GRIP & RIP WEEKEND: Working Out

You can't Grip & Rip without forearm strength so of course I hit the gym on Friday and Saturday morning between movies, meals and multiple episodes of Fuller House. I've been feeling a little dumpy this week, think it's time to clean up my eating habits again and stay consistent as physical training will only take you so far. Friday at 5:00 AM was Chest and Biceps:

Incline Push Ups/Preacher Curls
Decline Flys/Spider Curls
Incline Dumbbell Press/Reverse Curl
DB Pullover/Zottman Curl

Each superset was repeated 3 times and I lightened my weights to go for higher reps, shooting for 15/12/10 before tackling forearms, neck and a mile on the Rowing Machine.

Saturday at 7:00 AM it was cardio centric:
5 3 minute rounds of Bas Rutten Thai Boxing
5 2 minute rounds of hitting the bag followed by 300 rope skips, 200 meters of rowing and 100 feet of Versa Climbing or Jacob's Ladder
Abs and trunk twists

Downtown Sunday: Fleming's and U of MMA

Recovering from the late night of the Sunbow Celebration and the time change, on Sunday afternoon we ventured to Downtown, Los Angeles. For some reason, I've been here more in the last year than I had in the previous 5-6. Before heading to Club Nokia for a University of Mixed Martial Arts event, we stopped off at an old Happy Hour standby, Fleming's Steakhouse. I've never actually had a steak at this house of them because they've got a pretty substantial Happy Hour menu that runs every day. There's 5 selections of cocktails, wines and food for $6. Walking in, L.A. Live looked more happening than I'd ever seen it, then looking across to the Staples Center I saw a crowd of people. It finally dawned on me that all these people wearing Lakers jerseys, shirts and hats weren't cosplaying, they were going to a game! We found a standing counter spot easy enough and proceeded to down some Lemonade made with Tito's Vodka out of Austin along with Butternut Squash ravioli, calamari and a bacon cheeseburger. It was all good. The place soon cleared out as Happy Hour ended and tip-off must have been near.

Some friends explained that Nokia Live and Club Nokia were two different things. Good on them otherwise we'd have been wandering around thinking we had the wrong date...Located above Lucky Strike Bowling, Club Nokia is an interesting venue for partying and events. There's a main floor with a bar then you can go up to a seated balcony with another bar. I met promoter/scheduler/everything guy Jorge Albarca at The Van Damme Triple Dip where he came out to see the Belgian badass on the big screen two nights in a row for Double Impact and Bloodsport. After attending Dolph Night and An Evening with Carl Weathers, he's one of the few in the city who have all three Dammaged Goods special edition shirts. Set up as upscale amateur fights, U of MMA was boasting a huge 18 fight card with several title bouts. 30 gyms around the Los Angeles area support the league and it's sanctioned to ensure safety. It was a great atmosphere and I was happy to see it so crowded. I heard one of the fighters was from Bas Rutten's gym, the Dutch kickboxer turned MMA fighter with a hilarious sense of humor. Apparently he was there but I didn't catch a glimpse, next time.

With the earlier matches consisting of three, two minute rounds, the pace of the action was solid. No lay and pray over here, these were all hungry fighters looking to build their records and reputations. By the time they switched to three, three minute rounds, the shin guards came off and you started to see a little more attitude and aggression in the cage. Plus one of the referees had an amazingly long, braided beard. Of course no MMA event would be complete without the guy in the crowd who's an expert yet is spectating instead of participating. This particular guy kept talking about the differences between boxing and MMA and doing more coaching than the guys at ringside. Ah well, it was a fun night and my first fight in years. Looking forward to the next one.

Train in Peace: Andy Hug

Woke up this morning with a hankering to do some shadow boxing and jump roping as cardio.  They say working out on an empty stomach first thing in the morning helps you burn fat as your blood sugar is constant and low from sleep so the body turns to fat stores for energy.  From Dolph Lundgren swimming or walking to Jean-Claude Van Damme cycling to The Rock Elliptical machine-ing it, empty stomach morning cardio has plenty of success stories.

To begin, I opted for shadow boxing via one Bas Rutten, a tough yet hilarious Kickboxer turned MMA champion from the Netherlands.  I'm not sure when he released his workout series but I've had mine since the mid 2000's.  It contains four separate workouts:  Boxing, Thai Boxing, All-Around Fighting and All-Around Workout.  I remember doing these years ago when I had a full workout space complete with punching bags and they were very hard but a great workout.  If you've never had your shirt completely soaked through with sweat, try these bad boys sometime.  If you do the full workout, it's only about 30 minutes but you will be wiped out.

Warming up with 50 jumping jacks and 50 mountain climbers, I jumped into 2-minute rounds of Boxing and completed 6 of the 10 as I wanted to save some energy for jump rope as well.  The tapes also provide 3 minute rounds when you're ready.  Then it was time to jump rope so I put on some Youtube clips of Andy Hug, the Swiss Kyokushin karate champion turned K-1 kickboxer Grand Prix winner who sadly died at 35 from leukemia.  Hug was always in great shape: muscular, proportioned and cut to pieces.  There were plenty of matches, workout montages and greatest hits (literally) on Youtube to keep me occupied and motivated while skipping rope in my living room.

Again, I went for 2 minute rounds jumping in sets of 50 until time was up.  You can jump rope a million different ways and they say it's 3 times the workout of running.  So if you jump rope for 10 minutes, it's like a 30 minute jog since you're always moving and using your calves, quads, core, arms and shoulders throughout.  To spice things up, I started some rounds with a set of jumping backwards and in another I threw in intervals at 20 seconds working and 10 of rest.  In between rounds I did some ab work with reverse crunches, twists and the good ol' ab wheel.  6 rounds of that and I was feeling light and tight, ready to face a day of lounging.

One of my favorite matches of Hug's was against Stan "The Man" Longinidis, a computer programmer turned Kickboxing champion from Australia.  I had heard of The Man because he broke the leg of American champion and Van Damme co-star in Kickboxer, Dennis Alexio.  Longinidis utilized a Muy Thai style that relied on vicious low kicks and the two came out fast and furious, winging high velocity kicks and punches at each other before almost falling out of the ring.  Hug would win by Knockout after softening Longinidis up with a cracking head kick followed up by a perfect left straight right down the middle that laid The Man flat out on the canvas.

Train in Peace, oss!