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I've been reading these forums for the last few days and found it a reliable, informative place to be. That said, a lot of the advice that goes on is for people who are already in the game so to speak, so i thought i'd put together a detailed post on what i'm currently doing both training and diet wise to be critique'd and told whether or not i'm on the right road or, if i should switch gym's or even if boxing is for me at all.
I'm 26.
I currently weigh 12stone/76.2kg/168lbs whichever system you use. Although before i started training i weighed 177lbs. About 4 years ago i was around 126lbs but had some issues which led to rapid weight gain.
I'm 5'10".
I've probably done 12 sessions at this gym.
I was a couch potato before it so had zero fitness, even less strength and a rather large pot belly
I'm using 14oz gloves which are hell at the end of a session.
I'll start off with my diet. On an average day, these are my eating habits.
9am - Breakfast. Cereal and semi-skimmed milk. The cereal varies from Bran Flakes, Shredded Wheat or Muesli. On rare occassions i'll have a 2 egg omelette. I dont add sugar to the cereal or cheese to the omelette.
12pm-1pm - Lunch. Usually Ham + Salad sandwich, although sometimes i do cheat here, depends on what the missis is having. If she wants to go to the chip shop, i'll usally have some chips. Thats terrible i know but it's not very often. I'd rather be honest.
5pm - Dinner. I make something for my daughter and if it's a training night, i'll have pasta for the energy. I usually have tuna and onions with my pasta and a hot sauce. If i'm not training i'll try to have chicken, tuna or something else with high protein content and not a lot of carbs, notice the try. While i dont eat clean 100%, im not a processed food junkie.
8:45pm-9:30pm - If it's a training night, i'll come back and have either a shake for protein or a can of tuna with a lil hotsauce for flavour. If it's a non training night it depends on what the missis wants after she gets back from work. Sometimes she orders pizza in which case i'll have a slice, again terrible i know but i'd rather be honest. I try not to eat this late as i know it's bad and im forever complaining at the missis about eating at these times.
If i'm gunna snack, i'll eat a banana. I dont do chocolate bars or biscuits although my fridge is packed with them, i seem to be able to resist the temptation.
During the day i drink pints of water. I reckon on average i do 4 a day. I dont do fizzy pop, sometimes have milk (semi-skimmed) and maybe have some juice every now and again. 99% of the time its just plain water.
So, looking back at that myself, i can see that my diet isnt great. My portion sizes could maybe be a little smaller but theyre in no way large to start with. It's quite hard for me to eat 100% clean as i have a young child in the house and a partner who works stupid hours and prefers easy meals when she gets in. If im gunna cheat i make sure i up my work rate to at least feel like ive worked it off, although in reality i know it doesnt.
Into my training routine...
Every day i do:
Half a mile brisk walk taking my daughter to school.
At LEAST 1 round of shadow boxing and trying to improve my foot movement.
Once a week i play 8-a-side football/soccer for 40 minutes, which is high intensity.
I sometimes go for a run, although not very often as i hate going solo, in which case i'll do a shorter version of the route below. I also sometimes skip and i have to say im progressing pretty quick from having been able to snag every rotation to now being able to consistently go 1 minute plus without snagging.
I go to the boxing gym twice a week. This is what i do while im there.
Warmup:
We do 4 different exercises with a high intensity, during which the trainer will call out alternating push-up variations with reps from 10-1. We have to keep the pace up with whoever he puts in the ring, if we fail we get extra laps on our run. We do each exercise for probably 10-15 seconds while rotating through the list below, the warmup lasts about 10 minutes. The exercises are...
Star Jumps/Jumping Jacks - These must be done at a high intensity. Hands must touch above the head or the whole class starts again.
Alternate arm raises with alernate lead feet - Thats the only way i can describe it. We raise alternate arms while jump switching alernative feet forward. It's quite intense but easy once you get the hang of it.
Trunk twists - We incorporate a little skip action into it, so we're bouncing while doing it.
Running on the spot and clapping under each leg - Knee's have to be high, must clap under each leg or the whole class starts again.
After this we do stretch out and do a 2.5mile run which incoporates a rather long reasonably steep hill. We do one full lap and then usually an extra 2 reps of the hill.
Once we're back in the gym we do what the coach calls a "Ton Up". It's 10 reps of 10 various exercises, to be done in order with 100% correct form.
10 Pushups
10 Situps
10 Tuck Jumps
10 Snake Pushups
10 Squat Thrusts
10 Crunches
10 Star Jumps/Jumping Jacks
10 Clap Pushups
10 Jack knives
10 Burpee's
Once we do this, we also have to do a timed set with at LEAST 80% form. We have 2 mins to complete this. My best time is 2:15 so far, i'm almost there. Depending on how close to a show the club is, we may have to do another set also, still under the 2 minute timer. I get away with a little bit of slack because im new and so weak its unreal. While it's nice to know i do still try and have taken my time down from 4:50 since my first session.
Thats our complete warm up.
We do 1x3 minute round on the heavy bag doing long range shots to loosen up.
We then do what the coach calls a "Power Round". This is a 10 minute trip into hell for me. We do 30 seconds of full speed, full power left right combo on the heavy bag. We drop and do 30 seconds of a named exercise, working down the list from the "Ton Up". 30 seconds bag, 30 seconds exercise for a full 10 minutes.
We then get given combinations to throw on the bag and the coach will walk around handing out tips, correcting form and technique, we dont do any amount of set rounds, just whatever the coach calls out.
Towards the end of our sessions, which is 1hr 30 mins, we do our "Techniques" which are our blocks, counters and movement to each type of punch. We do this face to face with someone of our own weight category, or as close as we can get. Quite intimidating but necessary as it's about as close to sparring as you can get. I've sparred twice. First time was 1:30 of left hand only and then the rest of the round with both hands. I was in against someone who had also never been in the ring and i bet it was hilarious to watch. Very nervous until i'd taken and landed a punch. I like to think i got the better of this first time having bloodied the guys nose and been asked to calm down a little. Second time was rotating opponents for 1 minute rounds, left hand only again, took some good shots and landed some good ones, still very nervous though.
The club has some reasonably talented fighters from what im led to believe. We recently had a younger lad win the area finals and he's also in the schoolboy semi finals.
After all that is said and done, what i'd like to know really is whether or not im being put through my paces properly. While the club's gym is on the small side, they have recently bought a new building and will be moving in the near future to somewhere with probably 3 times the space we have currently. There are 3 coaches although we very rarely get any 1 on 1 work as theyre time is spent with their carded boxers, as i can only imagine it would. So im at a dead end for what to do. Im not fit enough to spar properly and im not even 100% sure if i want to become a fighter as my motivation is somewhat lacking. Im unsure as to whether im being coached properly as ive nothing to compare it to and i dont want to enter the ring and be destroyed through a lack of proper coaching. The guys seem to be saying what i imagine are the right things but im so low on confidence, putting them into action is a large task. My diet is poor, my stamina is poor and i can only imagine how poor my technique must be but then again im still very very new to the whole thing. Ideally i want to get down another 25-28lbs, which is gunna take a while but thats where i'm aiming.
What should i be looking for in the right gym? What should i do to my diet to help shed the weight quicker? While i know i'm gunna cop some flack for my diet, i do try and i'm making progress slowly, to go 100% clean on a very low budget would drive me insane. I guess im really just looking for motivation, some second opinions and maybe a little further guidance to get me up and running and wanting to stick around. Can anyone help?
I'm 26.
I currently weigh 12stone/76.2kg/168lbs whichever system you use. Although before i started training i weighed 177lbs. About 4 years ago i was around 126lbs but had some issues which led to rapid weight gain.
I'm 5'10".
I've probably done 12 sessions at this gym.
I was a couch potato before it so had zero fitness, even less strength and a rather large pot belly
I'm using 14oz gloves which are hell at the end of a session.
I'll start off with my diet. On an average day, these are my eating habits.
9am - Breakfast. Cereal and semi-skimmed milk. The cereal varies from Bran Flakes, Shredded Wheat or Muesli. On rare occassions i'll have a 2 egg omelette. I dont add sugar to the cereal or cheese to the omelette.
12pm-1pm - Lunch. Usually Ham + Salad sandwich, although sometimes i do cheat here, depends on what the missis is having. If she wants to go to the chip shop, i'll usally have some chips. Thats terrible i know but it's not very often. I'd rather be honest.
5pm - Dinner. I make something for my daughter and if it's a training night, i'll have pasta for the energy. I usually have tuna and onions with my pasta and a hot sauce. If i'm not training i'll try to have chicken, tuna or something else with high protein content and not a lot of carbs, notice the try. While i dont eat clean 100%, im not a processed food junkie.
8:45pm-9:30pm - If it's a training night, i'll come back and have either a shake for protein or a can of tuna with a lil hotsauce for flavour. If it's a non training night it depends on what the missis wants after she gets back from work. Sometimes she orders pizza in which case i'll have a slice, again terrible i know but i'd rather be honest. I try not to eat this late as i know it's bad and im forever complaining at the missis about eating at these times.
If i'm gunna snack, i'll eat a banana. I dont do chocolate bars or biscuits although my fridge is packed with them, i seem to be able to resist the temptation.
During the day i drink pints of water. I reckon on average i do 4 a day. I dont do fizzy pop, sometimes have milk (semi-skimmed) and maybe have some juice every now and again. 99% of the time its just plain water.
So, looking back at that myself, i can see that my diet isnt great. My portion sizes could maybe be a little smaller but theyre in no way large to start with. It's quite hard for me to eat 100% clean as i have a young child in the house and a partner who works stupid hours and prefers easy meals when she gets in. If im gunna cheat i make sure i up my work rate to at least feel like ive worked it off, although in reality i know it doesnt.
Into my training routine...
Every day i do:
Half a mile brisk walk taking my daughter to school.
At LEAST 1 round of shadow boxing and trying to improve my foot movement.
Once a week i play 8-a-side football/soccer for 40 minutes, which is high intensity.
I sometimes go for a run, although not very often as i hate going solo, in which case i'll do a shorter version of the route below. I also sometimes skip and i have to say im progressing pretty quick from having been able to snag every rotation to now being able to consistently go 1 minute plus without snagging.
I go to the boxing gym twice a week. This is what i do while im there.
Warmup:
We do 4 different exercises with a high intensity, during which the trainer will call out alternating push-up variations with reps from 10-1. We have to keep the pace up with whoever he puts in the ring, if we fail we get extra laps on our run. We do each exercise for probably 10-15 seconds while rotating through the list below, the warmup lasts about 10 minutes. The exercises are...
Star Jumps/Jumping Jacks - These must be done at a high intensity. Hands must touch above the head or the whole class starts again.
Alternate arm raises with alernate lead feet - Thats the only way i can describe it. We raise alternate arms while jump switching alernative feet forward. It's quite intense but easy once you get the hang of it.
Trunk twists - We incorporate a little skip action into it, so we're bouncing while doing it.
Running on the spot and clapping under each leg - Knee's have to be high, must clap under each leg or the whole class starts again.
After this we do stretch out and do a 2.5mile run which incoporates a rather long reasonably steep hill. We do one full lap and then usually an extra 2 reps of the hill.
Once we're back in the gym we do what the coach calls a "Ton Up". It's 10 reps of 10 various exercises, to be done in order with 100% correct form.
10 Pushups
10 Situps
10 Tuck Jumps
10 Snake Pushups
10 Squat Thrusts
10 Crunches
10 Star Jumps/Jumping Jacks
10 Clap Pushups
10 Jack knives
10 Burpee's
Once we do this, we also have to do a timed set with at LEAST 80% form. We have 2 mins to complete this. My best time is 2:15 so far, i'm almost there. Depending on how close to a show the club is, we may have to do another set also, still under the 2 minute timer. I get away with a little bit of slack because im new and so weak its unreal. While it's nice to know i do still try and have taken my time down from 4:50 since my first session.
Thats our complete warm up.
We do 1x3 minute round on the heavy bag doing long range shots to loosen up.
We then do what the coach calls a "Power Round". This is a 10 minute trip into hell for me. We do 30 seconds of full speed, full power left right combo on the heavy bag. We drop and do 30 seconds of a named exercise, working down the list from the "Ton Up". 30 seconds bag, 30 seconds exercise for a full 10 minutes.
We then get given combinations to throw on the bag and the coach will walk around handing out tips, correcting form and technique, we dont do any amount of set rounds, just whatever the coach calls out.
Towards the end of our sessions, which is 1hr 30 mins, we do our "Techniques" which are our blocks, counters and movement to each type of punch. We do this face to face with someone of our own weight category, or as close as we can get. Quite intimidating but necessary as it's about as close to sparring as you can get. I've sparred twice. First time was 1:30 of left hand only and then the rest of the round with both hands. I was in against someone who had also never been in the ring and i bet it was hilarious to watch. Very nervous until i'd taken and landed a punch. I like to think i got the better of this first time having bloodied the guys nose and been asked to calm down a little. Second time was rotating opponents for 1 minute rounds, left hand only again, took some good shots and landed some good ones, still very nervous though.
The club has some reasonably talented fighters from what im led to believe. We recently had a younger lad win the area finals and he's also in the schoolboy semi finals.
After all that is said and done, what i'd like to know really is whether or not im being put through my paces properly. While the club's gym is on the small side, they have recently bought a new building and will be moving in the near future to somewhere with probably 3 times the space we have currently. There are 3 coaches although we very rarely get any 1 on 1 work as theyre time is spent with their carded boxers, as i can only imagine it would. So im at a dead end for what to do. Im not fit enough to spar properly and im not even 100% sure if i want to become a fighter as my motivation is somewhat lacking. Im unsure as to whether im being coached properly as ive nothing to compare it to and i dont want to enter the ring and be destroyed through a lack of proper coaching. The guys seem to be saying what i imagine are the right things but im so low on confidence, putting them into action is a large task. My diet is poor, my stamina is poor and i can only imagine how poor my technique must be but then again im still very very new to the whole thing. Ideally i want to get down another 25-28lbs, which is gunna take a while but thats where i'm aiming.
What should i be looking for in the right gym? What should i do to my diet to help shed the weight quicker? While i know i'm gunna cop some flack for my diet, i do try and i'm making progress slowly, to go 100% clean on a very low budget would drive me insane. I guess im really just looking for motivation, some second opinions and maybe a little further guidance to get me up and running and wanting to stick around. Can anyone help?
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