A New Era (of blogging)

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
41

Okay, went to the doc today.

Good news and bad news.

Bad news first, he took a cursory look at my eye and said “no more boxing”.

After that, he used the expensive machine to take a picture of my retina. Almost all the hemmorrhaging was healed. What was left were these four fluid/drainage spots that showed up white. He said those spots were important, that they were what was still affecting my vision, and that they may never heal. Well, they were 2/3rds the size that they were a week earlier and my blurry spots have improved quite a bit.

After looking at the whole thing he said “no surgery, but we’ll follow up in December”.

So my plan now is to train my skills and drop my weight; no sparring, until after the appointment, probably until January.
By then my eye will be as healed as it’ll probably get.
I’m not giving up kickboxing for a blurry spot or 2; especially if I don’t need surgery.

I asked him how it coulda happened, coz I was having a hard time figuring out how, he said it didn’t look like direct trauma to the eye, but a shot to the side. The thing is, I never get punched at that angle as a southpaw.

I’m pretty sure I actually hurt my eye back on September 20th, when I fell on that hardwood floor- i distinctly remember hitting my left eyebrow (at the angle and location that the eye doc said I got hit) and seeing stars bad enough that I had to take a break.

I think i was doing a lot of unsafe training over the last few months; stuff I won’t do when I finally try to go back to sparring.

I won’t be sparring with people who refuse to wear safe gloves & who look at the sparring as a competition instead of a partnership working for mutual improvement.

I’ve also already quit that jiujitsu class. Not only did i take a nasty fall on a hard wood floor my last workout with them, my eye (the injured one) was gauged multiple times - both standing (when I went for a takedown) and and on the ground (when I had the guy in guard).

In other news, tonite I had my first skills type workout in a while.
I was just trying to have fun with it and wasn’t trying to kill myself.
rounds were 3 minutes.
2 rounds on small bag
3 rounds on tall bag
3 rounds on big bag
2 rounds on tight double ended bag
2 rounds on maize bag
2 rounds on loose double end bag
2 rounds on uppercut bag- really dropping my stance when punching; last 30 seconds each round was continuous knees.

I know I may sound crazy; but I honestly think the injury occured in abnormal circumstances that I won’t be repeating when I make my way back. I also think that the doc was being overly conservative before he really saw the results of the retinal scanner. I’ll be as safe as I can; but if Sugar Ray Leonard was able to come back after his retina was completely detached, then I feel a little bit of retinal bruising is way minor by comparison.

42

hit the gym again today for about 45 min to an hour.
did 10 min of jump rope; 10 to 15 min of shadow, and about 10~15 min on the heavybag.
Short workout but i’m getting back on my rhythm and having fun with it again.

43

sorry i ain’t been checkin in on this.

sunday 10-17
had a good class at brooks

monday 10-18
worked my 3 hours of janitor work but didn’t go to the gym.
the janitor work is tough.

tuesday 10-19
went back to diane’s with jon and rahsaan.
did 10 min of jump rope and 20 minutes of footwork drills wearing the weighted vest, before my knees started buggin me.

wednesday 10-20
lifted today. did shoulders for like an hour.

thursday 10-21
got in my new knuckle guards so i did skillz work today.
10 min of jump rope.
10 min of shadow (5 with handweights, 5 without0
3 rounds (3 min) of big bag
2 rounds of reg banana bag
2 rounds of uppercut bag
1 round of loose double end bag
1 round of slip bag
a little bit of tight double ended bag before i smacked my arm on the buckle- wasn’t wearin gloves.

I feel like I’m missing something coz I thought my workout was pushing 18 rounds; shrug maybe i miscounted.

took friday off.

working the janitor job and then going to the gym is exhausting.
i was down at 215 the other day so at least i’m not gaining too much weight from it.
really feeling worn down tho.

44

had an okay day at danny’s today. spent most of my time helpin other people instead of killin myself; though I did have a good hour-fifteen to myself.

45

makin do

Sunday the 23rd

went to khun kao’s place. was workin hard till the last 20 min or so, when i mostly held mitts.

Monday the 24th

took monday off, it was rainy and cold; plus i usually take mondays off.

Tuesday the 25th

was gonna walk my dog, but i woke up early and it was still raining.
in the evening i went to the gym and did a pretty killer chest/back workout.

wednesday the 26th

got to bed late tuesday night and didn’t get up early to walk the dog, eventho the weather was better.
in the evening i hit the gym and pushed it hard as i could
11 min of jump rope
11 min of shadow (7 min of which with hand weights; all of it with weight vest)
5 rounds (3 min each) on the big bag
1 round on uppercut bag with last 30 seconds knees
1 round on loose double end bag
1 round on slip bag
1 round on tight double end bag

The everlast handwrap gloves with the ultimate classic bag gloves is a crazy combination- i was rockin those bags without any shoulder or wrist pain.
The big bag work was tough at points, kinda slowed down without realizing it.
Once I noticed, i did my best to step it up.

Diet took a turn for the worse eventho i was trying to swing it the other way.
Today wasn’t bad, and i’m gonna use it as a stepping stone for further improvement.
Still under 220, so I can still make it under 200 I feel.
Just going to keep tryin & stay positive.

46

Hit it again today (thursday)
went 12 min of jump rope
at least 12 min of shadow boxing- did a lot of stretch kicks and footwork drills with my shadowboxing time in addition to normal shadow
5 rounds (3 min ea) on the swinging banana bags
1 round on loose double end bag
1 round on slip bag
played around for a lil bit on tight double end bag

workout was a lil shorter today, but i think i made up for it in intensity
was feeling tired as i was driving to the gym but it went away once i finished the jump rope.
the everlast wrap gloves with the ringside ultimates are making my punching power ridiculous.

47

friday the fight fell through.
the fighter i was bringing didn’t show up and wouldn’t return my calls.
i was waiting downtown for him for a while; even took off early from one job & totally called out for the other- only to have him not show up.
i let down my coach.
i felt like crud
i didn’t even go to the event.
saturday i didn’t leave my apartment
i was supposed to work the day shift for my janitor job on saturday; but couldn’t wake up at 6:30 in the morning after staying up late playing video gammes.

sunday morning i tried to wake up for kickboxing but couldn’t
when i finally woke up at 10 (thought it was 11) i realized i hadn’t set my clock back, so i coulda slept an extra hour.

playin too many video games i guess.
i think i also needed to get some of the taste of friday out of my mouth.
i worked too hard making phone calls and trying to meet other peoples’ schedules for what? just to end up just as bad as if i’d never done anything to begin with…

Slept 11 or 12 hours last night so i think i should be able to get on a good schedule this week.

48

Pork Choppa, could yo post a link for the gloves you were talking about, and how and why they work better?
Thanx,TT
Keep up the good work-you are an inspiration

49

10Tigers
Here are the everlast glove wraps:
http://store.everlastboxing.com/everlast-evergel-glove-wraps.html
They’re nice coz they offer knuckle padding and are a quicker alternative to handwraps.

My bag gloves are here:
http://www.ringside.com/DETAIL.ASPX?ID=25148
My bag gloves rock coz I finally realized I have kind of a small fist (with long, narrow fingers); so I ordered the 154 pound versions. The padding and support they offer, combined with the above wrap gloves feel like they’d keep my fist stable if it was fired out of a cannon.
I think ultimate classic sparring gloves have maybe too much padding for sparring, unless both partners are wearing them, then they’re great coz they provide a lot of protection; you just gotta break 'em in a bit.

My training/sparring gloves are here:
http://www.ringside.com/DETAIL.ASPX?ID=25224
I ordered the 16s coz i’m a big guy; but the glove pocket’s a bit big for my hand. There’s not much difference between the 14s and 16s aside from the pocket size, they just made the glove longer to make up that 2 ounces. They’re really well made gloves. Both these and the classics feel like wrecking balls when worn with the glove wraps. The big differences are:

  1. the ultimate is a bag glove and the padding is hard and stiff, where as the padding on the reyes are better for sparring
  2. the reyes only recently made a velcro version (available in the ringside winter sale catalog); so you’d have to buy a glovers assistant if you didn’t wanna have someone lace you up each time.
  3. the reyes have a better fist. The pocket was big, but even the 14s don’t require the breaking in period that the classic does, coz it’s shaped better.

Monday
Good workout day.
Hit the gym after work for some skills.
Warmed up with 20 minutes of shadow and drills.
Did 3 min rounds on heavybags:
3 on big bag
3 on boxing bag
3 on banana bags

2 - 1 minute rounds of knees on the upercut bag.

a 3 min round on the loose double end
a 3 min round on the slip bag

Tuesday

Wow, daylight savings helped me out.
Woke up early and went for a 20 minute jog with my dog.
In the evening i went to the gym to lift weights.
I really decided to mix things up on the weights, kinda go back to my old total body program mixing in some of the new stuff.

3 sets of 6 reps doing clean and presses with 100 pounds.
3 sets of 10 reps doing squats with 135pounds - did my best to keep up a 1-1 tempo. been a while since i’d done squats, so i kept it kinda medium-light. the smith machine squats hit my hams and glutes, but these really destroy my quads.
3 supersets of dips and pullups 10 reps each, using a 70 pound assist.
3 sets of 10 on the seated row: 130, 145, 160.
3 sets of 10 on dumbell chest press with 60 pounders.

All in all it was pretty light compared to weights i know i can throw up; but i hadn’t gone super heavy in a while and was trying out a totally new workout.
The strategy worked perhaps too well though, i can barely walk today (wednesday).

Wednesday
took today off coz i need one day off at least a week; preferrably two.
Plus, as I said, I can barely walk.
Still did the janitor job and walked well over a mile today; so it wasn’t a total wash.

Things are gettin better I just wish this soreness would go away hehe.

50

the muscle soreness was so bad today i could barely stand. my legs kept giving out on me while i was doing my janitor job. i mean it was worse than yesterday; i’ve been in agony. so i decided it’d be best to take another day off. hate missin workouts but, i’m just going to learn my lesson and try not to overdo it next time.

51

okay, last week my legs were so bad i took off wednesday thursday and friday.
i worked out saturday at dianne’s with julio and the gang for an hour or 2; it was just an okay workout, but i put in like 20 minutes straight on the bag at the end to close out strong.

sunday i went down to brooks and absolutely died- very hard workout.

monday i took off.

tuesday i felt like running so i went to the gym after work and ran 6 miles in about 60 min.

tonite, wednesday my legs were real sore from all the jogging so i skipped the gym. I was fallin asleep all day at work; so i think i needed a break. My left knee’s shot pretty bad, i’m gonna give it till tomorrow before i start worrying.

every morning this week i’ve been doing pushups, crunches and bodyweight squats. plus i’ve also been taking the stairs on my way in to work- 5 flights.

this schedule’s just real rough to adjust to.

52

the reason i ain’t posted in a while is a case of disinterest.
I don’t know if it’s burn out.
it might be frustration over the futility of trying to workout around a 60 hour a week work schedule.
it could also be the eye.
lately i’ve been feeling my life’s been completely engulfed by the boxing/muay thai.
i love fighting but i’ve got other hobbies.
i’m still peeved at the magilla guys for being such jerks; hurting my eye and messing up my chances to compete in november.
one of my only goals for fighting is to commit assault on the guy responsible- get him to spar me again and do what he’s done to me twice: go full out and throw out the rules.
i don’t like being in the gym on nights they’re there.
i don’t like the feeling of revenge and bitterness i get when i think about those guys and what happened.
with the 60 hour a week schedule, i’ve gotta basically kill myself to get a measely 1 hour in the gym and still not make any progress.
just kinda fed up with the whole thing.
i’m ready to move out of this state and get into a job that pays a respectable wage.
Working for the government has turned out to be a pathetic joke.
around my birthday time i should start seeing some major improvement on my debt situation; so i just gotta keep up the 2 jobs thing till then.

i’ve taken off last week and this week (the week of thanksgiving) from the gym.
i think i’m going to be on hiatus until my motivation comes back.
In december i have the follow up appointment with the eye doctor to see if my retinal damage has healed up to a reasonable level.
If i can get that off my mind then at least it’s something.