Tag Archives: working out

‘Been one of those weeks!

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‘Been one of those weeks!

Talk about feeling like ….

This week’s been a bear.  It started out with migraines progressed to caffeine withdrawal and as I entered the middle rounds we’re talking full on laryngitis, chills, coughing, runny nose, sneezing and general stooped misery.   The anecdote you wonder?  Lots of fluids, hot split pea soup (particularly soothing on the throat), warm salt water gargles, my new low acid-mostly alkaline diet, steam, steam and more steam on my face and early bed with lots of bad TV, though I did enjoy watching So You Think You Can Dance and a rebroadcast of John Duddy’s 2006 win over Luis Ramon Campas for the IBA Middleweight title.

The unfortunate thing … I was too under the weather to hit the gym so it’ll be a full on workout on Saturday, though by last night I was feeling somewhat better and did manage some sit-ups and light weights for my arms.

In checking out the idea of exercising when your “under the weather,” no less an authority than the Mayo Clinic offered this advise:

As a general guide for exercise and illness, consider this:

  • Exercise is usually OK if your signs and symptoms are all “above the neck” — symptoms you may have with a common cold, such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing or minor sore throat. Consider reducing the intensity and length of your workout, though, or you may feel worse. Instead of going for a run, take a walk, for example.
  • Don’t exercise if your signs and symptoms are “below the neck” — such as chest congestion, hacking cough or upset stomach.
  • Don’t exercise if you have a fever, fatigue or widespread muscle aches.
That seemed like a good commonsense approach and is certainly in line with how I’ve been feeling — way too yucky the first part of the week, and able to do a little something by last night.

Getting “back”

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Getting “back”

I worked out hard on Saturday — giving it my all so to speak through my sweet 16.  I even got Len laughing when he asked me if I’d eaten my Wheaties!  Mostly it felt great to sweat and to realize that my stamina was such that I could start to maintain speed — not to say that I was rabbiting through all 16 rounds, but the four with Len felt right except perhaps for the last part of the fourth round when I could feel myself flagging.

Back on the double-ended bag after coasting a round I did forge through with speed again — all of which is allowing me to officially proclaim to myself that my goal of gaining some conditioning is finally being met!

For a 50-something out of shape person, knowing that one can get pretty much “back” to conditioning at the six months mark of training is excellent. I can actually throw myself into a jog without dying and when it comes to gym time finally finding some speed is a truly remarkable feeling.  Len even had a little bit of a wince when I threw a left jab at his body followed by the right to the pad — and not that I’m necessarily evil or anything, but that little tiny push back made me feel like a million bucks.

On top of all of this, I finally had a diagnosis for the coughing!  It runs out its something called Laryngopharyngeal Reflux or LPR.  Often called the “silent” reflux, symptoms and signs include coughing, thick mucous at the back of the throat, “postnasal” drip, throat irritations/throat clearing and even sore throats that seem to resolved after a day or two.

The mechanical action is the acid from the stomach backs into the esophagus through the upper esophageal sphincter.  For people who suffer from heartburn, the acid hangs around in the esophagus, however, with LPR the acid actually backs up into the voice box and the back of the throat.  Hence the symptoms!

I went in for a scope of my nasal passages and throat and low and behold, what we found was an enlarged larynx that showed evidence of having had LPR for some time. In speaking with the doctor, he told me that patients do indeed experience breathing problems upon exertion — and that is one of the reasons patients seek medical attention.

As for treatment — the primary one is a change in diet with several huge no-no’s:

  • caffeine, cola beverages, citrus beverages and mints, alcoholic beverages, particularly at night, cheese, fried foods, eggs and chocolate.
  • no eating a minimum of three hours prior to bedtime — and no large meals at night.
  • a primary diet of green veggies and non-acid forming fruits (60%)
  • weight loss.

I’m also being put on something call a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) — a class of medications that essentially prevents the stomach from forming acids.

I still have a few more tests to undergo to rule out a few things, but figure the diagnosis is pretty solid — now it’s just up to me to give up coffee, tea and chocolate 😦 while noting that a mostly veggie diet will certain aid in my weightloss campaign.

For more information on LPR, here are a couple of sites.

Missing boxing today

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Missing boxing today.

I worked out yesterday, and pacing myself due to the coughing and breath problem aside,  the workout was really great.

Training by myself, I was able to take it slow and focus on the things I wanted to work on like pounding away at the double-ended bag for a whole lotta’ rounds mostly working on the upper cut off the jab and the left hook off the jab before hitting with a quick straight right and then a shuffle turn around the bag.

When I woke up this morning my arms felt just great. And all day today, I found myself throwing my arms out to shadow box.  Walking down the street, in the elevator at work, waiting for the elevator at home, online at the Grocery store.  Even now, as I drift trying to come up with a train of thought to jot down, my hands start to throw a shoe shine, from down to up to down and back up again.

‘Guess I’ll head on over tomorrow, even though my big workout with Len is Saturday, I just can’t seem to get enough of pounding away at the double-ended bag even if its only for a little while.

If you’re missing the gym too, check out this cool video with Kostya Tszyu.

Must see TV: Frederick Wiseman’s “Boxing Gym” on PBS!

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Must see TV:  Frederick Wiseman’s “Boxing Gym” on PBS!

The American documentary filmmaker, Frederick Wiseman’s latest film is called “Boxing Gym.”  Released in 2010, the film presents an unfettered look at Lord’s Gym in Austin, Texas.

The gym is owned and operated by Richard Lord, a former professional boxer who opened the gym over 16 years ago. It accommodates a cross-section of boxers: young and old, men and women, plus an array of kids, all of whom come to the gym for reasons running from fitness on through training for amateur and professional fights!

The film is a loving portrayal of what many of us think of as our home away from home where camaraderie, focus and hard work are our daily diet, not to mention a dream or two.

PBS will be airing the film in its entirety @ 9:00 PM on Thursday, June 16th (Eastern Standard Time). Check local listings for an exact time if you are out of the New York City Area.

For further information on Lord’s Gym click the link here.

For a link to a nice piece on the film click here.

Of villages, gyms and dojos

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Of villages, boxing gyms and dojos

My daughter successfully tested for her next level in Aikido yesterday wowing us all with her prowess, strength, sweet laughter and compassion.

Compassion is perhaps a strange way of describing acts of tossing her “Ukais” from one side of the dojo to the other — but was just that as she worried her way through this person’s hurt back and that person’s smaller stature all while performing the complicated forms she has come to master with such grace.

It got me to thinking that my daughter’s art — as it has become since she donned her first Gi at the age of 5 turning 6 — is so many parts herself, but also many parts her Aikido teachers who have patiently, and sometimes not so patiently, taught her the large and small points of placing her body in this or that posture.

The more important lessons though have had to do with taking responsibility for herself and for how she comports herself through the rituals of the culture of Aikido.  Along the way she is finding moments of body-mind union — where she loses her self-consciousness to act in a kind of unison. This last is the hardest, and yet as I watched her yesterday, I knew that she was well on her way.

It got me to thinking that her dojo has become her village filled with all the nuances of a community each playing a part in helping her to grow into a young woman.  It also got me to thinking that boxing gyms seem to have that same effect on young people. They learn an art — essentially an art of violence, and yet what they learn is not violent at all. What one sees is an inculcation of gentleness, sure not all the time, but the intimacy of learning those arts does give rise to the village life for those kids — seen scampering around, their heads jostled as they imbibe the skills of honing the body and the mind into a kind of harmony.

And its not just kids.  Adults can find that subtle part of village life too.  A community within a community where you work your butt off  — and afterwards just hang around for a while to chit-chat with your friends and cheer on others as they put in the work too.

Waiting for the end to come.

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Waiting for the end to come.

Today was one of those gym days when if found myself waiting for the end. Whether it was the end of the round, the end of the set, or the end of the training session, my entire body seemed to be keeping rhythm to the “why are we here?” mantra.

We’re talking muscles yelling at me, head throbbing from a migraine, lungs shouting “wtf!?!” and legs that refused to bend.  Len (bless him) was a sweetheart about it and aside from a half-hearted, “wake-up, wake-up” during our first round on the focus pads, figured it was best to just go with the low-flow of energy.

Still, I did manage to get through the entire circuit, and even picked up some energy towards the end of my last couple of rounds on the double-ended bag and during my speed bag rounds.  By then I realized that by working it all out on the bag, I was finding a way to push through the physical morass and even found myself working a little past the bell on the last two rounds.

On the sit-up chair it was pretty much more of the same, but at least the head-throbbing was gone by then, and now that I’m home and adequately “coffee’d”,  I’m actually starting to feel a smile coming on.

So, what does it all mean?  I guess to haul your booty out the door anyway even if you’re feeling like dog-doo.  In my case, because I’m on a once-a-week schedule, I really feel that I have to go regardless — and let’s face it, while I’m still not at 100%, having made it through, I feel energized if only because I did complete the circuit. And who knows, I might even find the energy for a run later in the day.  I’ll see how it goes.

If you have your health …

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If you have your health …


I have close friends and family who are in varying states of getting their butts kicked by illness and the uncertainties that ill-health can bring.   Whether life-threatening as in some cases or debilitating to the point of being life-altering, the old adage that goes, “if you have your health you have everything,” rings truer than I can say.

Watching formally healthy and robust people impaired by illness — even for the shorter term is difficult to reconcile.  And yet those of my friends and family who find themselves at that place where the fight for a modicum of normalcy equates to a lot of wishful thinking puts me in mind to how grateful I am  to be able to choose or *not* choose to haul myself to the gym to work out, or to fight my way from dreamland on to the mat for morning Yoga.  Which of course reminds me of the fact that I’ve blown it off of late — and in working through how to get back into the habit of pre-dawn downward-facing-dog poses I am not only thinking of it as a matter of will power, but of something deeper:  taking responsibility for my health, frankly, while I still have it.

As every boxer knows, the dedication to workouts, healthy eating, making weight safely, and importantly, a training routine that works with one’s body not against it are what’s needed before ever stepping into the ring.  And why not with life too — and with the everyday fun of work and play with minds and bodies free of the stresses that too many late nights, fast-foods loaded with fats and sugars and not enough time spent attending to the prevention of illness can bring.

Goodness knows I am not one to talk having just eaten the delicious slice of Mother’s Day cake my daughter lovingly bought me, but … that’s not to say that one can’t have one’s cake and “eat it too.” One can put some thought into eating and living healthily with the occasional cake and ice cream carved in to it — and no, not a pint of chocolate chocolate chip at one sitting, but a hearty scoopful.

I guess the point is to mind what your mother always told you, stuff like, “a good breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” or “take your vitamins,” or “don’t watch too much TV, it’ll rot your brain.”

Well you get the drift.  Doing what you can to stay healthy really does count for something, so please, for your Mom, try to remember yours.

What condition my conditioning is in

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What condition my conditioning is in.


Given my conditioning, I’m beginning to think that the best thing to do is to get a Navy Seals video and start getting in some beach time!

I mean, wow!  Four rounds with Lennox Blackmore this morning just about blew out my lungs!

We’re talking “panting” city — meanwhile, we had a LOAD of fun, and when I wasn’t gasping for air, I actually managed a few moves.  The great thing about the experience was Len’s patience in showing me ways to GET OUT OF THE WAY — as in when to slip and when to block to set up my next flurry of punches.  It reminds me of what a great counter-puncher he is, and like the great game of chess, everything in boxing is about setting things up for what you plan to do several moves ahead.

Having not been in the ring for a while, I found myself stymied by some of what Len was doing. The good part was I have actually been learning a thing or two and so I had crisper more accurate punches that actually followed form — when I wasn’t abjectly staying out-of-the-way to catch my breath!

Oh well — it just means I’ve got to get on the CARDIO train and step it up several notches if I hope to have a prayer in the ring.

Meanwhile, I did manage a couple of rounds of shadow boxing, three on the double-ended bag, four on the speed bag and four rounds of slow sit-ups on the funky old Gleason’s sit-up chair before heading on up the Washington Street hill for home.

It made for a great morning and the kind of day when I all I could do was smile!

Boxing by myself …

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Boxing by myself …

There are times when I find myself training without a trainer.  Today was one of those days and I have to admit I missed Lennox who is up @ Foxwoods to work Sonya Lamonakis’ corner tonight for her 6-round heavyweight bout on the Berto-Ortiz undercard.

Still, as I approached my sweet 16 — I found myself luxuriating in the time I had to focus on stuff at my own pace and in my own sequence.

Lately, I’ve been pretty orthodox with my four-round sets — but today, I thought it would be fun to indulge in the things I like so, I did a total of 8 rounds on the double-ended bag, 4 rounds on the heavy bag, and finished up with 4 rounds on the speed bag before I did my first plus 4 on the sit-up chair.

As I write this I have to admit that my upper arms are leaden not to mention a right knee that is feeling pretty inflamed, but … and this is a big one, as an antidote to a pretty tough work week and the specter of yet another paper to write, I am that sort of wasted “noodlish-body” kind of happy that will even see me through the cart-load of laundry staring at me from across the living room.

I’ve also gotten over that momentary by-myself panic I experience in the gym sometimes when I start to feel a bit lost all on my own.

Today though, I fist-bumped my gloved hands in a boxing salute to myself for a job well done.

Roadwork

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Roadwork!

My notion of roadwork came from watching the movie Rocky.  There was Sly Stallone huffing and puffing his way through Philly, until finally, the meat hanging in the processing plant conquered, he was able to run up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum in triumph.  From his old-school converse sneakers to his gray sweats, Rocky was an everyman (everywoman) kind of hero that sought to over come adversity to get back into the ring.

The image of Rocky running up the steps remains iconic and in many ways continues to inform boxing’s notion of roadwork: rising well before dawn to don sweats, boxers the world-over will run 5 – 6 miles through the streets before hitting the gym. A lot of boxing gyms also have running machines and boxers will do their roadwork in the gym adding a component of interval training by alternatively running fast and slow along with changing inclines.  In a gym environment, the running will often occur after regular training is completed, though this varies widely, as do the beliefs on the relative benefits of running in the wee hours of the morning on through evening runs.

The bottom-line is that running is used as an important training component to build stamina and conditioning — and knees aside, the idea is to increase muscle efficiency and aerobic fitness to improve performance during the short burst intervals of the ring.

On the Saturday boxing side of training – a brief jog/run can also be a helpful way of loosening up before stretching and commencing training.

Given the state of my knees, hard-on running is kind of beyond me, but having run for distance earlier in my life, I can attest to the physical conditioning that comes with a regular program of running — as well as its merits as a training tool.  Still, old school running for boxing is not without controversy as some trainers have switched from straight-on roadwork to other forms of interval training or using the controlled environment of the gym for running in place, running sprints, jump-rope intervals and other forms of conditioning.

For an excellent article on the science of running for boxing on Rossboxing.com click here.

 

My gym day

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My gym day!

Saturday is my gym day.

I walk my daughter to her Aikido Dojo — where she usually does her three hours split between the open and advanced classes — and make my way over to Gleason’s Gym for my own sweet 16.

Today’s practice will entail a straight no-chaser kind of morning:  four rounds of shadow boxing, four rounds of pads, four rounds on the double-ended bag with four rounds on the speed bag to finish the circuit.  Then it’s off to two-rounds of easy crunches on the sit-up chair as I mentally drift into a nice tired feeling in between catching glimpses of folks sparring in one of the boxing rings.

It’s become a kind of bliss.  My shirt half-soaked with sweat.  My face flushed.  Perspiration matted in my hair. My legs a little shaky as I make my way into the locker room to change; today kind of special, because instead of three hours, my prodigal will be spending her day at a seminar so free until 5:00 PM, I can tarry at the gym before taking my time walking home.

Reflecting as I walk; I know I’ll feel like summer: slow, deliberate, easy.  My body supple and warmed and ready for anything on my lazy meander up the hill near Gleason’s; smiling at the tourists under the Brooklyn Bridge overpass and finally returning to my usual self somewhere near Cadman Plaza where the rush of people will start to catch me back into the flow of a busy Saturday.

 

 

 

Yoga mama shadow boxing around my living room

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Yoga mama shadow boxing around my living room

Having fallen “off the wagon” so to speak, I’m on day two of my renewed daily yoga routine what with being a bit hit and miss over the last two weeks — with an every 3rd morning routine.

What can I say — my arms are straining from plank pose, my hamstrings from downward facing dog, and my whole body from the Warrior 1, 2 & 3 sequences, but hey, I’m sitting taller while breathing nice and deep and full.  Even the kitty is excited, finding in my unfurled yoga mat a fun toy she’d apparently, really missed.

Next up, three rounds of shadow boxing around the living room to James Brown’s “Funky Good Time” before prancing my way around the kitchen to make some breakfast for the family.

It’s good to be back.

 

 

 

When the soul is willing but the body’s on the “blink”!

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When the soul is willing but the body’s on the “blink”!


This past Saturday, I was at Gleason’s figuring that I’d go full-bore into training mode.  Something about my walk to my daughter’s Aikido Dojo, however, should have tipped me to the fact that I was going to be dragging!

Once I got to Gleason’s admittedly fairly spry on the stairs, I was in sweat-stinging-my-eyes mode by my third round of shadow boxing – and grateful for the end of the fourth and the one-round break I had before the double-ended bag was up and ready for me to use.

The killer, though, was when Lennox called out to me and said, “step it up,” on the second round of the double-ended bag.  Sure, I’d been throwing combinations and had dedicated the first round to mostly jab-jab-hook sequences as I worked my way around the bag in right and left circles, but what he wanted was to see me move around the bag, as in “push-it-girl” kind of move.  And that’s when the dog-pant started to kick-in and the flashbacks to my doctor saying – “you need more cardio”!

Okay.  So I got through those four rounds – kicking butt, so to speak and after my one round break started in on the focus pads with a “can-do” spirit in force if ever I felt one.  My body, however, was in a different mode.  It was saying, “Are you kidding me or what???”  Still, I tried, pushing myself even as my muscles were caving.  And here’s where the interesting thing happened.  In the third round, I didn’t have as much “pop,” but having dug deep into my core I was using my abs to throw cleaner, crisper shots at a faster rate.  It’s as if by ratcheting back just a little in terms of absolute “punch-power,” I was finding another kind of throttle on my engine – with breath that started to sound like breath again instead of the ragged tortuous sound of the previous round.

By the end of the fourth I was no longer “dead on my feet” at all as I had been after the four rounds on the double-ended bag.  And yes, while I was a bit slow during my first speed bag round, the other three were down right peppy, and I even had enough energy left to do three rounds of abs on the a small abs bench, not exactly the deepest sit-ups ever, but enough to feel it.

So where did this leave me?  Good question.  Perplexed for one, because I’m not sure why my energy was so low on Saturday, but glad that the way around it was to remember that adjusting my stance to take advantage of my core strength not only leveraged the energy of my body, but allowed me to pull back from the edge of my rapidly depleting muscle energy stores that meant I couldn’t enervate my breath never mind a left hook.

And here we are again.  Back to the fundamentals: stance, core strength, stamina and conditioning … and yep, C A R D I O !

Gaining “umph” in “limp” mode

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Gaining “umph” in “limp” mode

Well I didn’t exactly have the greatest workout ever yesterday as my head throbbed from a pretty intense headache, but I did manage to eek out 10 rounds. The point was to “punch” through it as best I could  — and with Lennox’s help who slowed down to my level of crawl by the forth round of focus pads, I got through that part of my circuit and still managed to hit with some “umph”  as we worked on right-left hook-right and left-right-left hook combinations.

The great thing about getting to Gleason’s yesterday in “limp” mode was feeling the energy of everyone else’s work.  It is the true contagion of the gym and when one is feeling less than stellar getting there anyway is one way of pushing oneself to get over whatever ails — not to urge anyone to go to the gym with a 103 degree fever or anything that overwhelming, but when it’s fairly minor stuff, call it the “walking wounded” feeling, working out, even a truly modified one can help put a little extra something in your step on the way out the door.  In my case, all that sweat and effort helped ease the throbbing, and by the time I got home, my headache was pretty much gone.

One more thing, if your aren’t feeling all that well during your gym time, the double-ended bag can be a nice way of easing into your workout.  It is my preferred warm-up method after some gentle shadow boxing because it is a whole body work-out that can be paced.

Getting back to basics: the boxing stance

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Getting back to basics: the boxing stance

I had a terrific morning yesterday working out with Lennox Blackmore.  We spent four rounds on the focus pads on such fundamentals as clean doubled-up jabs which brought us all the way back to the beginning — the stance.   Yep, by sitting lower in my stance with my body angled forward, my jabs were crisper, my slips more economical and rights in the pocket with a nice hard “thwack” sound every time it hit the pad.

Once on the double-ended bag for my second set of four-rounds, I worked more and more on keeping my stance low and thereby really pushed out punches from my core.  And that, I realized, is the entire point of the stance.  Sure, a proper stance provides a boxer with the right amount of balance, but more fundamentally it allows a boxer to use his or her core energy and strength to throw punches that are swift and sure with an economy of movement that saves energy and shaves milliseconds off the time needed to connect.

Talk about a wow.

And that’s the thing about boxing.  Many training sessions follow a rout pattern of warm-up, training steps such as shadow boxing, focus pads, sparring, slip rope, heavy bag, double-ended bag, speed-bag and so on in whatever combination is being worked on that day, however, every once in a while, it all connects and boom — it comes together again in some new more fundamental way.

A lot like life, no?  One wanders along doing the same thing day after day and suddenly a thunderbolt hits and the pathway seems clearer.  And while it might be nice if every day was greeted with an epiphany of the day, the fact is there’s something down right sweet about finding it buried deep within the work.  Leastways, I find it to be the case.