[Diego Lara]

I've been training at Top Rank gym under former bantamweight world champ Richey Sandoval for a month now, and I think it's high time I started a log of my daily trials and tribulations to see if I'm tough and teachable enough to carry my blockheaded Mexican ass to a belt. I woulda liked to start off on a more eventful day, but screw it here's a typical Tuesday for a Top Rank Runt.


6:30 am: Get up, usually watch a fight or two to get psyched up and see how the pros do it, then run an average of 2-3 miles around the neighborhood park. My roomie usually joins me, but today he's dealing with a head injury from sparring his 79 Caprice yesterday (hehehehehe) so I ran by myself. We used to run an average of 3-5 miles but Richey says to cool it on the running so we're not worn out by the time I get to the gym. Ran 6 times around the park, which is about 2.5 miles give or take.


10:30 am: Arrive at Top Rank across the freeway from the strip, in plain sight of the massive casinos where the Castillos, De La Hoyas, and Mayweathers of the world get to play for the cameras. For once Richey is there before me. After checking in, hand wrapping and 10 minutes of stretching. My usual sparring and training partner is working with another guy today, so I do 10 rounds of heavy bag, first 4 are about combos and speed, next four I focus on pacing, form, and a little bit of defense. I have a bad habit of dropping my lead hand while throwing power punches, and this makes me vulnerable to counter-punches. Last 2 rounds are about stamina, just getting the work done without tiring out. I'm soaked in sweat by the end, and watch of few rounds of sparring. My stablemate Ed is backing up his opponent time after time; seems the other is useless against combos, even the same ones over and over again, and spends most of his time on the ropes. 3 rounds of shadow boxing, and 2 rounds of skipping rope to finish up. Like I said, a rather uneventful training session, but not every one can be a sparring sesh.


Circa 7/8 pm: Tonight I'm gonna continue my recently begun nightly tradition of 100 pushups and 100 sit-ups, into which I incorporate an 8 lb (i know i know weak) medicine ball which I drop onto my lower abs to flatten that last bit of flab out. This will make for about 3 hours of training today, which isn't much, but I'm getting better work done than before, adn slowly building up my speed, agility, and stamina. I've already got the cojones and the cinder block head, now I just need some moves and, well, the ability to BOX rather than BRAWL. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some good sparring, which is the quickest and most effective way to get a 6 pack and an immunity to punches.


Lemme know what ya'll think of my "regimen". If you see any holes or got any tips or just think I'm a fat loser with about as much chance of making pro as a toothless hooker has a chance of making more than 50 bucks a pop, also lemme know. Firefox out.

[mschatz]

There's a market for toothless hookers, can you udnerstand why?

In any case, looking forward to reading your's and kabuki's log. welcome

[Liu Jin]

Oh no, a Messican. Well there goes the property value of MY log.

Nah seriously fellas, this is the Diego I speak highly of in my log. Look up come-froward, stalward, nearly impossible to hurt, hard punching, hard working Mexican Boxer in the Dictionary and Diego will inevitably be one of the pictures illustrating the definition.

With Richie though, he'll add footwork, endurance, technique, and defense to that bag of tricks.

[Standard]

I hope your don't skip practice as much as Liu says you do... good to see you posting a log though

[Liu Jin]

I hope your don't skip practice as much as Liu says you do... good to see you posting a log though

Even when he don't make the gym he usually still runs and does things to keep conditioning, unlike most Heavyweights who just eat sammiches and pick stuff up over and over again.

[Diego Lara]

Originally Posted by Standard

I hope your don't skip practice as much as Liu says you do... good to see you posting a log though

See, mexicans are always known for being hard workers, but every now and then, we do get caught drinking a cerveza and hanging out in the pool of the house whose roof we're supposed to be "fixing". HAHAHA but ya one of my objectives for the coming month is to be more diligent about my training in and out of the gym. The only ones that make it to the top are the ones that live this shit every day no matter where they are or what they do. Now where's that medicine ball......

[Diego Lara]

Wed 8/01/07: 6:30 AM: Mexican Americansssss, don't like to get up in the morning, but they have to, so they do it real sloowwwwwww.......

6:50 am: Watch J. Cesar Chavez vs. Frankie Randall, and I was surprised to see JCC handled by someone with more strength and speed than he, was the first time I'd seen him look completely taken aback by another fighter. If you havent't seen it, this is one bout definitely worth watching.

7:30 am: Run 2.8 miles around the park and practice agility by trying to avoid the many piles of dog shit scattered everywhere.

10:30 am: After a brief nap, off to the gym, and it's time to spar Mr. Kabuki for a mere 4 rounds. First 3, I work on defense, slipping, footwork, blocking, and counter-punching (or lack thereof). Last round I do offense and KK works defense and my nose with his godforsaken straight left. Major problems that I have: moving my bigass head, throwing more combos, and timing. All these are major impediments to winning a round and I realize that if I'm ever to be anything more than a sparring partner, I gotta learn defense and incorporate more hooks and uppercuts into my attacks. KK is fast, much faster than me, but footwork is key to avoiding his lightning quick counters, and that's what I did mostly to avoid getting hit. I can take a punch no problem, but I don't wanna end up like certain former world champs that wander off in the middle of a sentence...... Finish up with 2 rounds on the body snatcher, working on incorporating uppercuts into my combos, then it's off to work.

8:30-9 pm: 50 pushups tonight (screw you, my arms kill), and 100 sit ups, 50 on abs and 50 on obliques. Got a slimmer band today, and that should help bring that elusive 6 pack in. I'm gonna try to avoid carbs as much as possible for a few days to bring me closer to my target weight. My intended weight class is jr. lightweight (130), and as of tonight I'm 148, so I got a long ways to go, but that's one goal I know I can achieve. That's all for now, time for a chicken breast (again) and then bedtime for the runt. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Thu 8/2: Off day, ran 2.4 miles this morning.

[Liu Jin]

Feliz cumpleaños hermanito.

Today is Diego's birthday, so say Happy Birthday bitches.

[Mickey's]

Happy Birthday diego. I drank a cervesa in your honor.

*bows*