[Alex Bon-Miller]

Hi guys, after reading KK's training log, i have been inspired to create my own with the intention of not only starting a discourse around my training but also to help me be conscious of and reflect upon my training/progress.

Little bit of background... I train in Montreal at h20 martial arts academy under mma fighter Richard Ho. I consistently train KickBoxing, Jiu-Jitsu (Gi and NO Gi) and once in a while wresting with Olympic silver medalist Gia Siassouri.

I started amateur competition about 1 year ago. I have had 5 fights since then. 1st fight was MMa - won by KO in the first. Second Fight was at MT, won by TKO in the first. 3rd fight was MT, lost by decision. Fourth fight was mma, won by Submission in the first, Fith fight was MT, won by decision. And my sixth fight will be an MMA fight on the 1st of March (to be 100% confirmed).

So thanks in advance to anyone who contributes... will see how this thing goes

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25/01/08

Sparring class.

It was my fifth day in a row training and thus i didnt want to go too crazy... wanted to concentrate mostly on my boxing and maybe do some mma sparring with my boxing gloves.

I did a light warm up, noticing how drained i felt from not getting a good nights sleep the night before....

Did 1 round of dynamic stretching
1 round of shadowboxing
1 round of heavy bag,

Sparring:

I start off with a guy named Todd, who has done quite a few amateur Mt fights, We neglect the kicks and start boxing. We start light and i am noticing that todd can consistently land his jab even though i am about 4 inches taller than him... which is definetely a problem... i have trouble using hte jab beyond using it as a measuring stick. And i am having trouble negotiating the distance... i am getting tagged when i shouldent. The intensity goes up as i get a bit frustrated and start trying to bully him a bit... for i am bigger than he is. The round ends and i realise that his willingness to jab and throw combinations of his jabs with head movement requires a different startegy on my part than simply watching him and being mesmerized haha.

Round 2 i go with a new guy... i am much more experienced and his 30lbs more muscle than me does litle stop me from backing him up because i am much more experienced., and its a bit of a slaughter which is fun

Round 3... todd and i face off again and i start pushing him back, using stiffer jabs and timing some of my own head and body movement of his jab... its working well and i started making him back pedal, which is what i want for i love to move forward. He compensates for this by coming in tight and clinching and bobbing and weaving within clinch range... i hit him with a hard right hook to the body... i try another and as i am throwing it, he steps forward and my writst lands on his side rather than my fist and i hyper extend my right elbow.... it hurts bad and its the elbow that i realise is chronically susceptible to hyper extention.

I spend the rest of the night coaching the other guys and doing shadow boxing to emphasize my footworkand jab/left hook.

Instead of doing more of a shovel hook movement of by body punches i always tend to use more of a open hooking method... and i wonder if this is more dangerous... maybe someone has an answer for this.

Thnaks for reading,

Alex

[Alex Bon-Miller]

28/01/08

Yesterday i got to the gym late... which suited me ok because my elbow was still bothring me. I got to the gym halfway through the kickboxing class, with the intention of focusing on my gi jiu jitsu. And so, in summation here's what i did.

10 minute run on the treadmill
1 round of shadowboxing
1 hour of gi techniques focusing upon twister sidecontrol to three different calf slicer finishes.
5x5 minute rounds of sparring... starting on the ground mostly.

My cardio feels strong and so does the elbow largely... i had iced it consistently for two days and that seemed to really help the healing. I spoke to a doctor-friend of mine and he said that when i initially hurt my elbow (a break fall that hyper extyended it severely, with subsequent loss of flexibility in the elbow) i probably broke/tore something... and he reccommended that i get an MRI and look to surgery for it will only get worse. This scared me.. for i worry about throwing my right hand now...

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29/01/08

Trained at 7:15 this am with my Jiu Jitsu instructor, David who is also going to be fighting on the same card as i am... and thus to supplement our training we will be doing some training together in the mornings.

1 round of shadowboxing
1 round of stretching
7 rounds of kickboxing - moderate intensity.

I was happy we went 7 rounds! We kept the pace up pretty consistently and threw alot of kicks and clicnhed alot with no unnatural breaks..

Things i did well...

my jab - it was landing pretty consistently and negotiating distance really well

being active with kicking - mixing up kicks alot and throwing them without fear.

defense - i didn't get tagged much mostly because of staying calm in exchanges, footwork and negotiating the distance.


Things i did poorly....
clinch - too inactive and too evenly matched... i should dominate the clinch because of my height/10 lbs i have on him but i could not actualize full plumb well at all... and while i did not take damage i could not deal damage effectively at all.

kick defense - he landed way too many... ones that i should have checked, countered or at the very least caught... i really need to work on this especially if i am goign to sit on my legs/stance like i do.

kicking - making contact with the shin and not with the meat of my calf on the outside of my shin... i need to open my knee more... for i consistenly hurt my calf when i hit his knee or when he checks the kicks.


Special moment: I realise what Richard (coach) told me about defending after throwing the left hook... when i pivot into the hook and my left leg turns, if i don't land it... my whole body turns in that direction and i wrongly would slowly make my way back to normalll stance with little to no defense and off balance to attack like i would like to. What he reccommmended was to automatically shift my hips back to the center as if i was throwing my right hand... and the thing this is that you dont need to throw the right hand... but twisting the hips as if you were punching with your right will allow you to reset and or throw that right hand efficiently off the hook. It worked great! I landed quite a few right body shots off the left hook and when i didnt throw i was resetting my stance/defense much more quickly than before. Great feeling!

At 3:15 i am teahcing a private... i might do a bit of resistance training or some aerodyne.

Until the next one,

Alex

[dexbot]

What can I say? Good luck for your training and your fight. Maybe you could record some of your sparring and post it in your log, there's always someone who knows something.

[Mr. Sinister]

What do you mean by "open hook"...? Do you mean you throw it wide and there's room for you to be countered?

About your jab. For like the first two months I trained with him all I heard from Mike was "SHUCK THE SHOULDER, SHUCK THE SHOULDER"...where now it's ingrained into my head. My buddy Jacob (who will probably post in here as he's also an Amateur MMA Fighter, might be turning Pro) had the same problem when I went to Florida. He would slap or push with his jab, but not turn the shoulder over. He's got crazy reach, so if he turned it over he'd be breaking noses.

When you throw the jab your lead shoulder should almost smack you in the cheekbone. That's shucking the shoulder. It'll add some pop and give your opponent something to think about.

Your Coach Richard is smart. And the same motion also works in reverse for the right hand and hook. Meaning a lot of guys throw their right hand and then freeze, over-extended and open to counters, and pull back REALLY slow. Leonard Garcia did this against Roger Huerta a lot. So how do you avoid it? By bringing the hook back after the right hand as you pull back to stance. If Leonard had done that he might have turned Huerta's lights out, because Roger was WIDE open for a left hook after Leonard threw his right hand and missed.

So yes, in reverse, once you throw the hook, bringing your body back as if you're going to throw a right hand is excellent. But, if you don't want to get anticipated for a counter by someone with good hands, instead of throwing a right hand, throw a right uppercut.

[Alex Bon-Miller]

What do you mean by "open hook"...? Do you mean you throw it wide and there's room for you to be countered?

What i meant by open hook is that i basically hooked to the body as if i was hooking to the head. It wasn't a terribly long hook but shoulder was not leaning towards the ground and thus there was no "uppercut flavour" to it, if you know what i mean... If it had more of that shovel hook element , i dont think i would have hyperextended my arm.

About your jab. For like the first two months I trained with him all I heard from Mike was "SHUCK THE SHOULDER, SHUCK THE SHOULDER"...where now it's ingrained into my head. My buddy Jacob (who will probably post in here as he's also an Amateur MMA Fighter, might be turning Pro) had the same problem when I went to Florida. He would slap or push with his jab, but not turn the shoulder over. He's got crazy reach, so if he turned it over he'd be breaking noses.

When you throw the jab your lead shoulder should almost smack you in the cheekbone. That's shucking the shoulder. It'll add some pop and give your opponent something to think about.

Yeah Richard is often telling me this... but i have trouble with it. Oftentimes its lazyness and lack of conditioning in my left... and also lack of practice... furthermore i do not snap the jab back to my guard fast enough or even effectively... my jab returns to beside my chin on the left side... and i find at the end of sparring that it is only the left side of my face that was getting hit... meaning that i am not retraccting the jab to a place that is actually blocking counters/punches... i like haircombing but i find it really tough to retract the jab to a haircomb block.... i just dont have the strength in my shoulder or maybe the dexterity needed... yet....


will try the opposite hip swiveling, makes sense that it will work on both sides... and i definetely lunge the right a bit too much.

Thanks.

Alex

[Mr. Sinister]

What i meant by open hook is that i basically hooked to the body as if i was hooking to the head. It wasn't a terribly long hook but shoulder was not leaning towards the ground and thus there was no "uppercut flavour" to it, if you know what i mean... If it had more of that shovel hook element , i dont think i would have hyperextended my arm.

Gotcha. Mike doesn't even like hooks to the body. Thinks they're too easy to counter. So he always had Diego and I throw primarily uppercuts to the body. Might be worth a shot if you've got correct form on your lead-uppercut.

Yeah Richard is often telling me this... but i have trouble with it. Oftentimes its lazyness and lack of conditioning in my left... and also lack of practice... furthermore i do not snap the jab back to my guard fast enough or even effectively... my jab returns to beside my chin on the left side... and i find at the end of sparring that it is only the left side of my face that was getting hit... meaning that i am not retraccting the jab to a place that is actually blocking counters/punches... i like haircombing but i find it really tough to retract the jab to a haircomb block.... i just dont have the strength in my shoulder or maybe the dexterity needed... yet....

There's an easier solution to this than worrying too much about strengthening your shoulder. Mike actually doesn't like us to bring the jab back too fast because he says guys will follow it if they're smart. So instead, pull the jab back slow, and then crank another jab right behind it. Sort of a delayed-reaction double-jab. I tried it when I sparred David last week and David's monumentally faster than me, but he couldn't do fuck about it. He'd posture up to follow my first jab back then *pop*, get stuck by the second one. And with that dangerous right hand you got, you put that behind the second jab and you'll probably improve your KO ratio.

[Alex Bon-Miller]

I'm gonna give it a try.

[Alex Bon-Miller]

30/01/08
Elbow is feeling ok but definitely still hyper extended so i decide to focus on conditioning since the day before i did alot of sparring.


15 min run on treadmill - "strength" setting, peaks at "9" with alot of incline... - i find this pretty tough
5 min stretching
50 burpees in 2 min 30 secs
3 rounds pretty intense shadowboxing
1 round medicine ball twisting thing
130 nice sit ups.
1 round neck strengthening

7:00pm 1 hour of no gi jits training...
-working guard passes, guy turtles, get one hook and look for calf slicer
-same turtle position lock down leg that is hooked, go for twister.
-one more from this position but i cant remember
-arm bars from guard

2 rolls with a big new guy... i am pretty tired at this point... i completely underestimate him and he takes my back is nearing the choke... i luckily turn into him (largely because he is inexperienced) and get on top... i maintain control but he sweeps me finally and i sink an armbar from gaurd after a few different attempts including a plata, which i am happy i went for.
roll #2 same story but he dosen;t threaten me at all ... i take him down multiple times but i have trouble staying tight... i feel rusty and hesitant... i finally wear him out with a body triangle.

things to work on
-takedowns... they have gotten sloppy since training gi more now.
-staying tight in no gi... i can't roll like i do with the gi, need to maintain and work for under hooks more etc.

5 mins stretching.


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31/01/08
I am supposed to train at 7:15am but i forgot to set my alarm and i wake up at 8:00 and luckily David was still waiting for me and i zip over.

1 round shadow
8 rounds kickboxing with takedowns...

the takedowns are killing my cardio...
i hurt my right leg again making contact with his knee not with my shin bone but with the meat of my calf... hurts like crazy... i have to learn to turn my knee out more when i kick.
my elbow feels ok but i hyper extend it again extremely lightly off throwing the right cross... i need to be more vigilant, ie better technique when i throw

positives....
- landing the right hand really well off the left hook while switching my hips... did more of an uppercut to the body this time and paid huge dividends... thanks KK
-better jabbing in the beginning... and my head movement wasn't bad... got bad near the end.
-landing my left kick consistently
-i was able to take david down and stuff a few of his TDs
-controlling the distance really well while using crouch

negatives

-not dealing with his kicks... i really need to improve this.
-leaving my left hand hang a bit too much... it should be higher and more active in defending
-TD cardio
-mixing up punches and kicks.

2 rounds of footwork drills
-5 mins stepping

All in all my body feels ok but i am wearing down a bit... and i have to teach a private at 3:15... how do those pro mma guys do it?

Alex

[Alex Bon-Miller]

01/02/08

Sparring class...

Feeling pretty beat but i wanna try some of the kickboxing stuff i been doing with dave against other folks... right elbow is getting a bit worse... i can only extend my right arm at about 85%

2 rounds shadow
2 rounds heavy bag

2 rounds with Todd and 2 rounds with Renault... they both beat me up haha... i am hesitant., slow, sloppy and sluggish... frustrating....

Richard says he knows i am fatigued and thinks that's the reason... also i am trying to fight on the inside... which might be because i am afraid to hyper extend my right hand and thus i dont use my cross much.... in any case, i gotta tone down the sparring abit... i did like 20 rounds this week,

2 rolls with a big new guy
2 rolls with Raph, a very strong grappler... he taps me once with an armbar... and i get him once witha calf slicer.... i couldent' pass his half gurd but he couldent sweep me from there either... good opportunities for GnP... i am getting very comfy in half guard.

My conditioning is what gives me a bit of an edge... he is much stronger and is starting to be very tough off his back.

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02/02/07

6th day in a row this week... was at my GFs late and didnt get much sleep... so i just went to jiu jitsu...

we worked twister side control.... two new variations on getting the lockdown... they are real effective... and then finsish with Bananna split.
2 X 10 min rolls after that... cardio feels good... but still a bit sloppy in grappling... i am going to concentrate on grappling and strength training a bit more this week.

It was a good week for training... lots of improvements... a few setbacks...

few key observations: I can't lose my aggression when striking... i should work on my overall skill set of being to counterpunch etc... but i need to maintain my ability to move forward and fight from the outside... Richard says this should be my strength and i agree. Also, i gotta be less lazy when sparring.. push the intensiy more... throw more punches... get uncomfortabel cardio wise... its important not to be complacent and lazy in there.

Alex

[Liu Jin]

- landing the right hand really well off the left hook while switching my hips... did more of an uppercut to the body this time and paid huge dividends... thanks KK

Glad that worked out for you. Mike RARELY lets us throw low hooks, only amid a combination. Otherwise it's the uppercut. Now, want to take the right-hand off the hook to another level? After you throw the right-hand off the hook, bring another hook back with the reverse twist. People won't see that second hook coming behind the right hand. What I like to do to tie that off is follow the second hook with a rear-uppercut, then two jabs. So the combo looks like this: (whatever comes before the hook)-3-2-3-4body-1-1.

That kind of hand work is excellent for keeping shorter guys at range. It's impossible to walk through all of that.

And I like the idea of less sparring but higher quality sessions.