Sunday: One-on-one Training

Image via Wikipedia

Sunday's workout ended up being a one-on-one training session with Glen. The rest of the "fight club" guys were not present, so I had the opportunity to train for an hour with Glen. It was a tough workout and Glen really pushed me. I'm grateful, but I was plenty tired at the end of the hour.

For most of the workout, Glen held the punch mitts for me and kept me busy throwing combinations, working on my speed, power, and balance. We worked a lot on counterpunching and answering back with hard, fast combinations. For example, if my opponent throws a left hook-straight right combo at me, I block the hook and right, and immediately follow up with my own straight right, left hook, and second straight right. I have to perfect the timing--an important element of any effective punch combination--but I look forward to practicing this a lot more and trying it out in sparring.

One of the great things about boxing is I get instant feedback about how well something works. If I get hit, then I know I need to practice a technique or movement a lot more, really focusing on the perfecting the basic elements of it. By contrast, if I land every punch of a combination and my opponent doesn't score on me, I can work on fine-tuning the move and making it smoother and faster.

As usual, we finished up with abs and the "thirties." It was a good, tough workout, and Glen is an awesome coach. As I've mentioned, I've known Glen for over 12 years. He and I met when he was coaching my opponent in the corner for a bout I had at that time. I am sure glad he's on my side now.

I appreciated the intensity of the workout. Of course, I’m hoping the rest of the guys will be there next week. I also did 68 minutes of roadwork.

Wednesday Speed Training

Today I did another morning workout. The focus was on speed. I don't mean that the workout was particularly intense and brief; I mean that I practiced speed and getting faster. It's helpful to have this kind of session, just as it can be helpful to dedicate some sessions to better balance, power, and strategy.

Here's the recap.

• 35 minutes of roadwork
• 4 rounds of shadowboxing
• 6 rounds on the double-end bag
• 4 rounds of stretching
• 1 round of situps and crunches

That's 15 rounds plus the roadwork. There's also a mental component of speed training, involving thinking of myself and seeing myself faster. While I was thinking in those terms during today's workout, I want to do some focused mental training dedicated to improving speed. It's a good feeling to be getting faster.