Whats Next???

It is tuesday and I have started training again for a fight in perth on march 1, likely 8 or 10 rounds, looking for a suitable opponent now. I will keep updating the blog with news of the fight and whats happening, hopefully soon I can post about a fight in USA.

fight video

Fight Results

I won by KO in round 1.

More details to follow soon.

I weighed in at 104kg, my opponent Richard Tutaki did not show as it is not compulsary for heavyweights to weigh in. Tutaki should weigh around 120kg. Tonight I will do no training and relax.

Friday

Weigh in pictures

Thursday

Yesterday I did my best to relax , at night I did another session of padwork with Ron at night, the humidity really drains me but im sure it will be even worse for my opponent who doest arrive until friday.

Wednesday

light weights in the morning and hard but short padwork in the evening, the humidity is very high so we try and train in the heat to get used to the conditions, we are also training around the same time as the fight will be at night.

Yesterday was the first press conference, at the end I had to pose for photos with Chris John and ended up in a pose down with Indonesia's top bodybuilder Aderi who is a big celebrity here, the media enjoyed it and it was good publicity for me.

I am eating at the buffets breakfast ,lunch and dinner. Lots of healthy fod available, then in between meals I am having tuna or protein shakes.

Tuesday

Arrived last night in Jakarta, very humid and muggy as expected. Straight to the hotel to get some sleep.
Today I used the hotel gym to do a very light workout, then tonight I will be doing some light padwork in the hotel.
Met Chris John the world champion who is headlining the event and all the other fighters, Chris has his face plastered all over billboards around Jakarta promoting different products.
People here give me funny looks and point at me as I seem to be about 50 kg heavier than everyone.

Today I made sure to find out how I was going to keep eating the same but luckily all the meals supplioed in the hotel are very good, lots of buffets of healthy foods means I will have no problems finding what I need.

Finished product

the hard training is over and now its time to freshen up and put more emphasis on thinking about the fight strategy. I am happy with the preperation and I feel like I have achieved my goal of coming into the fight lighter but stronger than last time.

Monday

I was originally flying out sunday, but the flights were changed to monday night, so I did another short sharp session with Ron exactly the same as saturday, I felt sharper today and more powerfull with the right hand. Leave tonight for jakarta, will get into the hotel, sleep and wake up tomorrow in search of all the right foods so I can keep eating well while I am away.

Sunday

Final weights session today, once again my strength improved on nearly all lifts, started with power cleans, 5 sets of 3 and an extra 5kg on the bar for every set.
Followed with bench press superset with chin ups, then incline dumbell press and lat pulldown, and finally dips and seated row all 3 sets of 8 to 12. I rest for 90s on all supersets.

Saturday

Usually I rest on saturday, but with the fight so close we will push in the last few days before spending alot of next week resting.
Today I did 4x3 minute round son the pads with Ron, the intensity was very high and I noticed my heart rate was getting close to its max during the rounds I was throwing so many punches. Did an extra 2 rounds of shadow boxing fast, then 2 to slow down.

Friday PM

Tonight weights was a shorter session than usual, I spent around 30 minutes in the gym, but made sure in that 30 minutes I worked very hard.
The training was for shoulders and trapezius, I started with shoulder press and super setted them with upright row, then shoulder side raises and bar shrugs, 4 set of all exercises, 8 to 12 reps.

Was stronger again on all exercises, I increased my calories especially carbohydrates in the last few days as i was feeling flat, it has helped allot as I don't think Iw as eating enough before to keep up with the demands on the training.

I will do my last weights session on sunday, after that it will be boxing only, and that will be mainly skills, endurance work has been done thankfully.

Friday AM

I was feeling recovered so I decided to do my conditioning with Cam, today we did rounds of rowing sprints, core work with medicine ball, bench jumps and work on the bosu ball for balance. The focus was on being as explosive as possible, we had more res tin between the exercises to give my body some more rest as the fight is only a week away now. I am looking forward to next week as the training will taper off and I can do alot of sleeping and resting.

Thursday-Boxing

Tonight I did 3x5 minute rounds of sparring with UFC fighter Soa Palelei. Soa weighs around 125 kg and is a similar size to my next opponent Richard Tutaki. Tonight the focus was on fitness, so it was no nonsense sparring where the aim was to throw alot of punches and just keep throwing and throwing to really help improve punch endurance.

After the rounds with Soa I did 2 sharp explosive rounds on the pads with Ron, the heat in Perth at the moment is extreme but I know it will help me deal with Jakarta humidity.

I felt recovered and fresh tonight which is a good sign, having a much bigger guy like Soa pushing and leaning on me was great practice for next weeks fight.

Wednesday

Still not feeling 100% recovered so i skipped morning conditioning to get some extra rest, and while I was still not all that energetic I did man age to improve in my weights session.

Started with deadlifts, did a max of 202.5kg for 3 reps, did 5 sets of 3 in total with 2 minutes rest in between sets.
Then 3 sets of squats, 3 sets of leg press, and straight into the ocean to cool down as it has been arund 40 degrees here in Perth.

Tuesday PM

boxing was hard tonight, mainly because I felt mentally and physically fatigued, my body was very sore from previous training and I lacked energy, I did some pad work but it took a long time to warm up.

I will miss my usual wednesday morning conditioning session to rest up, also I have to increase my carb intake as I seem to be losing weight since we stepped up the training.
All in all a dissapointing session but i often find its two steps forward one step back with my training.

Tuesday AM

This morning I went to the doctor to get my full medical done, as well as blood tests. The tests are to check for HIV,HEP B and HEP C.

One thing I am always interested to see is my resting heart rate, today it was 46 which is quite low, resting heart rate is a good measure of fitness, the lower the fitter.

I then went to pick up my new trunks, chocolate brown and cream.

Boxing again tonight so I will aim to have a rest in the afternoon to prepare for what im sure will be another killer session.

Monday

Feeling tired today, so made sure to have a black coffee before training which always helps, ceffeine has been used by endurance athletes for performance enhancement in the past, but all I know is it helps me wake up.
I sparred 4 intense rounds with Daniel Dawson tonight, in between every round I would lie on my back and do sit ups while r=Ron smashed me in the midsection with the medicine ball, cannot explain how painful it is, so not much of a rest, thanks Ron!
After the sparring I did 4 rounds on a light bag, working on throwing alot of fast punches, I hold back on the power and go for quantity to help build the endurance in my arms.
Ron and I worked on some technique in the ring before I cooled down with some shadow boxing, as soon as I was finished I got straight into my protein shake and fruit as I really felt like I had pushed myself hard.

Sunday

Today I was back in the weights room, I usually do the session during the day but I was not feeling up to it so I waited till night time when my energy levels are always peaking.

Started with power cleans, then went onto bench press and chin ups, incline dumbell press and lat pulldown, dips and seated row, I try to change the grip and angle on most exercises to hit the muscle from different angles . It was great to once again improve on everything, my power cleans and bench press especially, every session I am improving which is great.

I also tried supramaximal holds today on bench press, I was stronger, so something worked, these are when you do a small range of motion and hold a weight for 5 to 10 seconds, the weight must be more than your one rep max, they prepare the body for a very heavy load, then you drop the weight for your first set after a minute rest and things should improve from the last time you did them. For more info look them up on t-nation, Chad Waterbury did an article on them recently.

Friday Pm

I have been trying to include some power,strength and hypertrophy reps and set schemes in my sessions, and the results are good, I am getting stronger every workout and able to do more reps than the previous weeks on similar weights. Today I started with 5 sets of snatches, then went on to shoulder press and up right rows, lat raises and barbell shrugs, super setting between training my shoulder and trapezius. Next week I will do another 3 weights sessions before I stop weights completely before the fight at least one week out.

Friday AM

Conditioning - today was a variety of footwork drills, rowing sprints, core exercises and speed ladder drills, the intensity was down a little on wednesdays session, but I still had to work hard. There is only just over a week of hard training left before I back off and rest for the fight so even though I am fatigued its important I keep pushing.

Thursday

boxing was mental struggle today, I was feeling flat and tired so i had to really push myself not to be lazy and just do enough, I did 3x5minute rounds with an mma fighter who was very big, i was focusing on head movement and keeping my chin down, I followed the sparring with 2 rounds of pad work with Ron, he did a good job of forcing me to be explosive even when my body felt very tired and fatigued.

Another hard day tomorrow, conditioning in the morning and weights at night, then a rest day on saturday which I am really looking forward to.
Found some footage of Tutaki sparring which I have been watching. Tutaki is in the black, sparring with top NZ heavyweight Shane Cameron.

Wednesday pm

Weights tonight, mainly lower body exercises, I was quite fatigued in the legs from the morning session so I had to really motivate myself to improve on last weeks session. I improved on the deadlift getting 5 reps on 200kg, my best is 200kg for 6 but seeing as i only just got back into deadlifts i was happy with the lift. I use wrist straps to help hold the load as my fingers are not able to hold the weight, I do not use knee straps or a weights belt as I don't think they are helpful unless you are going for a 1 rep maximum or coming back from injury.
After the deadlifts I did squats, 3sets of 6, leg press 3 sets of 12, and calf raises, 5 sets of as many as i could do explosively.

The deadlift and squat are great for building strength through the body especially in the core, I always notice my core gets thicker when I do these exercises.

Wednesday AM

Strength and conditioning with Cam this morning, I found this session hard work but it had alot of variety so i didnt get too bored.

We did 4x3 minute rounds, 1 minute rest, just like the fight, warm up was skiping slow 1 minute,double skips 1 minute,slow skipping 1 minute.
then we moved into the real work,
1st round on the rower, 20 seconds sprint 10 seconds slow for 3 minutes.
Round 2 hill sprints with cam towing behind me, 20s sprint 10 slow again.
Round 3 was 10 fast punches followed by an explosive push up and jump, then punching again.
Round 4 ws towing a sled with 40kg on it, 20 seconds sprints, 10 seconds rest.

we had a 5 minute rest then completed the whole thing over again minus the skiping warm up.
I will be eating extra today to help recover for the weights workout tonight.

Tuesday

Boxing again today, extremely warm in the gym, great prep for Jakarta, did 5 rounds sparring with Dawson, then some light technique pad work with Ron, the sparring was more intense tonight, the heat made everything hard, but i am happy with my fitness so far, need a few more sessions but things are on track. Finished the session again with Daniel and I smashing the medicine ball into each others stomachs as we do crunches, the ball we use is extremely hard, I don't enjoy it.

Monday training

Monday boxing pics

Me and Daniel Dawson sparring, and Bobby Mayne helping me with some technique

Monday pm

Ordered my new trunks today, changing my colours for this fight, no reason, just for something new, will be chocolate brown and cream, and tried out my new boots tonight, felt much better, my other boots were getting very old and worn.

Tonight I was in the boxing gym, sparred six rounds with top middleweight Daniel Dawson, Daniel has much faster hands than me and I always improve when i spar with him, tonight we went at a medium pace both working on certain tactics for our next fights.

After sparring I did 4 rounds on the heavy bag practising explosive combinations that I will use in the fight, followed by a ew light rounds on the pads with Ron to practice more tactics.

At the end of the session Daniel and I did our sit ups slamming the medicine bal into each others stomachs, I hate this exercise but I know it helps me prepare for the punishment I will receive in the fight. Pics will be up tomorrow of the session

Monday

today I have been organising things for the fight, going to get new trunks made up, and booking in with the doctor to get my full medical so I get my clearance to fight.

As a pro boxer in Australia every 6 months we have to get blood tests done that check for hep b,hep c and hiv.

Also, speaking to people in Jakarta that know the place, making sure I will have access to proper foods and training facilities, I have found from past trips that these things are not always easy to get especially overseas where things are different.

I often lose weight when traveling as i don't want to eat junk food which is nearly all that is available if you don't have coking facilities.

Sunday

I will usually do weights and boxing on the same day monday, but i felt fresh enough so I thought i would do weights today to let monday be totally focused on boxing, I did my power cleans to start 5 sets of 3, and then trained chest and back, I am happy that my bench press and power cleans have improved since last week, getting stronger as I keep my weight lower than last fight is the goal and so far things are going well. I have been aiming to keep my weight lower but now that my training is getting harder and more intense, I have to increase the calories a bit to make sure I am recovering properly, I am trying not to over do things as when I train really hard I can get so hungry I sometimes overeat.

Friday PM

Back in the weights room for the second workout of the day
I started with the Olympic exercise the snatch, 5 sets of 3 working on being as explosive as possible using the whole body.
Then on to shoulders and trapezius, the trapezius muscle is very important to develop as it helps alot in absorbing a punch, only have to look at the necks on Holyfield and Tyson to see that.
I did 4 sets of shoulder press super setted (back to back with no rest) with upright row, then 4 sets of lat raises super setted with bar shrugs. I finished with some biceps triceps and calves, my endurance in the weights room is improving, so every session i will increase the volume and intensity.
As soon as i finish a workout, i have my post workout meal, which is extremely important in recovery , I usually have a protein shake for fast absorbing protein, and raisins and bananas for carbohydrates.
Tomorrow will be a rest day, then sunday back into training.

Conditioning details

This morning I did my strength and conditioning session with Cam Venebles, Cam will be helping me twice a week leading up to the fight, in these sessions we focus on improving anearobic endurance, core strength and explosiveness.
Today we did rounds of rowing, footwork drills, core bridges, and lunges. Every round lasted 3 minutes, in that round we did 30 sec hard work, then 30 seconds light shadow boxiung, to rest, so in one round we did 3x30 second sprints with the different exercises, rest between rounds was 90 seconds, the rest will be dropping every session.
Tonight I have a hard weights session so I am eating pleanty of good food to prepare my body for the hard work ahead.

Friday am, conditioning

Thursday

Perth is very hot at the moment, they said on the news it was the hottest January day in Perth for 10 years,makes training alot harder, but I know it will be scorching in Jakarta so it is good to have the heat for my preperation.
Today I had a hard boxing session.
3 rounds on the heavy bag
2 rounds on the tall bag
4 rounds pad work with Ron
2 rounds explosive shadow boxing

The gym has no real ventilation which made it like training in a sauna, gave me an idea of how hard the fight is going to be in Jakarta, similar to my pro debut which took place in a record heat spell on the gold coast, I was out of gas very quickly in that fight the conditions were unbearable, luckily I got the ko before I collpased.

wednesday

weight training today, usually i will do a conditioning session wednesday mornings but I start friday as my conditioning trainer starts work again then.

Weights consisted of lower body exercises today, 5sets of 3 reps on deadlift, then 3 sets of 12 on squats, leg press and calf raises. 90 seconds rest in between all sets.

what do i eat?

here is an example of how i would eat on a day where i train once
meal1- 1 cup muesli, 1 cup skim milk, 1 cup mixed berries,1 apple, 4 eggs, fish oil.
meal 2 - 2 cups green veges, 150-200g chicken, 1 cup mixed berries, 1 apple
meal 3- 2 cups green veges, 150-200g steak, 1 cup brown pasta
meal 4 -just before training, creatine, banana, protein shake with water
train
Meal5- straight after training- protein shake, 2 bananas, 1 cup raisins, creatine,
meal6- 150-200g fish, 2 cups green veges, 1 apple, fish oil, 1 cup brown pasta

this is just an example, it changes a little here and there, I use olive oil to cook most meat.

Tuesday

Just boxing today, first session back with my trainer Ron Parr at the fitness and fight centre in Northbrodge in Perth, Ron has been doing a good job helping me improve all areas of my game which had some serious weaknesses in it when I came to him.

Warm up-shadow boxing, light rounds on heavy bag
Then we got into the real training
4x3 minute rounds on the heavy bag, focusing on explosive combinations and work rate, when I am not punching Ron is constantly reminding me to be either moving my head or feet to avoid sitting in front of the bigger Tutaki.
2x3 minute rounds on the tall bag, it is another heavy bag with a line on it to try and help prepare for fighting taller opponents as the line is at the height of someone around 6ft 5.
2x3 minute rounds explosive shadow boxing.
2x3 minute rounds cool down shadow boxing.

Monday

Monday morning started with a boxing session, I am fighting a 4 round fight, so my endurance should not be a problem, intensity needs to be lifted as I had been preparing for longer fights, Tutaki is much bigger than me, he will have around 15kg weight advantage on me, to make that a disadvantage for him I will need to be quicker on my feet than normal and set a high work rate.

This was a short sharp session, after a shadow boxing warm up, i did 5x3 minute rounds on the heavy bad, followed by 1 round of explosive shadow boxing, then one round of medium pace skipping, 1 minute rest between all rounds.

At night I did a weights session, my goal with weight training is to maintain muscle mass and build explosive strength, I started with 5 sets of 3 reps on Power cleans, then 3 sets on bench press followed by chin ups, then incline dumbell press followed by wide grip lat pulldown, the reps changed each set, i usually go with a heavy weight so i can get around 3 reps on the first set, then drop the weight so i can get around 8 reps and orp it again to get 10 reps on the last set, this way i cover all bases with some reps for strength and some reps for hypertrophy, my weight training takes a back seat to my boxing in the lead up to a fight so I don't do as many sets as off season.

Diet- As i am going to be training harder now, I will increase my calories, recovery and performance will be poor if I don't eat enough good food, I will be eating very normal healthy foods. Muesli, fruit, vegetables, red meat,fish,chiken,eggs and protein powder make up the bulk of my diet, with fish oil and creating added to help with recovery between workouts.

Hi

Hi everyone
I am often asked how i train, when i train, what i train etc.... and I have been asked a few times to do some sort of a blog or online diary so people can see how a professional boxer trains, so here it is.

I am fighting Jan 26 in Jakarta,Indonesia against New Zealander Richard Tutaki.
I will start today posting my training in detail, my meals, and anything else that has to do with the fight.