Sparrings Back !!

Once again, and quicker than a week should feel like, Sunday Funday was upon us.

This time we were back in the gym, the first time in two weeks on a Sunday.
After a quick warm up, Ben talked us through a run, he was sending us out on. "Great, I thought, I've just put my boxing boots on !" Took them off, put my trainers back on, only to hear Ben say "Miles and Craig, your not going for the run, you'll be sparring"  took my trainers off, put my boots back on, was getting tired already.

Ben told myself and Miles to do some bagwork, while another two of the guys did their sparring and he'd give us a shout, when we had to go through.
While doing our bagwork, Alan took both of us to the side and explained what to expect, 3 x 2minute rounds with a minutes rest, but also gave us a few pointers of what to and what not to do, during the sparring, mostly not to get too carried away and turn it into a brawl, with both of us throwing wild stupid shots.

I have sparred with Miles before, but only for a minute at a time and not for about three weeks, he was a handful for me then, so knew he would be more skillful this time.

Once we had all our protective gear on, headguard and groin protector, and had our faces and gloves smeared with Vaseline, we were ready to go.
It was set up exactly like it would be on the night, minus the 600 people, with Ben and Alan as our corner men, alternating between us at the end of each round, telling us what was good and not so good during the round and what we should be doing to get the better of each other.

Round 1, even though we both said we wouldn't let ourselves get carried away, after about thirty seconds, we were both throwing way too many pointless shots, which was tiring both of us out, with no real purpose.
I obviously don't know what Miles was told during break, but this was one of the things Ben told me.

Round 2 was a little slower, but equally tiring, it did seem as though Miles hit me more than I hit him, but I also know, that you remember and feel being hit a lot more than you do hitting someone else. I did at one point, do 360 spin, which isn't allowed in boxing and I'm not really sure how it happened, think I moved out of the way of Miles punch and the momentum, just carried me all the way round, that not only disorientated me, but thoroughly p...ed me off, with myself.
Alan gave me a few pointers, before going into the last round.

Round 3, again started at a better pace, both of us trying to pick our punches, rather than throwing random wild shots, Miles keeps pushing forward at me, which is something I'm still not used to, but the more sparring I do the better this will become. By the end of the round its fair to say both of us were wiped out, but think we both took a lot from it. Amazing how hard 3 x 2 minutes, with 2 breaks can be !!
Again, both Alan and Ben talked us through the fight, both the good points and the things we could work on.
Its funny how, although we have only been doing this 5 weeks, both myself and Miles felt disappointed with our showing, but looking back now, I reckon we both did very well for 5 weeks training.
We are always going to make mistakes, even if we trained for a year, before getting our fight, we would still make silly mistakes, you just need to try and not let it affect you during the fight.

Back through to the main gym to finish the workout, the guys were back from their run, so apart from the next guys up for sparring, we all started on bag work and 10, yes 10, 2 minute round, with 30 seconds rest, this was followed by 10 x 1 minute rounds, which was followed by 10 x 30 second rounds, this was followed, (yes seriously) bag work mixed with one lap of the gym, working in pairs, one on bag work while one sprints, then changing over, we did this 3 times, before moving onto rest period of plank and press ups, this was followed by (it is Sunday Funday after all) the same concept, except this time sprinting twice round the gym (thanks Tony, was his idea !!) then once round the gym, our rest period this time consisted of plank, press ups, V sit ups, burpees, sit ups, plank, burpees, plank, sit ups, squat thrusts, plank, burpees, was well rested after this, Thanks Ben !

So to the funniest part of the week, the weigh in, after everyone, congratulating themselves on a good workout and feeling pleased with their progress, the whole mood can change the second they step on those scales, its like a weight watchers meeting ha ha.
I by the way, much to my own disappointment and surprise have lost nothing this week, but it will come, I have absolutely no doubt about that, I feel a lot lighter, and have noticed a change in my body shape, so not too concerned about the 'weight' thing.

So that was Sunday Funday again, took more from this session than any so far I think, as it is now getting more and more like fight night conditions, as a few of the guys have been saying, sparring isn't fun, but its what we need to do and the best thing to get our strengths and weakness's highlighted, so we can keep doing the good things and improve on the bad.


Again I have to say, the spirit amongst everyone is brilliant, especially noticeable, when we all combine to give Ben abuse about how much work he is giving us, which usually results in harder 'rest' periods, which Ben assures us we will thank him on the night for !!

Yeah thanks Ben !


Craig :-)