April 2nd

Just me and Dave tonight. Jason made us go straight into 3 rounds of sparring without a warmup which in hindsight was not such a good idea. Ash turned up a bit later in time for some intensive skills practice then we went straight into half an hour of fitness work with an interesting exercise involving a lorry tyre, skipping, dumbell pressup burpee combos and a lap of the gym.. three times. Just when we thought it was all over we had to go into a pressup position, I'd do 10 then Ash did 10 then Dave did 10. Still holding a pressup position while the others did their stuff, I started a new round with 8, then 6 then 4 then 2. Talk about going through the pain barrier - I forgot it was my turn on one rep and the others, still in pressup position with veins bulging, cursed me. I hate pressups at the best of times.

Found my distance in the ring and it was harder for Dave to hit me, although as I got tired he cornered me and delivered a left hook to the left of my stomach before Jason told him to stick to the jabs. I got a couple of jabs through his often low guard but the energy soon drains away - a sign I've got to improve my stamina and endurance more. Jas said he wouldn't take us to the other gyms for rival sparring if we got tired half way through a round.

Driving home I had such a sore bottom rib on my left side that I thought the pain was in my kidney but it was just my rib cage being compressed by the car seat as I cornered. Yet more ibuprofen cream dulled the pain, but I ache nearly all the time so it becomes easier to forget soreness only to let it serve as a reminder for bad technique. Things still to remember:

- don't jump around before and during jabs. it just wastes energy
- don't be mechanical, it's easy for your opponent to anticipate what's coming
- keep your safe distance!
- don't let your left glove guard down when doing a right punch

Found some excellent training clips on youtube from an silver haired old guy called Don Familton click here. One of the comments underneath said "isn't it great how old people seem to know everything"...

Osteopath

After finding out that my spine was twisted I felt a bit broken. Thinking about it, from the age of about 12 when I was fitted for a school uniform I remember comments about my right shoulder being lower than my left.

So I gave John Mullins in Newport Road a call and he said he'd see me at 4:00 that day. He made me lie on my back and straight away said my right leg was longer and I should have tenderness in my pelvis, ribs, shoulder and neck. He was spot on and said there was a spiraling distortion in my bones but he could put it right in 10 minutes. And that's exactly what he did - he bent my legs and arms across my body and then jumped on me to the tune of sickening cracks and I couldn't help laughing at the comical sight.

By 4:20 he said "that's it" and I said OK, when do I see you again envisaging a lengthy course of bone cracking but he said I was fixed. I walked out in disbelief that every ache in my body had evaporated, my posture was better and I felt stronger and clearer. Best £30 I've ever spent.

Let's see how my new posture works for me tomorrow night...

March 31st

Just prior to tonight's training I spent a couple of hours with a friend who is training to be a sports physio. Her synopsis of my body was that it was a dehydrated mess of knotted muscles and tight ligaments but she sorted them all out and going into the session, which tonight was just me and Jason, I felt great. She also pointed out that I had a kinked spine and recommended an osteopath but more about that later.

I bought some new boxing boots - a pair of Lonsdale Tornadoes which are a big contrast to my running shoes which give no ankle support and have too much movement about the toes which makes my feet sore after dancing around on my toes for an hour.

Whether it was my flashy boots or just that the training is starting to pay off, but I felt my technique is getting better. I'm lighter on my feet and my arms are stronger now so I can keep my guard up without getting so tired. Did about 5 rounds of jab-block, left jab-right-left hook-right plus lots of blocking practice with Jason. He said that because of my height I would be hard to hit if I worked out my distance. I worked out my distance and it felt safer although there was still an urge to get in close and fight, but that is how to get hurt. At least wait until your opponent is tired.

The worst thing about one to one sessions are the fitness - the last 20 minutes or so. There is nowhere to hide as we did more kettle bells, sprinting and jump pressups and by the end I was exhausted. Apparently Dave is back in on Wednesday so I'd better get some sleep and plenty to drink...