I really didn’t feel like working out tonight, but I knew I should.  I rolled a 1, first time I’ve ever rolled a 1!
Ladder pushups to 5
Ladder squats to 7
4 sets
Ladders work like so: Do 1 rep, then rest for the time it takes to do 1 rep (I normally just say 1 second).  Then, do 2 reps, resting for 2 reps (2 seconds).  Keep going up until you reach your desired target.

In this workout, I had a total of 4(1+2+3+4+5)=60 pushups and 4(1+2+3+4+5+6+7)=112 squats.  I didn’t time it, but by the last set, I was finding it quite hard to do the last few pushups, and the squats were relatively hard (although no way near as much as the pushups).  I didn’t take any extra rest, but the routine already had 172 seconds of rest built in, so I shouldn’t really have needed any.

Until tomorrow!

• 20 lying knee tucks
• 20 chinnies
• 10 lying hip swings
• 2 supermans (hold for 30s)
• 4 sets

Well, I didn’t enjoy this one. The knee tucks followed by chinnies thrashed my core, but that wasn’t the problem. The next two exercises were. Lying hip swings I’ve never been a fan of: you lie on your back, life your legs to 90° (perpendicular to the floor), then rotate your body from side to side so that your legs are parallel to the floor, without touching the floor. It isn’t too bad, I’m just not a fan of it. Next, supermans. Urgh. Having to hold in the superman position for 30 seconds isn’t easy. My main problem is the breathing part: normally I feel like holding my breath, although that’s obviously not good, but when I try to breathe it’s hard because I’m lying on my lungs. Also, note to self: don’t drink before performing supermans. The water seems to try to come back up, not a nice feeling.

I think the main reason for me not enjoying it was the LHSs being slow (as it’s hard to go fast without losing control or touching the floor), and the supermans not getting along with my lungs. After the rapid knee tucks and chinnies, where I could feel my abs working, neither of the other two I felt much. It wasn’t too bad though. I think I just need to practise more, as it’s the first time I’ve properly done LHSs or supermans in a long time.

Until tomorrow!

Before I went out I had planned to do this workout:

• 10 assisted pullups
• 10 assisted chinups
• 10 knee-tuck jumps
• 10 pushups
• 10 lunges
• 10 jumping jacks
• Repeat until failure

But, put simply, I didn’t beacuse I couldn’t.

I went out and warmed up with the jump rope.  My plan was minimum 100 bounce-steps followed by minimum 100 alternate-foot-steps.  The bounce-steps I did in 2 or 3 sections/catches, and totalled 118.  However, the alternate-foot-steps didn’t go well.  Unlike last time, where I had got 40+, this time it was done in groups of 10, 20 and 30, as I just kept catching the rope.  I totalled 111.  It was here that I noticed I was tired; a few yawns escaped.  It’s strange: I haven’t done anything all day, and got over 8 hours sleep last night, waking up naturally, yet I was tired.  Not a good sign.

After that I wanted to test my pullup/chinup ability.  I started playing with the bands, seeing how much I could manage.  I found some which I thought would be OK, but after I started the planned workout I couldn’t finish the 10 chinups.  Adding more bands would be annoying and awkward, as I’m not a fan of bands plus it’s hard to wrap them all around my feet/foot.  So, I decided to do 2 sets of 10 for both pullups and chinups, followed by 1 set of 3 reps for each (with half as many bands, so it was more strength-based).  Then, I decided to cut the x-ups out of the circuit.

I then attempted the circuit.  And then I remembered how much I suck at knee-tuck jumps.  I just can’t do them.  Jumping has never been my strong point (in fact, one of my weakest by far), and having to jump, then try and tuck my knees up, I just can’t do.  I can’t get high enough.   Well, I fought through for 3 sets, before my legs really could jump no longer.

I decided to call that the end of the workout.  I finished off by doing a two-arm pullup-position dead hang for time.  I managed 30 seconds.  It really didn’t help that because the bar I used isn’t fixed it slowly, slowly rotates, which makes gripping it, and trying not to fall off, harder.

Next post will be tonight’s nightly workout.

Sun 17/2 – A Not-So-Good Training Session

• 118 bounce-steps with jump rope
• 111 alternate-foot-steps with jump rope

• 10 assisted pullups
• 10 assisted chinups
• 10 assisted pullups
• 10 assisted chinups
• 3 assisted pullups (less assistance)
• 3 assisted chinups (less assistance)

• 10 knee-tuck jumps
• 10 pushups
• 10 lunges (5 per leg, swapping each lunge)
• 10 jumping jacks
• Repeated 3 times

• Two-hand pullup-position dead hang: 30 seconds

• 5 Diamond Pushups
• 5 Partial One-Legged Squats (Per Leg)
• 6 Sets

Tonight’s workout is slightly more strength-based than before, as it includes diamond pushups and pistols, both of which I’m not good at. However, I’m going to do them fairly fast, without much rest, so to gain conditioning benefits from it.

For those unfamiliar with the moves, the diamond pushup is like a normal pushup except your hands are together under our body, your thumbs and forefingers making a diamond shape. These are much harder than normal pushups and require much more tricep strength and balance. One-legged squats, or pistols, are like normal squats except you use (surprise, surprise), only one leg, whilst holding the other out in front of you, parallel to the ground. These require much more strength, flexibility and balance than normal squats. The one-legged squats I’m not great at, due to lack of strength, balance and flexibility, but I can go down fairly far – I’m going to go as far down as possible before coming up. I can get my knees to have an under 90° bend, which isn’t too bad, and my right I can go pretty far down indeed.

I decided not to time this one as, to be honest, it’s not all about how fast you can do it but how well you do it. Doing deeper squats, and more controlled ones, take more time. I don’t want to get myself into rushing and not getting as many benefits out as I hope to. However, some of my nightly workouts will be timed, and be about speed, so don’t worry.

By the end I didn’t feel too bad actually, although I wanted to keep it fairly short but with difficult exercises. For all of them I tried to go as low as possible, which was quite difficult. What I found was during the actual reps it was hard to do, as my body found it hard to go further, but afterwards I wasn’t very fatigued, which was actually a nice change. As I had guessed, balance was my main problem with the pistols, but as with all things that comes with practise. A couple times I found myself losing balance, especially near the bottom, but I managed to get balanced each time before I fell over, trying as hard as possible not to put my other foot down or use my hands to touch something. As for the diamond pushups, the hardest part was pushing up from low positions. I could go so far down and push up, but go 1/2″ lower and it was very hard to push back up. Again, it will come with practise. The very last rep of the diamonds I actual lost balance and fell onto my side.

Until tomorrow!

What I really want to do sometime is hang a tree trunk up and treat it like a heavy bag, but instead of punching it use weapons on it.  In many ways, much like the Romans etc did (or so the movies say ).  I could use anything as weapons really: the sledgehammer as a warhamer, an axe as a waraxe, a long metal pole as a pike/spear, a shorter metal pipe as a sword etc.  The possibilities literally are endless.  However, this whole setup wouldn’t be easy.  I mean, I’d have to get a tree trunk, and then I’d have to find a way to hang it up.  If I remember correctly, in Gladiator the movie they had hung up tree trunks, but I can’t find any pictures for ideas.  Probably some kind of wooden frame with chains.  As for the tree trunk, I could buy one or try and find an old one.  I went into a cops we have, which is full of old trees and stuff, and did find a fell tree.  It was, however, fairly rotten.

Anyone have Gladiator the movie and mind sending me some pics?  Or anyone have any general ideas for what I should do?  Comment!

After the pick-up I decided to attack the aforementioned fell tree.  It was horizontal, about waist height.  Although the first inch or so was fairly rotten, underneath was solid!  Not as solid as the pick-up frame though.  The sledgehammer I was using had a flat head on one side and an axe on the other.  I tried both, in different places.

First, 100 strikes with the axe-head, 10 per arm then swapping over.  The axe head cut through pretty easily, although it still was fairly hard work.

Next I tried 100 strikes with the flat head, again 10 per arm then swapping.  This was MUCH harder.  I got through the inch of rot before hitting the solid wood beneath, and every strike felt as though it went all the way through my body!

I finished with another 100 strikes with the axe head (10 per arm then swap), in the same place as last time.  My target is to cut completely through the trunk.  Should take some time, my guess is it’s over 2 feet wide.  Fun though!

There is one thing I don’t like about sledgehammering, and it’s really annoying.  Put simply, my hands and fingers get tired much much faster than any other part of my body.  After the 500 swings, by fingers really hurt due to having to hold onto the hammer and absorb the impacts, yet my arms and every other part of my body still felt fine.

Is this due to lack of grip strength, and will this go the more I practise?  I hope so.

And that’s all for now.  New nightly workout tonight!

Sat 16/2 – Sledgehammering Time!

• 200 sledgehammer swings, 100 per arm, on pick-up (metal)
• 300 sledgehammer swings, 150 per arm, on fell tree trunk

• 8 Crunches (hold at top for 3 seconds)
• 8 V-Ups
• 10 Sets

I forgot to time it, although I did it non-stop (with no rest). By the end my core was hurting a bit and I had a very slight sweat, but nothing more. However, my neck was hurting again. I think I know why – each rep (all 160 of them) made me bend my neck fairly far forward, without being able to bend backwards. It’s nothing much though, it’ll go soon.

Well, there we have it. The first 2 weeks of daily workout over, and it has really worked for motivation. I’m now half looking forward to working out, to challenging myself, especially with pushups, heavy bag work and rope work. Tonight I’m probably going to plan some stuff to do tomorrow. I’m thinking sledgehammering.

And with that I say goodbye to that set of nightly workouts, and hello to a new one! More tomorrow.

Firstly, today I planned my new nightly workouts. Tonight will be my last night of the current system. For those who are interested, I rolled a 5, but that post will come later. As for the new workout list, I’m not going to post them up until tomorrow. I’ll tell you that it contains 2 core days, 3 strength/conditioning days and one random day, like last time. I’m not including any noisy jumping exercises however, so no burps or burpees. I think my new routines are pretty good though.

This bit is completely off-topic, but I rung up Aria about my new PC this morning. As some of you may know, I ordered some components for my new PC, but the motherboard didn’t work and I had to return it. And, so far it’s been 2 weeks and nothing. Last night I found out they’d only just found it in their warehouse. I rung up today to complain, but they said it was in the testing department, and would be tested today (as far as I’m aware, it hasn’t been), or Monday. If found faulty, a new one would be sent by next day delivery, meaning I SHOULD have it all my Tuesday. At last!

Also today I made a new computer desk. I’ve been meaning to make one for ages, so I could have my PC on one and do written work (e.g. school work) on another. It took me a few hours to make, and isn’t very accurate (some things off my 1/2″ or so), but it works fine and doesn’t make much difference. It was cheap, so I’m happy. And it’s strong, and the top is nice, so I don’t mind if it’s not perfect.
Piccy: http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj23/JGibbins92/P1020762.jpg

Expect my workout post within a couple hours.

• 8 Pushups
• 16 Squats
• 10 Sets

I thrashed my last time of 7 minutes 27 seconds – This time I got 6 minutes 56 seconds. I think what really helped is that I was angry, angry that the company who I had ordered my PC from, and returned part to (because it wa faulty) hadn’t bothered doing anything about the refund, and so far it’s cost me about an extra £30 because of phone calls and postage. So, I’m not happy. Tomorrow I’m ringing them and complaining. Another thing that helped me was overhearing some girls at my school talking about this really hot guy (supposedly), and how much they all loved him. Sounded good.

Anyway, the workout went fairly well. At the beginning I had the knee pain again, but it went making the squat much easier. The pushups weren’t too bad really, only struggling on the last set, and out of those only the last one was a real push. The rest was pretty easy. Broke a fairly good sweat. Good stuff!

I’m thinking about doing one tomorrow, and make that the final one, meaning I’ll have done it 2 weeks straight. After that, I’ll change the exercises up a bit.

• 500 chinnies

I also decided to add some supermans to the end, just to do some back work as well. I added on:

• 5 supermans (hold at top for 3 seconds)
• 3 sets

My current record for 500 chinnies was 4 minutes 30 seconds. I wanted to do well, so off went the TV, I didn’t put on any music and I locked my door. But, it didn’t go well. Simply because I think I lost count!

I cracked out the first 200 without needing any rest, so I simply carried on. I’m pretty sure I got to 300, although it may have been 250. Damn it, the amazement at not needing rest surprised me enough I had lost count! After a very quick rest, I did another 200, meaning I’m pretty sure I’d finished the 500. I looked at the time, but it was 3 minutes 45 seconds! I took a quick breather, unsure whether I had finished or not, and decided to crack out another 100 just to make certain. I did the extra 100 in a time of 4 minutes 35 seconds. However, taking in mind I only have about 5 seconds of rest overall, my guess is that that was over 500, possibly 550 or 600. Taking in mind the last 100 took 45 seconds (done whilst not fresh), 500 in theory would take 3 minutes 45 seconds. Which was my original time.

So yeah, I think I did 120% of my best in 100% of the time. Or, 100% of the routine in under 85% of the time. Not bad eh? I’m happy! Surprisingly, although I was sweating just as much as normal (if not more), I wasn’t aching much during or after, which is great as it suggests my body is used to the increased workload, which is definitely good.

The supermans didn’t take long at all actually. I probably should’ve done more though. One thing I wasn’t sure about, though, was whether I should touch the floor between reps or not. I’m off the RossTraining forums to ask now!

EDIT: Just found supermans should be done for long holds and low reps. For example, five sets of supermans with 10 second static holds at as high as you can. That’s what I’ll do next time!

Last year, we all had to do a fairly long one – I’m not sure exactly how long, but my guess is about 2 miles, and everyone in the year of about 80-100 had to do it.  And, I came 3 from last, only ahead of an overweight kid (more than I was) and one who can’t run (he just can’t, no physical reason, he just… can’t).  This fun run was only about a mile I guess, bit still more than I was used to.

I started strong – I half sprinted, half ran, and after 1/2 hundred metres I managed to get in the lead.  By about a foot, after which time I slowed down and was slowly overtaken by the more fit people (such as those who actively did sport in school and played for sports teams).  I probably ran constantly for about 1/4 mile, before walking for a bit.  This pretty much went on for the whole thing, running as much as I could then walking to catch my breathe back, running again when I was about to be overtaken to avoid the inevitable. :p

I ended up finishing about 8-10 from last (didn’t count exactly).  Unlike I had thought, they all seemed to be trying, probably not as hard as they could (no-one was), but a fair bit.  I was actually pretty pleased with this result, as the last ones seemed to be a long way behind me (one of whom was the one I beat last year (the other I beat didn’t bother doing it)).

Next year I hope I can do a lot better.  Hopefully top half of the pack.  That would really make me feel pretty damn good!

I rolled a 4:

• 20s Pushups, 10s Rest
• 20s Burps, 10s Rest
• 8 sets
  

Last time I did this my toes started hurting.  Tonight I tried it in socks, to see if I could get a bit more support.  Didn’t work, my toes are still hurting.  Probably 10s exercise and 20s rest was more realistic near the end, but oh well, I’ve broken a sweat and my heart is thumping.

Until tomorrow!

• 500 Chinnies

I wasn’t gonna go for time, just try and get full range of motion and do it fairly relaxed, whilst watching UFC 69 highlights.   It took me 4 minutes 45 seconds, 15 seconds slower than last time.  After about 300, much right quad started paining a bit, so I slowed down a bit and didn’t take it too hard.  It’s still a bit paining now, nothing too much though.

Anyway, until tomorrow!

The clock turned 7.  I was bored.  I could think of nothing to do except watch TV, or waste time on the internet doing, well, nothing.  What could I do, which would be worth doing, and fun?  Well, I could do some coursework – Some Religious Studies about a Catholic Church: “Explain the significance of those features and furnishings for the worshipper.”  Fun.  Actually, not at all.  I was NOT going to do that.

Then it struck me: Why not go and work out?  I mean, a proper workout, outside in my gym-barn hybrid.  So I did.  I had a drink of water, got changed, grabbed my iPod/speakers/hand wraps/Gymboss etc and out I went.  Like normal, it was pitch black outside, and cold.  But oh well, who cares?  Lights remove the darkness, and workout out and clothes stops the cold.  I was set.

Before going out I decided I wasn’t going to structure anything.  I don’t have to work out, and following specific rules and limitations removes much of the fun aspect of it.  And not-fun mixed with not-necessary normally ends in boredom, and then not doing anything.  I didn’t once use the Gymboos, I just did what I felt like doing.  And it was great!

I started with rope work.  In some ways I was dreading this, taking in mind my current… record.  Max of like 20 before catching, and getting annoyed.  Well, I turned on some music, did some jumping jacks to loosen off, then got my rope.  I started with simply bounce-steps (two feet), and to my absolute amazement I beat my previous record, which was around 50.  No, beat is the wrong word.  Thrashed.  First “set” I did 122.  Yes, one hundred and twenty two turns of the rope before catching.  I was stunned… and motivated to carry on.  I couldn’t believe it.  I thought it must just have been luck, as I hadn’t done a proper workout in ages, let alone touch the rope.  I do think my anti-fatigue matting helped though, and my new trainers.  I had a rest of a minute or two (didn’t count, which felt good – freedom), and next set, I beat my record again!!  134.  By now my legs, unused to such quantities of skipping, started to lag.  The next sets I only got 20 and then 46, which didn’t surprise me.  They were still pretty good compared to my previous ones though!  I also think I didn’t rest enough between sets (under a minute, probably more like half of one), I was just so  enthusiastic!  After that, I rested and went onto the alternate-foot-step.  At first, this went badly.  I always find starting this a bitch, as I can’t get everything going in time.  First couple attempts I got caught sub-10 turns.  And it hurts when you catch it, as the rope keeps going and slaps hard against my back (only covered by thin cotton tee) and bare hands.  Oh well.  I did get it going though, and managed 52, which I think was another new record.  After a couple more fails, I did 57.  More fails, then 48.  Amazed by my performance, I called it a day on the rope work.  To finish off, I tried some max-speed bounce-steps, just to see how long I could stay going as fast as I go.  I was really impressed, as I got 42.  Bloody fun stuff!

I rested for a bit, and decided to do a bit of strength work.  I didn’t care if I actually gained strength, I just wanted to test some stuff (back to my “do whatever I feel like” theory).  I did 5 negative pullups (going as slow as I could physically manage), which was surprisingly hard.  I really can’t do pullups – I need to train them more!  This pretty much killed my arms, and when I tried doing the same with chinups I only managed 3 before my hands refused to lower me slowly, or even hold on (the pipe was damn cold too).

Next, one-legged squats.  I can barely do them, but I did 10 for each leg, going as low as I could without falling over.  I know I lack the strength, flexibility and balance to do full ones, but I believe all of these can be improved by simply trying, and doing as much as I could.  I don’t know how much I went down (it’s hard to see through my body, and from a different angle), but I went down a fair way.  Again, something to add to my strength workout.

Now, pushups.  I’m not great at pushups (my arms are pretty weak), but I tried doing them with hands under my shoulders (very hard for me), and going pretty low (so forehead is on ground, can’t quite go down to nose with head flat yet).  I managed 16, before I didn’t think I could do any more without failing.  Another area to improve!

That was the end of the “strength” section.  I saw my heavy bag starring and me, begging to be used.  I gave in.  On went the wraps, on went the gloves, and away I went.  I have no idea how long I went for, but I’m pretty sure it was 10-15 minutes.  I barely rested at all (no actual sit downs or standing away from the bag for more than 10 seconds), although i wasn’t going full out.  I was going pretty hard though, and like everything else, it felt great.  I was trying to do everything I remembered from boxing sessions: hand positions, fast movements, twisting body, moving etc; and it worked pretty well, as I remembered and implemented most of it.  I think what helped me was I visualised the bag as various things, such as teachers I didn’t like, people at school I didn’t like, the fat on my body, a wall stopping me reaching all the hot babes.  Lots of stuff, and it worked.  Definitely got my heart going, my chest heaving, and I was taking some of my pelt up aggression out (I also kicked the wooden door a couple of times, it made some very satisfying *slams* ).

I decided to call it a day now – I’d been out there for about 40 minutes.  I packed up and went inside, straight to the PC to write this!  As I came in I saw the sky was covered in stars and the moon was very bright, it was very beautiful actually.  Next time I think I’ll spend more time out there, just relaxing, watching.

One thing I did notice was how much a head sweat band helps.  During none of the workout had sweat from my hair/forehead reached my eyes or face, a common problem I’ve had.  The band was fairly sweaty by the end, but who cares?  It did it’s job, definitely worth the £2 or so it was.   Also, I normally roll my hand wraps up.  This time, I decided to hand them up, open out, like my rope, over a horizontal, raised wooden bar.  Hopefully they’ll dry out better that way.

I think that just about covers it actually.  Pretty fun, will no doubt do it again sometime (probably not tomorrow, I have my RS to do ).  BTW, I rolled a 6 tonight for my nightly workout, which means I can do any of them, or none.  I was planning on doing the burpees before I went out, although I don’t think I could manage it now without making lots of noise! I’ll probably do the chinnies, or possibly just do nothing (which, TBH, is unlikely).

Until tomorrow (or later tonight)!  As normal, please comment!

Feb 11 #1

• Rope jumping (bounce-step, alternate-foot-step)
• 5 pullup negatives
• 3 chinup negatives
• 10 pistol partials per leg
• 16 under-shoulder forehead-to-ground pushups
• 10-15 minutes heavy bag work

Anyway, #5:

• 8 Crunches
• 8 V-Ups
• 10 Sets

Last time it took me 6 minutes 25 seconds.  And, somehow, this took me 7 minutes 5 seconds, 30 seconds longer.  I have no idea where the extra 30 seconds went.  I mean, I didn’t rest at all, I was working full speed (with full RoM), yet somehow it took 30 seconds more.  I know last time I stopped for a bit, due to the jeans rubbing against me and causing pain.  Strange.

I think one of the problems with doing this routine for time is having to hold the crunches for 3 seconds each, which automatically takes up over 4 minutes, not including the crunching before and after the hold, and the v-ups.

Well, I’m sweating a bit and I can feel my abs, but nothing too bad.  And my necks not hurting much at all, unlike last time.  Quite a relaxing one, compared to the 50 burpee challenge or the pushups/squats of previous days!

Until tomorrow!

Today… wasn’t great.  As I wrote in my reply to Paladin, I didn’t work out extra today.  I had planned to, just never did.  To be completely honest, I just couldn’t be honest.   The weather wasn’t too bad or anything either, I had no excuses.  Just… didn’t want to work out.

Anyway, tonight I rolled a 3.

• 8 Pushups
• 16 Squats
• 10 Sets

Last time it took me 7 minutes 40 seconds.  I managed to shave off 13 seconds this time, ending with 7 minutes 27 seconds.  I was very sweaty and breathing fairly hard, but it felt good.  I felt like if I had to I could’ve gone on.  By the last set, the pushups especially were hard, especially the last 3, but before then they were all relatively easy.  Plus, I went without much rest at all, my guess is below 15 seconds, possibly less than 10.

Now, I’m off the get a drink, then go to bed to watch Transformers (which I still haven’t seen!).

Until tomorrow!

I rolled a 4: Tabata pushups/burps

• 20 seconds pushups, 10 seconds rest
• 20 seconds burps, 10 seconds rest
• 8 sets

This time I tried to do fuller burps, knees-to-chest style.  I just about managed it too.  By the end, I was getting about 5 pushups and 5 (full) burps.

One observation I did make, though, was that burps are best done with shoes on – NOT barefoot!  I kept catching my toes on the landings, so now my toes, especially the big toes, are sorta aching.  Next time I think I’ll wear trainers.

Currently I’m planning on changing the routine this Friday, as that is when I start holidays.  I will change it up, so that I can do workouts without requiring any training equipment, e.g. shoes.  Find some stuff I can do in just my boxers, like pushups, squats, lunges, jumps, core workouts etc.  I’ll add others, like burpees/burps etc, at another time of the day, when I get home from school first.

Until tomorrow!

The 50 burpee challenge.

Now, I’m crap at burpees.  I’ve VERY rarely done them before, and I find it hard to include the pushup.  But I decided I would include it, even if it made me take twice as long.  I was hoping that even if I started off crap, but the end my technique would’ve improved.

Well… fuck.  There, I’ve said it.  That was the most demanding workout I’ve EVER done.  And it was only 50 burpees!!  Just goes to show how out of shape I am.  It took me 5 minutes, 30 seconds, so a pretty crap time, but good for me (I was expecting over 6 minutes).  By the end I was literally dead: my throat was aching and dry, my heart pounding, sweat dripping off my body as a whole.  But I’d done it!  I’d completed the 50 burpee challenge, and it felt great!  I’d tried as hard as I could to do each pushup, and make the jump an actual jump.  Often, especially near the end, I had to slow down so that I could jump up from the pushup position, but each time I managed it.  Half way through my mum shouted through the door to stop making so much noise, but I ignored her .  And now, I feel amazing.  I’ve done it!!  And now I have a target to beat.  I really understand what people say about the burpee love/hate relationship now.  They’re horrible, they’re tiring and painful and difficult, but they really make you feel like you’ve achieved something, and they’ll no doubt get me in shape.

I know I’ve started rambling a bit, but I’m currently feeling the most… alive I’ve felt in quite a while.  In some ways I’m looking forward to my next 1, yet in some ways I’m dreading it.

Until tomorrow!

For those who missed yesterday, a roll of 2 is:

• 500 chinnies

Today, I was ready for it. And I had a time to beat, a target.

I thrashed yesterdays time: 4 minutes, 30 seconds. Beat it by nearly 2 minutes. It was mainly because I had less rest, doing he first 200 in one go, then the last 300 in sets of 100. By the end, like last time, my range of motion wasn’t as great as when I started – my elbows were barely, if at all, touching (the insides of) my knees. But TBH I don’t think that matters too much, as I can feel it was a pretty good 4.5 minute workout. Looks like soon I’ll have to extend them!

I realised today that next Friday my half term starts. My current plan is keep going as I am until then, but after that do more (like during the day), and change up my evening workouts. Unlike previously, I’m not going to jump in at the deep end, I am going to take it slowly (famous last words). I can feel inside me that the fire is slowly starting to burn again, I can feel the sparks. This weekend I’m thinking about seeing my max pushups and max squats (to set some more realistic goals), as well as do some pullup/chinup work (static holds, negatives, assisted), and no doubt some bag work.

Until tomorrow!

As always, please leave me comments! I’m starting to feel lonely

Anyway, onto the workout.  Because of the days events, I was a bit achy, so didn’t feel like doing much.  But I knew I would have to.  I was praying for a roll of 2, the chinnies, as I felt like doing them, plus it shoudln’t be hindered by my aching arms and legs.  And, to my complete surprise, I rolled a 2!!  I really couldn’t believe it.  The only problem is now I’ve done them all but the dreaded 1 – the dreaded burpees!  No doubts that will be tomorrow.

For those who don’t know, on a roll of 2 I have to:

• 500 Chinnies

Not that much, although it normally kills my core.

And it did.   Lots.  It took me 6 minutes 20 seconds in total.  My abs were already aching a bit after the first 50.  I ended up doing 50, 50, 100, 100, 50, 50, 50, 50, equalling 500 in total, with rests between each “set”.  Not a great time, but as normal, by the end I was hot, sweaty and thirsty, which told me at least the workout had been effective, to an extent at least!  I’m also starting to like working out too – not enough that I want to constantly work out, but enough so that I do it and think, mainly positively, about it.  In some ways I can’t wait until I have the 50 burpee challenge – at least then I’ll prove to myself that I can do it, it’s not impossible, and give myself a target to beat.

Until tomorrow!

• 8 Pushups
• 16 Squats

• 10 sets, rest as required

Didn’t sound too bad. I predicted by the end I would be slow, and it would take ages, and I would probably be fairly tired. None of the movements were too difficult though. I knew the pushups would be the hardest part, so I would use the squats as “active rest”.

Well, it wasn’t as I expected. I completed it all in 7 minutes 40 seconds, which definitely could be better, although ATM I don’t think I could improve on it. Surprisinly, the squats seemed harder than the pushups, as early on my knees starting hurting. I fought on, and by the end the pain had pretty much gone, making the squats much easier. However, by the last set, the pushups were a lot more difficult, and I had to exhale hard to get the last rep. But as I said, I finished it with minimal rest.

I don’t, however, think I have my squat technique right. I try to go as low as possible, so my thighs are parallel to the floor or below. I know I bend my back though, making it nearer parallel, and I think it sometimes rounds as well. I guess this is down the lack of flexibility, but can anyone tell me where the lack of flexibility is? My back? I know your back should be straight, and near vertical, which mine nearly certainly isn’t. In fact, the sides of my back, about half way down, have just started aching quite a lot. Damn. It feels as though it’s somehow connected to my lats too. Anyone? I was going to do something else, but I dont want to hurt my back any more.

Completely off-topic, but I’m spending all of tomorrow rock climbing and caving. Fun!

PS: I would like to mention that what I was doing yesterday, I’ve just realised, weren’t full burps. Burps are from the pushup position (top part) to the knees-to-chin position. I’ve just been jumping my feet forward, not bending my knees much. Bringing my feet as far forward as I can, making the angle between my legs and body less. This way allows me to work much faster though, so I’m keeping it.

EDIT: Just a quick update.  My back has already stopped hurting completely, so it obviously wasn’t much.  However, I’m going to bed VERY soon, because of the early morning tomorrow, so I won’t do another workout tonight.  Until tomorrow!

I rolled a 4.  This means tabata pushups/burps:

• 20s pushups, 10s rest, 20s burps, 10s rest

• 8 sets

Again, I was happy it wasn’t the burpees.  I’ll face them sooner or later though!  I should just man up.  I think my main problem is I find it hard to do the pushup part, although I know I must.

I did the workout whilst watching UFC 81 (listening to it anyway).  As expected for a double tabata, it took 8 minutes.  What can I say?  It’s a killer.  By the end I was breathing hard, sweating, and my arms especially were aching, lots.  But, it didn’t feel too bad.  Don’t have a clue how many reps I managed overall, although the last set I did 6 pushups and 12 burps only.  In a couple previous rounds I only managed 3 or so pushups.  But, hopefully doing something like this daily should up my fitness level!

Until tomorrow!

• 8 Crunches
• 8 V-Ups
• 10 Sets, rest as needed

I was actually pretty happy with this, I felt like doing some core work.  I really was dreading the burpees!

I warmed up with some jumping jacks, like normal.  Each crunch I held at the top for 3 seconds.

In all, it took me 6 minutes and 25 seconds.  By the end, my abs were slightly aching and I had a little sweat, but nothing too bad.  Surprisingly my neck was aching a fair bit, which I guess was from the crunches.  In fact, I’m going to go and lie down and rest it now. One thing I did learn though was: Don’t do V-Ups in jeans.  The big at the back really pushes into the bit above you’re ass, and it’s bloody painful.

Until tomorrow!

I often find winter and Christmas does this to me. Everything seems to stop for Christmas, but then never starts again afterwards. Add to that the crappy weather (cold, rain, snow) making me not want to do anything but stay inside. I know those are just excuses though, and even though I know that, I still haven’t been able to get anything done. I’ve watched some UFC etc and thought “I wish I could do that”, just it wasn’t enough to get my off my ass. I’ve watched “inspirational” videos, with much the same result – I think they’re very impressive, but they don’t make me want to do anything. I don’t know why really – I’d prefer to be bored, wonder around the house doing nothing, than do something. In fact, this has applied to everything in life, I seem to be spending more time doing nothing (not even watching TV, I find that boring) than doing something helpful, including school work etc.

More and more recently I’ve been wanting to get in shape, and get fit, just I still haven’t done anything about it. There are a few reasons for this, I’ve decided. First, the obvious ones – Girls. Girls like hot guys, and I want more girls to like me, simple as that. I want to be able to take off my top without being embarrassed. Also, I want to just feel fitter, I just find being out of shape annoying, and I know it negatively effects my charisma and self-confidence. Finally, I want to be able to do more stuff, such as tricking and boxing, and show off! I want to be able to show all those people who have ever laughed of insulted that they’re wrong, and show all those cocky jocks up at their own game. Vain, I know, but hey, life is for living!

My diet still hasn’t really been cleaned up since Christmas, although I’m making a constant effort from now on to get it cleaner. As in, stop snacking just for the hell of it. I was trying to keep up the 6 meals a day thing/meal every 3 hours, but that ended up in me eating when I wasn’t hungry, and overall eating too much. So from now on, I only eat when I’m hungry. I still have lots of fat to shed, so less is definitely more. And if I do feel really hungry, or start to feel ill, I’ll just eat some more. I’m also trying to drink more water, because now that it’s cold drinking cold water doesn’t seem to great (and hot water is urgh).

Recently I’ve come up with something: Working out is like an upside-down slippery slope. Once you get on the slope (i.e. start working out), it’s much easier to carry on, especially if you’re making gains and enjoying it. But getting on the slope in the first place is hard, simply because it requires work and effort. So, I’ve decided, until March, I’m going to work out every day. Nothing much, just before bed I’m going to do a pre-set workout. Hopefully that will get me back into the motion of fitness and training – In March I’m thinking of including 300 or so rope turns every day when I get home from school – I really want to improve my rope skills.

This is the plan I’ve come up with:
Before going to bed, I’ll go and drink a glass of water (I need to drink more water, plus it should help during the workout). Next, roll a die – The number I get determines which workout I do, so as I don’t think “I hate tonights workout, I’ll just skip it”. After that, rest, get another drink, do my teeth then go to bed. Simple as that!

The Workouts:

1. 50 Burpees
2. 500 Chinnies
3. 8 Pushups -> 16 Squats, 10 sets, rest between sets as required
4. Tabata Burps/Pushups (20s Pushups 10s Rest 20s Burps 10s Rest)
5. 8 Crunches -> 8 V-Ups, 10 sets, rest between sets as required
6. Night off, or chose which to do

How does this all sound to you? First workout tonight! Not sure which I’ll find hardest. Actually, I’m nearly certain it’ll be the burpees, mainly because I hate them and can barely do them. Oh well, practice makes perfect! Wish me luck!

I started off as normal – Three sets of jump rope, two-minutes work with one-minute rest between sets.  Then I did the normal stretches.  I’m really starting not to like jump rope, to be honest.  I can’t seem to get going well that often, and keep catching it, whatever technique I use (although I can do bounce-step OK).  It’s really annoying, especially when I only do about three jumps before catching it again (and this normally happens a few times in a row, probably caused by my annoyance).  Also, when I catch it it normally swings right into me, and fast plastic thin rope hitting bare skin HURTS!  I’ve decided from now on I’m going to keep to bounce-step only, and try and master it, getting my timing right etc.

Now onto the actual workout.  It was just a simple circuit, consisting of pushups, squats and modified burps.  There seems to be a LOT of confusions between burpees, squat thrusts, burps and others.  Most people seem to use the names interchangeably, which annoys me as I don’t know what they’re talking about.  For me, I use Ross’s definitions.  Burpees include the vertical jump, horizontal feet movements and pushup.  Squat thrusts don’t have the pushup, and stand up rather than jumping.  Burps are “stripped down burpees”, and are burpees without the vertical jump.  These mean you stay in the same position, getting maximum speed.  In my modified version, I got rid of the pushup part to, so it was just the feet shuffling, as fast as possible.  So yeah, pushups, squats and modified burps.  I started with twenty seconds pushups, then twenty seconds squats, then twenty seconds modified burps, followed by twenty seconds rest.  I repeated this ten times, meaning it lasted thirteen minutes.  Bloody hell this was difficult!  By the sixth set I was thirsty and it was starting to hurt.  Especially my lower back was hurting, which, as you probably know, isn’t nice when trying to work out.  But I pushed on, and finished them, although by the last few sets I was only doing five pushups and my feet were only moving about a foot each horizontal jump in the burps.  But hey, I finished!

I spent the next few minutes on the floor, on my back, admiring my misty breath in the lights above. I don’t know how long, but I would guess three to four minutes.  The next part of my planned workout was a core workout.  I was going to do three sets, but I only did one, as I was already tired.  I did ten crunches (holding at top part for three seconds each time), sixteen chinnies, ten v-ups, ten lying hip swings, then ten supermans (again, holding at top part for three seconds).

I was planning on also doing some pullups, chinups and sledgehammer swings, but my arms had died and decided not to completely trash them and hinder recovery.

This was also the first time I used my new trainers (Mizuno Wave Nexus) and matting (made my Marcy).  I’m very pleased with both of them.  The shoes were snug and comfortable, and the matting was a lot nicer than concrete!  It was softer and gave a bit, plus it was warmer, and should’ve been kinder on my joints.  Definitely worth the money!

Well, until next time!  Possibly tomorrow (as I’m only in school until 11AM due to exams), although then again I should really be revising.  I might just go a twenty minute workout, like jump rope or tabatas or something.  Exercise is good for the brain too, so might help me revise.

Now my arms are aching, so I should go.  I haven’t had lunch yet either, and now I’m hungry!

Sunday 06-01-08 – Conditioning = Pain

• 3x Jump rope (2-minutes work, 1-minute rest)
• Dynamic stretches

•  10 Circuits
  • 20-seconds pushups
  • 20-seconds squats
  • 20-seconds pushup-less burps
  • 20-seconds rest

• 1 Circuit
  • 10 crunches (hold 3-seconds)
  • 16 chinnies
  • 10 v-ups
  • 10 lying hip swings
  • 10 supermans (hold 3-seconds)

• Die

But I decided that I wouldn’t go another day without working out, so I decided just to do a small routine before bed (which I’m going to go to after posting this article ). I wasn’t really sure what to do, so I just shoved a couple exercises together. I think one of my problems is I don’t want to do anything short and “insignificant”, because writing it up makes me feel pathetic and like a wuss, plus I subconsciously think it won’t help and won’t be worthwhile. Sure, I could just not write it here, but then I’d feel guilty and a liar. I just told myself firmly that anything is better than nothing, and everyone has to start somewhere, however small and insignificant. I needed to get that flame going again!

I started with 50 fast-paced jumping jacks, followed by jogging on the spot. Then I did some stretches.

Onto the actual workout. As I’m going to bed, I decided to keep it fairly simple. I started with two circuits: 10 pushups, then 10 squats, then 5 burpees. I’ve never been able to do burpees, so this probably wasn’t the best idea. But I’m only going to learn them by doing them! So I shoved them in. After 2 circuits my mouth was dry and my heart beating, and I could barely finish the last couple burpees (the part where you jump the feet back). Obviously not working out for a few weeks and that bad Christmas diet had had it’s effect. I went and got a 1/2-litre drink, and then waited a couple minutes for it to go down.

Next I decided to do 200 chinnies. I did these fairly fast, with no rest (obviously), but my the end my heart was beating again and my core was starting to ache.

Then I decided to call it a day, and get on my PC to write this. It wasn’t much, not too challenging (got up a bead or two of sweat, nothing much more though), although now I feel surprisingly tired. Probably because my body isn’t used to, well, working out. And now, off to bed, where I’ll spend the rest God-knows-how-long reading (I got 5 books for Christmas – I like reading ).

Anyway, until next time (hopefully tomorrow), goodbye and goodnight.

Saturday 05-01-08 – Mini Pre-Bed Conditioning

• 50 Jumping Jacks, Jogging on the spot, Dynamic stretches

• [3x] 10 Pushups, 10 Squats, 5 Burpees
• 200 Chinnies

I’m back to school now, which is quite good in some ways, it’s got me doing something at least. I am currently doing my mock GCSEs though, so a week and a half of exams. Which sucks. But they’re mostly not too hard, although this weekend I shoud do some revision (especially History, sooo much to remember!).

Last night I didn’t go boxing. There was multiple reasons, one being tired after the exams, but the main one simply not being bothered. I’m not even sure if I’m going to go back. When I’m there I normally enjoy myself, but it’s not something that I really look forward to. I don’t really know why to be honest. I think it just seems to much like school (being told to do something, then doing it), which sounds stupid I know. There just doesn’t seem to be a community or anything, it just seems boring. There’s very little enthusiasm or happiness even – I’m not saying it’s depressed or anything, just not exactly friendly either. Not many smiles or laughs or anything, just going through drills. I do love boxing, just I don’t want to go training there. When the old guy was there (Kirt or Kurk, I forget which ), he added laughs and happiness and enjoyment, and he added enthusiasm and made you want to get better. He doesn’t go there often though, so normally I seem to be stuck without.

For Christmas I did get some shock-resistant, anti-fatigue matting though, which is pretty cool. Normally I have to work out on a concrete floor, so this rubber material will definitely be nice. Today I also got my shoes (I didn’t get them for Christmas), and they’re pretty cool and comfortable (they’re the Mizuno Wave Nexus). I am planning on working out later, just some conditioning and core probably, to try my new stuff out.

I know this is going to sound like an excuse, but one of the things which I think is negatively affecting me is…The weather. Even during the day it’s dull and grey, half the time it’s raining, and it has been bloody cold. Just makes me want to stay inside. I’ve never really been a winter person, but the last couple years I’ve found it even more. I don’t mind the cold at all, and the rain isn’t too bad (makes me feel all primitive ), it’s just I can’t stand grey dull skies. Makes me feel depressed. I want the sun back!

Can anyone help me out? I’ve watched some “inspirational” videos, but they don’t seem to help. I mean, I watch people working out, having fun, being strong etc, and I do think “Wow, I really want to be like that”, yet it’s not enough to get me off my ass. I know I probably sound like a wuss, and it’s probably true, but it’s the truth.

During the school holidays, I always find I feel like doing absolutely nothing, and it sucks.  I normally end up getting bored, and wasting time no the computer, gaming, talking, surfing the web or doing other pointless tasks, half of which I don’t even enjoy.  So why do I keep doing them?  I really don’t know.  Laziness I suppose.  In the holidays so far I’ve slept, watched TV, been on the computer, and not much else.  I have learnt a lot about PC building and overclocking and learnt a bit about the medieval ages (thanks to Total War ), but apart from that it seems as though I haven’t done anything beneficial, or at least nothing I can remember.  Sure, I’ve had some fun playing games, so I don’t call that wasted time, but it still feels fairly pointless.  I realised yesterday that my diet had started getting very bad – I still was eating fairly well at meals, but I was snacking on chocolate biscuits, not eating as much fruit or meat as I should be and generally not thinking about it at all.  I’ve started cleaning it back up, and I’m going to limit myself to one ~150kcals worth of chocolate biscuit a day (yeah, probably too much, but that’s one biscuit bar or two digestives!).  I’m going to try and substitute them with eggs, nuts, fruit, veg etc, which shouldn’t be too hard.

Anyway, onto the workout.  I didn’t feel like doing too much, and the weakness in my arms is really starting to annoy me.  My legs are, and always have been, fairly big and muscled, yet my arms are pathetic.  So I decided to do a dedicated arm strength session.

It was freezing outside.  Actually, probably not quite 0°C, but f*cking cold none-the-less.  Once I had warmed up it was fine, apart from one thing.  Arm workouts require pullups and chinups, which require a bar.  The bar I have to use is a long metal one in the parlour, which has holes in the walls rather than windows.  The bar was very, very cold.  Add to the cold it was an old one I found, it wasn’t smooth (although luckily not rusted).  Tight grip + cold bar + rough bar = pain.  A lot of pain.

I started off in my typical way – Sprinting, 3 rounds of 2min work/1min rest rope jumping, the stretching.  As I was doing arms, I added on 20 pushups just to get my arms used to moving.  Post warmup I went onto pullups.  I can’t do unassisted ones, so I used my Iron Woody bands to allow me to do them.  I can count the amount of times I’ve done pullups (and chinups) on my hands, so my arms really aren’t used to doing them, which makes them especially hard.  First set I did 5 full range of motion ones (dead hang to chin over bar).  It was relatively hard to get my chin over the bar in the last one.  After 60 seconds rest, I did the same, but this time including static holds.  I did four statics of 3 seconds for each of the 5 reps – One at the top of the motion, one 1/4 down, one 2/4 down and one 3/4 down.  To get my chin over the bar in the last two or three was pretty damn hard, I’ll tell you.  As already mentioned, the bar is truly evil, and by now my hands were hurting quite a bit.

I rested for 2 minutes, then went onto pushups.  I did 20 with a wide stance (so at the midway point my forearms were perpendicular to my upper arm), rested for 30 seconds, then 10 raised ones.  The raised ones were done using stone builds to each side, about 18″ high each.  I went down as far as I physically could, then all the way up.  I didn’t realise how hard these were either!

Another 2 minute rest and I was onto chinups.  My hands were hurting slightly less, although the second I grabbed the bar the started hurting again!  I used the same principle with chinups as I did with the pullups – 5 reps normal, 60 second rest, then 5 static-hold reps.  My the end of this my hands were really hurting – Damn that bar!

Next I was onto body rows.  I do body rows using a raised stone platform (like the pushups), and with some rings I made using chains and PVC pipe (to hold on to).  Cost about £5 to make, and very useful.  Because my feet were raised, the range of motion of these body rows was pretty high.  At fully hanging I was below horizontal (my head closer to the ground than my feet), which made them harder.  I was hoping to knock out 15 to 20 rows, but I barely did 10.  I attempted 10, but the last 4 were pathetic, and the last one I couldn’t rise more than an inch or two, however hard I tried.  My painful hands probably didn’t help.  I was planning on finishing with a hang for time from the pull/chinup bar, but I could tell my arms would dead and I would do terribly (if I could even hold on!).

And that was that, my arm workout finished.  What annoyed me was that although my hands hurt, my arms felt fine, or at least slightly tired.  I keep thinking they should be really aching, even though I know (from Ross Enamait and other people) that idea is wrong.  It just feels as though I could’ve done more, even though my body rows proved otherwise.  The first thing I did when I got inside was run my hands under warm water, to warm them up and help with the pain.  It felt like bliss!  Even as I’m typing this, about half an hour later, I can still feel pain in my hands though, although it hasn’t stopped my writing…OVER 1000 WORDS!!  OK, that was a bit on an excessive post.  Congrats if you’ve read this far!  If you have, comment to tell me!

Sunday 23-12-07 – Gunz in the Cold

• Sprinting
• Rope Jumping
• Stretching
• 20 Pushups
  • 2 minutes rest
• 5 assisted pullups (dead hand to chin over bar)
  • 1 minute rest
• 5 assisted pullups with 4 static holds each (dead hang to chin over bar)
  • 2 minutes rest
• 20 90° pushups
  • 30 seconds rest
• 10 raised pushups
  • 2 minutes rest
• 5 assisted chinups (dead hand to chin over bar)
  • 1 minute rest
• 5 assisted chinups with 4 static holds each (dead hang to chin over bar)
  • 2 minutes rest
• 10 body rows

Not sure when I’m going to workout next.  Christmas is tomorrow’s tomorrow, so not long now!  I was hoping to get some new trainers for Christmas, although my mum informed me today that I’m not.  I found out today that I think my feet must have grown, as my current ones hurt the sides of my feet, especially when skipping/rope jumping.  I’ll probably order them myself today, but might not work out until I have them (which actually probably wouldn’t be too long).

As always please comment!!  I’ve spent ages writing this, make me feel it was worthwhile!

I haven’t done any training since my last session.  I know I should’ve, but I really couldn’t force myself to.  It’s been really cold lately…Oh, screw the excuses.  Main reason was because I’ve got a bit lazy, as I often find I do in Winter.  Now I’m off school I will have more time to train, and intend to.

One of the reasons I haven’t trained since Monday is because of one of my other loves – PC gaming.  I know that just makes it sound worse, but I really love gaming – My inner geek releasing itself. I borrowed Medieval 2: Total War off a friend on Monday and have been playing it a lot since, it really is a great game.  Even though it’s about 2 years old it’s still one of the best games I’ve played in ages.  If you like gaming, especially RTSs or TBSs, you should definitely give it a try.

I’ve half-finished Stretching Scientifically now too.  It was worth getting, although I did have some problems about implementing it.  Review soon!

I think that’s pretty much it for now.  Hopefully some training tomorrow, more conditioning methinks.  Maybe I’ll do the Sweet 16!

Don’t forget to leave some comments, I’ve only got a couple on the whole site.

Now, I was planning on doing a conditioning routine known as the Sweet 16 today.  It was create by Ross Enamait and is in his book Infinite Intensity, and it involves…Actually, I’m not going to tell you!  I’m going to save it for another day, when I actually do it. Anyway, instead I went and did some band-assisted pullups (using one of my Iron Woody band).  I’m terrible at pullups, I admit, but you have to start somewhere, and for me that was with band-assisted ones.  I did two sets of 5 reps (as full a range of motion as I could), followed by one set of negative static holds (hold at highest position for 5 seconds, drop a small amount, hold for 5 seconds, repeat until at dead hang position).  Rest between sets was 40 seconds.  After one negative I couldn’t 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 session.  Next I went onto one-legged squats (like a normal bodyweight squat…But with one leg).  I can’t do full ones unassisted, but then I saw my rings (like gymnast rings, but mine homemade using chain and PVC pipe), and it gave me an idea: Do full-range ones, but hold onto the rings to aid with balance and strength (if I can’t get up fully using just my leg, pull up using my arms).  I hadn’t heard of doing them like this before, but I decided to give it a go.  And, it worked excellently!  Again I did three sets and 5 reps (per leg).  Afterwards by legs were well and truly thrashed.  I then went onto pyramid pushups, going from 1 rep to 7.  I only did one set of these, because I did it until I couldn’t do any more (I stopped the rep before I wouldn’t be able to do any more).  By now, my muscles felt knackered.  I noticed I had spent over 30 minutes there, so decided to call it a day and stop.

I ended by walking and stretching.  The squats had surprisingly affected my legs, and by the end they were shaking quite a lot.  Even now they ache a bit.  Tomorrow will definitely be a rest day!!

As a side note, I received Stretching Scientifically today.  Written by Thomas Kurz, it’s all about stretching and from what I’ve heard it is THE best book to build flexibility.  A quick look through it shows it’s very complex and detailed, with a lot of (small) text.  I’ll probably review it soon.

We started in the typical way, with running around the gym with floor touches, jumps and direction changes.  This was followed by four rounds of jump rope work – three of 2 minutes, the last one of 3 minutes, the rests between rounds being 1 minute.  This went better than last night’s jumping, although still wasn’t great.  I did some bounce-steps, attempted alternate-foot steps, some speed bounce-steps and tried crossovers again (with no luck of course ).

The entire session was pretty much spent with pad work (although we were using gloves instead of pads, t’was easier).  I went with this guy called Mark, who was the best partner I’ve had there.  He worked hard, but he also liked a good laugh and a bit of messing around.  For example, I kept giving him 1-2-3s, so he replied with the most confusing combinations he could think of, which often ended in me just looking at him perplexed or completely and utterly screwing it up.  Yeah, doesn’t sound like anything special but it was a good laugh.  Don’t let this make you think we weren’t practising skills – We were doing all the punching as well as we could, but we were enjoying it too.  Put simply, he was great fun to be partnered with.

On the pads we were doing just jabs, crosses and hooks, mainly practising on moving in, 1-2ing the pads, moving back, 1-2ing again.  There was also quite a lot of single shots and other combos (1-2-3s, 1-1-2s etc), but the emphasis was on 1-2s and moving.

We finished off the same as always also – A random circuit of bodyweight exercises with active rest (jogging on the spot) between exercises.  I think the circuit this time was: Running on the spot, Knee tucks, Pushups, Situps, Squat Thrusts, Star Jumps, Pushups, Squats.  Something like that anyway.    Then it was simply walking and stretching.

Now for the bad news.  This is the last session this year!  So I won’t have another session until the 4th January 2008, in about a months time.  I’ll keep up my training though, just I won’t have Exeter ABC to go to .

Until next training session (might rest tomorrow, Thursday maybe?), keep commenting and reading!

When I went out, it was 3°C – The coldest I’ve ever worked out in.  Even though the parlour was open, , after a few minutes I didn’t notice it and I was down to the tracksuit trowsers and sleeveless tee only.  This was the first time I listened to rap-style music while working out (Rage Against The Machine) which seemed to work fairly well, surprisingly.

I started with some sprinting up and down the barn with some jumping jacks.  Then I did some basic stretching.  Nothing unusual there.

Next was my normal warmup, rope jumping.  However, it went TERRIBLY.  Firstly, my Gymboss kept failing on me (I don’t think I was clicking the start button hard enough).  That was soon solved, and my first round was simply bounce-step jumping.  It didn’t go as well as planned – I kept catching the rope, more than before.  In the next round I tried alternate-foot step, which pre-illness I was starting to be able to do well.  But I could barely do any at all without catching the rope!  Literally, I think my max was between 5 and 10.  This really didn’t make me feel optimistic, as you can probably expect.  The next round, I tried again, and it still didn’t go well.  I also tried arm crossovers (crossing the rope in front of you) and I couldn’t do them at all (admittedly I’ve never tried before).  I ended the round with simple bounce-step jumping, but was feeling pretty negative about the whole thing.

After that it was on to the heavy bag.  It was then I realised I’d forgotten my wraps, but I didn’t bother going back inside to get them.  So, I just shoved on my gloves and got going.  I went for six 2 minute rounds with 1 minute rest between rounds.  I was mainly practising the speed of my jabs and straight rights, but I ended up just doing whatever.  As with the rope jumping, I was amazed how bad I had got after not practising for about 2 weeks.  I wasn’t doing too badly though, although a couple of times I temporarily hurt my hand from a dodgy right cross and left hook (which I’ve only just learnt).  Not wearing my wraps probably didn’t help with this .  Soon the pain was gone though, and by the end of the six rounds I was tired, but not in pain.

I finished off with pushups and squats to a couple reps before failure.  I ended up with 22 pushup and 44 squats (pathetic, I know).  I decided to call it a day, so walked and stretched, and then came in to write this!

I also set myself a target today.  On my next birthday, my 16th, in June, I will take a picture of me in my boxing gear, topless, and use it as my MSN picture.  Now, I don’t want to put a picture of me looking ugly and flabby do I? So I want to shift as much of this weight as possible and try and improve my beach muscles (without training for hypertrophy though).  I’m dreading it already.

I was ill badly until Monday, and on Tuesday I thought it would be best if I didn’t go to boxing. I’m still not feeling great, and my muscles still ache from the Thursday training (which I guess is because whilst ill I didn’t consume enough food/protein). I’m also not going to be able to go boxing this Friday, as I’m going to a concert.

So, this hasn’t been a great week. I do plan to start again next week, but maybe starting a bit slower, only training a couple days a week (Mondays and Wednesdays probably).

On another topic, I’ve finished Full Throttle Conditioning (the book).  Where the DVD actually shows how to do the different exercises, the book tells you why to do each exercise, what order to do them in, what different types of routine you can do, how to plan the routine for long-term successes and more.  Put simply, the DVD focuses on the exercises and the book focuses on the routines and the science behind it all.  A very good read, I still highly recommend buying it if you haven’t already!

Again, comment away!

There has been an illness going around school, and I think my working out left me more vulnerable.  Because of this, I’m probably going to cut down training to my boxing sessions plus about two more per week, for now at least.  I don’t want to get ill again, at least not yet .

Well, that’s all for now.  My next post will probably be on Tuesday for my boxing session, as long as I’m feeling better.

For those who don’t know what the ladder system is, it is starting with 1 rep, resting for the time it takes to do 1 rep, then doing 2 reps, resting for 2, and keep going up until you can’t go any further.  This is great for adding to your max number of a certain exercise you can do consecutively.  For my rest, I found it easier to say 1 rep = 1 second rest.  So if I did 5 reps, I had 5 seconds rest.

I found out during the session how weak I was, especially my arms. Well, I have room to improve!

Thursdat 29-11-07 – Basic Ladders

• 50 Jumping Jacks
• 10 Pushups
• 10 Squats

• Pushup Ladder – 1, 2…7, 8 = 26 total
• Squat Ladder – 1, 2…17, 18 = 171 total
• Diamond Pushup Ladders – 1, 2…5, 6 = 11 total

Main Target

• Pushup Ladder 1-10

I was planning to have today as a rest day, although in a minute I am going to do a short workout. I was planning no just relaxing, watching TV or playing some PC games. Instead, I watched the hour-and-fifty-minutes long DVD. There’s a quick review below, although it’s really just a brief summary of the DVD. For more info, check out Ross’s website. There’s also a lot on the forums about the DVD, so be sure to check them out!

It was great! I admit I didn’t take everything in, bit it’s split into lots of categories chapters, and I’m certain I’ll be re-watching some of them very soon. I’m yet to read the book, although I’m going to start it tonight.

Ross covers LOADS of conditioning aspects, with many different exercises shown my him, most of them with little or no equipment. He also talks about routine creation and some of the theories behind different routines and exercises. Topics covered range from the jump rope (with different techniques explained), burpees (and variations), other bodyweight exercises, explosive exercises, dumbbells, sandbags, kegs, water balls, sprinting and lots more. Yeah, the DVD has a lot of stuff!

Put simply, this is one of the best sources for conditioning info available. And for £18 (delivered to the UK), it is INCREDIBLY well priced. I really do recommend you get it. And no, I’m not affiliated in any way with Ross, apart from he has helped me in so many ways I feel I deserve to promote his excellence.

-

Buy Full Throttle Conditioning at RossTraining

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

To be honest, this wasn’t anything special.  We started as always, a warmup involving running and rope work (4 rounds, 2mins work x 1min rest).

After that it was onto the the bags.  We got into small groups (me and three others in my group).  One personwas holding the bag still behind it, while the other person was punching the bag.  The bag-holder had to put out their hands to make the puncher move – For example, putting out their right hand meant the puncher had to circle the bag counter-clockwise (i.e. going to their right).  The bag-holder could also present their hands as a target, which the puncher had to hit.  The rounds were about 2 minutes each, but it was surprisingly tiring!  We rotated each round, so the puncher became the bag-holder, and the bag-holder was able to rest until he was next punching.  You can probably get the idea by now.

When I was punching, the one holding the bag was the one who I last week referred to as a headcase.   He didn’t seem to get the idea of making me move, as he rarely stuck his hands out or moved, however much me or the coach told him.  And not once did he present me a target, even though I told him.  Oh well.  It was still fun, and tiring, and because I wanted to get the most out of it I was moving around the bag anyway (making him move!).  He wouldn’t keep his hands up either when he was the puncher, and wasn’t moving greatly – Again, it was move punch now everything else later.  Well, I don’t want to criticize him, he can learn the hard way if he so desires!

After that we spent around 10 minutes with partners doing the hook.  The parter held is hand up in front of him at a right angle, so his upper arm was parallel to the ground and his forearm parallel to the floor, with his palm facing to his right, horizontally in line with his head (I hope you can visualise this), then the other person simply hooked it.  I’ve never done the hook before, and really wasn’t great at it.  There was so much to remember though!  I could get the feet and twisting OK, but I couldn’t do that and dipping the hand before punching, leaning back, keeping my elbow at 90°, keeping my arm parallel to the floor…You get the point!  But I gave it my best shot (no pun intended), and will be practising it.  By the way, I wasn’t with the headcase (who really is a nice guy) so I could practice fairly well and my partner was giving me some advice.

Then it was the end of the session, so we ended in the normal way – A circuit of various bodyweight exercises in rapid succession.  The order was (if I remember correctly): Knee tucks, pushups, situps, burpees (no pushup version).  After the hooks my left arm had died though, but I pushed through.  Finally I did a cool-down, involving walking around and stretching.

I am going to try and get an extra workout in tomorrow as well, but if not I might not get another post until Friday at my next boxing session.

On a side issue, Ross sent me an email today saying he would ship the DVD/book today.  I’ll probably get it within a couple days.

As always, if you have any comments, any comments at all, please do post them!  I want to see everyone’s thoughts and advice.

As for Sunday, I was working from the time I woke up until 5PM, and by the time I got home and had supper, I realised that a) it was school tomorrow and b) I had a lot of coursework to do, which I hadn’t even started. Plus, I was knackered after work. So no workouts on Sunday (although Sunday is normally my rest day anyway).

Wow, this really is starting to seem as a blog of excuses! I really must change that, and I swear I’m going to.

Tonight after school I had to go into town again, and didn’t get home until after 6PM. Once again, I had loads of coursework to do. I sat down and did it, but then decided I had to do a workout of some kind. Due to the time, it was cold and pitch black outside, so again I had to do an indoors workout, a quiet one so as not to dusturb my parents. I recently read about the 500 chinnies challenge on the RossTraining forums, which is basically do 500 chinnies as fast as you can. I thought this sounded great, as chinnies really get my heart going, plus they’re a good core exercise. Two birds with one stone, as the saying goes. The problem came when I actually started though – I couldn’t count how many I was doing! My mind couldn’t keep up. So I stopped, and modified it. This time, it was do as many chinnies as possible in a 5-minute time limit. This worked much better as I could time it with my Gymboss timer.

I wasn’t able to carry on for 5 minutes straight, and had, I would guess, about a dozen breaks in the 5 minute period. I only stopped when my heart felt like it was going to burst and I couldn’t go on though, and I kept the breaks short (most were about 5 seconds). When I restarted I went as fast as possible again, so I know I got in a large amount of chinnies. By the end I was hot and sweaty, but I felt great! Probably not the best idea to do it in my pyjamas, but oh well!

Anyway, the workout itself (warmup then main):

• 50 jumping jacks
• 50 ropeless rope jumps (same as rope jumping, but without the rope, meaning I can go faster without having to worry about catches)
• 60 seconds jogging on the spot
• 20 pushups
• 20 squats

• 5-minutes of chinnies

I have boxing at the Exeter Boxing Club tomorrow so expect another update then.

Oh, and as I side note I ordered Ross Enamait’s latest product, Full Throttle Conditioning, today. It’s a book and DVD dedicated to conditioning exercises, and if it’s even half the products his previous two were it will be amazing. And most of the people on the forums are saying it’s even better than his previous two, so I can’t wait!

Normally I would have had boxing training tonight, but one of the senior fighters had a proper match, so there was no training.  I nearly didn’t train at all today!

I’m in the Army section of the Combined Cadet Forces in my school, which meant for about 1:30hours at the end of school I was outside, talking about attacking and defending in urban environments.  This wouldn’t be too bad…Except the weather was freezing!  The temperature was low single-digit degrees celcius, and although I was wearing combat trousers, jacket and t-shirt, I was really, really cold.  My toes especially were cold – I could barely feel them.  When I did get home, it took my quite a while to cool up, taking in mind outside the house it was 0°C and inside it didn’t feel that much warmer, even with more clothes, socks, a hat and gloves on.  Add to this the fact I was really tired (I nearly fell asleep on the car journey home), I really wasn’t in the mood to work out straight away.

After my supper I went on the computer and did my normal stuff – emails, MSN, forums (RossTraining forums), Facebook, RSS feeds, etc.  I also checked on this blog, just out of interest.  I was tempted to give up and let it rot in the dead-blog-pile, to never post again, but when I saw I already had 45 visits in only a couple days – Including ones from search engines! – I decided I had to carry on.  And if I was going to carry on I didn’t want it to be empty and not updated, so I knew I had to do some kind of workout to post about.

Due to the  below-freezing temperatures outside, I didn’t go to my home gym (an old barn outside with no heating and no form of heat retention).  Instead, I decided to do a workout inside the house, in my bedroom.  Space is limited, so I stuck to a few bodyweight exercises.  My plan was originally to do twenty minutes of pushups, squats and chinnies, alternating with one minute per exercise.  But after the first round of pushups and squats, I was dead.  This was really unmotivating for me, making me feel crap and useless.  Back to the computer I went!  But after a while, I realised how pathetic that was.  I’m not in the best shape ATM, and quitting definitely wont help!  I don’t want to be stuck this way for my entire life!

So, I scaled down the exercises.  Twenty seconds each of the above exercises, rather than sixty.  I turned on some Rammstein and started working.  My target was to go for ten minutes, but after four my throat was completely dry and my heart was pounding.  I was stupid enough to only drink 300ml of water before the workout, and being as cold as it was my throat soon dried up.  I pushed on for another 2 minutes, but after six minutes my throat was really paining me and I was finding it hard to breathe, so I stopped.  When I got up my legs felt like jelly, but it’s not surprising taking in mind I haven’t done anything like that in ages, especially not in the cold.  I immediately went and drink a litre of water, which made me feel a lot better.

I actually learnt a lot from this workout:

1. Firstly, I’m not in great shape!  Although this sounds bad, now I can set myself goals and it’s motivation to work harder, so it’s actually a positive realisation.
2. Secondly, don’t quit!  Even if you feel crap, try anyway.  If it’s too hard, there is nothing at all wrong with toning it down.  Anything is better than nothing.  And if you feel crap before you’ve completed your planned workout, try as hard as you can to finish but if you can’t don’t worry too much.
3. Thirdly, make sure you drink enough!
4. Fourthly, working out in the cold is great, as it really does warm you up and get the blood pumping.
5. Fifthly, listening to Rammstein and looking at a picture of a hot, topless babe really does help!

I’m still planning on going for a run tomorrow, as long as it’s not too cold or rainy!
Here was my actual workout:

• 50 jumping jacks (warmup)

• 20secs pushups
• 20secs squats
• 20secs chinnies
• REPEAT 6 times

As always, if you have any comments at all don’t hesitate about posting.

It started off like all the other training sessions, with the warm-up and rope-jumping. The warm-up consisted of running around the gym and doing the appropriate action when it was called out: 1, left hand touch floor; 2, left hand touch floor; 3, jump; 4, change direction. After that we did three 2-minute rounds of roping, with 1-minute rest between round. As with my home workout, the first round I did the bounce step fairly slowly, the second alternate-foot step and the third bounce step as fast as I could.

After that it was time for the first group to do ring stuff, so we were allowed to do what we wanted. I did a few minutes on the bags, a few minutes shadow boxing, and also watched the sparring for a bit. Nothing major, just a bit of skill work and keeping warm.

Then, the other group (including me) were in the ring. Last time I was in the ring it was body-shots only, but this time it was head-shots too. Great fun, although I don’t think I did too well. I got a few hard shots and a slightly bloody nose, and I don’t feel I got in many decent shots.

I’ll quickly sum up how it went. First time in it was jabs only and second time straight rights only. In the jab-only round, I was against a guy who was taller and stronger than me (yeah, I know it just sounds like an excuse but it was true!). He got in a couple good jabs, and I think I did too. My jabs are damn weak ATM though, definitely need to train them.
Second round I was against what my coach afterwards called a “fucking headcase”. Put simply, he went in punching like mad, and took a lot of punches doing so (he was the first to get a bloody nose). I did get a few in, but I kept looking for a shot, whereas he was punching like mad. He would have won that round methinks.

But hey, it was fun. Bit shook up afterwards, but soon got over it. It wasn’t just me though, a lot of people got a few good shots because they weren’t defending well (or at all!).

I asked my coach what he thinks I should improve at and what I should practice at home…And he mentioned quite a lot! It was fairly obvious stuff though – Improve footwork, especially stepping in, punching and stepping out of the way. He said my punches need to snap more, which I agree with completely as I know mine are fairly slow, especially my jab. He also said just practice bobbing, weaving, ducking, stuff like that. I could also see something my coach didn’t mention, and that was aggressiveness. I wasn’t very aggressive at all, waiting for him to strike first or waiting for an opening which never appeared. I do think if I was more aggressive – stepped in with the punches without fearing stepping into a punch, throwing more punches and generally being more offensive – I would have done better. Something else to improve, eh?

Then we just did a cool-down, packed up and went home.

I don’t have a session next Friday, so I’ll be practising at home instead, and probably during the week too.

I can only currently only do two techniques, and to be honest I can’t do them very well. As I said in my first post, before boxing I did next to no form of physical exercise, especially skill-based stuff such as rope jumping. But now I’m doing it fairly often, I’m improving rapidly, and without meaning to sound arrogant I do think I am the best (or at least in top 3) skippers in my EBC group (the beginners group ).

Onto the moves. The ones I can well do so far are:

Bounce Step
This is the most simple one, just involving jumping up and down with both feet at the same time. By far the easiest, and the easiest to do fast.

Alternate-Foot Step
This is the one most boxers and wrestlers use. It is similar to the Bounce Step, although it involves alternating feet each jump. Harder than the Bounce Step, it requires more coordination, fitness, timing and lightness on the feet. Great fun though, and it’s the one we’re recommended to do at boxing practice.

Those are the only two I’ll cover for now.

Now, normally I would have just felt crap and not bothered doing anything. I would have come inside, turned on the PC and waste time on the internet doing nothing constructive. But I thought of this blog, and though “Hey, I don’t want to appear a pussy to all my adoring fans (yeah, right!).” So, rather than coming inside I did another workout. It was still conditioning, but it was anaerobic rather than aerobic. I got out my jump rope and went jumping (a.k.a. skipping). I was planning to only do 3 rounds, but once the endorphins got going I had to do more, I couldn’t resist it.

I did all my timings using my Gymboss Interval Timer. It’s a digital timer, allowing you to set two timers that run one after the other and repeat (from 00:01 to 69:59), with a round count, customizable alarm and vibration, all done with 3 large, simple buttons. I intend to do a full review of one sometime soon. If you don’t have one, I highly recommend getting one. Get one from Training Timers (where I got mine) or from Gymboss themselves.

Anyway, onto the workout itself:

• Warmup (about a minute of jogging and sprinting)
• 2-Minute Rope Jumping (bounce step), 1-Minute Rest
• 2-Minute Rope Jumping (alternate-foot step), 1-Minute Rest
• 2-Minute Rope Jumping (bounce step at fast pace), 1-Minute Rest
• 2-Minute Rope Jumping (bounce step at fast pace), 1-Minute Rest
• 2-Minute Rope Jumping (alternate-foot step), 1-Minute Rest
• 2-Minute Rope Jumping (bounce step), 1-Minute Rest
• 1-Minute Pushups
• 1-Minute Squats
• 1-Minute Rest
• 1-Minute Situps
• 1-Minute Wall Squat (fully contracting)

Nothing special, but I enjoyed it! When I came in my food was ready too – smoked fish, carrots and peas. Yummy!

Well, until next time, keep training and have fun.

First, a bit about me. My name is James, I’m 15 and I live in Devon in the UK. Things I enjoy most are surfing the net, posting on forums, gaming, boxing, reading, cars, stuff like that. I like to think of myself as fairly outgoing and friendly, normally trying to find the positive side in everything.

I’ve wanted to make a blog of some kind for ages, but I’ve never really known what to do one about.   I knew I had to do one on a topic I am passionate about, otherwise I wouldn’t have any incentive to keep posting and enjoying posting. I don’t have many real loves, although my main one is computers. However, there are thousands of high-budget computer blogs and websites, so starting another is fairly pointless – Mine could never live up to ones such as IGN. So, I looked into other things I enjoy, and came up with cars, reading and boxing. I love cars, although being 15 I can’t legally drive, nor can I afford to own/run/mod a car, so a car blog is out of the window. As for books, I enjoy reading although don’t read that many books, plus a blog on books sounds fairly boring to me!

That left boxing. I’ve only been boxing for a few months, but I’m loving it. I’m not making huge advancements, but that’s mainly because when I started I was very unfit, having not done another sport in God-knows how long. One thing I do have is determination though, especially if I enjoy something. That determination has led me to push myself really hard during these sessions, rarely giving in to fatigue, and I can see my technique and conditioning improving. The beginning of my boxing at the Exeter Boxing Club was fairly rough, as I felt I wasn’t making much progress and that I wasn’t getting on with my coach. Yet I carried on through, and now I’m really happy I did!

A boxing blog is perfect.  Not only can I post about my sessions (making me think further about what I did, what I learnt and how to improve), I can also keep a log so I can constantly try to better myself.  I can also share my knowledge with everyone connected to the internet, hopefully helping a few people along the way.  Plus, it’s a place I can post about my highs and lows, so when I’m feeling low I can look back at my highs and put my feelings in a positive spiral.

My boxing takes place in the Exeter Boxing Club in Devon, England. Training is twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, which is when my training session posts will most likely be (although Friday one might be posted on Saturday, depending how tired I am post-boxing ). I also try to work out at home, but going from nothing to changing my diet, boxing and home training is quite a big leap! I first started home training when I first started boxing, but I was over-enthusiastic and ended up burning out (in other words, my mind and body couldn’t take it even more, making me feel crap and stopping). However, I have learnt a lot about training and nutrition, and have kept my diet going and am planning on starting my training tomorrow with a simple run.

Well, it’s getting late now and I have school in the morning, so I’ll post this and get back to you!  Expect my next post tomorrow, with news of my run!