I will not be in the gym for five weeks. The layoff is gonna hurt. Hopefully I can motivate myself to do at least some situps, pushups, and HIIT. And eat a lot.
Hasegawa-Perez showed me just how lost I am without an announcer. The pair looked to be fairly evenly matched for the first two rounds, until Hasegawa started catching Perez late in the round with his counters. Perez crumpled and was ruled a TKO loss, as with many of Hasegawa's opponents, even though he could probably have stood up. Apparently Hasegawa has gotten complaints that he finishes his fights too fast. What awesome fans.
There were a few Mexican bouts on last night that honestly didn't intrigue me that much. I was of course more interested in The Ring Magazine's middleweight champion's title defense. Kelly Pavlik, surrounded by bad rumors and bad press, took on challenger and caretaker of his blind mother Miguel Espino. Espino, vastly outsized and outreached and outclassed, was very game, keeping an inside and exchanging blows with Pavlik. Espino ripped a lot of good body shots and a few short right crosses to the head. Pavlik, lanky, allowed Espino to fight inside and stayed there. It was my first time seeing Pavlik fight, so I had to rely on the announcers (and my interpretation of his body type) to determine that he's usually more of an outside guy.
Espino showed a lot of heart. He wasn't afraid to get a little rough, hitting a bit low and hitting after the bell. In every sense, he fought like the challenger. Came at a time right after I'd been watching and reading some Ippo, so that's always really touching to me. In the end, he just couldn't hurt Pavlik the same way Pavlik could hurt him. He came back from three knockdowns, but his corner saved him in the end. I look forward to seeing a lot more of Pavlik.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Workout A 12/15/09
Dunno about squats, but they gave me confidence, which I really needed, because I failed miserably on the bench. I couldn't get 5x170 on my 'fresh' set. Makes me think that I need to lower the warmup weights there. my confidence was so shot that I deloaded all the way to 150. Deadlift actually made me feel really good; I pumped out 5x265 with a few seconds of breaks between reps, mostly double-overhand. Switched to right-over-left-under for the last rep.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x185, 5x255
- Bench 5x45, 5x105, 5x145
- Deadlift 5x45, 5x185, 5x225
Work sets
- Squat 5x295, 5x300, 5x300
- Bench 4x170 (failed miserably on 5), 5x150, 5x150
- Deadlift 5x265 (double-overhand 4x, right-over-left-under 1x)
- Pullups 3xBW (... whatever)
Calluses forming; right hand has one ugly ass tear. Deadlifts feel manly as hell, but they're hell on the hands, too. I might've been able to do more pullups, but the tear right under the pinky was a bit too raw.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x185, 5x255
- Bench 5x45, 5x105, 5x145
- Deadlift 5x45, 5x185, 5x225
Work sets
- Squat 5x295, 5x300, 5x300
- Bench 4x170 (failed miserably on 5), 5x150, 5x150
- Deadlift 5x265 (double-overhand 4x, right-over-left-under 1x)
- Pullups 3xBW (... whatever)
Calluses forming; right hand has one ugly ass tear. Deadlifts feel manly as hell, but they're hell on the hands, too. I might've been able to do more pullups, but the tear right under the pinky was a bit too raw.
Embarrassment B 12/13/09
Didn't really actually do anything.
- Press 4x110, 4x110, 4x105 or something. Basically, I don't remember.
- Row 5x115 and gave up.
It was bad. Let's not talk about it. I was in a rush to get to dinner and 'stopped by.' Whoops.
- Press 4x110, 4x110, 4x105 or something. Basically, I don't remember.
- Row 5x115 and gave up.
It was bad. Let's not talk about it. I was in a rush to get to dinner and 'stopped by.' Whoops.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Workout A 12/11/09
I realized something while squatting, which is that I'm not all that concerned about making every single one of my reps perfect in squats as long as I'm getting at least one or two good reps in on each set. Which probably isn't a great attitude, but if I stayed at the 275-285 range for much longer, I was gonna go ballistic. Shitty willpower whoo.
Bench was also not hot. Tried going up 5 pounds and didn't quite maintain the 5/4/4 I'd had last week. In fact, it was a 5/4/3, with the last rep being a spotted rep. Also, when the hell did unracking the barbell become so hard? It looks like my goal of a body-weight bench of 180 or so will not be attainable before I go home.
Deadlifts went very well today with the double-overhand grip. I probably released too much tension between reps (3-5 seconds with the barbell on the floor; let go of it once for a second). But, I managed a double-overhand grip on a personal record for five reps, so yay. No more getting greedy on this one. I'm gonna go for 265 next time, and if that doesn't pan out, 260.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Bench 5x45, 5x95, 5x135
- Deadlift 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
Work sets
- Squat 5x295, 5x295, 5x300
- Bench 5x165, 4x170, 4x170 (last rep assisted)
- Deadlift 5x255
- Pullups 6xBW, 2xBW (wasn't going down all the way. Also, murder on the forearms after deadlift; murder on the back and upper arms after rows.)
Bench was also not hot. Tried going up 5 pounds and didn't quite maintain the 5/4/4 I'd had last week. In fact, it was a 5/4/3, with the last rep being a spotted rep. Also, when the hell did unracking the barbell become so hard? It looks like my goal of a body-weight bench of 180 or so will not be attainable before I go home.
Deadlifts went very well today with the double-overhand grip. I probably released too much tension between reps (3-5 seconds with the barbell on the floor; let go of it once for a second). But, I managed a double-overhand grip on a personal record for five reps, so yay. No more getting greedy on this one. I'm gonna go for 265 next time, and if that doesn't pan out, 260.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Bench 5x45, 5x95, 5x135
- Deadlift 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
Work sets
- Squat 5x295, 5x295, 5x300
- Bench 5x165, 4x170, 4x170 (last rep assisted)
- Deadlift 5x255
- Pullups 6xBW, 2xBW (wasn't going down all the way. Also, murder on the forearms after deadlift; murder on the back and upper arms after rows.)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Workout B 12/9/09
Argh, I can really feel that I'm not really making the plunge on squats. I don't want to deload again. I feel like I'm a little stronger than the last time I was at this weight, but I still can't go all the way down on every rep. Plus, I feel a ton of strain on my lower back now, which makes me think I might be doing it wrong. I think it might be affecting my presses. Sucks ass.
I did have to cheat a little on the last two reps of presses, but I don't feel too shaken up about it. Rows, on the other hand, felt like they involved a bit too much upper body movement downward, relying on transfer of momentum rather than on back and arm strength. When I planted my feet for real on the last set, I pretty much got fucked. Got like two clean reps and then started BSing.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Press 5x45, 5x85
- Row 5x95
Work sets
- Squat 5x290, 5x295, 5x295
- Press 5x105, 5x105, 5x110
- Row 5x120, 5x125, 5x125
Looking for a body weight bench by end of semester. Might try to be more ambitious on Friday about increasing the weight. Might go 5x170, 4x170, 3x175 or so. If I can.
I did have to cheat a little on the last two reps of presses, but I don't feel too shaken up about it. Rows, on the other hand, felt like they involved a bit too much upper body movement downward, relying on transfer of momentum rather than on back and arm strength. When I planted my feet for real on the last set, I pretty much got fucked. Got like two clean reps and then started BSing.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Press 5x45, 5x85
- Row 5x95
Work sets
- Squat 5x290, 5x295, 5x295
- Press 5x105, 5x105, 5x110
- Row 5x120, 5x125, 5x125
Looking for a body weight bench by end of semester. Might try to be more ambitious on Friday about increasing the weight. Might go 5x170, 4x170, 3x175 or so. If I can.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tabata grab bag 12/8/09
20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Off here means doing light shuffles and some bobbing and weaving, some light counterpunches.
Did eight rounds for four minutes.
Round 1: High knees in place
Round 2: High knees in place
Round 3: Shadowboxing in place - infighting, throwing combinations
Round 4: Shadowboxing in place - infighting, throwing combinations
Round 5: Pushups
Round 6: Full contact twists
Round 7: Burpees
round 8: Burpees
Murder for the breathing. The burpees especially left my legs shot.
Did eight rounds for four minutes.
Round 1: High knees in place
Round 2: High knees in place
Round 3: Shadowboxing in place - infighting, throwing combinations
Round 4: Shadowboxing in place - infighting, throwing combinations
Round 5: Pushups
Round 6: Full contact twists
Round 7: Burpees
round 8: Burpees
Murder for the breathing. The burpees especially left my legs shot.
Workout A and Williams-Martinez 12/7/09
Good workout, I think. Not great by any means, since the last set of squats didn't feel like I went all the way down there, and I didn't go for a fifth rep for my final bench set. But, I managed to deadlift that 245 again for 5 reps. Gonna try for an unambitious 255 next time. this can be salvaged!
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Bench 5x45, 5x95, 5x135
- Deadlift 5x45, 5x135, 5x205
Work sets
- Squat 5x285, 5x290, 5x295
- Bench 5x160, 5x165, 4x165
- Deadlift 5x245
So technically this fight took place on December 5, but I didn't see it until about 12:00 AM Monday morning. Took me an unbelievable amount of effort not to check any boxing news websites to spoil it for me; the World Boxing Video Archive was a godsend for me here.
I didn't like Paul Williams before. He's far too big for the weight class in which he wants to compete; he's a southpaw; he doesn't seem to have any dramatic losses that humanize him; and he complains that no one wants to fight him. I didn't know who the hell Sergio Martinez was, but I wanted him to upset this beast at 160.
As it turned out, I came out of the fight a fan of both dudes. They traded knockdowns in the very first round. For the next two rounds, Martinez chilled outside of Williams's range with his hands at his knees, darting in and out with slick counters. His counter right hook landed flush, over and over, and I kept hoping that Williams would be KTFO. The first right hook that put him down was devastating, and Williams was seriously hurting.
But Williams not only managed to take them, shakily, he also started to give back as good as he took. Martinez's counters landed accurately and hard, and he started pounding Williams with a lead left straight later. Williams's response was to keep throwing punches. It's his same style as always, but the courage under fire was incredible.
At the end, both fighters had gassed, and their skills were remnants of the beginning of the war, but neither man went down, and neither man ever stopped trying. It wasn't a clean affair; there was plenty of clinching and wrestling, and both fighters went down and into the ropes from the grappling. But I'll be damned if they both didn't show incredible heart along with their skill. In addition, Williams looked truly vulnerable, and his response was extremely endearing.
Looking forward to see more of both of these warriors in the future. And no, I don't want to see a rematch. I want to see these guys against Mayweather, against Pavlik, against Hopkins, against Bute.
A late contender for Fight of the Year. Let's see if we get more in the coming weeks.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Bench 5x45, 5x95, 5x135
- Deadlift 5x45, 5x135, 5x205
Work sets
- Squat 5x285, 5x290, 5x295
- Bench 5x160, 5x165, 4x165
- Deadlift 5x245
So technically this fight took place on December 5, but I didn't see it until about 12:00 AM Monday morning. Took me an unbelievable amount of effort not to check any boxing news websites to spoil it for me; the World Boxing Video Archive was a godsend for me here.
I didn't like Paul Williams before. He's far too big for the weight class in which he wants to compete; he's a southpaw; he doesn't seem to have any dramatic losses that humanize him; and he complains that no one wants to fight him. I didn't know who the hell Sergio Martinez was, but I wanted him to upset this beast at 160.
As it turned out, I came out of the fight a fan of both dudes. They traded knockdowns in the very first round. For the next two rounds, Martinez chilled outside of Williams's range with his hands at his knees, darting in and out with slick counters. His counter right hook landed flush, over and over, and I kept hoping that Williams would be KTFO. The first right hook that put him down was devastating, and Williams was seriously hurting.
But Williams not only managed to take them, shakily, he also started to give back as good as he took. Martinez's counters landed accurately and hard, and he started pounding Williams with a lead left straight later. Williams's response was to keep throwing punches. It's his same style as always, but the courage under fire was incredible.
At the end, both fighters had gassed, and their skills were remnants of the beginning of the war, but neither man went down, and neither man ever stopped trying. It wasn't a clean affair; there was plenty of clinching and wrestling, and both fighters went down and into the ropes from the grappling. But I'll be damned if they both didn't show incredible heart along with their skill. In addition, Williams looked truly vulnerable, and his response was extremely endearing.
Looking forward to see more of both of these warriors in the future. And no, I don't want to see a rematch. I want to see these guys against Mayweather, against Pavlik, against Hopkins, against Bute.
A late contender for Fight of the Year. Let's see if we get more in the coming weeks.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Workout B 12/5/09
Not a victory for America. Squats were okay, but the third rep of the final set almost killed me. The subsequent ones were probably sub-ideal in form. Meanwhile, the last rep of the press got me, and the last set of rows as usual was 'ugh.'
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Press 5x45, 5x85
- Row 5x45, 5x95
Work sets
- Squat 5x285, 5x285, 5x290
- Press 4x105 (probably due to insufficient rest), 5x105, 5x105 (push-pressed the last one)
- Row 5x115, 5x120, 5x125
Did 4 chinups at the end... Yeah. Probably gonna alternate pullups on Workout A and chinups on Workout B.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Press 5x45, 5x85
- Row 5x45, 5x95
Work sets
- Squat 5x285, 5x285, 5x290
- Press 4x105 (probably due to insufficient rest), 5x105, 5x105 (push-pressed the last one)
- Row 5x115, 5x120, 5x125
Did 4 chinups at the end... Yeah. Probably gonna alternate pullups on Workout A and chinups on Workout B.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Boxing club and Workout A 12/2/09
Penultimate boxing club. Did mitt hits focused on speed. Combos included four quick uppers and a hook; one-two, body shot, upstairs right hook; and cross (up)-hook (body)-cross (up)-hook (body). For the final six or seven minutes, pretty much did HIIT. One minute of hitting the padded columns for speed, bobbing, weaving, moving. Then a thirty second break. Cycled that four times.
Went by my lonesome after the grueling workout without even eating. Obviously wasn't gonna be at 100%, so I'm not getting discouraged about this one. Just gotta make the next one count, which shouldn't be unattainable. Classes are ending, so that means better sleeping, better eating, and better exercising.
I felt asymmetric while benching. Not sure why, but I'm guessing it's from the previous fatigue. Again, hoping that one isn't so much of a problem next time. And on the plus side, squats felt pretty legit.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Bench 5x45, 5x95, 5x135
- Deadlift 5x135
Work sets
- Squat 5x280, 5x280, 5x285
- Bench 5x160, 4x160, 4x160 (began only being able to lift one side)
- Deadlift 5x225
Went by my lonesome after the grueling workout without even eating. Obviously wasn't gonna be at 100%, so I'm not getting discouraged about this one. Just gotta make the next one count, which shouldn't be unattainable. Classes are ending, so that means better sleeping, better eating, and better exercising.
I felt asymmetric while benching. Not sure why, but I'm guessing it's from the previous fatigue. Again, hoping that one isn't so much of a problem next time. And on the plus side, squats felt pretty legit.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x225
- Bench 5x45, 5x95, 5x135
- Deadlift 5x135
Work sets
- Squat 5x280, 5x280, 5x285
- Bench 5x160, 4x160, 4x160 (began only being able to lift one side)
- Deadlift 5x225
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Workout B 11/30/09
No time for too much comment. Squats got a little troublesome at the highest weight, and rows got worse on the last reps of the latter two sets. Typical.
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x255
- Press 5x45, 3x95 (Langston screwed up the weights on this so it messed me up a bit)
- Rows 5x45, 5x95
Work sets
- Squat 5x275, 5x280, 5x285
- Press 5x95, 5x100, 5x105 (hurray)
- Rows 5x120, 5x120, 5x120 (need to do 2x5x120/1x5x125 next time or something)
Warmup sets
- Squat 5x45, 5x135, 5x255
- Press 5x45, 3x95 (Langston screwed up the weights on this so it messed me up a bit)
- Rows 5x45, 5x95
Work sets
- Squat 5x275, 5x280, 5x285
- Press 5x95, 5x100, 5x105 (hurray)
- Rows 5x120, 5x120, 5x120 (need to do 2x5x120/1x5x125 next time or something)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)