sourpuss's training log

[sourpuss]

Well, we just had Thanksgiving so I've been out of town for a few days.
All I could do when I was gone was run, but that's ok.
My coach is working on getting me a match for the 13th of December. If he does, I'm going to insist that he take me up to the other club to spar with some of the younger boys there. (the opponent that we're trying to get is about 5' tall and I'm 5'6" and the shortest in my club) so I need to spar with some shorter kids.

[Sharla]

Well, we just had Thanksgiving so I've been out of town for a few days.
All I could do when I was gone was run, but that's ok.
My coach is working on getting me a match for the 13th of December. If he does, I'm going to insist that he take me up to the other club to spar with some of the younger boys there. (the opponent that we're trying to get is about 5' tall and I'm 5'6" and the shortest in my club) so I need to spar with some shorter kids.

Sounds good

Have fun with the shorties (people not too disimmilar to myself )

[Trainer Monkey]

Well, we just had Thanksgiving so I've been out of town for a few days.
All I could do when I was gone was run, but that's ok.
My coach is working on getting me a match for the 13th of December. If he does, I'm going to insist that he take me up to the other club to spar with some of the younger boys there. (the opponent that we're trying to get is about 5' tall and I'm 5'6" and the shortest in my club) so I need to spar with some shorter kids.

Feur runs in to an allmost similar problem,she ends up sparring with everyone,but her height makes it almost prohibitive to judge the results,she's 6 even so she destroys everyone shorter then her,and I dont get enough guys in here who are bigger then her. Ive given her her worst problems sparring,and since Ive officially retired now,I hate sparring,my goal is to get old and fat and let other people lift weights while I complain about my arthritis.

[sourpuss]

Erg! Fight in one week and no chance of any other sparring. Boooo I watched my last match against this girl as a refresher for what I need to be working on and I realized that I've stopped doing all the things that worked against her. The girl that I mostly spar with in the gym is a bleeder and has a sensitive nose so I stopped throwing uppercuts all together. This is really frustrating, every time there is a newbie, I get stuck with them for 3 months and then I have to spend the next three months getting back to where I was when they started. No wonder I'm not getting any better. This is really frustrating.

I'm going to focus mostly on conditioning early this week and just hope for the best. I can't change a whole lot at this point. I feel like last spring (the last time I fought this gal) I was much better than I am now. I can't un-do all the bad habits I've formed trying to help this new girl out in just 5 days either. So I think if I just focus on conditioning and the basics it's better than nothing.

[Sharla]

Erg! Fight in one week and no chance of any other sparring. Boooo I watched my last match against this girl as a refresher for what I need to be working on and I realized that I've stopped doing all the things that worked against her. The girl that I mostly spar with in the gym is a bleeder and has a sensitive nose so I stopped throwing uppercuts all together. This is really frustrating, every time there is a newbie, I get stuck with them for 3 months and then I have to spend the next three months getting back to where I was when they started. No wonder I'm not getting any better. This is really frustrating.

I'm going to focus mostly on conditioning early this week and just hope for the best. I can't change a whole lot at this point. I feel like last spring (the last time I fought this gal) I was much better than I am now. I can't un-do all the bad habits I've formed trying to help this new girl out in just 5 days either. So I think if I just focus on conditioning and the basics it's better than nothing.

That is frustrating!

I've read papers where they compared groups of athletes practicing something (wish i could remember what) physically to those just visualizing it. In reality there was not a huge difference in retention of what they visualized compared to what they actually practiced.

I guess the good thing is you don't need to learn anything new against this girl - you have done it before - you're just rusty. Perhaps if you spend some time visualizing what you're going to have to do in shadow sparring and say for 10 minutes before bed every night you'll still pull it out when you need it.

I think you need a good night's sleep to retain information at your best also so don't sleep deprive yourself - except for those days where you just learn nothing you want to keep!

I think from memory it's only the last few hours of a restful nights sleep which has you consolidating your memory or something - can't remember the specifics but under sleep and your visualization practice won't be as effective.

Good luck!

[Youngblood]

Erg! Fight in one week and no chance of any other sparring. Boooo I watched my last match against this girl as a refresher for what I need to be working on and I realized that I've stopped doing all the things that worked against her. The girl that I mostly spar with in the gym is a bleeder and has a sensitive nose so I stopped throwing uppercuts all together. This is really frustrating, every time there is a newbie, I get stuck with them for 3 months and then I have to spend the next three months getting back to where I was when they started. No wonder I'm not getting any better. This is really frustrating.

I'm going to focus mostly on conditioning early this week and just hope for the best. I can't change a whole lot at this point. I feel like last spring (the last time I fought this gal) I was much better than I am now. I can't un-do all the bad habits I've formed trying to help this new girl out in just 5 days either. So I think if I just focus on conditioning and the basics it's better than nothing.

That is frustrating!

I've read papers where they compared groups of athletes practicing something (wish i could remember what) physically to those just visualizing it. In reality there was not a huge difference in retention of what they visualized compared to what they actually practiced.

I guess the good thing is you don't need to learn anything new against this girl - you have done it before - you're just rusty. Perhaps if you spend some time visualizing what you're going to have to do in shadow sparring and say for 10 minutes before bed every night you'll still pull it out when you need it.

I think you need a good night's sleep to retain information at your best also so don't sleep deprive yourself - except for those days where you just learn nothing you want to keep!

I think from memory it's only the last few hours of a restful nights sleep which has you consolidating your memory or something - can't remember the specifics but under sleep and your visualization practice won't be as effective.

Good luck!

Firstly sourpuss, I feel you. Am there with the newbies now, taking punches in the head letting them learn and getting nothing but frustration back.

Secondly, I really like Sharlas advice here given your situation. You got to work with what you got. I would consider visualizing what u need to do to win and then maybe practice using shadow boxing, then the heavy bag, maybe even mitts to try to work that out some. I mean, sure...having a capable sparring partner to work it out on would be better along with more time to prep...but you gotta take what u got. Anyway, I don't really know and am shooting from the hip on this...but I think if I was in your shoes, that is what I'd do.

[sourpuss]

Thank you guys, I will do that. I usually spend a good amount of time meditating on what I'm going to do, but I will make an effort to do a lot more to make up for the other stuff.
I'm also going to spend a lot more concentrated effort in shadow boxing this week rather than just using it as a warm up.

Thanks for the advice!

[sourpuss]

I didn't get to work out last night because I ended up working a 12 hour day so I figured a good night's sleep would be better.

Tonight I'm heading to the gym early and I'll run 1.5 miles before training and another 1.5 after. I have no idea what our coach will be having us do. But if he doesn't have us do sprints I'll do them afterward. He usually splits the two hours up like this:
10 jump rope warm up
30 minute interval drills; stairs, sprints, push ups, burpees, etc. (just 30-40 mins of intense exercises for fitness, agility, strength...whatever he feels like)

Then wrap up and for the next hour+ is bag drills, defense drills and sparring.
I imagine we'll do a lot of sparring this week since most of us are fighting this weekend.