New Schedule

This week we’ll be hosting open training in the Garage Gym from 6:00 to 7:30pm on Tuesday and Thursday. This means, any and all who want to come out we are training these day’s this week we'll welcome you. If you are late we still welcome you but you’ll miss some of the training. I’m still open for other times but you’ll need to call ahead so I can work you into my schedule. Tuesday we’ll focus on boxing fundamentals and Thursday we’ll focus on Muay Thai and kickboxing. Since it’s cold out the garage door will be down but don’t be afraid to knock, we’ll open it to let you in.

As a side note, I’m starting using Precision Nutrition as my guide for a training diet. I’ve read up on John Berard and found his strategies match my goals. More to come on that in future posts.

(Please post comments, questions or suggestions to "Comments" below).

Old School Boxing

Here is another standard boxing workout. This one comes via Ringside and John Brown. For the full book from Ringside check out:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/256385/Boxing-Manual?page=13

Well here's the workout:

• Warm-up 5 minutes – primarily stretching
• 3 rounds Shadow Boxing
• 3-4 Rounds Sparing (twice a week)
• 3 Rounds Double End Bag
• 3 Rounds Heavy Bag
• 3 Rounds Jump Rope
• 3 Rounds Mitt Work
• 3 Rounds Speed Bag
• 20 minutes abs and stretching

In this program rounds are 2 minutes with up to 1 minute rest. If you follow this workout its about 1 hour.

The changes I would suggest are to replace the stretching warm-up with dynamic activities like footwork drill (The Line) and general muscle warm-up like Burpees, Push-ups, Pull-ups, Sqauts etc. Also the end of the workout should consist of similar exercises at a higher intensity, including medicine ball work, powerlifting (as long as its safe, not to tired), etc.

For those working out on your own I would suggest the Slip Line and Maize Bag as substitutions for the Mitt work.

(Please post suggestions, comments, or questions below)

Changes

I've made a few changes to the blog (don't worry, all the posts and videos are still here). To make finding things a bit easier I slimmed down my tags to 10:

1. Boxing (including any boxing training, equipment, techniques, etc.)
2. Jujitsu (wrestling, judo, catch wrestling, etc)
3. Conditioning (drills, strength, endurance, supplements to improve conditioning) - really almost all the posts are about conditioning but I only tagged those specific to it.
4. Health (nutrition, hydration, longevity, exercise in general)
5. Muay thai (including any kickboxing)
6. Jujitsu (all grappling training, judo, BJJ, catch wrestling, greco roman wrestling, etc.)
7. Inspiration (stuff that helps drive you to put more into training)
8. Video (those I've made as well as others I've posted)
9. Schedule (when we are meeting)
10. Misc. (humor, or other things I think you may find interesting - this post is listed under "Misc.")

Hopefully these changes will make it easier to find the information you are looking for.

I continue to get more calls from local people for training: I know that I turn up A LOT on searches for local (Plainfield, Joliet, Aurora, etc) boxing and MMA gym searches. Because of this I’m trying to nail down some consistent training times that would be open to all of you. My schedule is a bit in flux due to patient needs at my office but for all of you interested in training I’m going to post a survey on the blog to find the most convenient times for all of us to meet and train (give me a day or so to figure out how to do it). I’ll post it within the next few days so we can get to work.

Traditional solo boxing workout

Many boxing gyms I’ve trained at had a standard workout that they posted. You followed it or didn’t and did your own thing. Unless you were under the direction of a specific trainer you were usually left to train on your own. Of course, most didn’t know that the trainers were still watching to see who had talent or qualities that they wanted to train – if you didn’t work then you didn’t get any special attention. At least this was how it was in some gyms, others they put you in the ring for some light sparing to see what you had and then decided whether to work with you or put you out on your own. Most boxing gyms I have trained at never had a specific course of training as a new be, except the general “Boxers Workout” posted on a sheet of paper on the wall (some didn’t have that). Many of the gyms I trained at were AC’s, or Athletic Clubs, and charges for membership ranged from $60 a year to $10-20 a month, quite different than the commercial training centers now that charge $100 plus a month for training. But, the commercial gyms now take a more active roll in training, even if it’s less personal.

For my solo training session today I went back to the general “Boxers Workout” format. What’s tried and true is just that. It’s basic, effective and no frills, just hard work with a purpose. I only had about 40 minutes to train so I made the most of it, adding some conditioning drills at the end. Here it is:

Warmup:

• 2x3min/1min jump-rope (last 30 sec double unders)
• 2x3min Maize bag

Heavy Bag 3min/1min

• 1 round jabs only (high, low, doubles, triples)
• 1 round mid range (jab, cross, hooks, etc)
• 1 round close quarter with hard punches

Conditioning

• Kettlebell Swings – 3 rounds of 30sec swing/ 1min rest
• Wheel rollouts from knees 3 sets of 10

The traditional “Boxers Workout” in many gyms I trained at was:
3 rounds jump-rope
3 rounds shadow boxing
3 rounds speed bag
3 rounds heavy bag (as above)
sit-ups and burpees

I changed it up a bit, I’m re-mounting the speed bag, and due to time constraints I didn’t do shadow boxing.

I hope to have some new videos out soon on a heavy bag tool to improve your defense, the "Bag Stick". This is a great tool for working your defense along with your offense on the bag. It used to be sold by Ringside but they don't seem to make anymore. I'll be showing how to use it as well as how to make yor own.

(Please post questions, comments or suggestions to "Comments" below).

Quick Boxing Conditioning Workout

I’ve been so busy between work, my daughter and my wife that I have missed a lot of workouts recently. As a result I’ve been more irritable, I apologize to my family and friends for this. You’d probably be in a bad mood if you couldn’t do something you loved doing. Today I was finally able to fit in a quick conditioning workout during lunch. My goal: general conditioning, boxing fundamentals, running (I agreed to compete in a 5k the Sunday after Thanksgiving). My workout quick workout today consisted of:
1 minute each, continuous –

• Single leg hop across line forward and back (switch legs each time back to start)
• Double leg hop across line sideways
• Forward crossover step
• Side crossover step

2 rounds of:

10 pull-ups, 10 dips, Sampson stretch, 10 overhead squats, 10 roman chair situps, 10 back extensions on roman chair

15 minute interval workout running – I used the generic workout on the treadmill (it’s cold here today).

Total time about 30 minutes. It was quick but I kept it intense. When time is short focus on the fundamentals.

Bad scheduling

Due to repeated scheduling conflicts our practices keep changing around and as a result my posts on here have been infrequent lately. For this I apologize to all who read this blog.

The good news is that I am still up and running: still working my boxing, muay thai and grappling (as much as possible training alone).

As a result I'll be posting more information on solo training for boxing, muay thai and grappling - regarding drills, conditioning and technique. I'm putting together a new video on the "Bag Stick - a lost training tool" as soon as I can rebuild mine. This is a tool I used to use back when Ringside Boxing sold innovative boxing equipment (they still have great stuff and I continue to use it but the tools they offer are more limited now).

I'll close with a great video on training and learning the left hook by a friend of mine in Australia, enjoy and learn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilhZdJHt9CU
(Click on the link to see the video).

I'll be posting a regular schedule for open gym training very soon, drop in's are welcome and encouraged. If I'm training alone, all the better. Love to see you here.


(Please post Comments, Questions or Suggestions to "Comments" below)

Getting back in the game

After a layoff from formal workouts the past few weeks, due to schedule conflicts, we are back at it. We only had an hour today so we knuckled down and got right into it. Our focus was on boxing fundamentals.

Roll Call: Tony (Mike is still MIA)

Warm-up:
1x3min jump-rope (last 30sec double unders)
2 rounds – 10 pull-ups, 3 ring dips, hip stretch, 10 GHD sit-ups, 10 back extensions

Defense Circuit 2min/30sec 2 circuits

• Maize ball
• Rope line

Glove Drills rounds were run continuously, 1 minute for each person as the aggressor (2 minutes work) followed by 1 minute rest.

• Jab defense (2 rounds) – aggressor throws single jabs while moving around and defender catches, or slips jab and returns with single punch (jab high or low, cross high or low, body hook either side, etc). Focus is on correct defense as well as a quick return (same with the following drills).
• Cross defense (1 round)– aggressor throws single cross to head and defender rolls with cross or slips and returns with single punch (cross, lead hook, low jab, body hook, etc.).
• Jab cross defense (1 round) – aggressor throws jab cross and defender catches, slips, rolls etc and returns with single punch (cross, lead hook, low jab, body hook, etc.).

Finisher
Body impact conditioning: 2x1minute rounds of body punches with gloves on (opponent stands with hands on head, punching only as hard as your opponent can take). We do this to learn how to take body punches as well as condition the midsection – no punches to solar plexus and less force when punching the floating ribs. I'll be posting a video on this very soon, so stay tuned.

We didn’t have a lot of time but were able to focus on the fundamentals and got a great workout. It’s great to be back in action.

I’ll be resuming my local fight gym review next week with Jab Fitness.

(Post comments, suggestions or questions to “Comments” below)

Workout time

It's short notice, but we have a workout scheduled for Monday (11/3/08) at 1pm. Hope to see you all there. We are back up and running again after a short layoff due to schedule conflicts.