ENTRY 389
OH, NO. NOT THIS
The Golden Gloves is less than four weeks away and I have been looking forward to it for a long time.
This is my first major tournament, and I am happy to be part of it.
However, I risk not being able to go.
It all relates to when I was suspended.
First let me explain that I am not using this as an excuse.
However, I was pissed about being TKO'd and I was pissed about being suspended.
I guess I somehow subconsciously just stopped caring, and this happened.
I certainly would not stop caring on purpose. I care too much about my fitness for that to happen.
On Friday, I bought a new scale to help me track my fitness level leading up to the Golden Gloves.
Does anyone remember the $10 scale from the bathroom supply store that was mechanical? You would stop on it and it would spin around a bit and then finally reveal your weight, and it was always a couple of pounds off?
Well, it is not like that any more.
I just paid $50 for a 'scale' that has this huge LCD display that tells you your whole fitness history.
I was not completely happy with the results, but as I explained earlier it was my fault.
Your total body mass, measured in either pound, kilograms, or stone, is made up of four components, aside from flesh.
These are what is recommended as per the scale's manual which is based on data from the University of Illinois Faculty of Health.
I don't know how much one can trust the University of Illinois, but for now it is all I have to go by.
The four components that make up your body mass.in order of heaviness are: water,.and then fat or muscle, depending on if you are male or female. Finally is bone mass.
For some reason, body fat percentage levels depend on age and gender.
Acceptable levels get higher as you get older, and are more forgiving for women than for men.
For athletic males over 40: Body fat should be no higher than 17%, and no more than 22% for non-athletic. Over 22% is considered 'overweight'.
It is around only 12% for people in their 20s, and is not considered 'overweight' until over 25% for older women.
For everyone, water should be 50 - 60 %, and is inversely proportional to body fat level.
For everyone, bone mass is between 4 and 5 %.
It is interesting to note that although humans have 206 bones, they do not weigh a lot.
The final component making up body mass is muscle.
For all females, muscle mass should be between 30 - 35 %.
For all males, muscle mass should be at least 40%
Here are my readings from Saturday March 11:
The only thing I don't understand is that if you add these readings it comes to 124.7 %.
I'm not exactly sure how that works.
Some of these readings might not be totally accurate, but at least it gives me a bit of an idea, which is better than nothing.
I am a bit embarrassed by this since I pride myself on being in good condition.
Although, it is an acceptable reading for medical standards, it is not acceptable for an athletic standard.
However, I felt that it was important to share this since it is part of the struggle of an 'older' athlete.
I also hope that it will help other athletes to understand the importance of keeping up your conditioning.
I have to work very hard now.
My goal is to lose three pounds in two weeks. At that time I will evaluate to see what I need to do next.
I want to lose enough in order to have a buffer so that I don't creep into Heavyweight.
The cutoff for Light-Heavyweight is 190 lbs. The Golden Gloves will disqualify me if I am over. That would be a disaster after all the time and effort I have put into getting there.
It would also likely mean that my coaches would have a shitfit..and that would be totally understandable.
Before my bout with Scott Turnbut, I was at 15.6 % fat and 184.5 lbs.
I want to get back to that.
I actually want to get my body fat percentage to 12% and my weight to 180 or so.
Not impossible.
I am not going to get myself disqualified for such a stupid reason. Even if it means a salad-only diet for the next two weeks.
It also means more cardio work and sparring. Sparring, in addition to being good practice, also burns a lot of calories.
I figured that each round of sparring trims about 100 calories.
Its true. Boxing is really good for you.
TRAINING IDEAS BY COACH BROCK
That being said, I sparred five rounds on Saturday. Three with the coach and two with another guy.
It was a very constructive session.
Brock gave me three pointers of things I should do in the ring.
I am not going to share them with you since my future opponents may be reading this.
In addition to my new diet and extended training for the Golden Gloves, I will be working on these three techniques as well.
Coach also showed me two new things that I can share with you.
These are training ideas that any boxer can try.
Treadmill sprints
This one really kills the legs, but really pays off in the long run.
This exercise involves running on the treadmill with a twist.
The treadmill is turned off.
You unplug the treadmill and sprint as fast as you can for 20 seconds. Then slow for 10 seconds, then start again. You do this for one round.
What makes this different is that instead of you being pulled by the treadmill, you are using your own leg power to pull the treadmill belt.
This is a good exercise. The first time I did it, I could not do a full round. Although, I can now.
Of course unless you are using your own treadmill, make sure it is okay to do this first.
Pivot drills
Here is a good drill for improving your footwork and speed.
Put something in the centre of the ring. A glove or something.
Start in one corner and move forward to the middle of the ring. Once you reach the middle, immediately pivot and work your way back to the next corner. Then work your way to the middle again. Then pivot to the next corner.
Keep doing that to each corner for an entire round. Then for the next round go the opposite direction.
I have been doing this drill for about a week, and I have found it very useful.
I have seen some improvement in my footwork and speed in the ring.
If anyone else has a useful drill they want to share, let me know about it, and it may be posted on this blog.
--The Brick
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'THE BRICK' TRAINS AT:
2389 St.Clair Ave. W. Toronto
Tuesday and Thursday, some Saturdays
--and--
2295 Dundas St. W. Toronto
Friday.
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