TenOunce’s BodyBlog

So I had my first boxing match yesterday evening. I’m so happy that I actually managed to come in 2 lbs under the weight limit. My opponent came in 1 pound over, so it made me happy that my dedication to training paid off in some small way. At any rate, here is the video. I’m in the white shirt.

I’ve spoken to my close friends and family and told them what my goals were for this year, but I figured I’d post them here to keep me accountable. Here they are in no particular order.

• Run a 5K
• Run a 10k
• Compete in at least 2 amateur boxing competitions
• Compete in a grappling competition
• Compete in a kickboxing match
• Bench press 300lbs
• Get my weight down to the 180’s before Christmas

I’ve already completed the 5k goal, and the boxing match will happen this Saturday. The fight is at 210 pounds, but I am trying my hardest to come in much lighter than that. After a 3.5 mile run today I weighed in at 206.2 pounds, and if I can stay within 2 pounds of that Saturday’s weigh in should be a breeze. I will most likely post the video of the match on youtube this weekend, so stay tuned.

I have a few fitness and sports related goals this year, one of which was crossed off the list this morning. I finished my 5k this morning. My time was a bit slower than I had hoped for but I was expecting to run on a paved street the whole time and not on uneven grass. Overall it was a great experience and I hope to run another one in a few months. Next up, boxing match in 2 weeks!

So I have a few goals this year that I would like to meet. One was to compete in an amature boxing competition, the other to run a 5k, and the last was to compete in a grappling competition. Well, all of these things are now on my schedule, with my first 5k ever happening next Saturday morning. Then on April 4, I’ll have my boxing match, then 2 weeks later my grappling competition.

To prepare for all this I’ve been working out like crazy lately. I ran 2.7 miles today even though I didn’t plan on working out at all today. Let’s see how this upcoming week shapes up….

For those of you who have seen Napoleon Dynamite, do you remember Uncle Rico? He was the guy who constantly relived the past, a past which may have been overgrandized in his own mind. I felt that for many years I was just like him. I was pretty active in high school, and worked out all the time. I was in very good shape and physically was able to do alot of things. As I got older, I wasn’t able to do those same things and started to come down with Uncle Rico syndrome. What do I mean by that?

Well, here’s an example. In high school I weighed around 168 pounds. I was pretty strong (IMO) and was able to bench press 240 pounds on any given day. As I got older (and more overweight) my strength went down the tubes. 10 years later I was struggling to bench 205, and I weighed almost 240 at the time. All the numbers were moving in the wrong direction.

Now, I’m able to max out at around 255, and have met or exceeded many of the physical goals I was able to achieve when I was younger. Granted, I’m not anywhere close to the weight I was, but it’s nice to know that I can refer to my max goals having been done within the last few weeks as opposed to over 10 years ago. Do you suffer from "Uncle Rico Syndrome"? Make those goals you achieved in your youth your motivation. It worked for me and I’m sure it would provide an excellent source of motivation for you too.

So for a few weeks I was doing well with my training. I was running 10-15 miles a week, lifting, boxing, etc. Then 2 weeks ago I pull my hamstring, but I was still able to weight train and even sparred a few rounds over the weekend on Saturday. Then Sunday rolls around and my throat is killing me. This is day two and I’m just praying that this goes by quickly. I signed up for a boxing match happening this April and I have alot of work to do in the meantime. I’m not sure if the increased activity is making me more prone to getting sick, but this honestly feels like it’s out of hand. If you are the praying type please be sure to say one for me.

After going through two workouts yesterday I was totally beat today. My brother in law is trying to prepare for a martial arts competition in March and needed my help to prepare. Though I felt like total crap I warmed up and tried to get mentally prepared to go a few rounds. We boxed 3 rounds and kickboxed 3 rounds, and I felt pretty decent the whole time. Then during the last 2 minutes of our kickboxing session I attempted a high kick to the head and felt a funny pulling feeling in the back of my left leg. It made a sound like your back would when you crack it, and I could tell immediately that I had over-stretched it. I really want to work hard every day but it’s days like this that scare me. The thought of not being able to do road work for any length of time is very discouraging, and hopefully I’ll wake up in the morning and it’s fine.

One of my biggest nutrition pitfalls is that I didn’t eat my first meal until very late in the day (between 12 and 1 pm). Everytime I would go into the kitchen I couldn’t find anything tasty to make me want to eat so I would wait until lunch when I had more options. Now what I’ve done is make sure I take a musclemilk shake as soon as I get out of bed, and it’s helped alot. I typically have 2 meals now before 12pm, but the side effect has been that my appetite has actually increased throughout the day. Could be because of the 2 a day workouts as well, but it all started when I started eating breakfast.

Hopefully this will help me reach my goal of hitting 200lbs in the next few months. My weight keeps fluctuating in the same range it’s been in, even though I have more workouts during the week at a higher intensity. If I don’t drop at least 5 lbs this month I’m going to start keeping a journal and posting it to see if maybe I’m missing something….

So I’ve been training hard for months now. I’m not bored with my workouts and feel that my intensity has only increased, especially last month. The lousy part is that I haven’t dropped any weight, and am still weighing between 214 and 218 pounds depending on the day and time. I will admit that my diet hasn’t been the cleanest, but I figured doing 30 minutes a day of cardio (consisting of running in the streets or on a treadmill) and either a weight lifting or MMA workout later in the day. I added creatine to my supplement lineup with the hopes that it will help my weight training sessions, but what else am I overlooking that could keep me from losing the weight?

This is pretty bizarre to me, but I’ve only been weight training now for about 2 weeks, yet I’ve seen a great increase in my strength levels, especially when it comes to bench pressing. From September to November, I went from 225 to 230. Then, from November to December I managed to increase my 1 rep max by 20lbs, now at 250. I tried for 255 and got it about half way, so I’m pretty confident I’ll get there within another couple of weeks. Now that I’ve kicked into my strength/power phase I’m going to pick back up my cardio next week and see if I can shave off another 10 lbs by the end of this month. Stay tuned to see if it actually happens.

Also, if you’re reading this be sure to check out my blog at www.tenounce.com. There’s a little bit of everything there to keep you entertained.