Fighting At Fifty

My apologies for the gratuitous selfie, but I haven't posted any updates for a while, and I'm bored in a hotel room. Please don't unfollow me... I promise this won't happen again, at least for a long time.

So... do I look as though I might actually be able to do this whole fighting thing eventually, or is it still a ridiculous idea? My cardio has improved, and I'm very pleased that my right kicks have improved dramatically. My body sure does 'click', 'crack' and 'crunch' a lot of an evening... even my heel the other day! It didn't hurt, but scared me for a second.

Anyway, please be kind. I'm 48 and nearly 6'6, so it will take time to get to a decent fighting weight. Besides, I still have 2¾ years until my deadline (turning 51), and will slowly amp up training. I'm being very careful to avoid injury, and want toughen my tendons before going hard on the weights to really bulk up.

Stepping into a ring can't be scarier than wading into the middle of 2 or 3 large dogs fighting, can it? I've had to do the latter a couple of times now. Amazingly, I haven't been bitten (yet)... too fast for them 😉

When hitting pads, I assume that if it makes a 'good' sound (a loud crack), it's a good hit. But is there actually any connection between the two? Does anyone know?

It kind of reminds me of this scene from Never Back Down 2. I do like Michael Jai White.

Never back down 2-Power kick don't worry about the bag :)

Here's a random question, just for fun. Which musical group would you NOT want to get in a fight with? I'll start with , as there are lots of members and some of them are big guys.

Quick update for anyone vaguely interested:

I've finally given in and bought some whey protein. It's without creatine, as doctors once said that my creatinine (sic) levels were too high.

In the past few months, I've put on about 7kg (just over a stone) of muscle without protein supplements (and not training as hard as I could!). So, with the whey and training harder (4 or 5 sessions of weights, cardio and fighting a week with a trainer plus calisthenics etc.), I should be 100kg in no time.

My new hero, (interim!) UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall, is about my height and around 115kg. So, I'll aim for that!

Did some spinning elbows among other things today. Not sure how likely I'd be to use one in a fight, but you never know!

Still training. 3 classes this week. Getting there slowly.

It's going to be a lot easier doing this when it's not 33° outside and hot as hell in the gym.

Fitness is getting there. I can get through an hour-long class with minimal breaks ok now. But there's still a lot of work to do!

I've always been a fan of 'Keito' (although I didn't know it was called that). It's very effective in the neck/throat area... and the perineum!

Quick update for anyone that might care or thinks I gave up!

Increased my calisthenics/HIIT from once to twice a day last week, and felt the difference.

Going to start doing 15 minutes of skipping followed by 30 minutes of boxing drills in the mornings. Then I'll do the calisthenics in the evenings. Sound good? What am I forgetting?

Also just signed up for a load of private Muay Thai / Boxing classes. I'll just do 1 or 2 a week, but I can also use the gym whenever I want... result!

9.40pm on a Saturday night, but I'm exercising in a park. There's hope for me yet.

After a recovery day yesterday (it takes a bit longer nowadays!), it was boxing again this morning. I love it, but would love it more if I were better at defending hooks to the jaw.

(any Simpsons fans know the reference?)

I had my first Boxing class this morning. It was good fun, but I have a lot to learn.

It's funny. I messed up a drill and got clocked in the jaw. That's fine. But I rubbed a tiny bit of skin off a knuckle, and that's going to bug me all day!

Finally made it to my first class: 2 hours of Muay Thai.

It was great to be back at it, but I now realise how much work I need to do (a lot!), and everything from the knees down hurts (but in a 'satisfying' way).

I've let the family of pigeons have one end of the balcony (they were here first, to be fair), but the adults have started coming to my end.
I warned them that if they crap on my laundry, the baby becomes lunch (I didn't mean it, but they didn't know that).

So they shat on the floor and I just stepped in it.

Outsmarted by birds again.

*t