) thai pads Phet's got, but the windy ones are nice from a weight & shock absorption standpoint.
The buckles on the Windy thai pads aren't great to deal with and some people complain of the straps digging into their arms.
I have a pair of title thai pads that are just re-badged twins, with velcro enclosure.
I'll let u try them out sometime if you want.
Those are my 2nd favorite after the windys.

I have a body protector that i leave up at the gym - the big silver title one.
I should be getting a belly pad sometime this summer.

My legs are total hamburger today.
I feel like roadkill.
Don't mind lifting weights, but i doubt i'll be able to kick anything.

[Pork Chop]

Friday has been one of those days where you give everything you got but everything you got still feels really inadequate.

Still hurting from everything that's happened in the past week (especially my shoulder); I didn't want to go today, but i did anyway.

started off at gold's

5 minute warm up on the elliptical, i just didn't have the sprints in me and really didn't have time.

Barbell Deadlift: 2 sets of 10 reps (135lbs, 185lbs)
Dumbbell Lunge: 2 sets of 10 reps each leg (45lb dbells each time)
Assisted Chinup: 2 sets 10 reps (14 plates/76lb assist, 13 plates/72lb assist)
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 10 reps (90lbs, 100lbs)
One-arm Row w/Elbow Out: 2 sets of 10 reps each side (80lb dbells each time)
Back Extension: 2 sets of 10 reps
Lateral Bridge: 2 sets of 5 reps each side
Swiss Ball Crunch: 2 sets of 10 reps.

Then I went to muay thai early.
Started off with "combat conditioning" type stuff, wearing the 23lb weight vest.
10 left-handed slam ball slams
10 right-handed slam ball slams
10 suicides up and down the ramp
20 two-handed slam ball slams
10 suicides up and down the ramp
20 one-handed twisting slams x each hand
20 squats with vest and medball
10 laps down and back with vest, carrying 45lb to the chest (the sand bag was awol today)

after that i did some stretches
then a lil heavybag work
some handpad stuff for about 4 rounds each
asked ku phet if i could skip out on sparring coz i was banged up from this week
felt like a wuss for doing it
spent at least 30 min on the heavybag, doing 2 min rounds before having to call it a day.
My tank was pretty much empty.

Had a gatorade and a protein shake between workouts.
Downed a muscle milk and a lot of water once i finished up

my shoulder was killing me
i didn't kick anything coz my shins are hamburger
apologized a bit for not sparring like everyone else
felt kinda down
guess it mighta been me crashing

Think I left the 2 shirts i sweat through up there.

[Pork Chop]

I've been thinking about it since Friday and I'm going to take some time off.
I've got a lot of nagging injuries, some of them may be serious.
It's really hard to sleep with this level of pain.
I don't need to be 100% to work out, but there's a limit on what you can push through - especially if you start experiencing diminishing returns.
My shoulder particularly worries me.
While my shins (actually a contusion in the muscle) are taking an extra long time to heal - i'm still pretty confident they will heal given enough time.
I've even still got those cuts on my feet from the other week which haven't healed up yet either.
Thinking I'll get back in the gym on monday - sooner if things start healing quicker.

[SevenStar]

Friday has been one of those days where you give everything you got but everything you got still feels really inadequate.

Still hurting from everything that's happened in the past week (especially my shoulder); I didn't want to go today, but i did anyway.

started off at gold's

5 minute warm up on the elliptical, i just didn't have the sprints in me and really didn't have time.

Barbell Deadlift: 2 sets of 10 reps (135lbs, 185lbs)
Dumbbell Lunge: 2 sets of 10 reps each leg (45lb dbells each time)
Assisted Chinup: 2 sets 10 reps (14 plates/76lb assist, 13 plates/72lb assist)
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 10 reps (90lbs, 100lbs)
One-arm Row w/Elbow Out: 2 sets of 10 reps each side (80lb dbells each time)
Back Extension: 2 sets of 10 reps
Lateral Bridge: 2 sets of 5 reps each side
Swiss Ball Crunch: 2 sets of 10 reps.

Then I went to muay thai early.
Started off with "combat conditioning" type stuff, wearing the 23lb weight vest.
10 left-handed slam ball slams
10 right-handed slam ball slams
10 suicides up and down the ramp
20 two-handed slam ball slams
10 suicides up and down the ramp
20 one-handed twisting slams x each hand
20 squats with vest and medball
10 laps down and back with vest, carrying 45lb to the chest (the sand bag was awol today)

after that i did some stretches
then a lil heavybag work
some handpad stuff for about 4 rounds each
asked ku phet if i could skip out on sparring coz i was banged up from this week
felt like a wuss for doing it
spent at least 30 min on the heavybag, doing 2 min rounds before having to call it a day.
My tank was pretty much empty.

Had a gatorade and a protein shake between workouts.
Downed a muscle milk and a lot of water once i finished up


very nice.

[SevenStar]

we had a foo foo class you would like today in place of zumba - they had a demo of another dance class... but the first half of it is based on drumming. One of our trainers is japanese, and I guess she knows some drummers or something, I'll ask her. The second half of the class was break dancing, well, poppin and hip hop, mostly.

[Pork Chop]

Sweet.
I wonder if it was Eisa, you guys do have a good group there in Indiana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UicvUCx7tNY
I haven't done it in a while.
I miss it a lot.
There's a group here that does it but they're all old ladies.


I ended up working out tonight.
Coworker wants me to teach him muay thai & fix his boxing.
He's a buff 5'7 170, mostly natural - good genetics, wrestled & baseball in school, lifts once in a blue moon.
I held pads for him and did a couple rounds of kicks with him on the heavybag after I showed him the basics.
Cleaned up his boxing a little- he's got a clubbing right hand like you wouldn't believe from the baseball.

We did some lifting afterwards

Superset:
3 clean & press + 3 cleans
4 times through, 135lbs; first set did 7 cleans after 3 clean & press.

Superset 2:
calf raises on leg press sled (90lbs each side)
swiss ball crunches
4 times through, did between 10 and 20 reps each exercise - wasn't really paying attention.

Kind of a light workout, surprised how well my shoulder held up. My final set on the superset of clean & press was my best; it was just a matter of getting comfortable with the form & exploding from the bottom.

[Pork Chop]

worked out once in the last week plus (my last post) and I just don't feel like working out yet.
My shoulder's still bugging me - cramps up & spasms; think it's a muscle thing not a joint thing.
maybe i'll try to work out one day this week.
have plans to go to the gym tomorrow with a coworker and am already a couple hours ahead on my time for the week.
probably take off early and at least do that - go to the thai gym too if i feel up to it.

Lately, i've been thinking about giving it all up, joining a swim team, and going full time till I lost the weight. It's about the only working out I really feel like doing.

[Suntzu]

Lately, i've been thinking about giving it all up, joining a swim team, and going full time till I lost the weight. It's about the only working out I really feel like doing. i know the feeling...this (http://trailblazers.ning.com/) is all i've been into lately..... with some sparring here and there..... i'm good.... i know i'm gonna miss getting in the ring while at the fights (http://combatinthecage.com/) this weekend tho.... brandon should do well... he's been kickin' my butt lately....

don't give up..... i think u are just a bit overtrained..... niggas ain't 24 no more..... you gotta rest up and get more massages from wifey ;)

my advice........ stop stressin' the weight..... keep training.... get good rest..... just have fun with it..... the body is gonna adapt how it wants to.....

and chill out with those men's health workouts:D

[Oso]

yea, what he said.

martial arts has been such a stresser for me the last 7 years that I feel on the verge of throwing the towel in too.

but, I'm gonna keep doing the fu 3 days a week, get more regularish exercise in, get the fug back on my bike and try to keep the rest of my life straight.

R - didn't know you rode...where are the mtn pics from? you're welcome down here anytime, we've got some more than decent rides...many of them 5 minutes from the house.

[Suntzu]

o - i just started like a month ago.... several face plants later, i'm hooked.... the pics are from new zealand.... i wasn't into riding then, sadly..... but i did try out their muay thai and judo....

many of them 5 minutes from the house. i wish..... i'll have to take u up on that once i get my $ right....

join the group, we need members... even tho its not ready to launch....

[/hijack]

[Pork Chop]

Thing is, I was trying to take it slow with the 3 days a week.
I didn't want to be totally about training all the time anymore; but I ended up becoming that guy anyway.

I've been pushing it so hard in the gym coz I keep getting told "oh if you weighed 30 pounds less, you could fight next month". This is probably the 4th gym I've heard that from; coz even hard sparring doesn't exhaust me & my technique's pretty clean.

The other week, tripling up on my training really burned me out... and i probably just need more rest from it; just have this feeling like a week shoulda been enough.

I have absolutely no interest in hittin stuff at the moment and I guess that's the biggest problem.
I figured after a week of doin very little that I'd be amped to get back into the gym.
Instead, there's a significant part of me that doesn't really care if I don't go back

I've talked it over with a few people and taking a couple months off to join a swim team & drop some pounds doesn't sound like a bad idea.

I'm constantly stressed over training coz I can't get roadwork in like other fighters.
With weight being such an issue for me, this point is driven home extra hard, coz what I'm doing isn't really working in that capacity.
I really like swimming and it's my lds cardio of choice, plus i have a history of it shedding weight off of me (in high school, college, and after).

The problem with swimming is that I'm at the level where it'd require a serious time commitment to see good results.
I have a pool I'm already paying for, but I think I'd get a lot more out of a formal practice with a coach; so that ends up being a monetary commitment as well.
If I spend 2 or 3 months swimming 3 times a week for a couple hours a shot, with some weight lifting & sprinting on the sides, I should drop a good 20 pounds.

I also keep looking at other aspects of my life and feel like I'm just letting too much drop.
I haven't been studying japanese much at all.
Aside from some lasagna last week, i haven't been cooking at all.
Haven't been taking my dog to obedience school or taking my girl dancing or a lot of the other stuff I'd said I wanted to stay on top of.

Swimming addresses this, coz a couple hours in the pool doesn't have the after-effect that a couple hours hitting the bag and sparring do; with the bumps, bruises, and sheer trauma.
I'm not going to have to walk around smelling like old people, busting out a half a tube of Icy Hot to be able to sleep at night. The nagging injuries have basically taken my normal insomnia to a whole new level. That's why I'm so un-focused in the other areas of my life.

I may just drop the muay thai down to once a week & spend more time doing the other stuff.

These are the 3 swim teams I'm considering:
http://www.geocities.com/bjbigsplash/
http://www.mastersofsouthtexas.org
http://www.nisd.net/aquaww

I'm leaning towards the first one with both am and pm practices.
Probably call tomorrow.

PS
Rock-
nice website.
I do get at least 2 massages a week from my girl.
Wow, brandon's really improved, hope he does well.
You really don't like my workouts huh?
Oso-
Ultimately, yeah, I'd just like a little more balance.

[Suntzu]

You really don't like my workouts huh?i'm more of a Westside/"Hybrid" guy atm.... the stuff u are doing isn't bad tho.. just giving u sh!t.....

[Pork Chop]

i'm more of a Westside/"Hybrid" guy atm.... the stuff u are doing isn't bad tho.. just giving u sh!t.....

Well I'm doing it more for hypertrophy, coz I'm tired of looking like Louie Simmons :p


Went to muay thai today.
Kru wasn't there so I explained my situation to the assistant instructors and wrote the gist of it down on the sign in sheet next to my name.

They didn't argue with me, kinda seemed to understand where I was coming from.
Especially after i explained that weight's my biggest issue, that I'm not losing much weight from the workout, and the weight is putting a lot of added stress on my body doing the workout - putting a lot of wear & tear on this old body.

Went through class.
Was not a normal class.
Kung fu guy down there took over.
So we did a TON of calisthenics.
BTW- at the start of the workout the official reading for san antonio was 98 degrees; cooled down to 91 by the end.

I did what I could but we weren't resting, just wave after wave of bodyweight exercises.
My shoulder was shot so by the time we got to 8 count (2 pushup) burpees, I only did a few of the 10, but made up for it with the 10 reps of 1-2 sprawl.
At least I made it through the 75 pushups in the first part of the workout.
We even did horse stance drills & wing chun chain punching.
Some of the more pointless stuff I had a hard time really pushing it.
The front half of the class also missed the first half of the workout, so those of us in the back felt like we were slacking - when i looked over, the other 2 guys with me were dying also.

We did some bags and pads.
That was kinda the easy part.
I knocked out the roundkick holder. LOL
He was using an old-fashioned big kicking shield for catching roundkicks to the body and it was just way too much stress on his ribs & abs; poor choice by the instructor.

Finished up with some boxing pad work.
Sharp pains in my shoulder but i think i did alright.

When I do start swimming, I may have to ease into it a little slow.

[Satori Science]

Hey man,

Some of the guys I am training with right now are taking this stuff,
http://www.supplements.net/SuperCissus-RX-USP-Labs-p/supercissusrx-90caps-usplabs.htm&click=2?gclid=CLqOyfaYg5QCFQ4hnAod3Hf9WQ

it is supposed to do wonders at rebuilding joints and healing injuries, just an idea from one who has been held back more that enough in the last two years by being hurt. A few f my boys swear by it

I feel ware your coming from, last summer I had a "crisis" about why I was training, it was the first time in 5 years that I lost my motivation, ended up doing some serious couch surfing and watching a lot of south park for a few months, but worked thru it and am better for it.

Just sayin I feel you,

One.

[Suntzu]

brandon won.... 3rd round... rear naked.... put the dude to sleep....

[Chief Fox]

Wow man, it sounds you're getting really down here.

I haven't been around much, what up with your shoulder? Tendonitis?

It sounds like you need a bit of a break, think about something else for a while and then re-evaluate.

I had shoulder issues for a while and it was weird but BJJ pretty much took care of it for me.

Although I haven't trained in BJJ in about a year.

Not sure where I'm going here brother but hang in there. Mix it up a bit. Take a break. Do something different.

Good luck.

[Pork Chop]

brandon won.... 3rd round... rear naked.... put the dude to sleep....

Wow! Congrats to him! Brandon's becoming a beast... must be something about guys named brandon from baltimore, huh?


Fights this weekend really picked me up.
A lot of guys came down from my old gym from fort worth.
I didn't know it but the guy I been working with for the past couple months was scheduled to fight a friend of mine from my old gym.
I found out about them fighting like 5 minutes before the fight; what sux is that i even called weeks before the event to find out and make sure there wasn't a conflict of interest there..
They had a close fight, but the guy (Sergio) from new gym had better hands and a better clinch.

The rest of the fighters from Fort Worth all won their fights.
One of them kind of got a gift decision against one of Kru Pong's guys out of Houston - apparently the judges didn't feel like scoring kicks because dude was dominating with kicks.

Went out to dinner with the Fort Worth guys afterward.


Started swimming this morning.
It was SO much fun, got a bit tired by the end and was a lil pukey at one point.
Looks like it's gonna cost a pretty penny - going to run about what muay thai costs monthly.
I feel real good today from waking up early & working out, i think it's worth the cost.
Going to take a long lunch this afternoon and go get swimming gear.
My shoulder's bothering me a little bit - mostly a dull ache and a bit of a sore-muscle feeling, if i stretch it at awkward angles i can get some sharp pain, but not like last week.
It was almost healed over the weekend.
I think it's a strained muscle and not a joint thing.
Swimming's about the least-impact thing I can do with it; aside from not using it at all.

So the plan right now is to swim every morning this week that I can wake up.
Next week I'll try doing some two-a-days: morning practice 6-7; evening practice 5:30-7.
If my shoulder lets me I want to lift some weights a couple times a week, on the same program I just started the other week.
I want to work up to two-a-days 5 times a week for swimming, 2 weight sessions, and a muay thai + combat conditioning session (if I figure what to do about tuition).

Started out the diet this morning; it's still early to tell how that's gonna go.

I like waking up early.
Might be the solution to my insomnia.
For now I'm hyped to do the swimming; once I get 3 or 4 weeks of the routine under my belt, it will become habit.

[Pork Chop]

Wow man, it sounds you're getting really down here.
I haven't been around much, what up with your shoulder? Tendonitis?
It sounds like you need a bit of a break, think about something else for a while and then re-evaluate.
I had shoulder issues for a while and it was weird but BJJ pretty much took care of it for me.
Although I haven't trained in BJJ in about a year.
Not sure where I'm going here brother but hang in there. Mix it up a bit. Take a break. Do something different.
Good luck.

Thanks Chief.
I wasn't thinking about giving up, just a change in the focus of my training.
The weight gets me frustrated; coz it really holds me back - so I'd like to knock it out of the way.
Growing up, I was a swimmer, never a runner.
So there's something very satisfying about getting back into it.

The shoulder might be tendonitis, but I think I just strained the muscle when I was doing decline dumbbell presses almost a month ago.
I only worked out 2 times in the last 2 weeks; so while that might not be enough rest for my shoulder, I really don't want to sit sidelined much more than that.

[Pork Chop]

Satori
I ordered some of that stuff, coz I had to reorder some supplements.
let you know once I've tried it.


Monday
I ended up doing an evening workout coz my coworker wanted me to teach him.

3 rounds jump rope
3 rounds shadow (1 empty hand, 1 with 5lb weights, 1 with gloves & kicks)
3 rounds heavybag (1 boxing, 2 hands & feet)
3 rounds thai pads (1 boxing, 1 boxing & knees, 1 hands & feet) - I just held during these rounds

then lifted weights for a lil, trying to be wary of my shoulder:
3 sets of 10 lat pull down: 130, 140, 150
3 sets of 10 seated row: 100, 130, 160 (last 2 reps sukt)

finished up with ab circuit:
2 times through
10 reps apiece (10 each side)
incline reverse crunch, hyper extensions (back), incline crunch, lateral crunch, weighted twists w/90lbs

Tuesday
My dog ate something that made him sick so he woke us up at 4 in the morning.
Went swimming again this morning for about an hour and a half (got there early).
It was intense and I'm a little tired.
My shoulder's doing alright though.
Sticking to my diet pretty well; not strict as just oatmeal - eating some veggie soups, but I think it's good for what I need & much better for portion sizes.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday

Hard time waking up this morning.
Went swimming and fell a little behind on one of the sets because I chose to do backstroke, while everyone else did the faster freestyle; ended up trying to play catch up until I had to take a break.
Put me about 350m behind on the total workout, but my warm up was 400+m and I did a 100m cooldown so I think it shoulda balanced out.
When I was resting, coach told me to take Thursday off & come back strong on friday.

Supposed to lift & do muay thai with my coworker tonight.

Eating clean as heck, was rough the first day or two, but I think I'm starting to get used to it.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday part 2

So I took a 2 hour nap after work and then went to go work out with my coworker.
Ate a couple carrot sticks before I went so it wasn't completely on an empty stomach.

started off with sprints on elliptical cross trainer
The machine's real weird, it only has set sprint intervals of increased resistance, not like the aerobic cross training routine of LifeFitness elliptical cross trainers.
I set the resistance like 15 on regulars (which is pretty high) and 17 or 19 on sprint sessions (which is really high). I tried to recreate the aerobic cross training routine on my own, but it just wasn't the same. Got a good workout,b ut I miss my old machines.

after that we did leg workout

squats:
135 x 10
185 x 10 - my buddy didn't like my form on this one, was going down low but not looking up enough or squeezing my shoulder blades tight
225 x 5 - this one my form was good but I was going "thighs parallel" instead of "low as I can"
275 x 5 - this one was horrible, felt like quarter reps, was scared to go too low
275 x 5 - took a wider sumo stance, my buddy said i was doing really well & it looked easy.

lunges:
mini olympic bar (i think it was 25 or 30lbs) + 25lbs on each side for a total weight of 75~80lbs
Did 3 laps across the length of the upstairs section of the gym, 10+ steps each leg
real good workout, each time i lifted the weight off my shoulders & set it down after the set was over, my heart started racing for at least a good 30 seconds.

then we went into the muay thai kinda workout
3 min rounds 1 min rest
3 rounds of jump rope
3 rounds of shadow (first round boxing, punch + kicks after that)
3 rounds of heavybag (first round boxing, punch + kicks after that)
3+ rounds of thai pads (with defense work)

Feeling pretty good, just a lil tired.
The boxing round on the heavy bag put some strain on my shoulder but otherwise it's been feeling good today.

Diet more on point than ever.

[Oso]

yea, it's hard to do sprint/interval training on most any machine but I agree Lifefitness stuff if the best out there...though I still hate all ellipticals....

[Pork Chop]

I realized today that I'm probably not going to need that much sprint work outside of the swimming.
My coach tried to kill us today.
On our team if someone swims 500 meters straight, doing perfect butterfly stroke; they achieve a rank of "butternutz", as in: "this person's not just nuts, but butternuts".
Someone on our team was going for it this morning before practice and I made the mistake of telling the coach that it was one of my goals....in maybe 3 months

After we were already over 1000 meters into our workout the coach hit us with this:
25 meters of butterfly x 20, with 5 to 10 seconds rest between each.

Doesn't look like much.
But by the 8th or 10th, when your heart is about to explode, you realize you might actually drown just swimming across the pool.

All of you guys doing Tabatas or the ones saying jogging's the only way to get your cardio up & maintain weight know nothing of this pain... which is basically a 30~40 second "on", 10 second "off" tabata session for 20 intervals.

That swim works out to 500 meters of butterfly stroke.
If I can do that straight through (usually takes in the ballpark of 9 or 10 min) then I will probably be able to out cardio anyone fighting.

I had a great time this morning.
Can't believe how much I missed this stuff.

Tonight scheduled to lift a lil & do some muay thai with the coworker.
I'll post first 2 weeks results a week from Saturday.

[Pork Chop]

Friday part 2
So I went to the gym for my evening workout.
My coworker never showed up.
I did a really respectable 12 min sprint session on the elliptical crosstrainer - level was 19 most of the time.

i lifted some weights until my shoulder started bugging me:
reverse flies with 30lbs - 3sets x 10reps

I shadow boxed for 3 rounds of 4+ minutes
I jumped rope for 10 minutes
I finished up with 2 rounds of 5 minutes on the heavybag, trying out some old gloves; again my shoulder flared up a little so i took it easy.

afterwards, i met up with some friends.
We stayed out till 3 in the morning, dancing from 12 to 3; stuck with my diet- just drank water.

[Pork Chop]

This weekend was a rough one...
Saturday I went toobin down the comal river for a couple hours and then went to austin.
Got home from austin around 5 in the morning.
Dog got sick being left alone for 13 hours; not sure how.
We tried to let him sleep in the room for once and he puked on me.
Needless to say, I didn't get to sleep till after 6am.
At least I had some good southern food in austin, with like 5 different veggie sides - all of them delicious, especially the collards.

Sunday I wanted to rest all day but my girl had made plans to go to a dinner party and I wasn't allowed to say "no".
We left the house at 5pm and didn't get home till almost 12.
Didn't start heading to bed till 12:30.
Got to sleep by 1, but my girl woke me up with a coughing fit.

Monday was a comedy of errors.
After waking up at 3; going to swimteam at 5:30am ju