Well, I made it this far - (New Blog Chapter)

[Pork Chop]

Well I finally made it to Texas.
It's been kind of a rocky road, but I'm happy about my prospects.
The last month or 2 has been a lot of eating, a lot of drinking, and even some smokin.
I'm about as out of shape as I have been the last few years.
I think I'm pushing 245+ right now.
I finally found a new kickboxin gym last week and I think I'm finally ready to start over again.
My goal, as always, is to lose weight and fight.
My plans for this are 3 fold: skills, fitness, and diet.

Skills
I started with a new thai gym. the guy really seems to know his stuff. i've gotten a lot of correction in the few classes i've been there. i'm a little worried coz it's really hard to get out of work to make it in time for the workout. I'm still trying to hit this class up 2 to 3 times a week for now. Eventually I'd like to make it there Tuesday through Saturday. At the moment i'm only going for an hour or 2 at a time, eventually I'd like to increase that as well, going for possibly 3 to 4 hours a day.

Fitness
I've got a great fitness center and jogging trail right outside my front door. It's so convenient i really should've made it more before now. My fitness goal is to lose fat & get my cardio back up. I'm going to do that 3 ways: jogging, sprint work, and weights. Ideally I'll jog twice a week, sprint twice a week, and lift 3 times a week. I'm trying to start slow, which means 2 to 3 weight sessions a week, 1 or 2 jogging sessions, and if i still can- 1 or 2 sprint sessions a week.

for weights I'm using the general fitness workout in Bill Pearl's getting stronger. I think it's a good primer for breaking back into weights. Basically, after 6 months, i should be able to jump into a more serious program. It's broken up into 3, 8-week levels. The first level is 15 to 20 reps each set, 1 to 3 sets each exercise, and a nice fullbody mix of exercises. The first day (today) had me suprisingly beat. At first glance the workout may seem a lil soft, but it's really good for someone like me who's worried about overdoing it.

for jogging I'm using the trail by my house. The distance is between 3 and 4 miles. It's a pretty easy jog; it's just hard to do coz my dog can't/won't do it with me, so i end up leaving him home. For the beginning time I think I'll be happy with 1 definite jog a week.

for sprinting, coach recommends 20 10-second sprints. I may make that closer to 20 second sprints to get it more in line with tabata's. my gym's got a versa climber for this. I will probably also use the elliptical crosstrainer.

Diet
Okay i hate dieting. I love to eat. If I don't eat what I wanna, much of the joy of my life just goes away. yeah, i'm a fat b@stard, so what? I think one way I can improve my situation is looking at certain foods as "supplements"; ie that there are certain foods that I should eat every day. My list of supplements are as follows:
1 bowl oatmeal
1 cup of yogurt
1 salad
2~3 pieces of fruit
I figure after eating that, I'll be hungry for whatever protein I can get.

[Pork Chop]

Day 1 on the plan:

diet went okay. I ate small to medium sized meals frequently throughout the day. Met my fruit quota, but no oatmeal or salad. Also i forgot to add "1 40g protein shake" to the list of requirements, specifically for days I lift. Wing Stop Boneless wings are REALLY good, not too much batter and their sauces are teh roxxors.

Like I said, I've had a hard time getting out of work by 4:30 in order to go to the kickboxing gym for their 5pm level 1 course. Yesterday, even the 6 o'clock level 2 course wasn't feasible.

Instead, I went home, busted out my "Getting stronger" book by Bill Pearl, and took his intro workout. See, "Getting Stronger"'s a good starter book for getting into lifting as well as beginning sport-specific weight training. I use Arnold's Encyclopedia mainly as reference- i mean his "beginner" program is a 6-day-a-week lifting schedule. :eek:

I cruised up to the gym by 6:30.
Warmed up on the elliptical cross trainer for 5 minutes doing a faster-than-normal clip.
My big emphasis right now is on getting in there, but not pushing too hard, coz my body's just not ready yet.

After that it was on to the lifting.
The routine was 1 set of each exercise, and 15 to 20 reps: like I said, a starter program.
Dumbell swings: 40lbs, 20 reps - not too easy, not too hard, nice start
Incline Situps: 20 reps - relatively easy
Bend and touch opposite foot w/ dumbell: 25lbs, 20 reps - easy
Barbell Lunges: olympic bar, 15 double reps (each leg done separately) - ow
Bench Press: 95lbs, 20 reps - this was pathetically easy
Upright Row: ez curl + 40lbs, 20 reps - medium effort
Assisted Pullups: 140lb assist, 15 reps - I can do 10 reps with a lot less assist, but this really hurt.
Standing Dumbell Tricep Extension: 40lbs, 20 reps - medium effort
Barbell Curl: ez bar + 20lbs, 20 reps - medium effort
Pushups: 20 reps - my elbow was feeling tweaked doing this one


I was hurtin by the time I walked out of the gym. I coulda sworn I was supposed to do some deadlifts, maybe i skipped it when i was writing down the program, I definitely wasn't missing it as I got in my car.

After that, I went home, got some food, worked on my linux box a bit, and got to bed bout an hour later than I wanted- coz the linux box was givin me headaches.

As I write this I realize how much I miss my gf- not for the usual reasons of wanting someone to help with the dog and to share the housework with; but I really miss her company and hangin out with her. She'll be moving here in 2 weeks or less, so things will get better. I think this has been a good experience for me; I realize what I want, I probly appreciate her a lot more, I tried "playing the field", but at the same time I didn't screw anything up, and I got some of my doubts outta my system.

[Chief Fox]

Sounds like you're getting back into it. That's great. I see in your goals that you mention increasig cardio and burning fat. So I have only 1 recommendation.

Once a week I do a timed workout.
One round consists of, a 500 meter row, 20 box jumps and 20 push presses. I do 4 rounds. I'm pretty much breathing really hard and almost dying by the end so much that I have to lie down on the ground for a few minutes.

Here's the beauty part of this workout. Because it's timed I can gauge my progress.
For example: when I first started doing this work out I could only do three rounds. I would finish in about 17 minutes or so. After a few weeks, the time for 3 rounds came down to about 14 minutes so I added another round. Last week I did 4 rounds in 19:24. Today I did the same 4 rounds in 18:25. Now I'm thinkning about adding another exercise in another couple of weeks.

This type of workout is quick and is a great measure of progress. So my recommendation is select three different types of exercises and create a workout like this to test your fitness level every so often. Maybe something like 3 rounds of a 1/4 mile on the eliptical, 20 dumbell swings and 20 air squats.

Just a suggestion. It sounds like you're off to a great start. Keep it up.

[Pork Chop]

hey thanx :) I'll start doing the modified version of your 3 round thing you suggested on sundays. Will try to do frog jumps instead of just plain squats.

Day 2 of this blog.

Breakfast went well.
My salad wasn't looking good so i kinda skipped it.
I think I'm going ot have to buy salads from work if i'm going to eat them, going with the prepackaged salads is really not working- they're inconvenient without a fridge and look pretty nasty after a day or 2.

for lunch i had a big lunch of brisket and chopped beef. Probly a bad idea but i was craving the protein.

I did manage to get sore after yesterday's workout, hobbling a lil today. I don't think a day beween workouts is too much to ask; or doing too little rather.

Made it to the kickboxing gym. I was tired before I even got there. My body was aching from yesterday's trip to the gym and i was suffering my late afternoon sleepiness. Ideally I would probably take a nap from 3 to 5 and then get on with my day, but i doubt i could work that in.

The workout was hard. I pushed it as hard as I could. Got the nice familiar burn in the gut of lunch from 5 hours earlier threatening to come up.

Afterwards i was sitting, but that was a bit cramped and hot, so i laid down. The ceiling fan was feeling good. A few minutes later, I sat up to join in on some discussion that was going on and puked. Luckily it just filled up my mouth, so i was able to make it to the bathroom. It was real weird to have that happen a good 10 to 15 minutes after I'd stopped working out.

I'm wondering if the reason I'm having so much trouble getting back in shape this time around is due to the heat? All the extra flab can't be helping my body cool itself off. None of the gyms I've worked out at have been particularly cool, both opting for fans instead of AC. Tonite I couldn't go home from the gym for a good 30 ~ 45 min. Everytime I stood up or even sat up straight I got dizzy and nauseous.

I still feel a lil nauseous writing this, 2+ hours later.

I decided not to head back for another weight workout today so that i don't risk overdoing it too early. I'm still kicking around the idea of a jog; but doubt that'll happen either. Kinda feel like my body's sayin "hey, save that motivation for tomorrow- make it a constant habit and eventually it'll get easier".

So I'm gonna hit up kickboxin tomorrow.
fitness gym's only open till 8 on fridays, though a jog might not be a bad idea.
saturday i can hit a kickboxing workout at 11 and then rest up to hit the fitness gym in the afternoon; followed by a fitness test on sunday.

Feel weird. Have this feeling i should eat, but still feel pretty nauseous. I need to invest in some gatorade.

[viper]

I love thai pads its great workout man get in there doin great work good to see someone says im doin it and actually does it.

[Pork Chop]

thanks for the encouragement viper :)

wish i had better news to report.

friday i could barely walk.

i think it was the lunges- my hamstrings and glutes were shredded.
my buddy from work also helped me fix my car after work.
Long story short, i didn't work out friday.

this morning (saturday) my dog had a grooming appointment.
i dropped him off real early- around 8:45.
Workout was supposed to be at 11.
got breakfast and got home around 9:45.
at that point my legs were still hurting a lil (much less than friday but they still hurt even now) and i was just tired from goofin off too much friday night.

diet's been crud

I do have some good news... no i didn't save a bunch of money on my car insurance... my gf quit her job and is en route to moving down here to texas.
i'm finding i have a hard time knowing what to do with myself when she's not around. i get bored and lonely all the time and go do stupid stuff.

Arnold said something in his encyclopedia of bodybuilding that setbacks can be a good thing because they define our limitations. I think this early failure will steel my resolve a bit. with my gf here i can't help but think that it'll get easier from here on out- even if my body's not really cooperating; coz she'll keep me grounded.

Next weeks' gonna be better.

[viper]

there was a time i did couple hundred hindu squats and i couldn walk for three days my muscles at first just calapsed from fatigue even on the second day after dont sweat it persistance pays off.

[Pork Chop]

Monday May 1

Back at it. Today I brought my gf with me.

Good ole fashioned "warmup" (read sprints) on the elliptical for 10 min.
Didn't break any records, but it went okay. I was sweatin good afterwards.

On the workout- tried not to bump up too much of the weights up too much so my body didn't flip out on me too much:

Dumbell swings 50 pounds, lost count on this one, shoulda been close to 20, was a lil heavy

incline situps - 20

touch opposite foot w/ dumbell - pretty sure 50lbs on this one, 20 reps each side

lunges - just the bar again, 15 double reps each leg, stretched beforehand and took my time during so i didn't have problems walking

bench press- 115lbs (35s) x 20 reps, was suprisingly easy.

vertical row - ezbar + 40 x 20

pullups - 140lb assist, made 18 reps this time. Fixed my grip & felt stronger, still a long way to go.

tricep extensions - 50lb dumbell x 20

barbell curls- ezbar + 40lbs x 20

pushups - 10 on balance board, 10 on the floor. these hurt.

Lil more rest between sets today coz i was helpin my gf do the workout too (with next to no weight of course). I think in general i need to be a bit more conservative with how much i put out. i gotta quit with the mentality of expectations of doing what i used to do. it'll come, it's just going to be slow. The slower I go, the further I'll get coz the more consistant I'll be.

[Pork Chop]

5/2/06
kinda figuring some stuff out as i go now.
after hitting the gym yesterday i'm a lil sore, but not in a bad way.
A HUGE improvement over not being able to walk.
Did the whole "wake up at 5am, get to work by 6:30 so i can get off by 4" thing today. I was draggin the whole day- passing out anytime i sat down longer than 15 to 20 min. At the end of the day i was bushed. I went home and crashed for 3 hours.
I guess I can wake up real early and even work a full day on that early schedule, but it's not really what my body wants. Monday I was almost bouncing off the walls with energy. I had energy the whole day too, not just at the beginning. The only difference (aside from hitting the gym) was that I'd kinda slept in, working from 8:30 to 6:30.
I'm going to try out the later schedule tomorrow and just swing by the gym whenever I get out.
I may not make the 5pm beginner's class, but at least it's something.
Hate being a flake, but it's not like i'm falling apart after having a consistent schedule; i'm having trouble getting going.
Sub sandwiches are working really good for lunch. One 2 or 3 dollar sandwich and i'm saving myself a good 5 or 10 bux each day. Not to mention, it's probably healthier than what i'd order at a restaurant.

[Pork Chop]

Fort Worth had some weather issues last night, the power went out real bad and i went to work real late. I think it was a blessing in disguise.

Again, I wake up after 6 or 7 and viola, all of a sudden i've got energy to carry me through the day and even enough to want to go do something after work (besides sleep). It was kind of the nail in the coffin for trying to get my workday over by 4 so i could hit a 5pm workout. I think I'm just going to have to see what my workout options are at the time that I'm more comfortable working out (6 to 7).

Today at work, I ate okay. It wasn't real good. I ate what I planned to eat, which is a victory in itself. The bad parts were that I ate my meal 2 and meal 3 at the same time (lunch), so lunch was a bit heavier than it should've been. My late day snack was also not all that good for me (carrot cake) eventho I planned it. Dinner was some italian & while it may top every "bad food" list, I ain't gonna stop eating it coz i love it; again it was a leftover meal that i planned to eat today.

The reasons it's important to eat what I plan is so that I don't freak out, spend extra money, and go out to eat. Also, i create a habit that i can gradually tweak to the healthy food i should be eating.

I wrote the "input needed" thread towards the end of work as I realized that I was going to have to find the best 6:30~7pm workout option in order to have any success with this schedule. As I stated in the thread, I've got 3 options: the fitness center I already work out at, the kickboxing gym, or the boxing gym.

Something about "catching the 8 o'clock class at the kickboxin gym" (a Tuesday-Thursday sparring class ) didn't sit right with me. I really had no interest in going to a highly structured class covering material i didn't feel ready for. As a result, I called the boxing gym to see what they've got to offer and set up an appointment for tomorrow to go check it out. Tonight, I just went home, picked up my girl, and went to the fitness center.

Did the old 10 minute sprint workout on the elliptical crosstrainer. Jacked up the resistance toward the end and my calorie output spiked. Prior to that it seemed a lil low. Doesn't really matter, I pushed it hard, i was sweating, and was tired afterwards.

Still doing the General Fitness workout:
Dumbell swings - 50lbs x 20 - pretty intense and tiring
Incline situps - 20
Touch Opposite Toe with dumbell - 50lbs x 20 - would get sloppy if i upped weight
Lunges - Oly Bar x 15 double reps each leg - don't think this'll ever get easier
Bench - 135 (2 45s) x 20 - i like this one, it was doable, but should do at least two more times before increasing weight
Vertical Row - Ez Curl + 40lbs x 20 - pretty easy
Assisted Pullup - 140lb assist x 20 - happy to finally make full 20 reps!!!
Tricep Extension - 50lb x 20 - some of the final ones were sloppy, wrist & shoulders giving me problems
Barbell curl - Ez Curl + 40lbs x 20 - not too bad, but a bit tiring
Pushups - 10 on step platform, 10 on knees - was burnt by this point

The plan for the fitness workout is to hit it maybe 1 more time this week and next week add another set or 2 to a few of the exercises. I'm a bit leary about trying to do multiple 15+ rep sets of the same exercise though, so we'll play it by ear. I may do a 20, 15, 10 kinda thing if the exercise is particularly easy; or just jump to level 2 after 4 weeks instead of 8. After level 2 I can get into more fun routines- either doing sport-specific training, or tackling Bill Pearl's 20 month program.

The gym's the most fun i'm having working out, coz i actually feel like i'm making progress instead of just overdoing it.




Was reading t-nation forums today and picked up some good quotes that reverberate with me:

"We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training"

"Don't let your ego get in the way of your progress"

" Every time you stay out late...
Every time you sleep in...
Every time you miss a workout...
You make it that much easier
for me to beat you." - Ironsport Gym's slogan

"Somewhere out there, a little Chinese girl is warming up with your max."
-Jim Conroy, Olympic weightlifting coach.

"Resistance is but an obstacle the must be overcome."
--Robert MacIntyre

"To become strong, one must first NEED to become strong." Friedrich Nietzsche

"When you doubt yourself, it is like joining your enemy's army." Alexandre Dumas

"Evolution does not happen unless there is conflict that spurs change. Continually go without challenging yourself and one day you'll wake up to find yourself extinct." Anonymous

"The only easy day was yesterday"
taken from the Navy SEALS

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do... the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
-General George S. Patton

"I've struggled through countless nights just to get to this point ... and you're in my way." -Berserker

"Tried. Failed. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better."

"Determination: What will you do..when your body screams stop?
Discipline: That which divides those who will....from those who can.
Focus: To conquer the body, you must first conquer the mind.
Failure: The point at which the strong, have just begun.
Leg day: Just when you thought you knew true pain..
The Secret: Insane work ethic, willingness to sacrifice, and an unquenchable desire."

[Pork Chop]

Wow... to think i originally disparaged that boxing gym. hehe

i went to the boxin gym for my appointment. I was a lil downed coz the owner obviously didn't like anything other than boxing- told me not to kick his bags; but no biggie, i need to work on my boxin anyway.

the gym's a sweat shop, like 1 fan, no AC, but boy was it fun. I think I just really enjoy a self-paced workout more than the strict class structure. Even in the classes I was in back east, there was a lot more freedom to self-pace certain drills. i'm not lazy and i know that I can make more consistant progress if i pace myself, especially early on. I'll definitely go back to the kickboxin class later if/when i start to plateau. Part of being successful in fights and sparring is knowing how to pace yourself, so you can stay productive throughout the entirity of the fight; not just going bawlz out the whole time.

Ended up signing up for 3 months at the boxing gym. it's real convenient, the hours are reasonable, the people are friendly, pretty good facilities, and it's on my way home from work. It'll be real easy to combo up the boxing gym with the fitness center as I can hit both en route to home.

My workout was:
3 rounds of jumprope (first round wasn't really a full one, but i was dyin so bad by the 3rd one i wasn't about to stress it)
3 rounds of shadow wearing gloves (they don't really shadow at the kickboxing gym so it was eye opening to see where i was really at with my stuff)
5 rounds of heavybag (used a few different bags here, really tried to sprint out the last 30 seconds of each round)
1 round of bobbing and weaving under the rope (yikes this was rough)
1 round of double end bag (all their dbl end bags were deflated with some sort of duct-taped, jury rigged thing you were supposed to hit instead. was pretty awkward)
1 round of maize bag (their maize bag's filled heavy, so you pay if you mess up- nice)
1 round of abs (2 situps with medicine ball twist, 20 quickjabs with the medicine ball against the wall, 20 situps with medicine ball tosses).

I was pretty dead after that, but i sat around and hung out with one of the assistant coaches for a bit- he had similar eye problems to mine and he was a real cool dude to talk to.

I think the coach's beef with stuff other than boxing is due to the kung fu school behind the gym. I'm sure there's a story there; but not that anxious to pry. I'm sure if the opportunity presents itself to bring up my laptop, sit, and watch fight clips- then i could get him to appreciate muay thai at least.

Good chance of getting some boxing fights through this gym; something about it gave me a good vibe- have a strong feeling that once i'm in shape, i'm going to be splitting my time between all 3 gyms: MWF kickboxin, TThSat boxin&fitness.

[Pork Chop]

Friday i was busy with a lot of other stuff, so i was really plannin on today bein the day.
Woulda had a great day today but the gym was open from 10am to noon, not noon to 2pm like i thought it was. got there, saw it closed and felt like a tool.
Obliques still hurtin so i'll just save it for monday.
Doing some pushups home to do somethin.

Tonite are the mma fights in Fort worth. I'd rather watch the delahoya mayorga fight but i already got my ticket. I'm rootin for Mayorga btw, he fights with a lot of fire and I like that more than guys who go for the decision. I don't really think he's gonna win tho hehe.

[Pork Chop]

Saturday night fell off the wagon a bit at the afterparty for the MMA fights.
Got to meet Cole Miller though, so that was cool.

Sunday I only got out of bed long enough to go pick up some Church's Fried Chicken (strips).

Monday was as close to a perfect day as I've had yet.
Breakfast was meager- just a <200 calorie blueberry muffin w/almonds.
Midmorning (lunch) was good - a smoked turkey sandwich
afternoon snack was meh- some sourdough pretzel bites & a protein shake

after work i went to the boxing gym:
3 rounds of jump rope - was wearing my actual boxing shoes 'coz i forgot my sneakers, jumping rope hurt, by the end my feet were all cramped up

3 rounds of shadow - felt a lil sluggish

5 rounds of various heavybags - went pretty well, was pretty burnt by the last round

1 round of mitt work- this was tough coz i'm a southpaw and can screw up even the best pad holder's rhythm.

1 round of bobbing/weaving under the rope.

1 round of maize bag

1 round of situps with medicine ball

Was hurtin a bit after the workout. My shirt was completely soaked through. Think my weight, with just shorts on, was 248 (which is ridiculously high for me).


Went home and had some gatorade.
A few minutes later i was jumpin back in the car to hit the fitness center.

"Warmed" up on the elliptical crosstrainer.
I really killed myself on this sprint session.
I had a better-than-average performance calorie wise, but pushed about as hard as i ever have.

Weights were tough. I was really startin to fade.

dumbell swings: 50lbs x 20 - i was strong on this one, but man was i tired

incline situps: 20

bend to opposite foot w/dumbell: 50lbs x 20 - just plain tired on this one, plodded through it though

lunges: bar x 10 doubles each leg - this was the worste exercise of the night. I almost didn't even start them because i got real dizzy after the last exercise. I was also seeing stars. Even when I could clear my head long enough to do them, i still had balance problems. A double rep is one forward lunge, one backward lunge, for each rep. I am starting to doubt that 15 doubles is a good number to shoot for. I feel if i stick with 10, i can actually add some weight and start making progress

bench: 135 x 20 - apparently the rest i gave myself during and after the lunges really helped. felt like i caught my second wind. i slowed down a bit by the end of the 20, but it was still very do-able.

vertical row: Ez curl + 50lbs x 20 - this wasn't too hard, but jumping into it quickly after the bench kinda killed the second wind i had going.

assisted pullup: 140lb assist x 20 - again, jumped in a bit quick. Kinda failed on last rep, but still made it. Given the fatigue i was feeling all day, i'm happy with this one. Afterwards I was seein stars again, not quite as dizzy as before, but had to sit down.

dumbell tricep extension: 20lbs x 20 x each arm - things were kinda sloppy with the 50 and i wanted to make sure each arm was getting a good workout and not one arm taking over more than the other so i isolated each arm for this exercise. Once I got the form down, they weren't difficult and I could probably do 25 to 30lbs next time. Did this one seated instead of standing like i had been; which i think forced me to keep better form.

barbell curl: Ez curl bar + 40lbs x 20 - not bad. slowed down a bit into the set but was definitely doable. might want to risk another 10lbs next time out, or time after that.

I was hurtin pretty bad after that- wrist was starting to bug me again after the triceps & barbell, and i decided to do pushups at home.

I went home and got my pushup bars (or as I call them: "the wrist savers") and cranked out 20 reps.

After that I had 1/2 a serving of creatine, a double-portioned protein shake (40g), and finally ate some dinner: 2 dishes- beef with veggies & spicy green cury with chicken & potatoes. Didn't really finish both dishes, ended up mixing them and doing what i could. The curry was a bit too spicy and I exacerbated the situation (as we'll see in a bit).

After eating i crashed on the couch for an hour, sitting up straight as i could manage, watching Mind of Mencia. Come 11:30 i knew i was either going to fall asleep right there on the couch, or i was going to have to get moving, so I put my shoes back on and went for a jog.

Jogging on a relatively full belly of spicy green curry is a bad idea. a REALLY bad idea. I was so bloated i could barely jog. *warning: graphic description* Musta came close to projectile vomiting a good 5 times, and the other end wasn't doin so well either */end description*. I still managed to make a mile and a half. I was sweating like crazy the whole time. I was sweating when i got home too. Sitting in the bathroom i thought i was gonna die.

I took a shower, took my vitamins, checked my email, and tried to go to bed. Don't think I got to bed before 2. I really shoulda slept earlier.

Today, Tuesday, i woke up with a sore throat and runny nose. I really thought I wasn't going to make it to work today. Feeling like I have absolutely no leave to take is a heckuva motivator. Woke up around 7 under my own power, which is pretty nice. Still gotta hit the hay early tonite. I like the idea of adding a light jog every evening (hopefully not too soon after eating); want to see if i can establish the habit.

[Pork Chop]

the last few days have been kind of a blur. i came down with something HARD. it's in my head and chest. today i'm still sneezing a little; but in general my nose has slowed down a bit, i'm mostly just painfully hacking up grape-sized phlegm ballz. hurts but i still feel better than yesterday. hopin that i can go back to work (and maybe the gym) tomorrow (friday).

[Pork Chop]

Okay friday i was actually somewhat clear headed. I went into work for a half a day, so i didn't have to keep takin all this leave I don't have.
By the end of the day my voice was all broken, I was coughing up a lung, was getting dizzy, and the head cold felt like it was back. After a rough drive home I just stayed there and just kinda laid low for a bit.

Today, saturday, I woke up early enough to hit the gym for a morning workout before my parents drove up from houston. I tried to take one deep breath and the tightness of my chest was painful. I been coughing up more stuff all day. a good "sweat it out" workout would be nice, but i'm sure i'd end up with bronchitis.

At this rate of improvement though i should be back in the swing of things by monday.

happy mother's day everyone.

[Pork Chop]

This weekend was fun, lots of bad food though.
Found Central Market, a whole foods kinda place, and I think my eating's going to get quite a bit better in the next few weeks.

Monday I made it back to the boxing gym.
I'm still a bit sick, so I wasn't trying to achieve anything fantastic.
I did my old basic short workout: 3 rounds, 3 different exercises, with some changes for my condition.

3 (and a half) rounds of jump rope. This wasn't pretty, i was dyin.
4 rounds of shadow boxing. I still feel very awkward, think it's a combination of being so overweight and out of practise but it's really disturbing feeling like a total beginner again.
2 rounds of heavybag. This went alright, but definitely during the second round i was all but done.

Afterwards i sprayed down the heavybag to keep anybody else from getting infected. Was playing with the owner's dog, ironically enough- a boxer; nice dog, but the owner was giving me weird looks. Guess he thought i was being weird around the dog- but the dog was coming up to me, not my fault.

My eating was still bad, maybe the worst, but at least I had a lot of fish, so i got those good fatty acids.

This morning i woke up and it feels like i'm just clearing stuff out of my system- barely feel sick anymore. Still not going to push it, don't want this escalating to bronchitis or pneumonia, but it's nice not to feel as out of it.

Today the plan is to hit up the rec center (or just use light dumbells at home) for a near-no-weight version of my lifting program. A lot going on this week that i gotta get done, slightly overwhelming.

[Pork Chop]

had too much to do today after work and didn't make it to the gym. diet stunk too. still sick- felt good this morning, but by the end of work i was spaced out again.

tomorrow's another day. gonna try to hit the hay early. if i wake up early i may workout. if not, then i'll hit up the boxing gym after work. if i still have energy after that & am not sick again i'll go on to the gym, maybe even jog after that.

[Pork Chop]

Woke up today feeling downright ILL from what I ate yesterday.
Did manage to cook up a ton of diet soup in the crock pot last night so I'm good to go with kickin my diet on track.
Coworker told me about his success with Weight Watchers today and as lame as it sounds i am really thinking about giving it a shot. I'm not good at weighing my food and looking at labels and i look at weight watchers as almost a class on how to do that.
Just woke up really ticked off today and I'm sick of the way things have been going: body taking a long time to climatize, body not adjusting to working out very quick, diet going to heck, gaining tons of weight, being tired, and feeling ill all the time.

I think I'm finaly fed up and am ready to make a change.

[Pork Chop]

Hit the boxing gym tonite. afterwards i got real tired- more sleepy tired and just dead.

Had half the creatine i was gonna have and tried to drink a protein shake after that. Something happened and about 3/4s of the way through my protein shake, my stomach cramped up. I was starving though so that mighta had something to do with it. I had a couple lean, breaded chicken sandwiches on wheat bread topped with some buffalo sauce (nutrition facts on the back showed them to be a lot better than you'd think).

Not gonna jog tonite. Still a lil sick (though much improved- bout 80%) and still adjusting so i still gotta take it slow.
Looking forward to lifting and boxing next week.
Gonna see how i feel tomorrow and if possible, i'd like to hit the weights.

My boxing workout was a lot more intense than i planned:
3 rounds jump rope- this is REALLY hard for me right now, cardio wise and my legs start cramping up.
4 rounds of shadow - 2 with hand weights, 1 with no weights, 1 with gloves
4 rounds of heavybag - my arms were pretty rubbery by the end
1 round of double end bag - the shadow burned my arms bad, heavybag made it worse, achin by this point
1 round of slip bag - had it goin fast, messed up more than i wanted it to
1 round of ab chair - one of those ab-doer type seated crunch machines. it was kinda easy to do for 1 round
3 rounds of pad work - still trying to get on a good rhythm with the guy holding pads.

Looking at that, the workout was twice what i was originally planning. lol

[Pork Chop]

Today I just went for a 2 mile jog and did some pushups- couldn't sleep, was originally planning on not working out.

diet today was okay. the diet soup leaves me starving within a couple hours of drinking it. i'm gonna stick with it coz it's a good source of vegetables and really seems to get my appetite more where it should be.

Appetite and hunger wise, usually either i'm starving or i don't want to eat at all. usually can't do the 6 meal a day thing properly coz i just don't get hungry. have 9 tubs of protein powder i can't finish coz i can't bring myself to drink the stuff. when i do get hungry, i get so hungry it's almost impossible to have control- and the hunger doesn't go away till like 45 min after i've stopped eating; so i often end up stopping when my belly feels like it's gonna pop, but i'm still starving.

I think my crazy hunger/satisfied signals being so borked is a big reason i'm all messed up when it comes to being able to eat healthy.

the good thing is that the diet soup seems to regulate me a bit. I'd still like to be eating it exclusively (except for breakfast) but even when I only have it that once, it seems to help.

Today i had yogurt and an oatmeal cooky for breakfast; diet soup for lunch around noon, mongolian bar b q around 4 (was starving when i went out to get my emissions checked and couldn't help myself- but at least i didn't pig out, sensible portion), and salmon for dinner around 8. Lots of veggies, a good amount of fiber, and tons of protein. That's probably healthier than i was planning on eating in the first place.

Coworker was supposed to bring weight watchers data today but didnt. Might do "Cheater Diet" from T-mag. Might just come up with calorie, protein, carb, sodium, and fat totals that i want to stick to and go for it. Might even just decide that I'm only going to eat healthy stuff i cook- ie fish, chicken with vegetables, soups, etc.

[Pork Chop]

There are fights tonite in Dallas so they kinda kicked me out of the gym early today.
The fitness center ain't really air conditioned and closes 2 hours early on fridays- preventing me from being able to wait till after the sun starts to set to workout.

I did 4 rounds of shadowboxing with gloves and 1 or 2 rounds of everything I had on the heavybag. Easily had twice as much as that still left in me; but hey, sometimes you have light days and other times you have hard days.

For my first 3 boxing workout week since i got out here, i'm a lil sore. Aches include: both shoulders, rear knee, rear elbow, and rear wrist. The light workout may have saved me from an injury.

Good chance I'll still jog & do pushups later tonite after the sun goes down.

Diet wise, today's a mediocre to bad type of day. Had to more car stuff today- registration this time, but only had to work a few hours and that helped.

Woke up late and missed breakfast, just had my Hot Rox and some blueberry pomegranite juice (not the super-syrupy Pom stuff tho). The car stuff took forever and afterwards we were close to a Red Brick pizza joint. I had 2 cheesy breadsticks and a small, personal pizza, topped with the Works & feta cheese.
Haven't eaten anything since the mini pizza, just a gatorade and some more Hot Rox (which keeps the metabolism running - doesn't curb appetite). I may shoot for some chicken with no type of breading or fry later tonite.

[Pork Chop]

Tonite just didn't happen.

Moving out here from maryland, i realized that my wardrobe's a bit lacking for the weather out here. The good news is that Dic keys is based out of Fort Worth- so even walmart stacks mad D ickeys for cheap. Spent a bunch of money on a ton of clothes- most expensive article was a $19 pair of pants. I bought a lot. hehe

Went out to eat at this chinese place when we were out, hadn't eaten anything except the mini pizza 10 hours earlier. Ate some dumplings and some beef noodle soup, finished up with a couple crab rangoon. Probly not healthy but i didn't stuff myself. Got some nice leftovers for tomorrow.

Got home and was fighting to stay awake. Woulda been asleep hours ago but I had to watch the Spurs game and later surfed the net for some gloves. I want some bag gloves that are closer to fight gloves. I've been doing the "train heavy" thing for a long time. I think once my endurance comes back to normal, the benefits of that type of training will pretty much. I really wanna have my defense and stance properly tuned to the right size of gloves that I'll be fighting with. Plus, smaller gloves will help with focus mitt training- my current gloves are bigger than the trainer's mitts, which leads to some ugly rounds.

Body-wise, the soreness i was feeling during the mini-workout didn't go away. My shoulders and legs are really bugging me. As lazy as it sounds, i think it's smarter to continue to play it conservative. If I gotta have a day with mediocre diet and mediocre workout, I'll take it if it means that my body stays on track and finally starts adapting.

[Pork Chop]

Was thinking about my weight workout a lot the last couple days coz I've found myself looking at it a burden, instead of something I wanted to jump back into.

I went back to the original workout plan in Pearl's book to see if i could get any ideas when 'lo and behold, turns out I had the workout down wrong. It was really a good thing coz the whole single set, 20 rep thing was getting more than a lil old. Fixed up my plan and was eager to get back in there today.

Skipped the sprinting as a "warm up". I think it helped with the endurance. I'll reincorporate it later I think but at the moment, I'm still trying to ease back into weights after a week off for being sick.

Dumbell swing - 30lb x 20 reps - real easy. 50 was a bit of a strain, wanted to tone it down a lil for my first day back.

Situps - 20 reps - was on the steepest angle the chair would go so it was real hard

Bend to Opposite foot- 30lbs x 40 reps each side - was tired by the end of the 2nd side, wrist was fatigued too

Barbell lunges - 115lbs, 115lbs, 135lbs x 10 reps each set (3) x each side - went back and looked up the form on these coz they've been giving me a lot of trouble. I'd been doing a lunge, with a kind of 1 legged squat for each rep. Turns out I just need to step out as far as possible and just keep the bag leg straight. Didn't have any problems and it felt a lot better!

Bench Press - 135, 155, 175 x 10 reps each set (3) - second set was easier than first. 3rd set wasn't bad, but i actually split it into 2 sets (so 4, not 3) coz I was really nervous about working out with 175. I get real scared when trying to do heavy weight on bench.

Vertical Row - 65lbs, 95lbs, 95lbs x 10 reps each set (3) - I really like this exercise! the 95lb sets were hard as HECK but felt awesome. Think I like it coz it reminds me of a mini clean without the awkward squatting stuff.

Pullups - 140lb assist, 120lb, 100/120 x 10 reps each set (3) - failed on last set, had to crank the assist back up to 120.

Tricep Extension - Ez curl bar + 20, 40, 40 x 10 reps each set (3) - MUCH nicer with the EZ curl bar. Right elbow was clicking on 2nd set. Pretty do-able by the 3rd set.

Barbell curl - Ez curl bar + 40, 50, 50 x 10 reps each set (3) - last set slowed down a lot by the end and even failed last rep.

Pushups - on balance platform, on flat swissball, on floor x 10 reps each set (3) - was tired by the end of this. Maybe not quite as much of a grind as before, but wasn't easy.


Diet wise the day's been another "less than optimal". Had 2 chicken sandwiches on wheat bread for lunch. had my creatine (w/glutamine) and protein shakes after my workout. Will probably eat again in another hour or 2. Think I need more protein for the day, hard to be strict on the weekends without just skipping meals.

I've got Alpha Male coming. Liked Tribex, thought Red Kat was worthless, but have high hopes. There's a huge difference between me pushing 29 and me when i was pushing 19; don't wanna go too deep into that, but I could use a lil help.


Broke down and ordered the Grant bag gloves I've been looking at for the past month. Yeah, I know 140 bux (after taxes n shipping) is ridiculous for bag gloves, ESPECIALLY after spending so much money on those 2 pairs of Reyes that didn't turn out to be all that (got 50 back on one of 'em at least). But I have a lot of hope for this pair of gloves; i think they might be the best I've ever owned.

The smaller weight (12oz) is a departure from my old theory on "train heavy". Lately, my mindset has been more of trying to use equipment as close to possible as actual fight equipment, so I don't have to readjust so much once I step in the ring. Smaller gloves for pads n bag are also nice for a few more reasons:
- not having as much cushioning between your fist and the contact surface has almost a plyometric benefit in the delivery of the shock, improves your power by strengthening your structure with the jaring of each hit- but still enough padding to protect your knuckles (unlike old-fashioned bag gloves).
- distancing doesn't get all messed up; it's easy to fall short when you're used to your gloves being an extra inch longer
- smaller gloves means i can get better work in with my pad guy, big fluffy gloves can really make a pad session fall flat if the pad guy's using small mitts.


Only a week and a half left till i head back to the kickboxing gym. Feel like i've made a lot of progress already, considering the illness i've battled.

[Pork Chop]

Sunday was my off day. Was so sore i barely got out of bed. just went grocery shopping. Took the day off the diet & supplements too- 4 pieces of pizza for lunch with onion rings and tater tots, some bihon (rice noodles with beef & veggies) for dinner, ice cream sandwich for dessert.

Still sore this morning. Head's been hurting too. hope i'm not getting sick again. definitely feel better when i get healthy foods & supplements.

[Pork Chop]

WHEW!!!
Thermometer on the wall of the boxing gym said 90. That actually seemed lower than it felt. Felt like every breath I took was more like sucking on the exhaust pipe of an old 70s gas guzzler.

4 rounds of jump rope - feet were cramping up something fierce. Last round was the best strangely enough.

4 rounds of shadow - 2 in gloves, 2 with weights. first round was slow. felt tight. new guy pointed out that i need to keep my elbows in more. really tried to work on it. muscles were totally burning BEFORE using the hand weights. The hand weight rounds were such a struggle that my output was pretty sad. Did my best to hang in there.

5 rounds of heavybag - was really tearing into it. Moving to a different bag each round. Went: big boy (an 80 or 100 pounder, biggest there), the body snatcher (from ringside), the heavy canvas (again 80 or 100), the light leather (60 pounds maybe), and the light canvas (40 lb). By the last round my explosiveness was gone and my body was powering down without me.

1 round of double end - i don't like their double ended bags, the bladders are always either flat or just insignificant. just can't flow on this one. miss my old bxf double endeds.

1 round of maize bag - their maize bag is heavy, and it was working better as a double ended bag than the actual double ended- was punching it bare knuckle. it was fun to time an uppercut to nail it as it was swinging fast over my head from behind me.

20 knees to chest on the leg lift chair
20 scissors on the leg lift chair
10 decline situps with medicine ball on the messed up situp chair- better stick to the floor, this actually hurts to use.
20 side to side jumps over one of the heavybags on the floor.

At the end of that, i just didn't have anything left. I was really hurting by the time I got home.

Diet wise I think i had a good day. 2 yogurts for breakfast, with my glucosamine drink & battery of supplements. Small container of diet soup for lunch. Big green drink w/spirulina in the afternoon - too much sugar, but couldn't resist 4 servings of veggies. An apple late in the day. Got home from the gym and had 2 servings of chocolate milk (half a liter maybe?) and water. I'm a lil hungry but don't feel like eating.

Alpha male came in the mail today. I'll log how it goes.

This week the goal is to do some work out every day so that next week i can handle going to the kickboxing gym at least once, the fitness center at least once, and the boxing gym 3 times. Was still sore today, so i'm just gonna hope i can make it tomorrow. I'll get some creatine & glutamine before bed maybe.

[Pork Chop]

I just need to have a little rant here.
I don't know if anyone'll read it or if anyone would even want to i just wanna get it outta my system.

I'm getting dragged into an internet argument between a guy I barely know and a guy I don't know at all; maybe I drug myself into it, i dunno, doesn't matter.

The thing is; I made a private statement with the caveat that in no way did I want to contribute to the argument that was being carried out in public- only that I thought the idea that seeing the argument resolved in the same public venue as Sifu Abel & ShaolinTiger00's event would be interesting.

The next thing I know, not only is my name being dropped like a ton of bricks, but so is my friend's- who's got nothing to do with this, and since I'm stuck at work, there ain't much I can do to distance myself from the statement. This little blog's the closest thing I've got to being able to do that.

This whole thing's stoopid

[Pork Chop]

Apparently Alpha male and Hot Rox don't mix well. Something about cAMP levels make it like taking a lot of high-blood pressure pills. Had some weird headaches and dizzyness yesterday. I was still sore from Saturday's workout too. I've decided I kinda like having a day off between workouts too so I didn't lift weights yesterday.

Diet went pretty good:

breakfast was yogurt and a blueberry muffin
snack was a balthouse farms protein shake (whey not soy)
lunch was some salmon
snack was an apple & a bannana
dinner was a couple chicken sandwiches (with even healthier chicken fillets)
and I had a cadbury caramel egg for a snack

felt a lil better after i ate last night, so not enough food mighta been a part of it, unfortunately the good feeling didn't last and i just felt... uncomfortable.

I've decided to just take hot rox on the weekends, going 4-3 (alpha male, hot rox) or 5-2.

I went to bed early last night, around 9 or 10. My girl woke me up at 1 when she came to the room, but i got right back to sleep.

This morning I took a Hydroxycut Hardcore with my Alpha Male, thinking it wouldn't mess with my cAMP levels (reading the label proved my thinking to be wrong).

I actually feel pretty good this morning; it was either the sleep, the Hydroxycut, or a combination of both. Forgot my gym clothes this morning & forgot my cooler at work last night; hate being forgetful. Gotta drop by the house on my way out to the gym. Gonna do my best to hit the weights tonite; don't feel near as sore. If I pick up some water and gatorade from home after work, before the workout, I should be good. It gets real hot in the gym and a lot of my exhaustion after workouts might be heat exhaustion.

[Pork Chop]

crud

alright my diet today was definitely respectible.

oatmeal & scrambled eggs (w/parsley) for breakfast
balthouse mocha whey protein shake for snack
went to barbeque for lunch but just had some turkey brisket, a small roll, and a small corn on the cob
afternoon snack was an apple and a banana
Just drank 2 servings of chocolate milk.
Might eat again later tonite.

went home after work, grabbed a gatorade and a cold water; almost got in an accident on the way home, was seeing red, thought i was going to kill the guy- guess it's the Alpha Male.
went to the gym, it was 2 degrees hotter than last time.

jump rope- 5 rounds
shadow box- 5 rounds: first 2 with hand weights
heavybag- jumped on the big one and was ripping it, started to gas by end of round.
focus mitts- 1 round of hell with the owner
jumped back on the heavybag for 4 more rounds: 1 round heavy canvas, 1 round body snatcher, 1 round light canvas, 1 round green leather w/normal fill. I was almost passing out from the first round on.

Heat exhaustion is a nasty nasty thing.
My eyes kept rolling on me from the heat. Wanted to take off my shirt much earlier, but didn't till the last round coz a lady was there.
Trainer told me not to overdo it, he saw me almost fall out doing mitts.

I got home and cooled off for at least a good 20~30 min.
I thought i could go back out to the gym, i was starting to feel a lil better.
Took a few steps outside my air conditioned apartment and started getting dizzy again.
I stood still, having an internal debate.
I really wanted to hit the gym, but something in my body was telling me "no".
When I thought about it I didn't think i could survive the workout, it's a pretty long one compared to the 12~16 sets I used to do (lunges alone are 6 sets coz it's 3 each leg).
I was also running out of time, last time i did the workout it took me an hour and a half.
I wussed out.

I know I'm a loser but I think i'm just going to do my best to get to the gym on Thursday. Might go Sunday too, coz my certification exam's on saturday.

I'm still hurting pretty bad from the boxing workout, my body's gonna take a while to cool down.

[Pork Chop]

I was real mad about not being able to hit the gym yesterday so last night I went to bed around 9 something. I woke up this morning before 5 and hit the gym for an early workout. it was nice to be able to workout before the heat of the day really made it unbearable; but I noticed that they really don't use much AC whatsoever, even in the fitness center, which kinda sux the longer a workout goes.

Did a nice, slow warm up on the elliptical for 10 minutes. Wasn't trying any sprint sessions. Hopefully I'll be able to build back up to those later.

Dumbell swings - 35lbs x 20 - kinda lost count and i think i mighta done 30

Decline situps - slight decline on the situp bench x 30

Bend to Opposite foot - 35lbs x 30 each leg - little bit of an endurance session

lunges - stepping lunges 115lbs x 10 each leg, static lunges 115lbs x 10 each leg, static deep lunges 45lbs x 10 each leg. My knees were bugging me and I was having balance problems I tried playing with different variations to keep from hurtin myself

bench - 155 x 10, 175 x 10, 175 x 5 - 155 x 5. The last rep on the second set was kinda bad, so i took a couple breaths and redid it. The last set, i was starting to get nervous with the weight and was getting tired, so i put it up, took off 20lbs as fast as i could and finished out the set. 155 - 165 - 175 might be better.

vertical row - 95 x 10, 95 x 10, 95 x 10. Wondering if maybe i should do high pulls instead of the row, eventho i do like the exercise. things slowed down a bit at various times. pretty heavy.

assisted pullups - 140lb assist x 10, 120lb assist x 10, 120lb assist x 10. First set was way too easy. Second sets were good- hard but not beyond me.

Tricep Extension - EZ curl + 30lbs x 10, +40lbs x 10, +40lbs x 10. First set too easy. The +40 went well, but slowed down by the end of last set.

Barbell Curl/Pushup superset - EZ curl + 50lbs x 10 / 10 pushups, +50lbs x 10 / 10 pushups, +50lbs x 10 / 10 pushups. The first superset I took too much break between curls and pushups. Second superset was better. Third maybe best, eventho the curls went slow.

Went home and had some creatine, 2 servings of chocolate milk, and most of a banana. My stomach was buggin me.


Kinda wanna work out tonite, not sure what I'll do, may hit the boxing gym. We'll see how I'm feeling after work.
I got to work around 8:15, i could've probably sped things up this morning and gotten here 30 to 45 min earlier, which is what I'm going to have to do if i ever want to make the 5pm kickboxing class.

[Pork Chop]

Just had a setback. ARGH

I was feeling woozy today by the end of work- combination of not enough food and starting to get sleepy from waking up early this morning to go work out. I really couldn't think straight, i think i left my lunch box in some halway or in the parking lot.

I got home and instead of helping me out with some food, my fiancee took my dog for a walk. I think it's just the language barrier but she really doesn't get it sometimes when i'm seriously asking her for help.

Feeling about to fall out i jumped on the computer and ordered a lot chicken strips from pizza hut. it was a bad idea, i just wasn't thinking straight. had my little cheat meal and now I just feel lousy; first coz my stomach was giving me fits from the food and second coz i just plain feel guilty.

I just don't understand the problem, i ate at least what i normally do at work. It was either the workout in the morning or the fact that i'm only taking alpha male and no hot rox.

at least i hit weights this morning.
gloves didn't come either. :mad:

[Pork Chop]

Light boxing workout yesterday:

2 rounds of heavybag going full out
2 rounds of shadowboxing, kinda relaxed
2 rounds of jump rope- this really gave me problems.

heat was getting to me, but a couple minutes after resting i felt better.

Spent too much money last night going out on the town. They were charging me 3 bux for each diet coke i was drinking, which added up. I didn't drink or smoke, which was cool, but i wasted too much time and money.

I didn't finish enough studying for my certification test and didn't get enough sleep last night. Long story short, I didn't go. Again, an aggregious waste of money with nothing to show for it. I gotta make some changes.

Diet yesterday was pretty darn good if i do say so myself. Had 2 balthouse farms drinks- the green one and the whey one. Other than that I just had some chicken marsala with a lot of veggies- squash & mushrooms. The drinks had a lot of calories, but they also had a ton of vitamins, nutrients & a good amount of protein. If i drank those 2 every day i wouldn't need any ZMA. I also feel a lot better when I get my full servings of veggies.

Today had leftovers from the chicken fiasco.

Gonna call my buddy Ian and see if he wants to do anything while he's in town.

[Pork Chop]

Saturday was useless.
Felt kinda guilty from the sheer waste of money.
Wasted too much on Friday night and wasted even more on saturday coz I didn't go take my cert test.
Didn't work out on Saturday either; slept almost all day.

Sunday was a bit better; went to the gym for a workout.

Dumbell Swings: 50lbs x 20

Decline Situps: slight decline x 30

Bends: 30lbs x 25 each leg

Lunges: 95lbs x 10 each leg, 115 x 10 each leg, 135 x 10 static each leg. Felt good and could walk afterwards. I think I usually pull muscles on this exercise and not actually work them out.

Bench: 155 x10, 165 x 10, 175 x 6 / 155 x 5 - the 175 felt much stronger this time and I probably could've finished the set with it or at least gotten half way; i just get real nervous when benching alone.

High Pull into Jerk: 95 x 10, 95 x 10, 95 x 10 - this was EXHAUSTING. By the last set, I was pretty much doing singles.

Wide grip Cable Pulldown: 100 x 10, 120 x 10, 140 x 8 - Some guy was using the assisted pullup machine, so i jumped on this one. The angle & the cables made it difficult- it was 2 cables, not 1. Felt a lot more like actual pullups than classic lat pulldowns.

Tricep extensions: EZ Curl + 50 x 10, +40 x 10, +40 x 10. First set was a lil scarey but do able.

Barbell curl/Pushup superset: EZ Curl +50 x10 / 10 Pushups, +40 x 10 / 10 Pushups, +40 x 10 / 10 pushups. Dropped weight to take it easier on my wrist.

Monday I mostly just relaxed. I went to the pool for about an hour. I did 3 laps (50m pool) of freestyle with my head out the water- this is more exhausting than normal freestyle and I think it's why beginners find swimming so difficult. Lil bit sunburned coz I hate putting on lotion. My dad's worn sunblock almost his entire adult life and still has had 3 separate skin cancer treatments spanning 10 years; the last one taking a chunk of his scalp. Either I'm gonna get it (probably) or I'm not.



[edit: forgot some stuff]
Diet this weekend was somewhere between "not so good" and "atrocious". Saturday just had some more chicken tenders. Sunday had chinese buffet (focus on sushi rolls, kimchi, and pan fried dumplings) and later in the evening I had sashimi, sushi rolls, and some chocolate chip cookies. Monday i had a bit of Thai omelette (with beef and peas) and in the evening I cooked up fajita marinated chicken, which I used to make fajitas and quesadillas.

Still no Grant Gloves, which ticks me off.

Really looking forward to the Taiji Legacy Sanshou event, I am going to use it as motivation to stick to my routine & see where I'm at in July. There's a good chance if my body cooperates (ie that I can move like I wanna) & the rules are accurate (ie 16 oz gloves) that i'll be competing.

[Pork Chop]

My gloves came yesterday :D :D :D :D

My workout felt like a marathon, but looking back on it, it's actually pretty sad:

4 rounds jump rope
4 rounds shadow (2 with weights, 2 without)
4 rounds heavybag
2 rounds slip bag
20 medicine ball situps
20 medicine ball tosses
20 medicine ball twists
20 hanging knee lifts (5 were full leg lifts)
20 x 4 neck exercises (curling my head up forward, backward, and each side)
20 laying hyper extensions (we use to call em swimmers)
20 count of a plank
10 count forward bridge
10 count backward bridge

my shoulders were burnt from the 2nd round of jump rope on. I think it's coz i've gained some muscle and my arms are actually heavier. Today I'll do more bag work, and more footwork.

Diet was solid: chicken salad in a can, odwalla green goodness, 1 can 7 up, 1 big glass of chocolate milk, my creatine, and some diet soup.


Went to bed by 11 but couldn't wake up at 5 this morning to lift, so i'm going to try to get it in tonite.

[Pork Chop]

My diet soup was smelling bad so I didn't even bother. Think I'm gonna have to throw out the other 2 containers of soup as well.

Around 4 I snuck out for some viet food: 2 fried spring rolls, 2 raw beef spring rolls, and a plate of grilled beef on rice. Too much carbs & probly bad fat, but I was getting dizzy again.

Otherwise I had a couple servings of odwalla green juice, a starkist albacore tuna pack, a chicken salad pack, and an RC cola. Had a tall glass of chocolate milk after boxing and another after lifting. Had some gatorade during lifting and some creatine an hour afterwards.

Boxing workout was suprisingly tough. My shoulders are burnt... like bad burnt, i may have to take time off if they don't stop achin- not when I hit something, just keeping my hands up makes them burn more than i ever remember.

2 rounds of shadowboxing

8 rounds of heavybag (cant remember if i cut it short by one coz my shoulders were so bad i could barely keep up any sort of work rate).

4 rounds of mitt work - didn't even rest for some of those rounds. still workin with the guy to make things flow coz i'm so backwards

3 sets of 10 jumps back&forth over the stair stepper block.

couple laps back&forth under the bob&weave rope


With my shoulders this burnt i really don't know that i could do anymore. i hope they get better soon.


Went to the gym and I knew that upper body lifts were out of the question, so i stuck strictly to lower body:

standing crunch machine- 10 plates (150lb) x 30

seated calf machine- 100 x 10 each leg, 160 x 10 each leg, 220 x 10 each, 260 x 10 each, felt easier than actually doing calf raises leg by leg.

lunges - 95lbs x 10 stepping, 95 x 10 stepping back, 95 x 10 stationary- went for speed, kinda easy.

squats - 135lbs x 10 x 3 as low as i could go (almost azz to ground) - was pretty easy, was getting a lil tired, so slowed down a bit at different parts.

leg press - 1 45 each side x 10, 2 each side x 10, 3 each side x 10 - practically sprinted the last set, pretty easy

quad kickout leg extensions - 65 x 10, 80 x10, 95 x10 - pretty easy, but a bit sore

lying ham curl - 65 x 10, 80 x 10, 95 x 10- again, easy but sore

seated back extensions - 150 x 10, 180 x 10, 240 x 10, 300 x 10 - kinda like a deadlift with no arms. doing the whole stack was pretty easy, just had to struggle to keep my bootie down.

Gotta get to sleep as soon as i can and wake up so i can get out of work by 4 and hit up the kickboxing gym. Hope I've improved enough to hang in that class. Hope my shoulders stop buggin me.

[Pork Chop]

Went back to the kickboxing gym today with some mixed results. I was happy to return and kind of explain my disappearing act.

Started with a somewhat shorter version of my good ole joggin warmup- with footwork drills and stuff.
We did a few rounds of jump rope and then it was on to the bags.
Did a lot of heavybag work.
Finished up with some 2 person technique work and some calisthenics.

2nd class started and I just shadowboxed while they jumped rope- they don't take a lot of time for free form stuff, so the shadowboxing was a welcome addition.
After that, I tried to work this 2 person drill by myself on the heavybag.

Didn't wrap my hands and had an awkward punch on the heavybag, kinda pulled something that runs along the bone from the left wrist to the base of the pinky. I don't think it's busted or a stress fracture, but it feels like shin splints. Didn't swell up or anything.

As a result, my punches weren't all that today. As before, some of the combos were awkward (especially when i was trying that 2 person stuff on the heavybag), so a lot of times i was working more on form than really bangin.

Eventually I kinda gave up on the heavybag and started to rest up. The second class continued with some calisthenics and then wrapped up.

Today I was in for a special treat. My timing on my comeback was perfect. They're starting a sport-specific exercise class in the vein of Crossfit and Scrapper's workouts. I signed up for 8 sessions of that- so I'll do kickboxing and this workout every Tues and Thurs for the next month.

With today being the first class, it was an assessment class- testing our limits on various exercises. We'll chart our progress from beginning to end. The guy teaching it knows a lot of stuff, so I had fun kickin it with him; he gave me some advice on my lifting program too. The workout was pretty exhausting though- going to failure on almost every exercise. Finished up with Tabatas and had to lay down for a while- but at least I wasn't sick this time, like before- no vomiting.

It was a personal victory to make it through this class without getting heat exhaustion (dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, confusion, and a crampy achey feeling).

That's the good.

The bad was that the scale in the gym showed me at 255, which is even higher than before. In fact, I think i was 245 when I first worked out there, I hit 250 at the boxing gym and now this scale. My arms feel big as heck right now, i don't think they've ever been this big, and i think it's part of the reason for my shoulder problems. In other words, I'm trying to look at the positive aspects of possibly having put on a significant amount of muscle.


The advice the trainer gave me on my workout program was to take out the arm isolation movements and maybe take out the jerk from the hanging clean + jerk (to save my shoulders). He didn't think my old program was a bad idea (deadlift, squat, dip, pullup) he also liked the "bend to opposite foot" lift that I've been doing. I think I'm going to stick with what I've been doing for another week or two. Want to make the 8 weeks the program recommends before switching things up. The only nice thing about keeping the arm isolation is that bigger arms at least make me look more proportional & more muscle will burn more fat.

The new program I'm considering at the end of the 8 weeks looks something like:

dumbell swing (or snatch), weighted crunches, deadlift (heavy), squat (bootie to ground w/reasonable weight), bend to opposite foot, lunge, hanging clean + press, assisted pullup, dip, seated row, bench.

That could be 33 sets if I'm not careful, so i may have to go only a set or 2 on some of the exercises or decrease the number of reps.

I could just cut it into 2 workouts: the lunge with everything before it, variation on the first 2 exercises with everything after the lunge.



Diet today was solid again. Glass of orange juice, half a bottle of the green superfood from odwalla. Lunch was a rather large bowl of leftover fajita chicken w/ salsa and cheddar cheese. Snacked on a couple of granola bars. Chocolate milk (4 servings) after all that working out and some creatine.


I guess if my body wants to blow up, it's gonna blow up. I really like the program I've been on and what I've been working up to. Not gonna freak out, starve myself, overtrain, and add a ton of cardio like I would normally do at this point. At least if I feed myself I may eventually become proportionally strong enough for my size. Leary of overtraining by adding the 2 new workout days, but I'm gonna take my time with it and go easy if i gotta.

[Pork Chop]

My legs were hurt from wednesday, doing all that stuff on thursday didn't help out any. Friday I took off coz i could barely walk. Today I am still hurting real bad. I'm not even sure i'll be good for Sunday.

Friday had a good diet- just some chicken tenders, lots of veggies, a roast beef wrap, and some chicken fillets for dinner.

Saturday's my cheat day- donuts for breakfast, german food for dinner.

[Pork Chop]

what a weird day
only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep last nite coz i slept most of sunday afternoon- hate it when that happens.
at least last night i went grocery shopping and got a bunch of food to cook; even cooked 2 dishes.
the first dish was a veggie beef stew; the second was turkey parmesan.
brought a huge thermos of the stew and a couple turkey parmesan patties with a couple whole wheat hogie rolls.
the stew ended up being way too much; less soup and a single sandwich, with less cheese would've been ideal.
all-in-all not so bad.
yogurt for breakfast, chocolate milk post workout.

by the end of the day i was getting a bit lethargic.
i didn't wanna go to the gym coz of the lack of sleep.
i ended up going anyway.
this week is power week in the gym.

I started off with jump rope. It was really giving me fits, so about 1 min or 30 seconds into it i switched off for some shadow w/weights.

did shadow with weights for another 3 rounds. my footwork was actually a lot better and more light & explosive here, which makes no sense considering how much trouble jumprope was giving me.

I jumped on the heavybag for a good 4 rounds of throwing absolutely everything i had with just about every shot.

I finished up with 3 sorry rounds of jump rope- i just couldn't keep the rope going, don't know if it was the heat or what, just kept getting dizzy.

Afterwards I was totally exhausted. The weird thing is that i don't feel heat sick, so i think i may be adjusting. I mean, the gym was a good 95 degrees according to the thermometer on the wall- the hottest i've ever been in there- but i still don't have the ill feeling of heat sickness, like i sprained something inside and can't think straight.

if i have any energy i wanna take a walk before bed

[Pork Chop]

Fell asleep almost as soon as i wrote that. Slept a LOT last night, from like 9pm to 6:30 this morning. My wrist is real sore from the power work yesterday, messed up one hook, tried to fix form & punch again but still wasn't fixed. Threw like 4 hooks in a row with the same nagging pain. by the end of the round i was throwing them better, but today i'm payin the price.

[Pork Chop]

wrist is buggin me at weird times.

went to the kickboxing gym today.
only hit the second class, the padwork one.
wrist wasn't too bad on jabs.
at the beginning of the workout the heat was almost unbearable.
felt like i was gassing bad and gassing early, but looking at the other people in the class, i wasn't doing too bad i think.

after doing that for an hour, took a few minute rest.
then it was on to extreme fitness.
Again, these workouts are a little like Ross' stuff from Rossboxing, a lil like Scrappers stuff, and a little like Crossfit.
The differences are that it's nicely toned down to account for people's abilities; with lots of room to kick yer own azz.
Didn't realize it but the conditioning guy's the conditioning guy for Lion's Den texas.
Managed to puke once towards the end, but it was from the shock of the last exercise in the last circuit, not from heat exhaustion, thankfully.

After class kickboxin coach started telling me about amateur bouts starting back up. told him bout my taiji legacy idea and he thought i should wait. I think he wanted me to wait coz he didn't think my takedowns were there; coz i got the impression that he wanted me to do the thai amateur events. gonna jet by there tomorrow night after boxing for some sparring @ around 8. I can't move normal yet- don't feel my footwork's there, don't feel my kicks are there and don't feel my combos are there- but i'm gonna go anyway and just try not to screw up.

diet today-
yogurt for breakfast, chillimac for midmorning snack (i was hungry), spent the rest of the day sipping on the bolthouse farms stuff, had a granola bar late in the afternoon. Think i"m gonna get my postworkout stuff before bed- yeah, i know it's late but i didn't feel like ingesting anything.

[Pork Chop]

ow

ow


ow

ow




ow

Okay yesterday I woke up earlier than i thought, even with the neighbors playin the bass loud at like 2am.
I was somewhat zombified at work, not totally falling asleep at my chair, and not as bad as i've been other days, but i definitely wasn't feeling 100%.

After work i strolled on over to the boxin gym. Thermometer on the wall said 97F, a new personal record. If I survive through August, Thailand's gonna be no big thang.

3 rounds of jump rope - still giving me problems, at least this time by the 2nd or 3rd round i could jump for over a minute without flubbin up.

3 rounds of shadow boxing - 2 with weights, 1 round bare handed.

6 rounds of heavy bag - took a tour of all the bags in the gym.

1 round of focus mitts - really feels like the coach is trying to burn me in a single round. I did much better this time than last time. Still have a problem dropping quick enough on my bobs.

1 round on the maize bag - focused on improving my bobbing.

20 medicine ball situps
20 medicine ball twists

Found out that we got a huge tire and a sledge hammer in the gym and that Daniel Zarzamora had come in and killed it for like an hour straight on that tire; at the age of 38.

Stopped by the gas station for some gatorade and chocolate milk.

By the time i got to the kickboxing gym my whole body was stiffening up again.
the 5 sets of 5 negatives that we did on tuesday really tore my back & shoulders up. I ended up just watching the coach rotate out with 2 other guys in MMA sparring. I liked how controlled those guys were- actually working with one another instead of trying to kill each other.

Afterwards i was chatting with an old friend till a lil after midnite. Couldn't get to sleep. At around 1 I got real anxious and my heart started racing for no reason. I was feeling nauseous. I think I was really hungry and that it hit real quick with no hunger pains. No tightness in the chest so it wasn't a heart thing i don't think; just a fast heart beat.

Diet yesterday was 2 servings of yogurt, chocolate whey drink (bolthouse) for midmorning snack, chilli mac for lunch, and left over turkey shnitzel w/2 slices of dark bread for late afternoon snack. After working out i just had the chocolate milk, gatorade, and creatine.

Woke up late again this morning, which might mess with my plans to hit the gym. Couldn't stop watching the Zarqawi footage, can't believe we finally got him, guy was a bigger threat than obl imho.

I'm real sore today. Tonite might be hard. Back, shoulders, chest, obliques, forearms, biceps, hair, eyelashes, fingernails, shoes, jeans, shirt... ow

[Pork Chop]

Well, I survived it: my first 4-day-straight workout week in a while.

Yesterday I woke up late, had to work a lil late. Still made it to the second kickboxing class for an hour and then an hour of "extreme fitness".
I like sledgehammer work.
Turkish getups are a pain in the hiney.
even 1-armed 1-pood kettlebell swings are getting way too easy.

Not quite as sore today and feel pretty good except for maybe my rear shoulders.

Diet yesterday:
1 serving yogurt. 2 Tyson chicken fillets in Buffalo sauce with whole wheat hoagie rolls, 1 can soda, 3/4 a bottle of bolthouse farms green, 1 bottle of their whey drink, chocolate milk, and creatine.

Tonite's the boxing match in downtown that i got a ticket for.
I think i'm gonna need to find a way to sneak in some bag time to get my kicks back. I'd definitely prefer it if the kickboxing classes were more open.

[Pork Chop]

Friday was kind of a rest day. The fights were good. Got out and went to the afterparty, where I had one diet coke and spent a good hour or 2 dancing.
Diet was meh. I knew I needed protein, so i wasn't so strict.
Breakfast was eggs, biscuits, gravy, and a strip of bacon.
midmorning snack was some bolthouse farms green stuff.
lunch was a chopped beef sandwich.
afternoon snack was a sliced brisket sandwich.

Saturday I woke up a lil late.
Tried to make it to the boxing gym so i could do some sledgehammer work.
i got down there at around 11:30, wasn't supposed to close till 12, only wanted a good 10-15 min on the sledgehammer but it wasn't meant to be, the place was closed.
Instead, I went shopping for some stuff and went to the pool where I spent an hour doing jogging laps back and forth across the pool. Good workout, really burned my legs. Did a few sets of poolside dips too.
Today's cheat day- lunch was a gyro, with baklava and a soda. afternoon snack was a stromboli (kind of a meatlover's pizza crossed with a burrito). Dinner was some pita and hummus.
Didn't get to weights today,, will hit that tomorrow.

[Pork Chop]

Seeing as how Friday and Saturday weren't really rest days, I decided to listen to my body on Sunday when I was feeling drained instead of anxious to work out. Part of it was again the sleep issue & getting to bed too late. i'm in a marathon here, not a sprint, so the goal is to keep making improvement week to week and not try to blow my wad any given week.

food wise on sunday i think i had an omelette (egg, ground turkey, onion, & tomatoe), some cookies, and a bomb pop (small one from the grocery store, not big one like the old days). I don't remember eating anything else.

pulled something in my neck today and it's buggin me.

[Pork Chop]

Monday

food- yogurt for breakfast, green goodness bolthouse farms (drank all day), turkey chilli mac for lunch, whey drink for afternoon snack, chocolate milk & creatine post workout, tyson's chicken tenderloin a couple hours before bed.

workout was
3 and a half rounds on jump rope
5 rounds shadow boxing (only wore the grant gloves)
5 rounds of heavybag (did the big tour of the gym)
30 sledgehammer swings on the tire- was fadin pretty bad by this point.
30 medicine ball situps
20 medicine ball self passes
20 knees to chest on the roman chair thing where you support yourself on your elboes
20 neck curls each direction- front, back, each side

did 30 pushups straight back at home before bed.

weight was down in the mid 240s (with clothes and shoes) so that was a nice change from the 255 i saw before.

traps are aching could really use a massage.

[Pork Chop]

Gonna pull a sevenstar here and post a bunch of days today. heheh

Tuesday

kinda killed it today. did the 6 o clock class, the 7 oclock with the conditioning coach, and finished up with about 2 rounds on the heavybag. Class was a little bit of pad work and some skills drills. Conditioning was upper body "heck". I was pretty burnt in time for the heavybag.

Went grocery shopping afterwards and was DYIN'. Thought i was gonna fall out a few times. Shopped for a good 30~45 min so it was like a cardio session.

Diet was just okay. Had a big breakfast with eggs, biscuits, gravy, & hashbrowns for breakfast. the rest of the day i didn't eat so much, did have all my healthy drinks- creatine, chocolate milk, bolthouse farms, etc. Think I had a small bowl of beef salad in the evening.

Wednesday

Had to be up 2 hours earlier than usual for a meeting today. Between the jolt to my sleep schedule and the endless meeting that had no interest to me, i was passing out by mid afternoon. I ended up leaving an hour later than i wanted to so instead of going to the boxing gym and going to spar; i ended up barely making the drive home and passing out. Slept from about 6 to 11, woke up for a lil bit and went back to bed.

Didn't eat anything in the evening. During the day i had oatmeal for breakfast, eggs with some sausage bits midmorning, and chilli mac for late lunch.

Thursday

Okay eggs for breakfast is beginning to be a bad habit. Had to get gas and didn't have anything cooked so I did some mini-mart shoppin.

1 sausage egg biscuit for breakfast, 1 more for midmorning snack, 1 turkey sandwich on a wheat hogie as a late lunch, and a bolthouse farms green. In between workouts I had a bolthouse farms whey shake. After workout I had a banana, my chocolate milk, and creatine.

Workout wise, Thursday was a killer. Started off with a strong 45 min on the heavybag. Chilled for a lil while, had half my whey shake, and then did the 6 o clock pad work & skills work. After that I finished my shake and did the 7 o clock conditioning class. Nearly fell out in the conditioning class at the beginning but stuck it through. After my workout was finished, i wasn't nearly as drained as i have been lately after workouts. I felt pretty good.

[Pork Chop]

Friday

I went to both gyms on friday.

at the boxin gym:

3 rounds jump rope - been having a lot of problems with jump rope lately
3 rounds of shadow w/ gloves
3 rounds of heavybag
1 round of bobbing/weaving

at the kickboxing gym:
Think I just did the 6 o clock class.
Was burnt, making a lot of mistakes.

food- don't remember eating anything crazy during the day. Had a nice steak after my workouts, with spinach, and a lil bit of mashed potatoes.

Saturday

Took it real easy. Round or 2 on the speed bag (i usually hate speed bag) and 15 or 20 minutes on the exercise bike (with the arms that move too).

Ate a bunch of chicken strips. Had some ice cream in the evening watching the boxing match.

Sunday

rest day.
had 1 piece of lasagna, some chocolate chip cookies, and 2 beers- I was having my birthday party a day "early", hung out at a strip club and wasted too much money again. If i was any better lookin I'd probably be out of this relationship.

Monday

Went to bed late sunday and it was my birthday so i called out from work. I didn't go to the gym, just took it easy & played video games. Had some thai food for lunch and a couple chocolate chip cookies in the evening. Went to bed a lil late but didn't wake up till 2pm so I don't feel too bad today (Tuesday).

[BoulderDawg]

I think your program is way over ambitious. You're all the time talking about how bad you feel.

However the worst part is your diet. If you continue to eat a lot of junk food you are will not accomplish much.

Here's a short sweet list of what you should eat:
Fruits
Veggies
Boiled or baked lean meats
Reasonable amounts of bread and pasta

What you should never eat:

Sugar
Fried foods
Milk Products

[Pork Chop]

My program's barely half of what I used to do.

I appreciate the input, my diet's been extra bad for the past week, I gotta get back on track; slowly making improvements.

[SevenStar]

his training isn't over ambitious, IMO. He's a fighter and knows how to train like one. As for the diet, I wouldn't say NEVER eat those things - eveything is fine in moderation.

[BoulderDawg]

his training isn't over ambitious, IMO. He's a fighter and knows how to train like one. As for the diet, I wouldn't say NEVER eat those things - eveything is fine in moderation.

So far what I've read about his training methods involve strenght training and not a whole lot of conditioning. Where's the roadwork? A fighter should be putting in 5-10 miles a day.

Also a fighter would set a goal weight. For example, I'm not training for a fight but I am in training. I have a goal weight of 148 and have plans to reach that in about 3 months.

As far as eating what you want......That's fine. Have a beer/Ice cream/Pizza maybe every six weeks but understand you won't be getting another for 6 more weeks.

[Pork Chop]

Well I know my diet can be borderline atrocious, but I love food. I could live like a spartan, but that would only make my food fixations worse later on down the road (putting my health in greater risk too). I've done it before- dropping 60 pounds in 6 months on a diet of granola, mixed nuts, & dried fruits. It really messed me up bad, and afterwards I was heavier than when I started.

I'm doing my best to cook for myself and not go crazy. I realize I can do a lot better and the past week has probably been my worst in a while. But if I gotta cut out everything I love to eat, then my quality of life will tank regardless of whatever benefits I get.

Yeah, I do hate looking like a pork chop; but I don't think cutting out everything is the solution- maybe in the short run, but not long term. If you look at old time boxers, many of them were suprisingly defined & buff off of a diet of steak, milk, eggs, and potatoes. Heck, the Great Gama drank 2 gallons of thick cream & ate 3 chickens a day - that dude coulda been a bodybuilder.

Trying to find a happy medium of food i love, with lots of veggies & vitamins, that I won't get tired of, and that will help my performance. I still got a lot of work to do.


I am trying to pace myself on my workouts best as I can. I should really be doing a lot more. My body's not cooperating as i try to get back into the swing of things. I took monday off coz of how sore I've been lately. Work, the change in climate (from maryland to texas), and my sleeping habits have all contributed to my general cruddy feeling. I've also had a hard time just relaxing lately- the training being my only hobby.



I'm workin on it. :cool:

[Pork Chop]

So far what I've read about his training methods involve strenght training and not a whole lot of conditioning. Where's the roadwork? A fighter should be putting in 5-10 miles a day.

I don't jog coz I have major structural problems with my legs and feet. I've been doing a lot of sprint work- was doing it at the fitness center before but am now doing a lot in my conditioning class Tuesdays and Thursdays.


Also a fighter would set a goal weight. For example, I'm not training for a fight but I am in training. I have a goal weight of 148 and have plans to reach that in about 3 months.

Must be nice to have a body that reliable. I don't. I've done too much super-strict yo-yo dieting in the past to be able to drop the weight I need to leave the heavyweight division. At this point I'd rather just focus on performance.


As far as eating what you want......That's fine. Have a beer/Ice cream/Pizza maybe every six weeks but understand you won't be getting another for 6 more weeks.

Wow a cheat day once every six weeks? By week 3 I'd probably kill myself or drop the idea entirely.

[Pork Chop]

Just to document it- that 5 to 10 miles a day thing is complete cr@p.

Plenty of old school boxers didn't run more than 3 or 4 miles a day.

Running super long distance might make sense for someone who needs to be able to fight for an hour, like a boxer going 12 to 15 rounds.

Most of those guys who did and do run that far also didn't/don't have jobs.
If I had 10~11 extra hours every day to train, I might be more favorable towards spending an hour jogging. Though, if I did it in the old school style of running in combat boots, I wouldn't be able to walk come fight time- especially with the condition of my legs.

Sprint work is much better for the fights I'm looking at: ie the 3 to 5 round range.
High intensity sprint work is also something that's hard to do on a daily basis without overtraining.

My current program of 2 high intensity conditioning days and 1 easy day on the weekend was prescribed to me by my conditioning coach- who happens to be one of the conditioning coaches for Lion's Den Texas.

Love how you say I'm overambitious for my program, but then prescribe something that would absolutely destroy me by day 3. For a guy with structural problems in his legs, any jog over a mile is high intensity and always will be- which defies the point of doing a low intensity jog for an hour.

[Ralphie]

5-10 miles a day? Running that much may make a person a better distance runner, but prolly not a better fighter training for a specific athletic result. No offence, but unless you are a fight trainer, or are training/have trained for a fight, maybe you should save your advice. Sounds to me like Pork Chop knows what he's doing in that regard.

As for the diet thing, food should be eaten based upon need, not just defining the 5 food groups. Although 148 may be your optimal weight, I would be weak at that weight per my body type. I'm at my best at 180. Pork chop seems to have a different body type than both of us, so his diet may need to be different than both of us. A nutritionist would prolly have a better idea on what he should or shouldn't eat. Of course there are books on the subject as well.

Conditioning can be gained through skill/ring work as well. In fact that should be a huge component to conditioning. Planning to train so that you peak is really more important than just stating "do this or that". "Peaking" requires that you be ambitious and smart.

[Pork Chop]

Ralphie, some great info!
You reminded me that I really gotta look into hiring a nutritionalist, was talking about it before i moved out here then forgot.
You're on the money as far as "peaking"; Ali's early trainer (Bundini Brown) said something like: "getting a fighter ready for a fight is like getting ready to make love to a beautiful woman- you just keep teasing them on and don't let 'em cum." In other words, work 'em hard in the gym but make sure they're primed for the ring. It's a tough lesson that a lot of people (myself included) learn the hard way.

Thanks!!!

[SevenStar]

So far what I've read about his training methods involve strenght training and not a whole lot of conditioning. Where's the roadwork? A fighter should be putting in 5-10 miles a day.

wrong. fighting is largely - about 85 -% - anaerobic. His focus should be there. wind sprints will serve him better than running 5 - 10 miles per day. three miles 3 - 4 days a week is more than sufficient. When training to fight, your training needs to be specific.


Also a fighter would set a goal weight. For example, I'm not training for a fight but I am in training. I have a goal weight of 148 and have plans to reach that in about 3 months.

yes and no. you NEED a goal weight when you have to make weight. chop and I compete heavy weight. the weight we compete at is really nothing more than what works best for us. For me personally, it's about 220. Now, if I drop a class, then I have to worry about a goal weight, cuz I would have to be less than 215.


As far as eating what you want......That's fine. Have a beer/Ice cream/Pizza maybe every six weeks but understand you won't be getting another for 6 more weeks.

I would say once every six weeks is extreme. Like I said, all in moderation.

[SevenStar]

tha pm box is clear now.

[BoulderDawg]

I really wasn't suggesting that Pork run 5-10 miles a day. I know he can't do that.

I'm just speaking for myself. If I was training for a fight I would do a run in the morning and a run in the evening. That's just me.

I really don't know the quality of competition that he would be facing but to go into the ring out of shape against good competition (unless he's about 6'6" or taller fighting at 250 is not recommended) he is asking to get hurt. Of course that's just my opinion...nothing personal involved.

[Pork Chop]

I've heard I shouldn't fight at heavyweight my whole career, which is why i haven't fought again. The fact of the matter is that in hard sparring sessions I hold my own against guys 6'4 to 6'6- even the quick ones. I'm sick of this wrestler mentality of "lose as much weight as possible, feel as crappy as possible come fight time, and fight in the lowest division possible". Coz if you think I'm whining about how bad I feel now, you should see me on a diet. haha

Tuesday

craziest stuff happened yesterday when i was leaving work. Coworker flagged me down as i was walking to my car, asking help with his flat tire. I took him to get a can of fix-a-flat and dropped him back off. On my way to the gym, a lil late now, another person flagged me down askin for help as well, this time a girl- she and her friends looked like meth addicts. They needed gas so i took one of 'em to get a gas can and some gas. By the time I finished helpin them out it was about 7:30pm. I went on to the gym just to tell the story. Missed my workout. I went home early, ate a lil thai food and went to bed by 9-somethin.

[SevenStar]

I really wasn't suggesting that Pork run 5-10 miles a day. I know he can't do that.

I'm just speaking for myself. If I was training for a fight I would do a run in the morning and a run in the evening. That's just me.

I really don't know the quality of competition that he would be facing but to go into the ring out of shape against good competition (unless he's about 6'6" or taller fighting at 250 is not recommended) he is asking to get hurt. Of course that's just my opinion...nothing personal involved.


5 - 10 miles really isn't what you're looking for to train for a fight. Like I said before, your training needs to be specific. wind sprints will serve a much better purpose, combined with shorter, yet faster paced 3 mile runs. To not be able to run 5 miles hardly indicates someone is out of shape. Frank shamrock doesn't run at all, from what I hear, but does use an elliptical stepper.

As for the height and weight thing - you learn to cope. look at Tyson. He was the small man among giants. I'm in the same boat. I'm 5'10 and fight around 220 in both judo and muay thai. I'm usually the shortest guy, but that has it's advantages and disadvantages. I also have a long reach for my height though - most of the guys I know that are 6'2 - 6'3 have about the same reach that I do. Consequently, I can work my jab from the same range that they can.

Since you are giving your opinion though, out of curiosity, is it based on prior experiences? Do you fight also?

[us0kch]

I'm no health nutritionist, let alone a fighter in training, but I have to agree somewhat with Boulderdawg's statement about pork chop's diet. Much like you Pork Chop, I love eating too, but when I was in training in kickboxing class 4-5 times a week last year, diet played alot in my performance in the class. I was pretty strict with keeping a low fat, low sodium, and low sugar based diet with the exception of a 1 cheat day every week. I dunno, maybe it was a mental thing, but I noticed that if I was out for a week due to a business trip, work, vacation, or just being lazy, and my diet changed with foods that were not soo healthy, even in the slightest amount, boyyy did I pay for it when I got back to class!!

I remember reading a book by Benny Urquidez about training and fighting skills, and took the advise of having the cheat day once a week. It was a struggle in the beginning, just like the atkins program I got off of after being on it for a month and a half, but you do manage. Having the luxury of only treating yourself every 6 weeks is just downright asking for withdrawal, and by that pt, your body won't react to it well.

Also, along with the other protein shakes and sports drinks, and green goodness that you have during the day, how much water are you taking in with them? Again, maybe its just me, but for some reason, I could never drink anything but water b4 a class, and to my benefit, during the day. Hydration wise, the more I drank, the better I was in class, but if I had something so much as a bottle of propel or vitamin water b4 class, it just made me thirstier and more fatigued. Again, this is only from my experience and I know everyone's bodies are different and adjust differently to an intense workout, but I would figure it would help, especially training now in the really hot summer months, and in your case, with no AC in the gyms.

Anyways, just my .02. Its good to have a blog of your training and keep up the good work! :)

[Pork Chop]

thanks us0kch :)

Like I said, I'm a work in progress, I'm nowhere near where I need to be- i just can't cut it all out overnight.

I've been trying to eat more slow-cooked stews; which, nutritionally, should be about perfect- protein, lots of veggies, not too much bad stuff, not fried.

Even that "turkey chilli mac" isn't so bad- has less than half the noodles in the recipe, but lots of ground turkey, a little bit of beans and tomatoes.

Those bolthouse farm drinks are basically a bunch of vegetables blended in with some fruit juices- suprised I'm catching any flack with those in my diet.

Admittedly, i've had a bad week or so with my birthday and not having enough time to cook. Chocolate chip cookies are a weakness that I'm going to have to purge. :D I'm gonna work on it, still polishing off thai leftovers at the moment. Next week my slowcooker will be running nightly once more.

I drink about 2 gallons of water a day- 1 before working out, 1 after (need to with the creatine). I used to be very sodium reliant, in that I used to have to carry a salt shaker around on hot days to consume with my gallon of water to keep from getting dehydrated, getting dizzy, and passing out- plain water wasn't cutting it. If I have a little sodium in my food I don't care, all that cutting it out does for me is prevent water retention. I guess sodium's also linked to high blood pressure too but only for folks who are already very sodium-sensitive.

I also had a problem with glycogen stores from working out. When your body runs out of glycogen it feels like you're moving in slow motion, you feel weak and not at all explosive. One particular instance I was hitting the mitts and my arms basically just slowed down on me. I wasn't sore, I wasn't winded, I wasn't overheated, i just felt like i was running on fumes. this is another reason i'm not dead-set against sugar (like from chocolate milk, creatine, or gatorade).

BTW- propel is some nasty stuff, water with electrolytes and aspartame; doesn't even give you the benefits of gatorade, it's made for people who sit all day and aren't burning enough calories to warrant drinking gatorade.

In general I'm the opposite as far as food. If i eat "healthy" (tuna, chicken breasts, no sugars, no dairy, no grains) then I tend to feel weak, drained, or downright sick. I like the way I feel when I drink the Bolthouse farms stuff, I could do without any fried foods (no more chicken strips *sob*), and I've gotta do a better job of cooking for myself, but I'm working on it.

[SevenStar]

I remember reading a book by Benny Urquidez about training and fighting skills, and took the advise of having the cheat day once a week. It was a struggle in the beginning, just like the atkins program I got off of after being on it for a month and a half, but you do manage. Having the luxury of only treating yourself every 6 weeks is just downright asking for withdrawal, and by that pt, your body won't react to it well.


bingo. not only that, but with cheat days that far apart, you are more likely to gorge.

[us0kch]

no, you're definetely right, ya can't just cut out everything overnight. in my cases where i have done it, i really did struggle because i felt there was no real way for me to "ween" off everything completely over a time frame. i guess the only thing that ran thru my head was knowing that certain foods provide fuel and other foods provide....well, sluggishness and fatigue! LOL alot of motivation came from the fact that in the next class room over from where my class trained was the women's kickboxing class, and aside from the instructors, there was alot of eye candy! :D now i know i'm not exactly in perfect shape, but i always strived to lead the pack, or at least keep up with the class w/o looking totally out of shape or embarrassing myself. :o not that i got any #'s or anything, but it was a good feeling knowing i held my own ;) .....or at least train harder until i did get some #'s!! :D

i know i fall into the sodium-sensative group because my blood pressure's somewhat high. having it run in your family is no help either, so carrying a salt-shaker around for me is out of the question, let alone for my meals. i've never experienced the glycogen stores problem, but it doesn't sound like a good thing either to run on fumes. i've done the veggie and meat stews and soups too, and its definetely good thing! don't feel bloated if i eat alil b4 class and don't feel guilty if i eat alil more after, especially when the class ends past 9pm. yep, good stuff! :)

[Pork Chop]

Some fun videos put on the net by Suntzu...

The dude in the black shirt in this clip is one of the hardest punchers I've ever sparred....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekE-EFAcrac

Guy in the Red, White, & Blue's a guy I used to train with

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0DQTSKRbg

Me helping Suntzu train (pretty sure this post eye-injury with me extra outta shape, I look more bald than ever haha)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AybvwApnRc

[BoulderDawg]

I never thought of improving your diet as withdrawal.

In the manner I hear food talked about here it's a way of life....I like the old saying "eat to live not live to eat". There's an addiction to food just like there is to alcohol and tobacco. The only difference is we can't go cold turkey on food....but we can learn to eat right.

I also know if someone is not ready to change their diet then there is no power on earth that will convince them otherwise.

So I'm done here and it's almost dinner time.....Tonight some boiled chicken, bread, some raw cauiflower, radishes and a slice or two of bell pepper.

[Pork Chop]

Tonight some boiled chicken, bread, some raw cauiflower, radishes and a slice or two of bell pepper.

sounds like the stew i been eating

[SevenStar]

I never thought of improving your diet as withdrawal.

In the manner I hear food talked about here it's a way of life....I like the old saying "eat to live not live to eat". There's an addiction to food just like there is to alcohol and tobacco. The only difference is we can't go cold turkey on food....but we can learn to eat right.

I also know if someone is not ready to change their diet then there is no power on earth that will convince them otherwise.

So I'm done here and it's almost dinner time.....Tonight some boiled chicken, bread, some raw cauiflower, radishes and a slice or two of bell pepper.

when you cut cold turkey for an extended period of time, like you were talking about, you could go into a state of mental withdrawal where you are craving the food you aren't supposed to be eating. When you get your hands on it, you may gorge. I know several people who have done this when trying to completely eliminate sugar from their diet.

You didn't answer the other question though - do you fight?

[Pork Chop]

Finally was able to go back to the gym yesterday and I tried to eat the WHOLE thing.

From 5:30 to 6:30 I was at the boxing gym
3 rounds of jump rope
3 rounds of shadow - 1 w/ handweights, 1 w/handweights & vest, 1 w/vest
3 rounds of heavybag - 2 w/vest
1 round of bobbing & weaving under the rope with the vest on.

Tired me out pretty well eventho the volume looks pretty light. the 94 degree heat kinda doubles the workload.

after that i dropped by the house to get a different shirt & some gatorade, then it was off to the kickboxin gym.

after some shadowboxing we worked on some ground stuff for a bit.
I was real nervous and shellshocked by doin ground stuff again, i really hate it.
then it was on to sparring.

lost my contact in the first or second minute, and thanks to that i lost the use of my right leg as well - legs aren't used to catching round kicks anymore.

I have no footwork, my kicks are awkward, I couldn't string punches together, couldn't close distance, kept dropping my right, and basically all around sukt but at least i kinda held my own. first session in 4 months, haven't really sparred regularly for almost 10 months. I remember now why i hate my ringside ultimate training gloves- too big, too bulky, pocket is all "floppy" - twisted my wrist catching a kick.

Ate oatmeal for breakfast yesterday, leftover thai food for lunch, 1/2 a bottle of green goodness for snack, an apple pre workout, 2 mini bottles of gatorade during workout, and chocolate milk post workout.


I'd just like to point out that a lot of my workout days are 3 hours long, so even if i'm eating badly; how bad do you have to eat to wipe out a 2400 calorie deficit (conservative estimate)?

[SevenStar]

Tired me out pretty well eventho the volume looks pretty light. the 94 degree heat kinda doubles the workload.

heck yeah. it's like that here, plus 100% humidity.


I remember now why i hate my ringside ultimate training gloves- too big, too bulky, pocket is all "floppy" - twisted my wrist catching a kick.

windy makes some badass gloves.


I'd just like to point out that a lot of my workout days are 3 hours long, so even if i'm eating badly; how bad do you have to eat to wipe out a 2400 calorie deficit (conservative estimate)?

yeah, that's true. the powerlifting guys I've been training with just eat. they know they take in at least 4,000 calories a day, but they try to keep it lean (they aren't super strict) but they train 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. They have a lower body fat % than most people I know that are lighter than them, and much lower than anyone else who is their weight.

[Pork Chop]

If my folks don't get me the Grant sparring gloves for my birthday then I'll probably order the Windy ones, i just need somethin different. My twins 14s are pretty nice but a lot of people look at 14ounce (as opposed to 16) as an aggressive move.

I'm hurtin today, my wrist hurts to type, my leg feels like crampy-hamburger, walking is heck. I've only had this much pain from a leg kick once- and that was a stomping front heel kick to my thigh while i was throwing a round house. Combination of lack of conditioning and not seeing it coming I guess.

My saving grace in the whole thing was my clinch work. I was able to tie up and go for the knees every time. It actually frustrated the other guys to the point that they started fighting dirty- one guy straight pushed me down while i was throwin a light knee, the other chest bumped me sideways and started punching me in the back of the head. Unfortunately I think I got an incidental clash of heads from one clinch coz i got a bump on my head that stings a lil.

Think I did a decent job of not going to war- i made a serious effort to keep it friendly.

[Pork Chop]

I'm fully prepared to be called a wuss or whatever, but my leg was giving out on me like crazy yesterday- even gave out when i was walkin down the stairs after work, almost busted my ass; so I didn't go train.
Instead, I took a nap.

After i woke up, I had a grilled chicken sandwich (lettuce, tomatoes, no cheese), a lil root beer, played some games, and went back to bed.

I feel quite a bit better today.

Leg's still sore, but not giving out on me as bad, don't have to walk as stiff-legged.
Want to go to the boxing gym today but i'll probably just wait and go to kickboxing tomorrow.

Been feeling real down in general lately. The day of my birthday i was feeling a little better, but after the sparring session just feel bleh. Yesterday was almost dangerously "bleh", today not too much better.

I got some stuff going on in my personal life that I'm kinda looking for an escape from.

Training wise, the sparring session really just cemented my fears- that my kickboxing form has gone to heck and that I have no footwork.

Ideally for my muay thai, i'd like a boxing gym type scenario where I could work on my own, occasionally get some tips, corrections, & pad work from a trainer, and have some good partners to work with on 2 man drills & sparring.

I'm used to spending a lot more time on what I like to call "fundamentals", ie footwork drills, stretching, kicking drills, knee drills, light plyos, and a general warm up.

I'm not used to coming in, jumping rope for 3 rounds, learning a few combos I'll never use again to bang out on the pads or bag for a few rounds, doing rigorous calisthenics, and calling it a day.

I have gotten a lot of correction for my kicking form, which i'm very appreciative of; but haven't really had the opportunity to work it into my repertoire via free form bag work & shadowboxing (yeah, no shadow).

Hate to say this, but I love the thought of going to the boxing gym and working on my weaknesses and i usually have to force myself to go to kickboxin - though i love the conditioning class.

I've signed up, so I'm not gonna quit, and I hate talkin trash about people who've been nice to me, but this log is just as much a sounding board for myself as it is a progress-tracker.

I think ultimately, instead of adding a morning cardio session, I'll probably have to add in some "fundamentals" training and shadowboxing in the mornings before work, assuming I can wake up that early. My schedule feels very tight as it is.

If you're out there Suntzu or Akhilleus, wish one of you guys or Julio would come out here instead of tryin to deal with this other gym; I always got a place to crash for yah and food too. PS- Jon, I might even be able to get you a face-to-face with Chuck Norris.

[Pork Chop]

Okay friday was a good day until dinner- my girl wanted to go out to eat.
Still didn't work out coz of the leg.

Saturday woke up early and made it to the boxing workout at the kickboxin gym a few minutes late (missed the jump rope). Had a pretty good workout, really pushed myself and managed to get tired.

Afterwards I talked with the coach about a lot of stuff. He told me he was cool with me doing whatever training I wanted to during class hours, just as long as it didn't directly interfere with the class. So I gotta take back everything i said about the gym before; this is a pretty dang solid solution to my training situation. I think on Wednesdays I'll do the open training thing.

Saturday evening I was shopping & running erands from 7 to midnight.
Four hours of that was walking & carryin stuff, about an hour was eating.
Didn't eat well, but didn't gorge either.
After unloading the car with the stuff we bought, i was dead tired.


Sunday was.... ugh....
My girl works nights so she plays video games all night while i sleep. She woke me up at 5 am when she decided to go to bed. I managed to get back to bed, but didn't really wake up until the afternoon and when I did, I felt like I'd been hit by a car.

Didn't do anything the whole day, except a lil grocery shopping in the evening.
Really ate bad. i know the week before a 5 day weekend is a bad time to get serious but I gotta do a lot better than I have the last few days.
The good news is that my leg's good.

[Pork Chop]

Okay now THAT's the way to start the week....

Monday I tried Spike from biotest for the first time. I can tell this stuff is really helping with my add.

I grew up on ritalin and like most people who grow up on ritalin, when I got off I've had a lot of problems. A lot of people self-medicate with speed or cocaine. For me it's generally been food; which explains me going from a 165lb high school grad to a 260lb college grad.

See, my brain tends to get "tired". If I'm in a lecture or a meeting, I have a real hard time following people talking in front of the room. My mind starts to wander and half the time I start to drift off and fall asleep. At work tihs is problematic coz I have to do things to keep me interested enough to be able to carry some of the momentum over to whatever I'm working on.

Caffeine's never really helped me with this problem. Sugar has somewhat. When I diet it gets a lot worse, which is why I have such a difficult time sticking to a strict diet.

It was really noticeable monday, taking my first dose of spike, that i wasn't fighting my brain anymore during this morning meeting that ran a couple hours. I didn't have to use any of my tricks to stay awake or try to pay attention.

Mentally I had a lot more "energy" to work on the tasks that I wanted. I'm not perfect yet, but it was definitely a big step in the right direction.

my workout:

3 rounds of jump rope - this was suprisingly easy today. The time off last week let my legs heal I guess.

3 rounds of shadow - first 2 rounds weight vest & hand weights, last round no handweights.

6 rounds of heavybag - first 2 rounds with weight vest, last 4 rounds no weight vest. my nose started running midway through my 4th or 5th round so i had to break for a sec.

5 rounds of head movement - alternated between slip bag and bobbin & weaving under the rope. Wore the weight vest the whole time. 3 rounds of slip bag, 2 rounds of bobbin & weaving.

Sledgehammer work on the big tire - 30 swings over each shoulder; still wearing weight vest.

Ab work - 30 overhead medicineball situps, 30 medicine ball self-tosses, 30 medicine ball twists, 30 knees to chest

Neck work - 30 neck curls - front, back, and each side. Added a lil resistance with my hands.

In 92~93 degree heat my workout was actually starting to look like my old workouts. i wish the gym had better double-end bags coz that's my favorite tool in the gym. I'd like to step it up to 4 or 5 rounds of rope & shadow, w/8 rounds of heavybag; though time is a factor.

When i got home I did a set of 20 pushups w/hands less than shoulder-width apart, followed by 3 sets of 5 pushups w/hands less than nipple-width apart.


Diet: between 2.5 and 3 cups of beef stew w/lots of veggies, a small serving of chicken salad & crackers, half a bolthouse farms "green goodness", chocolate milk & gatorade post workout.

[Pork Chop]

Tuesday was my gf's bday. Took her to a churrascaria & had a meat orgy. Had to pick up my brother that night.

Wednesday was entertaining my brother.

Thursday went to kickboxing and did the last conditioning workout.

Friday didn't do much of anything.

Saturday drove to houston and did a ton of lifting, helping my folks move furniture.
Played around on my brother's weight set.

Sunday more lifting furniture, even more playing with the free weights.

Monday drove back to fort worth, drank a lil bit.

Tuesday just relaxed- slept all afternoon.

In general my motivation's shot.

Gotta go to the kickboxing gym to pay my monthly dues and i think that'll be the last time I go down there for a while.

I just don't like going down there to train. I know it may make me a wuss, but I only practise these sports coz I enjoy it. if the training leaves a bad taste in my mouth something's wrong.

I'd rather go boxing. I really lost my motivation when faced with the prospect of training at the kickboxing gym exclusively. I feel like I'm trapped into going to that place. The coach is cool and the people are nice but I really don't dig the training; eventhough I've recently been given carte blanch to do my own thing, hard to explain.

I'd just much prefer boxing 3 or 4 times a week and hitting my fitness center the other days. Think i may go kickboxing on saturday.

[Pork Chop]

Got a good boxing workout in today.

10 min straight on jump rope.
3 rounds shadow- 2 with vest & 3lb handweights, 1 w/vest & 5lb handweights
8 rounds of heavybag (spread across various heavybags) - first 2 w/vest

By the end of the bag rounds I really didn't have much left. I figure tomorrow I'll work more on footwork and other drills if i can make it to the gym in time to work out (they close early).

I already like the idea of just focusing on boxing & the boxing gym. Got an ease of mind and interest in my training that I haven't really had lately.

[Pork Chop]

Friday I went down to the boxing gym lookin to show off my medicine ball w/rope and some clips I got on my computer but nobody was at the gym. There was an event in Houston this past weekend so the owner was at that and nobody covered for him.

Saturday and Sunday I just chilled; thinking about the new routine I want to get on.


Basically, the last 3 weeks i've worked out 5 times. I'm not proud of that. I had some good momentum going and flushed it down the toilet. Part of the problem was not digging the kickboxing gym, so i've dropped that (for the most part). Now it's a matter of "what would I rather be doing?".

Not that I'm a devoted follower of Periodization (or even know that much about it for that matter), but the nice thing about it- or at least my understanding of it - is that if you find you've been wasting your time for the last month, it's not such a big deal coz you just start a new period and switch things up.

Monday through Thursday I plan to hit the boxing gym.
Monday and Friday I think I'll plan to hit the fitness center w/weights and high intensity cardio.
Yes, that means Monday's a monster day, but my only other option is to spend Friday & saturday at the fitness center, which is hard coz weights on consecutive days is rough.
If I do anything on Saturday it'll be a light day, probably at the kickboxing gym for some thai pad & boxing work.
Saturday and Sunday will be "make up" days for any fitness center workouts I miss.


My plan for the fitness center includes high intensity cardio and weights:

*For the cardio I was thinking elliptical crosstrainer interval training on Mondays and Taku's intervals on the Versaclimber for Fridays.

*For the weights, i was thinking something a little more stripped down than the Bill Pearl workout.
Mondays being more olympic lifting & bodyweight based:
clean & jerk, squat press (and/or lunges, not sure which), dips, pullups, and extra ab work
Fridays being more "big lift" based, with a little bit of isolation to help with some deficiencies:
deadlift, squat, bench press, bent row, shrug, left arm tricep ext, left arm bicep curl

I'm not sure what rep scheme I want to use yet (if anybody's got any ideas, I'd appreciate the input).


At the boxing gym, on different days I plan on incorporating the medicine ball workouts, footwork drills, box jumps, side to sides, sledgehammer type stuff, ab work, neck work, planks, and bridges. The intensity of the boxing workout is why I'm looking to tone things down in the weight room a little from the Bill Pearl workout.


I still believe in adding some low intensity cardio to help with weight management.
I am serious about wanting to add in a 30 to 45 minute walk in the evenings to help out, eventhough I haven't had much luck yet.


I understand that this plan's a bit ambitious seeing the trouble i've had this year, but I'm ready and willing to take it slow. I want the workouts to be there, but just be less intense in the beginning, with lighter weight and maybe less overall work. When I'm motivated to work out & have momentum going, i do well; so the goal is to build that momentum & motivation with small successes.

[Pork Chop]

Kinda killed it last night....really killed it last night. haha

diet was good- yogurt for breakfast, some phillipino dish with squash, eggplant, a lil beef, and string beans for lunch, afternoon snack of some dorayaki, chocolate milk after first workout, creatine & muscle milk after second.

workout:

jump rope - 3 rounds. kept shortening my rests to 30 seconds or less.

shadow boxing - 4 rounds. 2 w/vest & weights, 1 w/vest & bare hands, 1 w/vest & gloves

Heavybag - 2 or 3 rounds (having a hard time remembering). First two were with a weight vest. I took off the vest and some time after that the coach asked me to work mitts.

Focus Mitts- 1 killer round. I swear I threw over 100 punches and he was having me do a lot of head movement. My feet eventually felt like they were stuck in mud- partly due to being tired, partly due to being out of shape, and partly due to a combination of nike shox and a soft ring.

Heavybag - barely struggled out another 2 or 3 rounds on bag. I was hurtin. It wasn't pretty.

Medicine Ball with rope - 40 sledgehammer swings, 30 back-against-wall side-to-side swings, 3 sets of v-up swings 5-15-20, neck curls w/ball around head 20 reps for each of 4 directions

20 second plank on the medicine ball

30 second side-to-side jumps over cones

1 round shadow w/dummy, working on throwing power shots that i pull back before the target; pretty tiring.

Spent almost an hour talkin shop with the owner and a trainer who was visiting.

After that I went home to get a quick glass of chocolate milk, got changed, and went out to the fitness center to try to get in some weights.

I was tiiiiiiiiiired by the time i hit the weight room.
Cleans - 8 @ bar + 20, 8 @ bar + 50, 8 @ bar + 50
clean & press - 8 @ bar
lunges - 8 @ bar x each leg x 4
squat press - 8 @ bar x 2

After the second set of squat press i was about to fall asleep.
If i hadn't just spent a good hour and a half boxing, I could've done a lot more. weight wasn't the issue coz it was my first time back, was trying to go slow. I barely finished half the work out. I was downright drowsy i was so tired.

Oddly enough, it took me a while to get to bed last night - one of those situations where I was too physically exhausted to sleep.
Got into work about an hour late this morning (2 or 3 hours later than I wanted).

I think I'm gonna have to do my lifting in the mornings before work.
There's no way I can finish a routine after killin it in the boxing gym.

[Pork Chop]

I was hurtin yesterday from monday's workout.
Waking up late stunk.
I ate well though, tried to eat a little more coz of how much i was hurting.
Yogurt, big bowl of beef tip calderetta (w/peas, greenbeans, potatoes, bell peppers, and carrots), a granola bar or 2, and some chocolate milk.

Workout was rough, eventhough I was trying to take it easier, it was 96 degrees again.

10 min of jump rope
4 rounds of shadow, just with gloves no vest - did calisthenics between rounds.
3.5 rounds of bag work before I had to take a break.
got up and finished 1 or 2 more rounds before i was just done.
1 min of bobbing & weaving under the rope.
1 round of slip bag
a round or two of walking a new guy through the jab and the cross.

My back was sore from Monday, still is a little- and that kinda worries me.
Think I'll take a break from wearing the vest the rest of the week so i can let it heal.

Went to bed early last night and still couldn't wake up before 7:30. Felt like ass this morning with a headache, felt like i didn't even sleep. I'm still hurting a bit: back's kinda sore, traps & hamstrings a bit sore too. I have a feeling I'll be feeling a lil better by the time work's over.

Wanna really focus on footwork drills today.

[Pork Chop]

Left work yesterday pretty sore, was debating whether or not to hit the gym.
I decided to go anyway, felt something drawin me to go, and I'm glad I did.
I really mixed it up coz I didn't wanna get caught in a rut of the same old workout.
Food wise, I was good: yogurt, chicken fried rice (more chicken than rice it was ridiculous), a granola bar, 2 glasses of 2% milk, and a squirt.

workout:

light shadow for a few rounds.
footwork drills- including side stepping, carryovers (karaokes), and high stepping
shadow boxing for a round
Box jumps for 2 rounds - doing side-to-side jumping last 30 seconds of each round
shadowboxing for a round
shadow sparring with unfilled BOB, working on control for 2 rounds
med ball w/rope:
sledgehammer swings - 2 sets of 20 swings, 2 sets of 10
back against wall swings - 2 sets of 30
seated v-up swings - 3 sets of 20
medicine ball over head situps - 1 set of 30
med ball self passes - 1 set of 30
seated med ball twists - 1 set of 30
bounces against the wall (jab) - 1 set of 50
power wall bounces (cross) - 2 sets of 20
Neck - 50 each direction (4)

I didn't feel like i was killing myself this workout, but it was hard work.
Felt pretty good afterwards.

[Pork Chop]

my girl left to go outta town today (friday) for 4 days.
i needed some rest on thursday coz i was hurtin and I wanted to spend some time with her before she went so i took off from the gym.

I ate healthy and frequently, my only slip being a little bit of ice cream and brownie in the evening- was too sweet so i only had a few bites.

Today, Friday, I had to go into work, mail off some stuff, and take my girl to the airport. There just wasn't any time in there for a workout. Had some nuts & raisins in the morning and a few pieces of pizza for lunch. The pizza got me real ill so i think i'll leave my eating at that, assuming that meal was under 1500 calories (it should've been) I think I'll be okay.

I'll get back in the gym saturday; but at least I've made some progress this week. Going from 2 weeks w/2 practises & 1 week w/1 practise to working out 3 consecutive days is a pretty big step.

Consecutive days REALLY wear me down, i would kinda prefer to work out every other day, I could heal up a lot better. I hear that Floyd Mayweather Jr only works out 3 days a week but really kills it when he does.

If I keep feeling like crud with consecutive workout days I'll consider switching it up.

[Pork Chop]

Sinned a lil friday night with a couple beers and some stouffer's pizza.

Today i knew I had to atone.

I made it down to the gym a lil after 10

3 rounds of jump rope
3 rounds of shadow - 2 w/weights, calisthenics after every round.
3 rounds of heavybag
2 rounds of bobbin weavin rope, frog jumps last 30 secons 1st round, duck walk last 30 seconds 2nd round
1 hellish round on mitts. trainer was kinda beatin the tar out of me. He kept getting outside position on me so it was really hard to throw my left. My head movement and balance are coming along but still a ways to go.
went jogging for a mile or 2
a set of 30 knee lifts (i was sweating so it was hard to hold myself up)
Trainer told me my left was significantly weaker than my right so I did 3 more rounds of heavybag with just my left hand- mostly uppercuts coz i think that's what he was talkin about.

Since I got home I've been messing around with my 30lb dumbell & my pushup bars.

Guess the goal for a lil while is to get my left up to snuff w/weights and technique work. I also think i just need to work with that trainer more on pads.

[Pork Chop]

Sunday I wasn't feeling good all afternoon so i didn't get out of bed.
When I did finally start feelin better I had a ton of chores to do to get ready for the upcoming week.
Suprisingly I blew through the chores; most days I feel real sluggish but Sunday evening I was feeling good.
I missed my small window to make it to the fitness center for weights, so I went jogging in the evening.

I went to the trouble of setting my alarm for 5:45 so I could wake up and go lift Monday morning. Trouble was that i didn't set the thing to "alarm on" and like a dummy I overslept. Again it kinda turned out to be a good thing. I still had a lot to do to get a good start on the week- like shave, cut my hair, eat breakfast, and bottle up the crock pot food i'd started the night before.

I like easy jogging now I think i'm gonna do it every evening after the sun goes down. I like jogging when it's cooler and when there are fewer people around.

Tonite boxing gym for sure. Tomorrow may do the weights in the morning. Have to pick up my girl from the airport tomorrow night so probably no boxing then.

[Pork Chop]

Monday
102 in the boxing gym yesterday. What's worse is that they were out of fresh water at work so i had to try to get by on a diet soda and a root beer- no wonder folks around here are so fat.

I tried to take the workout slow but it was still taking a lot out of me. I ended up having to cut some stuff out just coz some of the hard stuff was just taking too long to recover from.

3 rounds jump rope
3 rounds shadow 2 w/weights
5 rounds heavybag
med ball sledgehammer 20-20-10-10 (last 2 sets 1 armed)
med ball sideways swings 20-20-10-10 (last 2 sets 1 armed)
a round or 2 of play sparring with this lil kid- worked on footwork, finding openings, and a lil defense.

My back is still a lil sore, so that made me reluctant to do a lot of head movement stuff & the weight vest stuff.

I'm starting to love road work. My legs are getting a little sore.
I ran again Monday night.
I think the run takes me about 40 to 45 min, could be 10 min off tho (listened to the first 8 tracks of Mike Ness' first solo album and 2 minutes of the 9th track).
I am pretty sure the run's at least 3 miles, but not 100% sure exactly how long it is. Not gonna stress it though, why fix it if it ain't broke.

Got to bed by around 12~12:30

Tuesday
This morning I managed to wake up before 6.
I went to the gym for some lifting.
Was a lil sleepy but in general felt pretty good aside from some sore knees.

power cleans: bar x 3, 65 x 3, 85 x 3, 95 x 30, 135 x 3, 155 x 3, 135 x 3. Could probably done mro than 155 but i was starting to lose form on 155 and didn't want to kill myself my first day.

lunges: bar x 6 ea leg, 95 x 6ea leg, 115 x 6 ea leg, 135 x 6 ea leg. felt real good. 6 is a much nicer number than 10 when you're doing both legs.

standing press: bar x 6, 65 x 6, 85 x 6, 95 x 6, 115 x 6. Felt pretty good. Was doing it more like a military press but would drive a lil if I felt a sticking point.

dips: bodyweight - 4, 6, 6, 6. Only cheated a little on the last rep of first set. Realized that I was probably going to need to assist with my foot a little until I'm strong enough. Would rather do it this way instead of using the dip machine coz I'm relatively close to being able to do bodyweight.

bent rows: bar x 6, 95 x 6, 135 x 6, 185 x 6, 135 x 4. Didn't like the 185 set. I have a thick torso and a big belly, which kinda makes it hard to get a full ROM on this exercise unless I pull it a lil high up, and even then I feel like I should do better. The 185 set was hitting too low on my gut. Should be able to do it next time tho- think i was tired.

[Pork Chop]

Diet's been okay in general.
Monday I had yogurt for breakfast, my own mad creation type soup for midmorning snack, and a small/medium sized tupperware of chicken lasagna (chicken, pasta, peas, carrots in a creamy sauce). A diet coke, a rootbeer, and a whey drink in the afternoon, Powerade & chocolate milk in the evening.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday

no workout, was sore as heck from the weights and had to pick up my woman from the airport. yogurt for breakfast, subway for lunch, a different subway for dinner, and a buffalo chicken sandwich from denny's after i picked her up from the airport @around 2am. Only got 3 hours of sleep.

Thursday

Tired from not sleeping enough. Work kinda dragged. My lunch had kinda gone bad so I picked up some brisket from the work cafeteria. Guess the diet was basically terrible during the day, just had a squirt for dinner time.

Hit the gym a lil after 6:30. The double end bag came in so i set it up with some help from my buddies there at the gym. It was another hundred degree day, so everything i did felt about 2 or 3 times harder.

3 rounds of jump rope
3 rounds of shadow - 2 w/handweights
3 rounds of double end bag
3 rounds of slip bag 1 full round with weights, last 30 seconds of last round with 25lb dumbells (just working on keeping my hands up when tired).

All that took me right up till closing time. I would've liked 3 rounds of heavybag just to make a full workout, but I'd be lying if i said i wasn't exhausted from that workout.

I was still hurtin from the lack of sleep and I just idn't feel like running last night. Convenient excuse, I know.

Knees are sore today and I don't know that I'm going to eat all that healthy for lunch. Tonite the gym closes early so i'll have to come up with something to do in the evening, unless i'm out hanging with people in town for Taiji Legacy.

[Pork Chop]

My gf was in phoenix over the weekend.
I just got a call tonite from "marie's boyfriend" - a guy in phoenix.
Forgive me if the next week or 2 are a lil "out of sorts"

[Pork Chop]

No workout friday, saturday, or sunday. I think i slept 2 hours friday night, and just didn't have it to go hit the gym eventho i wanted to badly. Diet was terrible coz on top of everything else, I felt we needed to get out of the house to talk.

I'm a fighter and I'm not giving up on her or on my training.
She may be moving out of state very soon, or at the very least taking a vacation of sorts.

I'm finding it amazing how in earth shaking times of crisis finding God is at least as easy as it was when I was a child.

[Pork Chop]

Sorry i'm not back yet.

Just been taking long walks and deep breaths to clear my head and calm myself down.

One more day till she leaves for her uncle's place for a while. I'm still going to try to stick this out for a bit while she makes up her mind.

I'm starting to realize that my old remedy of self destruction isn't gonna cut it this time so I'm trying to take all this negative energy and make it something positive.

I gotta say though, I don't know that I'm gonna have the fire in my gut to go and fight or dedicate myself to training. I've been realizing that training's taken too big a priority in my life to the point of blocking out a lot of stuff- a lot of stuff that shouldn't have been on the backburner this long.

Ultimately, the training almost seems pointless at this point. I think I want to spend my time in the future doing things that I have something to show for. That includes stuff like buying a house, getting married so i can be a good husband, having a kid so i can be a good daddy, learning to dance, learning to cook, going back to school for my master's, and if she decides not to come back then maybe meeting the kind of person who is right for me.

Maybe I'm just getting old. I see my old college buddy that I now work with talking about his daughter and it seems so rewarding- spending time with her's the only thing he wants to do in life. I think I want to focus on something with more of that level of satisfaction.

Sick of losing my temper, sick of being depressed, sick of being stressed out, and just plain sick of being unhappy all the time. If I gotta drop training to kinda get my head together, then I'm gonna do it.

Been letting too much stuff slide for too long.
Been letting too much stuff build up and make me an a$$hole (well, more of one at least).
Been taking too much stuff for granted.

For the longest time since I got down here, i haven't known how to have fun unless I was at the gym, out smokin & drinkin, or at a strip club. The thing is, none of those things have really cheered me up any. Spending weekends with my girl goin to movies, goin to dinner, or goin shoppin has been pretty good but those days have been a little too few and far between.

Going to try to keep myself busy from here on out, but make sure I'm takin care of stuff at home. The reason I've been railing against training is not just for the time I spend in training, it's the utter exhaustion & run down feeling i get the rest of the time as well. I don't like being a couch potato at home.

This whole experience has made me feel like I'm losing control over my life, so I guess like that show Monk, I've got an extra helping of motivation to make sure I'm not letting things slip at home- with the dishes, the laundary, cleaning, etc.

I'll check back in on this thread periodically as a way of journaling what I'm going through. I understand if anybody else reading it feels like criticizing.

[WinterPalm]

Good luck man.

I think it is time to take more of a hobbyist approach and try something not so intense. Maybe a lesson in any one of lots of martial arts would help...go twice a week or something just to mix it up and have fun.

[Pork Chop]

Yeah, I was thinking no more than twice a week.
I kinda wanna start joggin again too.
I'll get through this. hehe
[EDIT: Trying not to go crazy.
Thanks, by the way. :) ]

[SevenStar]

I dunno man, I'm gonna go against the other guys on this one - keep it up. As a parent of two, I can say from experience that you will still have time for them.
He11, my 7 year old trains too, so that gives us something to do together.

You're definitely not too old - aren't we about the same age? But we may have different goals in that area. I'm not done fighting - not yet. that's something else the kids and I can share together. How cool will it be to be training them for their first fights?

I would keep up with the road work and set a goal for dropping the weight. Once you are at your goal weight, then come back to the fight training.

[Pork Chop]

Sevenstar

thanx bro. I went jogging tonite. By the time i made my normal loop I was still feeling strong and still way too mentally screwed up to stop so I ran a second loop; totaling about an hour of running. It was one of those situations where I suddenly thought of something that put a whole new dimension on the subject. I mean, I quit my job for this woman. Yeah, I managed to land something better in a better place; but I don't see how I could deserve to be treated like this. I wonder how long it's going to take for her to wake up. I wonder if she ever wakes up. Trying to stay strong; but I don't think I've ever hurt like this... I feel like I've died already but my body just hasn't caught the hint yet.

[SevenStar]

I know thall of this sounds extremely cliche, but...

sometimes you have to love a person enough to let them go. Time heals all wounds, so you will eventually move past her and be fine with the decision.

[Pork Chop]

sevenstar

i think you're right, focusing on the roadwork might be best for me right now. gives me a chance to think about stuff. sunday night was just the roughest nite yet. it might be the roughest night of the experience, as you're right- time does heal all wounds.

I think i've lost at least 10, maybe 20 pounds so far. I've all but stopped eating. Just not hungry & feeling way too vulnerable.

[Pork Chop]

I feel a lot better after getting some sleep.
Only got 4 hours last night and not too much sleep over the weekend.
I've decided I'm not chasing after her anymore.
See up till now i'd been tryin to write her emails everyday.
I thought there was something i had to do to prove my love to her.
Ball's in her court now.
I'll be here if she ever wants to come back, but i'm not going to hold my breath.
She's gonna have to show me she really wants it before I open myself up to be hurt again.
For all my faults, I think i'm a pretty good guy, that I worked very hard at this relationship (almost too hard), and that I really deserve to be treated better.

Confusing thing is how little she tells me and how when we're together on dates, like really together, we're great- it's the other hours of the day that she kinda drifted away. I fought long and hard, I'm proud of myself for staying when others would go. I woulda made a good husband, but there's no shame in moving on to find someone who's really in it for me.

went to the bookstore tonite, walked around for about an hour.
Started humming this song in my head, wanna get it down before i forget it:

"[chorus]I'm not chasing after you no more
said I'm not chasing after you no more

I'm losing too much of myself
For you to go and find somebody else
no I'm not chasing after you no more

You shoulda thought before you said "yes"
Bout what it means to be wed
said I'm not chasing after you no more

[chorus]

How come I was the one who begged?
You weren't there when I needed help
no I'm not chasing after you no more

When we're together you're the best
When we're not you're a mess
said I'm not chasin after you no more

[chorus]"


Kinda on the fence about jogging tonite. I want to but I don't. I just went last night and I don't wanna get too run down- as the more tired I am the worse I tend to deal with stress.

Still not eating a whole lot.

[Pork Chop]

Okay i know she's safe now. That's good enough for me.

Got 3 emails from her yesterday, she seemed a bit hurt by the one where I said i felt it was her turn to prove her love to me and that I wasn't going to chase after her if she didn't want to be caught.

Tried to clear up what I meant; that I thought she was not writing me back on purpose while I was giving too much of myself away, and it just became a bigger and bigger clusterf*ck.

In the end I just told her I'm not going to write her anymore, so i don't make the situation worse.

I think I'm finally ready to walk away. This situation's not going to get any better anytime soon. There's nothing I can do to fix it. I'm at her mercy and she's gonna do what she wants to do. No sense in hinging my life on someone so unstable.
Gonna get out and meet new people. If she comes back i may drop what i'm doing but i'm not gonna center my life around it.

Dropped by the kickboxing gym to buy outta my contract. Coach was real cool with me, talking with me and keeping me from going nuts, tellin me he's gonna try to get me in the gym a little bit, and that he's gonna drag me out of the house (like for dinner). I ended up deciding to stick around longer and not buying out. Gonna go back slowly. Just a class or two here and there.

Going back to the boxing gym sometime soon too.

Ultimately I've been having serious issues with this relationship for a while. i did everything in my power to fix it but some things get permanently broken even if nobody actively breaks them. I also can't be the only one taking it upon himself to make things better. I think i'm gonna find a chick who's supportive of me & what I do, a chick that loves me for me, and a chick that knows how to calm me down when i lose my cool- not one who threatens to run away every time. I just hope they're all the same chick. :p

Gonna get back exercising regularly soon as possible. Still need to take it real slow. Still need to find my motivation again. Still need to spend time figuring out what else I like to do (aside from strip clubs & bars).

Eventhough I spend a lot of time at the gym, I deserve someone who's gonna be supportive of my hobby. I can tone it back if someone wants me to spend more time at home with the family; but I don't think the 2 are mutually exclusive.
I think my girl and i woulda had problems even if i was home all the time. I'm a little worried about letting the house go to crud if I give too much of myself at the gym, but as long as I use a To-Do list and keep my weekends productive, I should be fine.

I shouldn't have to skip out on doing what I like entirely in order to keep a relationship going. I shouldn't have to be on pins n needles everytime i open my mouth either. I deserve someone who's going to take an interest in what i like doing or at least respect it enough to come watch when i go to an event. I also think if she's spending all her time playing video games, she should at least care about me enough to want to get me involved. That probably doesn't matter much though as most girls don't do video games. hehe

Until the next mood swing, I think i'm going to be okay. hehe Nah I think I've just finally seen how I can walk away from this thing without being a quitter, a bad guy, or someone who wasn't really in love with her. I think I've had enough of the pain & sorrow for someone that just hasn't seemed like they've wanted to try to work things out since getting engaged.

All right world, get ready for the new heavyweight champion of the world; of course that could be in underwater basketweaving, but hey. :D

I'll check back in as my workouts pick up.

[Pork Chop]

Still on a bit of a roller coaster.

Had a pretty good weekend, with lots of walking - LOTS of walking.
I've been walking about 3 or 4 hours a day for the past week- my knee and upper back are pretty sore from it (well the back may be from sitting long hours with poor posture).
I also haven't been eating much; i get full on less than half the food that I'm used to. I still probably gained weight coz my body's useless like that, but o well.

My mom took me on a huge shopping spree this past weekend when she was in town. She got me a new ipod, which gives me a nice distraction to sink some time into- a good running partner too. Got a couple pairs of shoes and some self help type books.

Had a lil bit of a back and forth weekend emotionally.
I'm still going through the healing/grieving process.
This situation's been hard coz she "left to figure things out", she didn't leave with no hope of coming back, so I've been keeping myself in this loop of suffering- not able to go through the normal process of healing myself up from a breakup. I understand now that she's probably not coming back, that this IS a breakup, and that I've gotta move on.
I've hit (and hopefully passed) the anger phase.

I hope I'm past the anger phase because I have a bad temper and I don't like giving myself over to it- coz it'll try to take over.
Basically I'm at the point that she really isn't worth my time & effort; though I'm still confused how her brain made the choices she's made lately.

Her indecisiveness is telling me a lot actually.
Anybody who's been caught cheating would know that if you still cared for the other person you'd do whatever was in your power to make it up to them in such a situation; not taking off for parts unknown and just saying "be patient, don't get all suspicous on me".

I have enough clarity to see that this was a very unhealthy relationship for a while, possibly since the beginning - my friends have heard me complain for quite some time and were probably even suprised by the engagement in the first place.

I definitely deserve to be treated better and I still don't think I deserve what's gone (going) down, regardless of what kind of jerk i've been (on certain days), what misunderstandings we've had, or how her feelings got hurt. Relationships rarely get better by time off, they get better by working things out. Regardless of my own issues, I've always tried to work things out.

I'm pretty certain that I'm not going to be able to take her back with open arms if she ever comes back. I've gotta put that thought outta my head if I want to move forward and get back to something resembling "normal". I think she's been pretty wreckless with my heart and has really hurt me very deeply- i'm not liable to forget that.

When I left for a month, I was a lot more conscientious of her feelings than she's been for me. i called her almost everyday, she generally knew where I was at most of the time, i never said anything about "don't get your hopes up", or "i want to make sure I'm not making a mistake i'll regret the rest of my life".

I really don't need to be suffering for someone who treats me like this anymore.

I'm just frustrated that we still have unresolved issues and that her ghost is gonna haunt me for a bit, possibly preventing me from being with someone much better for a while: not that I'm looking to rush into anything but I don't want her to have that power over me.

I'm frustrated that I knew this relationship was having problems for a long time and was still shocked when something went bad (she timed it right after i cleared up a lot of my own issues).

I've been struggling with finding new things to do.
I've spent way too much money, as happens when you're main extracirricular activity is shopping.

If anybody's got any advice for stuff to go do, I'd appreciate it. So far I'm thinking: dance class, bowling, billiards (if someone comes with me), swimming pool (probly on the weekend), gym, jogging, bookstore, mall, coffeeshops, comic shop, game store, asian stores, and specialty grocery stores (Central Market).

I may go see some movies soon. That was "our" thing and I didn't want to do it without her, but it's also one of the only hobbies I've kept up over the past couple years, outside of the gym.

I've been playing some video games too- but after an hour or 2 I have to get up to do something, can't lose myself in it like the old days.

My mom is forcing me to do something with the singles group at my church, which should be fun (and cheap). I'm going to make a serious attempt to talk to any cute girls I see (within reason). My friend from Houston's coming up in a week or two to visit, she's planning on moving up here (around Dallas) in November- it'll be nice to have someone like that around.

Work's been picking up a lil so i don't have quite as much time to just sit and stew over stuff.

I've decided to start doing my workouts in the morning. It's too hot here to work out in the afternoon and these gyms all close early. I'm gonna try to hit the gym or go jogging in the early am, while it's still a lil cool. Should be a lot of people at the jogging trail near my apartment. Jogging before bed's been a little problematic as far as being able to sleep and being able to wake up in the morning.

I'm waiting to start having passion about something again.
Time is definitely the best medicine- just dont' want to waste more of it than i have to.

[Pork Chop]

Went jogging this morning. it was fun, a little harder to do than last time. Got a little bit of cramping in my upper and lower back. My upper back's still giving me problems, think it's from how i sit all day at work.

Otherwise, I feel pretty decent.
This week should be a little like christmas- a lot of the stuff I ordered last week should be coming in the mail.
Last night my dvd drive craapped out on my laptop and I'm getting a new one in the mail by wednesday.

not sure what I want to do tonite to keep myself occupied.
I'm thinking of hitting the kickboxing gym wednesday or thursday to break up the week.
Tonite maybe book store and/or thai store for a little bit so i can come home with enough energy to finish my housework.

Still not eating a whole lot. Yesterday was a bowl of chicken jumbalaya for lunch and some lasagna for dinner.

[SevenStar]

I've decided I'm not chasing after her anymore.
See up till now i'd been tryin to write her emails everyday.
I thought there was something i had to do to prove my love to her.
Ball's in her court now.

I think this is what gets guys most in relationships... When something goes wrong, we try to fix things, as if it's all our fault. We try to prove that we really love her, regardless of whether or not they are doing the same. The nasty bottom line there is that despite all of your trying, she will not come back unless she wants to, and we can't always influence that decision - heck, in a lot of cases, all of the extra attempts at trying actually pushes them further away. Like you said, the ball is in her court now.

[Pork Chop]

I think this is what gets guys most in relationships... When something goes wrong, we try to fix things, as if it's all our fault. We try to prove that we really love her, regardless of whether or not they are doing the same. The nasty bottom line there is that despite all of your trying, she will not come back unless she wants to, and we can't always influence that decision - heck, in a lot of cases, all of the extra attempts at trying actually pushes them further away. Like you said, the ball is in her court now.

exactly.

i just kinda need to get over her in order to heal up from everything going on.
if i keep myself from healing up i'm going to become a complete basket case (well, STAY a complete basket case at least).

[Pork Chop]

Wow
I found out the truth of how deep the lies went and that they were still ongoing right up until i said "let's end it".
Can't say how but daayumn.
I can't feel bad or angry over a person with THAT many issues.
I just feel sorry for them.
In other news this is one of the happiest moments of my life.
Guilt has been lifted from my shoulders and I've had a huge religious experience to boot.
I ain't gonna go all evangelical but I can now, honestly say that I'm a fervent Catholic (and how many of THOSE do you meet? hehehe).

Needless to say no more bad feelings on my end of things.
Next week i go about the inenviable task of rebuilding my body and repairing all the damage i've done.

Starting slowly with workouts at the gym.
My new philosophy is that it should make me sweat, make me breathe hard, and be of decent duration- but If I'm feeling any serious pain the next day, time to tone it back.
May not be the greatest philosophy- my gains may be slow to nonexistant, but they should be consistant.

I swear this is the most positive i've been in a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ong time. It's amazing how such an epiphany can make you wake up to the fact that an unhealthy relationship's been killing you. No more shouldering the guilt for 2 people, which I've done for years - not just the past few weeks.
I can't wait to go out and have some fun.
My outlook on life is awesome, which is a rarity for me.

Thanks to all who helped me.
Going to be contacting individuals as i can, lots of people have helped me through this. I'm sorry to have wasted your time on such a meaningless individual, but i do feel that i'm a better guy for having tried that hard.

[Pork Chop]

Gotta love uncontrollable mood swings. :)

Anyway, i went jogging on Sunday - been jogging about every other day.

Today (Monday) I got my anger back, which is good coz lately I haven't known what I really like- what I'd like to do, what I want to be, future dreams, any of that. Every hobby I used to love seemed so senseless.

I went to the gym after work, soon as I could.
Workout was like 6 rounds but it was 100 degree heat.
Those rounds were friggin intense too.
I kept picturing the video game and the other guy that caused all this mess; and beat them repeatedly.

Felt good afterwards, tried to get some sleep and my body won't relax.
See, I haven't been able to sleep more than like 6 hours lately.
The smell of food makes me nauseous.
In the last 3 days I've had 3 hashbrowns and a chilli's triple play, almost all of that on saturday.
I've lost 20 pounds.

I wish I could relax.
I hate wasting this much energy on someone so worthless.
It's a physical thing and kinda outta my hands.

Going to set up an appointment with a counselor tomorrow, had my preliminary interview tonite. Hopefully they can give me something to keep me from falling out.

[Pork Chop]

August 15th was the best day yet.
Woke up feeling a lil ticked and betrayed but by the afternoon i kinda snapped out of it.

An interesting thing came in my mind: she was only around 4 nights a week, max. She usually wasn't around much on the weekends. A HUGE part of my life didn't really include her. I don't have to worry so much about things that were "our's" anymore, I'd been pretty self-sufficient for a long time. She'd done a good job of making me ashamed of my hobbies before she left and I don't have to worry about that anymore. I've been able to go back to what I enjoy.

In the evening I hit up church and then went downtown.
I finally started eating again- had a decent-sized plate of sushi.
Made my stomach hurt a lil coz i hadn't really eaten anything in a while, but it wasn't the normal 100 bux I would blow in a place like that.

I was suprised at how exciting it was to go downtown.
I remember when I first moved up here having a similar sense of wonder, but I think having to take care of the dog earlier than expected kinda killed that; then when my ex moved down & acted like she was already out of the relationship it got even worse. After a little while it just seemed a bleak place to go and indulge in a lifestyle i felt guilty about (ie going to clubs/bars, maybe having a beer or a smoke or two)- wouldn't let myself talk to anybody and was somewhat ambivalent to other people out there.

I look back and see how unhappy I've been for so long and it's kinda sad.
I was downright depressed on my birthday- at that time I was so lonely for attention in that house that I was going to strip clubs on the regular and considering escorts. Yeah I know that makes me a bad guy, but I was being neglected (and cheated on it turns out) so I don't feel too bad about it.
I'm glad I no longer have to bear the weight of "why isn't this relationship working?"- that's been taken out of my hands.

It's strange to say on the tail end of such a messy break up, but I really do feel happier now. I have an easier time waking up. Working out doesn't feel like such a chore. My job doesn't seem like such a boring place to go. The few friends I have here no longer feel like pale imitations of old friends. Stuff to do downtown no longer seems lame or something I'm guilty of. Strangely enough, without the pressure on me to give up drinking, i drink less- same with smoking. I don't feel the urge to gorge on food or to use food to make me feel better. With the lack of sleep and limited diet, I'm suprised that my body's a whole lot less achey than before.

Starting to think that she was a lead weight that i wore around my neck for a long time. A penance for underlying feelings of guilt and self-dislike. Too afraid of loneliness and being the "bad guy" to let it go long after I knew it wasn't good for me.

I wonder if our relationship may have been an underlying cause of the inexplicable weight I packed on & managed to keep on even when exercising a lot. I've lost a good 20lbs since she left (yeah, partly due to not eating, but even on good days I don't feel like gorging anymore).

I feel a lot less self destructive now than whenever we were together.

I got a good night's sleep again last night. 7 hours maybe, with 8 the night before. Limited interruptions or bad dreams. Still using Tylenol PM to help with that in the short term, but I'll ween myself off of it as soon as I can.

I didn't use the computer last 2 nights in a row.
I'm kinda shooting for not using it till the weekend but I might not make it.
Kicking her cold turkey might be the cause of the upswing, not sure.
I do feel I've resolved a majority of my issues- I understand what happened, I understand where I am, and I understand where I want to go.

I'd like to think she and I could be friends some day; I do suspect that she's too selfish & uncaring to be much of a good friend, but that (the way she's acted) could just be residuals (on her part) from the relationship going so sour.

Ultimately I think this is what I've wanted for a long time.


August 16th so far is going well, woke up early and hit the gym. Just did some elliptical. Later on I'll work up to adding weights as well. Just wanted to do something that would be easier on my upper back than jogging. The elliptical requires me to use my upper back but so far it doesn't hurt as much.

[Pork Chop]

read through this thread and it's obvious how lousy i was feeling and how much she was bringing me down. she was probably talking with that guy before she moved out here. Once she came here she was never even the same person she was when we were still in baltimore, and i'm not sure i would've been "question free" with the old version of her anyway.

Can't wait to meet somebody who brings joy to my life, makes me smile, and has an eye out for my best interests. Be nice to have someone who didn't leave me alone 3 nights a week, someone who likes to get out of the house, who doesn't spend all her time (cheating) on a video game that she won't share with me, and someone who will make me feel better when I'm not having a good day. "Doin the deed" every once in a while would be great too. hehe

I know I stayed so long so I wouldn't hurt her, as I promised to do in the beginning. I'm glad I kept my promise.

Here's to hoping that my mood swings are done and that I manage to find the right one out there for me soon. :) Wouldn't even mind finding a wrong one as long as she's fun. hehe

[Pork Chop]

crud I'm more messed up than i thought.
it's gonna be a while before i'm really ready to find someone new.
i think i need a change of scenery.

maybe it's just today- and the stresses of trying to get tested for STDs, but i feel like i looped all the way back around to 2~3 weeks ago.

I still gotta hit up another doc and then maybe get serious about hooking up a counselor.

Not gonna stress trying to be ready by this weekend- gonna go out with some people, but not really gonna have my heart in it.

can't really force myself to get better.
I can only try to stop thinking about it by distracting myself with other thoughts- but that only works when you've got something to dive into and currently, I do not. Work is hella-slow, i'll hit the gym if i'm not too tired I guess, video games ain't doin it, nobody seems to be around or want to listen to me anymore.

woke up with the chills again this morning, more severe than ever before. I think it's coz i went to bed late, had a lot in my system from yesterday's panic attack (stress n nicotine wise) and didn't take my tylenol PM.

starting to hate my guinnea pig.

might have to go stay with my parents a little while. i need to be surrounded by people who care, not locked up home alone.

I'm so ready to wake up from all of this.
Almost up to 25 pounds lost; bout half way to 200.

think i should invest in some sleep tonite; last nite was a mistake.


EDIT: I just don't know why I gotta be so broken up over someone who's so obviously moved on.

[Pork Chop]

Alright I give up.
I'm not going to try so hard to heal up from this right away anymore.
I was trying to blast through all the phases of this thing so that I could come out clean on the other side like she did.
Well maybe she can forget me at the drop of a hat and maybe she wasn't the greatest girl out there, but for a little while at least she was mine.
I don't have to feel bad about myself for the way things went down, I had very little control over what went through her head.
Sure there were times when I wanted to leave, but when push came to shove, i couldn't- she was too dear to me.
I'm not going to try and get back out there on the dating scene.
I've got a new reason to live healthy and heal up.
I don't really need to get out there and meet tons of new people- just live my life; though I have met some new folks already who are cool.
Just gotta function on a day to day basis, do okay at work, and let time do it's thing.

[Pork Chop]

i feel a kind of exhausted chill-ness today.
like i've finally resignated to my fate and can do nothing but watch it play out.
slept normal, woke up normal, even got hungry this morning.

I may be the dumbest guy in the world for not being able to let go at this point but i really just can't; and admitting that is causing me a lot less stress.


Ate half a sandwich this morning.
Got a doctor's appointment around 10:45.
Tonite a friend's coming into town and we're gonna go hang out.
Gonna clean up my house later on this evening.

[Pork Chop]

alright, in the spirit of change and really trying ot make an improvement, I'm consolidating my blogs in one place.
There's been a lot of bad attached to this thread.
Been a pretty bad time for me.
Like I said, I gotta hold on to this girl as long as i can, as long as there's anything left to hold on to. My heart's not gonna give up on here till it's ready to.

here's my new blog.
http://www.ericsredemption.blogspot.com/

[Pork Chop]

Finally got some closure on my situation. She finally called and had the guts to tell me what she couldn't for so long. It was so bad that she was like "i told you a week ago" and I responded with "no, i have the chat transcripts and you didn't say anything like that". Kinda sad to be hurt by such a scared lil kid.

I'm just glad I don't have to drive myself insane anymore wondering what's going on.

Moving on might take a while more- maybe not. I was pretty down on the relationship for a long time. I was considering leaving at various points but kept sticking it out. I'm not going to rush myself and just giong to try to take it easy.

Gotta find out what I like to do again. I've been doing pretty well with the jogging (missed last night coz she called). It's so hot here that a lot of times working out just doesn't seem worth it.

If I start seriously training again I'll start up another blog on here.

[rubthebuddha]

If I start seriously training again I'll start up another blog on here.

if you don't, i'ma drive up to ft. worth and have my wife beat your ass.




actually, we'll be up in mid-september. i'll let you know when i remember what weekend.

[Pork Chop]

cool, i'll be in houston the whole week of labor day.

shoulda gotten outta town when this crud first went down.
going back home really gets me back to normal.
plus i got a cute friend down there- but it's a lil early for that, more on that later.