MacRea's Amateur Fight Training (Boxing, conditioning, lifting)

[Sinister]

Because you envision being in a 12 round Championship bout, and beating your opponent so decisively that IF he lasts until the final rounds, he's going to be leaning on you most of the time.

Same reason I subjected myself to the 10-round Heavybag routine where 4 rounds were punch-out drills where the bag was atop my shoulder mimicking an opponent doing the same shit.

 

[Brando]

March 11th:

AM:

skipping warm-up
stretching

3 rounds shadowboxing
4 rounds heavy work ("power boxing")
3 rounds speedbag
3 rounds focus mitts

5 minutes core work (planks, weighted situps, side planks, chinnies, leg raises)
5-10 minutes bodyweight circuits (alot of pistol work)

shadowboxing cool-down

Focus mitts were paced as an actual bout, my trainer did everything he could to keep me guessing and working hard. Probably the most productive 6 minutes of my boxing training career. Gonna hit the roads tonight.

 

[Brando]

March 12th:

Rest. Got a piece of metal lodged in my eye so I spent the better part of the day waiting in the ER while it festered and rusted. They got the metal out thanks to a copious amount of freezing and a needle tip, but they couldn't get the now deeply embedded piece of rust. I'm now wearing an eye patch, and after another unsuccessful trip to the ER this morning, booked to see an opthamolegist to get it out. Sucks, but it's happened before so I figure 2-3 days out max, and even then I'll be doing some strength training (just can't sweat much).

 

[Brando]

March 13th:

Rest. Went to the opthamolegist (butchered that spelling) and they finally dug the piece out. Had to go through layers of "scarring" on my eye to get at it, but they got it, and my eye is taped shut again.

March 14th:

Called the doctor as per my orders and they said "Don't sweat in it", but I couldn't help it. I kept it VERY light, but I wanted to be doing SOMETHING...

3 rounds shadowboxing

stretching

4 x 3 minute rounds heavybag work

light core work (leg raises, russian twists, weighted situps, chinnies)

50 push-ups
1 minute dumbbell hold

I'm ripping this damn eye patch off tommorow morning and starting my 2-a-days, that is my oath.

 

[Sinister]

LOL You're a true fighter bro.

*Doctor* - "DO NOT SWEAT IN YOUR EYE SON."

*Brandon* - "Are you serious?"

*Doctor* - "Yes, it could do you a lot of harm."

*Brandon* - "Pfff. Harm. Fuck off sissy."

Nah seriously, be careful with this man. A lot of fighters have had to deal with retinal detachement and I know for a FACT I will eventually. I just don't give a damn. But Leonard and Aaron Pryor both. When Pryor lost to Bobby Joe Young, a lot of his getting hit had to do that he was practically one-eyed by the time of the fight, and fighting two classes above his best weight class. That and the crack, but that's a longer story.

I have naturally bad vision and of course it worsens with age. Before my first fight I'm going to get lasek surgery, try to nip it in the bud, but part of me expects to go blind. I just chuckle about it, because I envision being that old blind dude in Gung Fu movies who can still kick everyone's ass. If I go blind, my vow is to become that.

Speaking of which, how the shit did you get metal in your eye?

 

[Brando]

Thanks, KK - lucky my doctor is a huge boxing fan, so I got the bare-bones down-to-earth assesment instead of the "cover-my-ass-with-precautions" speach. It's not so bad, really, luckily the metal was far enough away from my pupil that they could dig at it without risking any serious injury (just serious discomfort...). I'm not sure how it happened, but the doc narrowed it down to driving with the window down as we pulled away from a drive-thru ATM, because I couldn't think of any other way it could've happened. I guess we got behind some truck that kicked up some debris into my eye before we could close the window. I didn't notice, because we were on the way back from the boxing gym so I was drenched in sweat and figured some had just dribbled into my eye.

Oh, and while I think it's good that you accept that pugilism is probably going to fuck with your vision, try not to sound so pumped about it you sicko... I guess it comes with the territory, though, boxers get off on pain - inflicting it on your opponent, and welcoming it during training so we can overcome it.

 

[Brando]

March 15th

AM:

Fresh snow and ice storm. No excuses to skip some conditioning, though.

10 minute GPP session:
burpees x30 seconds
split jumps x30 seconds
jumping jacks x30 seconds
mountain climbers x30 seconds
shadowboxing x30 seconds

repeat this circuit 4 times, 10 minutes total. NO REST whatsoever. Tough!

PM:

a little preview/test run of the lifting I'll be doing for the next 6-8 weeks.

warm-up circuit:
T push-ups x6 per side
dumbbell twist x8 per side
dumbbell ax swing x8 per side
lying hip swing x8 per side
dirty dog x8 per side

on to the lifting itself:
front squat push press 3 x 4
neider press 4 x 6
dumbbell snatch 3 x 6 per side
dumbbell swing 3 x 6 per side
weighted pull-ups 3 x 8

All in all, a pretty good day. Looking forward to the 6-8 week handspeed/power program I'm going to be following. Alot of it is drawn from another Ross Enamait e-book which I highly recommend.

 

[Brando]

March 16th:

Active recovery day.

Did a bunch of stuff - one arm hangs, animal crawls, power overs, pistol work, wall sits, hanging leg raises, a 3 minute plank, a ton of shadowboxing and some knuckle push-ups. Basically just trying to break a sweat and get some blood moving through some sore areas. That 3 minute plank was a beaut though. Working 8 hours ripping up flooring tommorow but I'm going to train afterwards regardless, time allowing (and it will).

 

[Brando]

March 17th:

Worked a 9 hour day ripping apart tiles and screwing down flooring, then I got a call from a friend wanting a hand moving. Lazy shmucks. I missed any FORMAL training but the lifting all day sure made up for it.

March 18th:

Slotted to work another 9 hour chunk, but I got home about 3-4 hours early, so I managed to get in a pretty great workout. After my eye injury and this sudden increase in hours, I've been a bit off lately, but tonight is the turn-around point.

4 rounds shadowboxing
6 rounds heavybag work (plus various conditioning drills)

following pyramid done in circuit fashion, no rest until all 3 were done:
push-ups pyramid (100 total reps)
bodyweight fullsquat pyramid (100 total reps)
core work pyramid - supermans, russian twists, v-ups, sit-ups, leg raises (100 total reps)

5 minute sandbag carry finisher:
-Shoulder HEAVY sandbag
-Jog to other end of the room
-switch shoulders (drop bag to bearhug carry style, then heave up to other shoulder)
-Jog backwards to other end of the room
-repeat for 5 minutes

Great training tonight. Forgive the predictable cliche buuuut I was "in the zone".

 

[judogido]

I'm just curious how the heck you managed to get a piece of metal lodged in your eye..?

 

[Brando]

Hah, Kabuki was wondering the same thing a few replies up.

"I'm not sure how it happened, but the doc narrowed it down to driving with the window down as we pulled away from a drive-thru ATM, because I couldn't think of any other way it could've happened. I guess we got behind some truck that kicked up some debris into my eye before we could close the window. I didn't notice, because we were on the way back from the boxing gym so I was drenched in sweat and figured some had just dribbled into my eye."

 

[Brando]

AM:

Hand speed drills:
-3 rounds weighted uppercut drill
-3 rounds weighted punchout drills

PM:

3 rounds shadowboxing

medicine ball plyos:
twisting side throw x8 per side
medicine ball cross x8 per side
medicine ball jab x8 per side
slams x8
chest passes x8

repeated this circuit 3 times.

6 rounds heavybag work (recovery drill, outside fighting, inside fighting, freestyle round, recovery drill, freestyle round)

core circuit:
full contact twists x8 per side
weighted sit-up x15
russian twists x10 per side
v-ups x10

finisher:
dumbbell turkish get-up x5 per hand

 

[Brando]

March 21st

jumprope warm-up

5 minute tabata-style skipping sprint interval (including bodyweight exercises such as lunges, push-ups and sit-ups during 10 second rest)

dynamic stretching

push-up/shoulder speed-circle drills (including isometric holds at middle/bottom position of pressup)

2 minutes jump squat as conditioning "finisher" to warm-up

4 rounds shadowboxing
6 rounds heavybag work (including 3 rounds of recovery drill)
4 rounds speedbag work
5 rounds focus mitts (working slipping the left hook and digging in a liver punch mostly)

Had my name up for sparring again but all of these heavies from Toronto came down to spar our heavies. I tried to settle for some technical sparring outside of the ring but nobody wanted to... what the hell is this, a recreational club? Pussies.

 

[Sinister]

You should have just punched one of them and started an actual fight.

 

[Brando]

Hah I definitely should've. I swear the heavyweight division is lifeless and stale not only in the professional game anymore, it seems, as my club is inflicted too

 

[Brando]

March 22nd

warm-up circuit:
t-pushups x6 per side
dumbbell twist x8 per side
ax swing x8 per side
lying hip swing x8 per side
dirty dog x12 per side

pushpress 3 X 5
neider press 4 X 6
dumbbell snatch 3 X 6 per hand
dumbbell swing 3 X 6 per hand
weight pull-ups 3 X 8

core circuit:
full contact twist x6 per side
weighted sit-ups x15
med ball seated twist x10 per side
leg raises x10
weighted supermans x10

no rest. repeat x3.

I feel like working with my sandbag soon, even just for some roadwork on saturday or something. It has a much higher purpose then bracing my feet for weighted situps.

 

[ferrolent]

LOL You're a true fighter bro.

*Doctor* - "DO NOT SWEAT IN YOUR EYE SON."

*Brandon* - "Are you serious?"

*Doctor* - "Yes, it could do you a lot of harm."

*Brandon* - "Pfff. Harm. Fuck off sissy."

Nah seriously, be careful with this man. A lot of fighters have had to deal with retinal detachement and I know for a FACT I will eventually. I just don't give a damn. But Leonard and Aaron Pryor both. When Pryor lost to Bobby Joe Young, a lot of his getting hit had to do that he was practically one-eyed by the time of the fight, and fighting two classes above his best weight class. That and the crack, but that's a longer story.

I have naturally bad vision and of course it worsens with age. Before my first fight I'm going to get lasek surgery, try to nip it in the bud, but part of me expects to go blind. I just chuckle about it, because I envision being that old blind dude in Gung Fu movies who can still kick everyone's ass. If I go blind, my vow is to become that.

Speaking of which, how the shit did you get metal in your eye?

If you have severe myopia I'd recommend waiting for the new implantable permanent contact lenses that they're coming out with very soon. Also, do some serious research into lasek's risks before you make a mistake like I did.

PS. Retinal detachments suck.

 

[Brando]

March 23rd

jump-rope warm-up
thorough stretching and push-up/shoulder circle circuits
partenered up for some core work (leg throws, 50 each)

3 rounds shadowboxing
4 rounds heavybag work
4 rounds speedbag

Felt like crap at this point. Kept farting when I was exerting myself, hah, so I sauntered off to the washroom... 6 pounds later, I'm dancing around like Ali. I got lucky tonight and two of the welterweights showed up for some sparring!

4 rounds sparring

First round was back and forth, feeling eachother out, I was against Jeremy Gabriel, really slick like his brother Jerome (a southpaw and a great boxer) and he was working well on the outside while I tried to stalk him and pin him in. Wasn't finding much success though I landed my right hand pretty consistently. Second round I was in with Brian and for the most part it was close, but I caught him on the ropes for about 25 seconds and all the recovery work (flurries) on the heavybag I had been doing paid off big. Felt like target practice. Third round, I finally found my niche and caught Jeremy on the ropes. Some good body work ensued. Fourth round was going well, back and forth with Brian until I threw a left hook and he pulled back and caught it right on the nose. Cut him open huge and he was bleeding all over his face, his neck, his shirt, my gloves, and they had to stop the round. Sat and talked to Jeremy and Brian for a bit, got alot of compliments on my bodywork and some things to work on (vulnerable to the uppercut more often then I'd like to be, double jab was pulling back a bit low, etc). Overall, great night at the gym.

edit: forgot to mention my little 4 round war left me with a bit of swelling around my left eye, so I didn't walk away unscathed that's for sure

 

[Sinister]

Felt like crap at this point. Kept farting when I was exerting myself, hah, so I sauntered off to the washroom... 6 pounds later, I'm dancing around like Ali.

HA HA HA HA! Remember that opening statement of one of my log-entries that said something about being surprised how much having to take a dump in the middle of training will slow a guy down? This is EXACTLY what I was talking about.

 

[Brando]

Hah, when I read it I thought you meant it makes you sluggish, so I was sitting on the can kind of dreading how I'm going to feel afterwards. But much to my suprise, I practically floated up into the air once I dropped the Cosby kids off at the pool

March 2th:

Rest day. Total, uninterupted rest. Almost went nuts