Pork Chop's latest workout blog

[Pork Chop]

Thursday July 12, 2012
back at club ko tonight

did combo ko first: jump rope, then a huge circuit of full body exercises, plyos, bodyweight exercises, and core. Usually go around 3 times.

took an hour break to go pick up my food from zedrics

came back for boxing technique: LOTS of footwork drills. Met another coach tonight, he's really close with my friend who's coming back from Afghanistan soon. We talked for a long time.

I'm going to have to figure out how to get home earlier.
Getting in the door after 9:30 is not working out; I'm usually up all night preparing for the next day.
If it's only Tuesday and Thursday, it might not be so bad.
This week was particularly bad because Wednesday was my monthly gig where I come home real late.

Really enjoying this new gym. I feel pretty fired up. The people are awesome. They have all the equipment I want (except a squat rack), and yet the environment is one of serious, hard work.

EDIT: started drinking a protein shake with dinner after working out. I don't think the extra 350 calories will kill me, especially considering I can't always finish the thing. I have noticed improved recovery this week, even with limited sleep.

[Pork Chop]

EDIT: forgot Friday's workout
Friday 7/13/2012

BoxingKO class at Club KO - basically a 1 hour circuit class of boxing drills.

Sparring - sparring session was an hour, just kinda jumped in and out ad-hoc. I may have gone 4 rounds, might've been 6. Kinda lost track. Felt like a total beginner again. Focusing on a new stance and keeping my elbows tucked was really messing with me. Need more shadow.

Sunday 7/15/2012
Went jogging in the evening to try out my new New Balance minimus shoes.
Got the trail running ones, black with the blue highlight.
So far so good, pretty easy jog - 2 miles (2 laps around my neighborhood).

[Pork Chop]

Monday 7/16/2012
Yoga class - 1 hour. feel like i haven't been doing it enough lately. It helped with some pain i've been feeling in my upper/middle back.

Boxing class - 1 hour. Pretty brutal class. A bit like the krav maga bag class. May trade off a tiny bit of intensity for proper form. At the same time, there's more freedom to up that intensity if I want to. We don't do combos to cadence, so i'm not rushing to keep up with people doing it improperly/lazily. At the same time, we do proper combos, so the stuff feels a lot more applicable.

Still feeling real noobish after the switch back to boxing. Weight back - but not all the way back (as in muay thai), crouched on back leg with heel raised. Keeping my elbows in, palms turned in instead of out, punches more of a quick rotation around the axis of the spine than a big wind up. Hook's gotta be higher, punches need to be longer - don't step so far in on the bag (exact opposite of what muay thai coach was having me do). A lot to remember. Tends to make me a bit slow and stiff. The more I do it properly, the better I'll be able to relax into it.

Feels real good knowing I have improvements to make and that what I'm being taught will translate well into competition; not just in-class sparring against people who do the same exact stuff. Motivates me to go to the gym. Not as hung up on how sore my body is (in fact, it's surprisingly NOT sore).

I like the one hour workouts (even for skill stuff). Keeps it intense and productive.

[Pork Chop]

Tuesday 7/17/2012

Started off with ComboKO class - a full one hour of circuit exercises including full body lifts, plyos, agility drills, and core work. Very brutal.

Next was Boxing Technique class - an hour of bag work and boxing related drills, with some calisthenics & ab work thrown in to spice things up.

Was totally spent afterwards.
By the end, my form had gone to absolute sh!t.
Hurting today - mostly back & knees, protein shake helped with muscle recovery.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday July 18, 2012
Was really sore this day.
Raining after work, so went straight home.
By the time I got home, I was hungry as a horse.
Heated up a bunch of leftovers instead of what I was supposed to eat.
Went jogging that night to make up for my dietary indiscretion.
Jogged 6 times around my neighborhood (about 1 mile each lap), for about 1 hr 15 min.
Pretty fun actually...

Thursday July 19, 2012
Felt pretty good this day.
Jogging helped get rid of a lot of the soreness in the rest of my body, but my lower body's still pretty sore from wearing minimal shoes (New Balance Minimus).
ComboKO first for an hour. Wasn't as bad as Tuesday, but still challenging. Actually felt pretty good coming out of this.
Boxing Technique class for an hour. Lots of pad work. Again, not as bad as Tuesday and felt good after.

[Pork Chop]

Friday July 20, 2012
First was BoxingKO class - 1 hour of jump rope, punch outs on the bag, and calisthenics. Great workout.

Second hour was sparring. I sparred about 4 rounds total; we were swapping in and out every round. Felt like I was doing well until the very last round when I paired up with Atilla (yes, his real name) - the 6'2" 350lb (yes, that's a 3) former professional football player who's making a move to boxing. His first jab hit so hard that I really didn't think about firing anything back after that. I was basically running until they pulled me out about 1.5 to 2 minutes into the round. It was pretty bad, I've never worked with anybody that big and athletic before. Glad that I decided to get out of the heavyweight division. Luckily; aside from a slight bloody nose, the only injury I received was to my pride. I'll do better next time.

[Pork Chop]

Monday July 23, 2012
Yoga class - 1 hour. pretty good workout. my shirt was completely soaked through by the end.

Boxing class - 1 hour. great workout. got a lot of good tips on how to fix my style. the challenge will be implementing those tips. Still moving like a noob, but i'm trying...

[Pork Chop]

Tuesday July 24, 2012
CampKO - brutal 1 hour circuit of different exercises hitting core, full body movements, plyos, agility, and strength.
BoxingKO - didn't feel like waiting around for an hour for the Boxing Technique class, so I jumped into BoxingKO immediately after CampKO. Lots of bag work drills with leg work drills mixed in and abs at the end. Found that working on "speed" fixed a lot of what was broken about my technique. As long as I stay fast and balanced, it should keep me from over committing on my shots.


Wednesday July 25, 2012
Jogging - not quite sure on the distance, but it was around 1 hour in duration.
Pad work - held thai pads for about 5 rounds for one of the boxing coaches. Hit boxing mitts for 3 or 4 rounds.
Boxing Class - 1 hour of heavybag drills. Gassed HARD in this class. I think I was dehydrated. Didn't get much rest between any of the workouts either.

[Pork Chop]

Thursday July 26, 2012
CampKO One hour circuit of fitness training. I don't think I got up off the ground for like a minute after we finished out the class with abs. Tough class.
Boxing Technique One hour circuit of boxing drills. Great workout, had fun, and even made some more fixes. Realized that muay thai is largely "hips forward" so you're primed to pick up your legs at a moment's notice while boxing is decidedly "hips back" so you can drop level for head movement. Made a huge difference.

Got some other news lately that may be another huge change for me, but it's still early to put it out there.

[Pork Chop]

Friday July 27, 2012
Boxing class for the first hour. Nice little one-hour circuit of bag drills.
Sparring for the next hour. Got in 6 rounds (2min each, 30sec rest, 2 sets of 3 rounds), with one of the coaches. Felt I was moving better. Took some hard shots. Lots of fun. Learned a lot. Most fun I've had with fighting for a while. Realize that I LOVE sparring when I'm learning something; it's when it's a total pi$$ing contest that I hate it.

[Pork Chop]

Monday July 30, 2012
Went to the krav maga gym for the hour long yoga class. The room was so hot it was practically Bikram yoga. I was drenched afterwards.
Next, I went to clubko for Boxing class. This should probably be called BoxingKO. It's 1 hour of heavybag drills. Good workout.

They're changing the schedule at clubko. Boxing technique classes won't start until 8:30pm Tues & Thurs. Even with my family gone, I'm not sure that I'll be able to make this class. I don't like getting home from the gym around 10. Just not enough time to get prepared for the next day.

I'll experiment with 8:30p technique class this Thursday, but what I'm probably going to end up doing is leaving Thursday at 1 class so I can pick up my food around 7:30p. I'll hit up boxing class on Wednesdays after going for a jog; if I get there early I might be able to sneak in some pad work and/or some double-end bag. I'm also planning to add in Saturdays eventually (so far it's very hard to wake up) so that might give me some additional technique work.

Not looking forward to my wife & kid going to Japan as much as I thought I would. Kind of dreading it, feeling pretty sad in fact. Monday night I was pretty down all day and had a hard time sleeping.

[Pork Chop]

Tuesday July 31, 2012

Got to the gym a bit early and warmed up a little before starting CampKO. 1 hour circuit of heck. Go through it about 3 times, 30 sec a station, lots of full body, core, balance, agility, plyos, and strength.

Afterwards, I had enough time to change some clothes real quick and wrap up for BoxingKO. 1 hour of heavybag drills with some calisthenics mixed in. Feeling like I'm starting to settle into my style a little bit more.

Felt bad that I couldn't stay for Boxing Technique class. Once a week (on Thursday) probably won't be too bad; but it's still going to be hard getting home at 10pm.

Weighed in this morning and am back to 199.4lbs.
I'm basically back to where I was before I got sick.
No cheat days in August, so hoping to actually make some progress.
I would like to drop another 25lbs.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday August 1, 2012
I'm lazy, so I'm going to try to cut & paste from fitocracy today...
Running:
0:35:00 || 3 mi (+252 pts)
Not sure how far it was, or even how long- certain it was at least 30 to 40 minutes. I run on an outdoor trail on base with lots of hills.
Boxing:
0:30:00 || practice (+127 pts)
1:00:00 || drills (+391 pts)
Did round robin with 2 guys on thai pads & focus mitts. 2 rounds apiece. I held Thai pads for around 4 rounds. I hit focus mitts for at least 3 rounds. After that, it was 1hr BoxingKO class with heavybag drills.

Thursday August 2, 2012
Boot Camp:
1:00:00 || The Gods Hate Me! (+576 pts)
1hr camp ko. absolutely brutal circuit.
Boxing:
1:00:00 || drills (+391 pts)
boxing technique class. lots of stance work and throwing picture perfect punches; ie 1 round of continuous jab, shooting for perfection. did that for jab, cross, hook, each side (orth & southpaw). finished up with an uppercut & plank drill that d@mn near killed me. fun times. sore today...

[Pork Chop]

Friday August 3, 2012
Boxing:
1:00:00 || drills (+391 pts)
1 hour of heavy bag drills. Started maybe 5 min late. Just wasn't feeling it tonight. Was super sore before the gym. Very sluggish & flat during the BoxingKO heavy bag drills. Skipped sparring class. Feel guilty. Pretty drained physically & emotionally; not feeling so hot.

Hope it's not a depression coming on.
Wife & kid left for vacation early Thursday morning.
They'll be in Japan the next 3 weeks.
Wish I was there.
House is way too quiet.

[Pork Chop]

Slept till 2:30pm on Saturday; which kind of sukked coz I had been planning to work out in the morning. Didn't really do anything the whole day.

Monday August 6, 2012
General Yoga:
1:00:00 (+180 pts)
Hour long class. Apparently, I'm the only one completely drenched in sweat. Not sure why. Going to try to cut back on coffee, but I doubt it'll make a huge difference.
Boxing:
1:00:00 || drills (+391 pts)
1hr Boxing KO class of heavybag drills. Today was one of those "2 steps back" kind of days. Felt like I was doing everything wrong. Slept late on Saturday & didn't do much this weekend; but that might not have been enough. Didn't eat enough for sure (total calories just over 1000 for the day).