Into the Ring

Hey

Luckily enough I never woke up with a black eye yesterday, just a slight bruise on my nose, which I told Simon tonight was from where he tried to gouge my eye, with his thumb. He offered to show me a real gouge mark !
So as you can tell the banter and togetherness is really starting to gel, everyone is still helping each other through these sessions.

I was looking forward to tonights session, after doing some VO 2 Max work with kettlebell snatches and some plyometric work this morning,  I had recovered well enough to feel fresh for this session.

Decide to get there early so I could do some shoulder mobility work with my Indian Clubs as I felt I was too tense on Tuesday, it definitely helped.

We started with a little bit of shadow boxing. Nice and easy and a good chance to focus on my footwork and stance.

Next up, Ben said the dreaded words, which I feel will become a every session saying ' Craig go and get your gum shield and follow me', ' 'your going to do some sparring in the ring'!!  EH !?!? I thought.

So myself and 2 of the other guys headed into the unknown (not for long) ring area of the gym.
Ben explained, we were just going to do the same drills we did on Tuesday,  blocks and jabs, but this time in the ring, to give us a feeling for what it is like moving around the space, getting used to the ropes etc.

We did a round robin session, which involved, 2 guys working for a minute, then one rests and the third guy steps in, so your doing 2 minutes work, with 1 minutes rest. Ben used this time, to talk you through your round and what to focus on in the next round.

Myself and another Craig, were first up and we started like Tasmanian devils, feet everywhere, throwing crazy jabs, not blocking, its amazing how being in the ring, gets the adrenalin going, we did settle down a bit in the last 30 seconds, Craig stepped out after the first minute and Gavin came in, I then did the exact opposite of what I did in first round, hardly threw any punches and sat back keeping out of Gavin's reach.

After Ben talking me through my 2 minutes work, I re entered the ring with a bit more focus, better pace and trying to time my punches better, although I did notice with Gavin, who has a longer reach than me I did stay away a bit more, Ben said this was one of the reasons he swapped us around, so we would get used to fighting different size and styles of fighter.
The three of us definitely benefited from this drill.

Back to join main group now, where we focused on bag work, while randomly getting taken aside to do pads with Tony, Sam or Alan. This is when you really start to notice your improvements and weaknesses as you get the odd whack from a pad on the head or body, revealing your hands are dropping or leaving yourself open, but also blocking some of these keeps you motivated that you are improving.

Next up, 3, 3 minute rounds of skipping, which surprisingly, I found a lot better tonight, its never been one of my talents. Good session tonight I thought.

'Gloves off guys, we're doing the stairs now' I honestly used to like Ben !!

So outside we wen,t for 3 sets of the Fort steps, which if you've never been to Jersey are quite steep and numerous.

Back indoors, for a cool down, Good session tonight I thought.

' Right into the press up position' said Ben, I'm not sure now, if I actually ever liked Ben.

A small circuit of 15 Press ups, 20 V sit ups, 10 burpees,  20 sit ups, 1 minute high knees, 1 minute (in pairs) 1 person in plank, 1 person jumping over them, 10 press ups, 15 squat jumps, 1 minute plank.

DONE

'Right everyone over here' 'well done guys good session tonight' I knew I always liked Ben


So another top session tonight, everyone is moving on really well and still focused and determined to do their best.

No hits to my face tonight, Alan must be getting slow (ha ha) or he has taught me well.


Looking forward to a big session on Sunday, just need to get through spin and conditioning tomorrow and Saturday rest day.


Craig :-)