In my last post, yesterday, I said I would probably not post another…post until Friday, as I was not intending to do another workout before then. But the minute I got home today from school I was out to the milking parlour (i.e. my gym) to do a workout lasting about an hour!
Where did this sudden burst of motivation come from? Well, when I was browsing the web after school (before my Dad came to pick me up) I read an article called How To Stop Procrastinating by Scott H Young. I often read his blog as he has some very good self-development articles, and this article looked interesting so I had a read. For those who don’t know, procrastination is when you should do something, or even want to do something, but just can’t be bothered to do it, and therefore don’t. I know I do have a procrastination problem, especially with school work, but who doesn’t? Well, it seems Scott doesn’t. In his article he writes about different forms of procrastination, their causes and how to bypass them. The first one is what I had – Procrastination from Drudgery. In other words, you don’t do something because you think it will be dull, time-consuming and difficult. One of his solutions was make the task fun and enjoyable. And then something hit me – Boxing ISN’T dull, but it IS fun. And sure it’s time-consuming, but if it’s fun it doesn’t matter. As for difficult, I enjoy a hard, intense workout. So there was NO reason at all for me not to work out…So I did.
After getting ready – Eating my post-workout snack of a banana, a hard-boiled egg and lots of water, putting on my workout clothes, getting my Gymboss, iPod, speakers, towel, boxing wraps, bottle of water etc – I went out. It was fairly cold, and it was wet, but it didn’t phase me.
I put on some music (Hardcore Nation 2, a fast-paced hardcore dance album) and started with a fairly simple warmup. I had nothing planned, and the floor of the milking parlour needs cleaning (it’s covered in stray, old dry cow shit, dirt, dust…), so I didn’t do any pushups or chinnies or anything which required me to get low to the ground. I started with fifty jumping jacks, then five pushupless burpees, then sprinting up and down the parlour (which is fairly short so there was a lot of rapid acceleration/deceleration/180° turns), and jogging around the parlour in an oval. I then did some five-second static stretches and 5-rep dynamic stretches. I then did 5 partial standing wheel rollouts, as I hadn’t done any in ages! I did partial ones by using a wall to stop be going further than I could get back up from, so instead of going all the way down and not being able to get back up I only went half the way down, but was still able to get up. By now I was really hot and sweaty, so off came the jacket and second t-shirt I was wearing. So much for it being cold! 
I felt like concentrating on boxing work, and I decided to use purely my bag (I don’t have a mirror for shadowboxing yet, and the bag was looking at me with puppy-dog eyes, craving to be used). I put on my wraps and gloves, and my mouthguard. Ross recommended to always wear your mouthguard when on the bag so you get used to breathing through your nose when boxing and just using the mouthguard in general. I set the Gymboss to time six rounds, two minutes on and one minute off. I was going for technique mainly, moving around the bag (as much as I could in the limited space), jabbing, throwing 1-2s and practising my newly-learnt left hook. Surprisingly I wasn’t as tired as I expected by the end, but I won’t lie, I was letting my guard down more than I would’ve wanted. But still, I was happy at how I had done.
After a three-minute break, I decided to do tabata punching. For those who are unfamiliar to the tabata protocol…You’re lucky. The tabata protocol is about highly-intense work followed by a short break- It involves twenty seconds full-out work followed by ten seconds rest. This repeats eight times, for a four-minute workout. Doesn’t sound hard, does it? You could do any punches, but the most common is the 1-2 (left jab-straight right), because that allows for maximum speed, which is perfect for tabatas due to the high intensity of it. Well, but the third round I was tired, after the full-power full-speed punching. I kept pushing through though, although rounds five and seven I slowed down to about half the speed, in time with the music, which I think was about two punches per second. By the end my arms were dead, but my legs still felt fairly fresh. And that just wasn’t on.
So, to the wall for a wall squat. Last time I managed sixty seconds before I couldn’t go on, but this time I set my Gymboss for eighty seconds. Twenty seconds went, then forty. The pain really started kicking in as I was fully contracting my thighs, pushing myself into the wall. It was eve harder to concentrate when I heard the lyrics of the song playing: “Gotta get up”, repeated over and over and over again. I got to the minute mark, and kept holding. About ten seconds from the end, the song changed…to “Music is Dancing”. I was trying not to laugh at how ironic it all was – There I was, trying to stay still, holding myself against a wall trying not to fall down or give in and stand up, and yet the music was telling me to get up and dance! This actually is a true story by the way, I kid you not. Finally the eighty seconds came about and the Gymboss gave it’s little beep. I stood up, and nearly fell over again! I staggered over and sat down for a couple of seconds to allow my legs a much-needed rest.
By now I noticed time was getting on, so I decided to call it a day. I walked around the parlour whilst doing some fifteen-second static stretches (which prepares your muscles for the end of strenuous physical activity), before heading in.
And it felt great! Although I probably won’t do another one like that tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised if I did a quick ten to fifteen minute workout.
As always, please comment! I’ve just realised I’ve spent an hour writing this post, so make my time feel worthwhile!
Wednesday 28-11-07 – Home Bag Work
- 50 jumping jacks
- 5 burpees (no pushup)
- Sprinting
- Jogging
- 5-second static stretches
- 5-rep dynamic stretches
- 5 partial standing rollouts
- 6x bag rounds – 2-mins on/1-min rest, skill-based
- Tabata punching – 20secs on/10secs off, speed-based
- 80-second wall squat
- Walking
- 15-second static stretches
December 13, 2007 at 7:17 pm
[...] do any more, so after a rest I moved on to partial ab wheel rollouts (described in my Wednesday 28-11-07 – Home Bag Work post). I did three sets of 5 reps. It was now I decided to carry on and turn it into a strength [...]