Cutting Weight...

I have my first fight in two weeks. I need to lose five pounds. What is the best way to do this...

I know I need proper nutrition to maintain health and strength... but at the same time I want to make sure that my calorie intake is low enough that I actually lose weight... I guess it's a fine balancing act.

Right now I have been floating between 200 and 204... and I have been working out hard for the past month, four hours a day... five or six days a week and have not really been losing weight. That concerns me as I know that I don't have a lot left to lose... I'm already pretty ripped...

So far what I have been doing for the past two days is just really limiting my food intake and keeping it to almost all protein...

Any help would be appreciated...

The worst part is that the week before the fight...next week I have a buisness trip that I can not get out of... that means it will be a lot harder to stick to a diet and there will be certain meals where I will be expected to eat out... I will just have to be selective with what I order...

Blackvenom-2001

Never mind... worried over nothing. I'm losing the weight... I've lost three pounds in two days and see no reason why I can't keep the discipline up to get to where I need to be...

Was just worried for nothing.

Blackvenom-2001

How long do you have between the weigh-in and the fight? I had to cut 8 pounds in a day before when I was pretty ripped. There's ways to do it, but not if you have to fight right after weighing in.

Actually I will be weighing in the day of the fight.

I'm not too worried about it now that I see that I am making progress in this area. Befoe I wasn't really trying to cut weight, now that I am and it is coming off easier then I thought... I am not too worried.

I only have to cut two more pounds and I have until the 23rd to do it. I mean geez... if I maintain discipline that shouldn't be a problem at all.

I haven't weighed today but I have probably lost another pound since last night... so that puts me well ahead of the game...

Biggest concern is this stupid buisness trip that I have to go on...

I would love to find a boxing gym in the San Antonio area that would take a walk in for three days just so I have a good place to work out... if not it's just going to be the hotel fitness room and road work.

Which is ok... because in truth I was going to only do road work and some shadow boxing the last two days before the fight to give my body some time to recoup after the last two weeks of training...

Blackvenom-2001

One pound to go... and I have eight days to go... shouldn't be a problem. ;D

Blackvenom-2001

PS... There is a guy in the gym that I have been sparring for the last two months that has always had the upper hand. I got the best of him last night to the point that he left pissed off... not at me but just that I had beaten him at the game. It was a very good feeling, a very good confidence booster. He has always kept me on the outside with his jabs... he has a real reach advantage over me... well I've finally learned how to come inside on him and stay on the inside.

Every time he jabbed I would slip and come in on an angle and work the body and then the head. Of course by the next time we will sparr he will have had time to figure out what I was doing... so I will have to change it up again... but I'm learning...haha... sweet!

Hey that's good, always make sure that you're learning something. Just don't ever let your sparring sessions turn into a war because you're all in it together. How's your timing? You should also pay attention to your range and his range and his position in the ring and so forth.

Eventually you'll need to develop a feel for it so that you can take in a more general piction and plan from there. From what I learned is more often than not you have to throw your old assumpions away and come up with new plans of approaching something. The secret is the process of planning more so than it is the plan itself. Anyways good luck with that, and I hope you'll have some more good days that you can tell us about.

Timing is slow... meaning my ability to recognize something as an opening and counterpunch could be better. Still having to think to much about it instead of just reacting... but only time in the ring sparring will improve that now. The fundamentals are there, now it's just practice and more practice. Range isn't as big of an issue as it was before but once again... lack of a lot of experience means taht I still have a lot or room to improve.

No it wasn't a war... the guy is actually a good friend of mine... he just left pissed at himself, pissed that he got beaten. Even called me to tell me later that he wasn't pissed at me or anything just at himself for not keeping ahead of the game and settling into habits that I learned to predict.

lol, that's good to know. If you want to work on a different counterpunches you need to practice them while you're sparring that's the only way you get your timing down. Shadowboxing is important too, since it's as much about planning different punches/counters as it is practice. If you know what you're lacking you know what you can work on. If you have something itchy on your mind don't be afraid of telling your sparring partner or trainer what you would like to work on.

It's good that your friend didn't take it personally alot of times it's just pride because they don't want to lose control of it, and who likes getting hit anyways. Besides that work on setting up your counters, the more you do it the easier the timing becomes, it's like anything you gotta do.

I hear you... the good thing is I have a couple of really good guys in the gym that I go to that will work down to anyone's level. It's sort of a weird feeling... I know at any moment they can physically dominate the ring... but at the same time I trust them... yet at the same time I know if I get sloppy, let my guard down, etc... that I am going to pay the price for that...

It really makes you concentrate and work because landed shots sure don't come for free on those guys.

On top of that... my competitiveness drives me to try to get to their level, as well as my own pride.

Thanks for mentioning the part about mentioning to my sparring partners about wanting to work on a particular counter or combo... I guess for some reason I just have always kept it to myself and then worked on it in the ring... but I am pretty sure that if I mentioned it to some of these guys that they would work with me on some of the things that I want to learn...

It's a heavy sparring night... have the little butterflies as usual but am looking forward to it...

Blackvenom-2001

It's better to have a good idea what you're going to do before you get in there. Here's another thing you gotta keep in mind, depending on the distance between you and your opponent, there are natural counters that follow certain punches. E.g. say at close range, it's more natural for many to follow a left hook to the body with a left hook to the head. An experienced fighter may anticipate that and duck under your hook, if you can establish that pattern you can set him up for a right hand after he ducks your hook. the possibilities with different punches are endless, but it's the process of planning that matters more than the combinations themselves.

I gotta tell you about a boxing marvel that you may not be aware of. His name was Benny Leonard an awesome lightweight who was the best in the time that his division was rampant with hall of fame talent. He was nicknamed "Benny the Brain" and the "Ghetto Wizard" :) because of his uncanny ability to outthink his opponents, he was probably the fastest think tank on two feet.

Anyways I'm going to tell you a couple of good secrets that kept him on top. He would say that you gotta talk to yourself, say if you see how a guy commits to his jab you can think how you can counter (slip it and counter with a right/left-hook, etc.) It was his process of planning seeing what you gotta do and practicing that way of thinking that'll put you on a mental level above your opponents. His other secret is that he spend a great deal of time shadowboxing and practicing his defense, through sparring he could sharpen his timing and perception.

Now shadowboxing is a great drawing board to start off with, since you'll find that people have natural tendencies when it comes with countering with certain punches you can put that into play with your shadowboxing. Practice your footwork, counters and combinations and when you're sparring you can take it for a test run so by the time you have a real fight coming up you'll have them all at your disposal because you drilled them into you.

By the way good luck with your sparring later.

Wow... thanks for all of that. Awesome

First... I think I might need some help after all... I'm back up to 199 tonight. I don't understand it and am very frustrated. Tonight for instance I sparred 4 x 3 minute rounds, ran two miles in 14 minutes, jumped rope for 15 minutes straight, did 200 sit-ups, shadow boxed for about 10 minutes, and then hit the heavy bag with punch out drills for another couple of minutes... and this is sort of a light night for me...

Today I had a power bar (170 calories) as soon as I got up with 12 oz of orange juice... I had another one at lunch... then I had an energy drink on the way to the gym (normally I don't drink those but I didn't get much sleep last night and was absolutly drained today)... then just now I ate a pack of crackers.

That's the way it has been all week...with the exception of that on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday my training was a lot more intense.

Thursday my calorie intake was higher... but not what you would call excessive... probably 2500 calories because of a work engagement that I could not get out of...

I don't understand it. I went from 196 on Wednesday up to 199 tonight. I have one week from today to get down to 194!

With all of that being said... I had an awesome night of sparring... everything just clicked. Coach gave me a comment (those come far and few between...you have to earn those) and so I'm happy there...

Now just to get down to weight...

Blackvenom-2001

From 199 to 194 in one week! Oh, man that is easy going. Is that just the fat weight? Is there a sweat down after that? If you're a big boy and to me 200 is up there, you'll have to go for the fruits vegetables and meat accordingly. None of that orange juice crap. No calories through the drink, only the food. If that's the weight you have to be at for the weigh-in....let me introduce you to the sweat down. At your size, if you weigh in in the morning and fight at night, you can sweat down 5 lbs no bloody problem. I use to sweat down 4 to reach 114 lbs. You do it the night before the weigh-ins. I'm assuming you're Amateur? Keep your intake to 2000 for a couple of days. Good in take, not flipping crackers!

OldTownBoxing

Made weight easy enough. Weighed 196 the morning of the fight... went to the sauna and when I weighed in at 5 PM was 190. At 9 PM right before my fight I was back up to 198 just from liquids and a powerbar.

Won the fight by decision.

Blackvenom-2001

That great news, you sound in great shape. How'd you feel in that fight?

To be honest... not that great.

I honestly believe I am a lot better then I performed. A lot of his scoring shots came because I hesitated. He had a nasty habit of dropping his left every time he went to throw a left hook, you could see it coming a mile away.

There were a couple of times where instead of capitalizing on that I would hesitate to long in throwing a straight right in ahead of that and got nailed a couple of times. I should have been able to beat him by a mile as much as he cocked his hand back... but I caught myself doubting myself a couple of times and that cost me.

I also was very stiff... just nerves... second and third round was a lot better but by the forth I was just about dead.

It was a great learning experience...

Yes I think I am in pretty good shape... for a fact I am in the best shape of my life.

Thanks for all the info.

I have an arm injury I have to recover from before seeing where I go from here. I completely ruptured one of the muscles in my triceps about three weeks ago. I avoided going to the doctor until today as I didn't want anyone telling me that I couldn't fight... I had trained too hard.

Talk about looking nasty two weeks ago...

Blackvenom-2001

Come on Venom, you can't let them off like that. You gotta be like your name here, if they ever forget the golden rule of boxing, then it's your obligation as a fighter to remind them. I gotta say I been there, and handling yourself is as important as the opponent and doing what gotta you gotta do.

Relax a bit but sharpen up, all you need is some good fights like this that open your eyes to what you should do, so in the next go around you'll be on a roll.

Sometimes you gotta let loose becuase a buch of should's become nothing but regret and long nights what could have been.

But... you still pulled it off, my hat goes off to you. But next time, I want a hear the news about you seeing your opponent make the mistake that gives you that perfect opportunity in which you brought it to them.

Anyways how's your arm, is it dead? I had a friend that had something like that but he was lucky, a week or so after and he was back into it.

Right now I'm in shape but I don't feel quite fighting fit right now, I've been working here at home but soon I'm going to start going back to the boxing gym here in Flint Michigan, "Joe Byrd's Boxing Academy" and get some more fights under my belt. Maybe later on you and me can swap war stories.

Anyways take care of that arm and let us know how things go.

I go to an Ortho Surgeon next week. My family physician doesn't think it is completely torn in half but that it is probably a second degree tear meaning that 50 - 90 percent of the muscle actually tore.

It was weird. I was warming up on March 3 by shadow boxing as normal. Almost immediately after shadow boxing the back of my right arm started to burn. By the end of the night I told my coach that I thought I had pulled a muscle. I have always just worked through pain like that I should have rested the arm (hindsight) but I didn't. The next day my tricep in the back of my arm was so sore I couldn't touch it... but it wasn't deep in the muscle just like a bad, bad bruise underneath the skin. I could also feel a lot of crinkly stuff (hemotoma) right underneath the skin. I worked out that Tuesday and Wednesday and did everything but uppercuts with that arm becuase uppercuts hurt bad.

By Friday it didn't hurt as bad... but it still felt bruised and I could feel a knot right underneath the skin.

I sparred on Friday night... and on Saturday I went over to a friends house and he was like... what in the world did you do to your arm. My whole right arm from the arm pit down to the elbow was black and blue... I mean a dark purple... it looked nasty. I was like good grief... but my arm wasn't hurting so I thought everything was ok.

I practiced the week of the 12th through the 16th and sparred heavy again that Friday night... sometime in the night I woke up and my arm was killing me. I got up and went and looked in the mirror and my arm just looked funny. If I held it out straight it looked like I had an old ladies arm on the right side... the tricep muscle was hanging down and was all knotted up. I mean if felt like I had a tennis ball in the back of my arm down around my elbow. Turns out that was just congeled blood in the muscle from the tear. I rested that arm all last week before the fight. I didn't tell anyone about it as I still wanted to fight but I knew something was seriously wrong at that point.

Now I'm just waiting to see if I need surgery... or if the ortho surgeon thinks this will heal on its own. I will know in a week or so. In the meantime I am just focusing on remaining in relatively good shape by doing my road work.

Looking back... I think all of this came about because of how hard I was pushing my body. I just wasn't giving it any rest. I'm 32 and was in the gym 4 hours a day in intense training for at least five days a week. It just caught up to me.

We shall see...

Blackvenom-2001

That's rough dude. Sometimes you gotta get past that work past the pain mentality and just listen to your body at times like this.

I hope you don't turn into an old lady, or you're going to have show up at the gym in one of those long granny blouses. ;)

What did your doctor say?

Still haven't seen the Ortho... will see him next week. I have not worked upper body since the fight and am just taking it easy. To be truthful my whole body needed the rest. Hopefully I will be back at it in a week or two... and if I do have to have surgery have already decided that my jab and left hook are really going to have to develope because I will still spar with one hand if I have too... just won't glove up the right so I remember not to throw and maybe even tape it to the side of my head... heck I have been needing to do that anyway as I still drop it too much at times.

Watch what you say about turning into an old lady... haha... I might be old, but I still know how to throw a punch... don't worry I know your picking... and there is no way I'm showing up at my boxing club in a dress!

Yea... I should have stopped when I first hurt it... but oh well I am a hard head son-of-a-gun!

Blackvenom-2001

Lol, you stubborn sob.

Good luck, hopefully your Ortho won't tell you that you need a new arm something. Maybe underneith that bluish-purple lump is a lucky break. Your body's telling you it can't go a 100 everytime you want to floor it. It needs a breather once in a while or it'll be like a viscious girlfriend that won't get off your case.

Anyways hang-tough venom, and stay away from dresses! ;)

You still alive venom?

Let me know how your arm is coming together. If all else fails I can send an evangelical minister to your house to shout it into rejuvination. All you have to do is flip through your channels during the time they play most of the infomercials.

Anyways take care of that cannon of an arm.

Yea still alive... I have decided to actually listen to the doctor and take a full three weeks off. To tell you the truth it has been sort of nice as I had basically lived in the gym for the last four months.

My arm is coming along well... Next monday I plan to start back into some very light shadow boxing and some bag work... and will see if by the following week I feel as if I have recovered enough to start on the focus pads and more intense training.

Easy does it I guess... unless I tear it further I am not looking at surgery so that is a good thing. I actually ruptured the sheath that encases the muscle. The best way to describe this is to take a bannana and put it on the floor and then step on it... the skin is the sheath and when it ruptures the "meat" pushes out through the split... basically what happened with my triceps...

I will probably always have to be a little bit careful with this arm... meaning lots and lots of stretching before hand and I have learned my lesson about proper rest... haha... but other then that I'm ready to go again...

Blackvenom-2001

Nice to know you're still alive. Oh nice analogy by the way, tell your gym buddies you have to get your banana back into its' peel, and I'm sure they'll understand.

Take it easy, we all need some R&R... You-- go get laid. Doctor's orders. ;)

And the next time your arm is bitching maybe you'll listen.

I followed the Doctor's orders last night... tell the doctor thanks it really helped speed up the recovery process... haha! ;D

Blackvenom-2001

Way to stay busy... [Insert Banana metaphore here]

Anyways how's your arm holding together?

Haha... I'm going to have to remember to stay away from Bannana metaphors in the future.

I'm happy... I start back in the gym again on Tuesday of next week. Yay me! ;D

Blackvenom-2001