The transformation begins!!!

[El Kabong]

I went to the gym again today, and had a good workout today.

I have so much rust I haven't even worked on the pads....I'm trying to work on my breathing, my form, and my stamina. I found my jab today, man, I really popped it good today and my handspeed was going pretty good as well. I know I haven't reached any goals yet but I can start to sense things coming together a bit.

[RozzySean]

I went to the gym again today, and had a good workout today.

I have so much rust I haven't even worked on the pads....I'm trying to work on my breathing, my form, and my stamina. I found my jab today, man, I really popped it good today and my handspeed was going pretty good as well. I know I haven't reached any goals yet but I can start to sense things coming together a bit.

I don't know how long you've been out of training. Obviously, the longer you've been out, combined with your proficiency before the break will determ who long it takes to start to feel like yourself again. You might have three more sessions and have it "click" for you instantly. You turn up at the gym, get loose, and shadowbox. You're feeling surprisingly good. You go over to the heavybag, and bang!! there it is. You're not tripping over your feet. You're balance is good. The left hook is smooth and tight. For me, it's happened like that. The big thing for me is getting my stamina up to a reasonable level, and you can't force it. It doesn't come back over night.

Good to hear that the jab is snapping. That's the first step back. Anyway, for the suggestions I made, I would wait until you feel really comfortable with your form with the standard combinations on the pads and heavy bag. I worked a couple rounds on the pads, but I stuck to basics. I mean the REAL basics.

Rock on,man!

[El Kabong]

Well it's been so long since I had been to my boxing gym that I forgot about it being closed on Fridays but not to worry I made it to the YMCA where I am also a member and got in a very solid cardio and weight lifting workout. 30 mins full throttle on the elliptical, 3 sets on the bench press (which was harder than usual because my arms, chest, and shoulders were sore from boxing), tricep pushdowns, and ab work until I felt like I was going to puke. It wasn't a "fantastic" workout but it's great seeing how long it's been since I have worked out on a regular basis. The cardio was amazingly easy compared to shaddow boxing or hitting the heavybag...I guess that shows how much I'm putting into my punches and maybe I need to pull back some.

Monday we start again, and I'm looking forward to another great week of workouts and eventually doing squats to strengthen my legs which will in turn help my power and help me lose more weight as your legs are the biggest groups of muscles and therefore once "turned on" with the rest of the muscle groups they really help you burn more calories.

I've been eating pretty healthy too...aside from caving on my "I'm not going to drink the entire month of January" promise (work and family pushed me to do it for the sake of my sanity) I haven't been doing much wrong. I had an entire bottle of wine Friday night but with a huge ribeye steak and steamed veggies so that's not "horrible"...it was a great bottle of wine though

[El Kabong]

Man, today was difficult, not even halfway through my jump rope session my calves cramped up and they are still cramped right now. I got an only halfway decent workout in but I tried my damnedest to get one in and althought that could be demoralizing I tend to look at it like I tried, thinks didn't go my way, but at least I went and worked out.

[El Kabong]

My calves are still killing me but I worked out pretty damn good today. I got my rounds in with the jump rope, heavybag and yes brothers I got my speed bag on batabatabatabatabata...I was working it baby!

Now I'm just going to work on my stamina and I'm going to get my weight lifting on too. I feel I need to work on my legs a lot which sucks because having not worked on them in forever it's going to hurt like a son of bitch for a long time and I hate that.

I am moving on to Phase 1 "start the habit" complete, moving on to Phase 2 "Get in Shape" and then Phase 3 "Get a harder routine"!

[El Kabong]

....well Son of a B*tch!!!!

So I work out today, I was doing great, got my rounds in on jump rope, got my rounds in shaddow boxing, and I was starting to hit the heavybag when I felt tightness in my right calf (being right handed that leg is extremely important for power punching) and I kept trying to stretch it out and in my second round "pop".......so I either have a ruptured achillies or at best a strained calf muscle.

I knew I should have stuck to drinking

[CFH]

Lyle: Is it possible that you managed to hurt yourself by trying to do too much too quickly? I know I've run into problems like that in the past. It sucks because I always want to go 100% all the time, right from the start. However, I've hurt myself a few times that way and have been repeatedly told to ease into things.

[El Kabong]

I eased my way into getting this far. I started out slowly and began to work in extra rounds as my cardio got better...maybe my stretching wasn't good enough, that's all I can think of.

[jamiebhoy]

I think the hardest part is the mental prep of not reverting back to type when things get hard, dare I mention Hatton. Knowing you have to change is the first biggest step then sticking to it is the next 90%

I would look at some sports psychology as well as the physical aspect of changing style.

Good luck buddy.

[El Kabong]

Well there is good news everyone, it seems like it's just a muscle pull/strain so I should be ok in a matter of weeks. The shitty part is I was ready to start sparring the day it happened.

jamiebhoy, I had been doing very well on my style change. To be honest it wasn't so much of a total style "overhaul" as it was just adding more dimensions to my game. I wanted to go from face first plodding slugger to a better mover and involve better defense and counter punching. I still wanted to punch with power and I still wanted to be rough when I needed to be but I wanted to move better and be able to put together combinations better and my handspeed was getting loads better just by forcing myself to try and throw 3-5 punches at a time on the heavybag instead of just 1 at a time. When I jabbed I tried to triple jab and have the same amount of pop on each punch, when I threw the 1-2 I'd double jab and throw the cross or end with the left hook and I even tried to add on to my favorite combo (left hook[body], right hook[body], left hook[head]) by adding on a right uppercut[head] and left hook[head] at the end. Things were clicking pretty damn well, but I wouldn't know what to work on until I got to spar.

[tillman78]

Keep it up man...Get that cardio up and everything else will come easy.

[El Kabong]

Keep it up man...Get that cardio up and everything else will come easy.

Thanks man...I hope you're doing well. Had many fights lately?

[Howlin Mad Missy]

ah well. getting injured when things are going well sucks. you'll be back soon.

[El Kabong]

ah well. getting injured when things are going well sucks. you'll be back soon.

I certainly hope so...my leg is getting better, I don't have to limp as much anymore, but it'll be a while before I'm able to get a solid workout in.

[El Kabong]

Well the injuries have just kept coming (I accidentally stabbed my thumb with a screwdriver and I damn near tore my bicep hitting the heavybag) and when I haven't been injured I've had to work 50 hours a freakin week. So besides walking my dog, I've had fuck all time for working out.

So right now I think I am going to focus on getting in good physical shape by doing loads of cardio and weight lifting and eventually I'll work back into boxing because from my time at the gym I seem to still have everything in tact to a certain point.

Outside of working out I have began to lose weight just by portion control and paying more attention to what I eat. I'm aiming at getting down to 220 and hopefully that will happen pretty quick. Right now I weigh like 240-245 and I fully expect to "yo yo" my weight as I add muscle and take off fat, but it shouldn't take very long as long as I stick with eating correctly and working out consistently.

If anyone has any weight lifting regimens that they do please let me know. I may be in need of them.