Hardest dryland practice of my life

I knew today would be tough but this topped all other practices in memory.

MORNING:

• 15 minutes of random stretching
• 15 minutes of general warmup exercises like jumping jacks, balance postures, lunges, etc 
• 4 sets of 8 reps Leg Press @ 70% max
• 4 sets of 4 step ups with weight, I used 10lb weights.  This involved QUICKLY stepping up onto a 2' tall box and driving the opposite knee as high and as fast as possible 
• 4 sets of 10 switches (jumping and spinning 180 degrees
• More stretching
• 5 sets of 4:00 boxing :30 on and :30 off and then a 5 minute weight set, focusing on speed and power
• 3 rounds of 4 x25y against bands, both positive and negative, meaning half we were pulling against surgical tubing in the pool and half we were being pulled, all max effort swims, total 2,500 yards
   

NOTES:

The most difficult part was the boxing.  Although 30 seconds on and then 30 seconds off doesn't sound too bad, consider you're "holding" for your boxing partner.  This means you are holding your arms out in a flexed position to allow them to hit your gloves as hard as they can.  Therefore, after boxing with hooks or uppercuts for 30 seconds, you get practically no muscle rest at all since you're flexed the entire 4 minutes.  It was among the only times in my life, my muscles actually began FAILING.  As in, I could no longer hold my arms up.  My strength was literally exhausted.  The worst round was the kicks.  It started with staggered feet.  One out front, the other slightly behind the body.  You would use your back leg and kick the boxing partners glove out front at chest height.  Two kicks with staggered feet, then square up the feet, jump as high as possible and kick the glove in mid air.  Land and begin the 3 kicks again.  The end of the kicks, I could barely lift my legs.  My workout partner yelled at me "FINISH IT UP DOAK"... at that moment I realized, yet again, that there is NO WAY I could train like this without a team.  I dug deep and found the strength to finish up the kicks, and even hit some of my hardest kicks of the set, being the most exhausted.  My heart was beating so hard at the end.  I was dripping with sweat.  I don't think I've ever worked that hard out of the water.  After the workout I mentioned to the coach what a great workout it was.  I hated it but I loved it.

There is something addicting about the kickboxing we're doing.  I hated it at first but it's growing on me and I think that's really odd.  I could still never condone it as a violent sport, but we don't box each other, we just hit each other's gloves.  The power and the sounds it all makes is really fascinating to me.  Our group right now is comprised of 6 guys.  We each pair up and box each other's gloves to develop fast twitch muscle reflexes and also power.  The sound of 3 or 4 guys hitting boxing gloves is quite loud and violent sounding, yet, sort of cool.  When Coach Mark Hill gets out the flat gloves (I don't even know the terminology, nor do I care), the gloves meant for somebody else to hit, the sounds get even better!  Since you have 16oz boxing gloves hitting a flat surface, the slap that is produced is quite loud.  Honestly, it all really just pumps me up, the yelling and the positive reinforcement of the whole situation makes it really fun.  We were doing these combo's today where I would:

• Block High with Right
• Block Low with Right
• Hook with Left
• Hook with Right

and then switch arms.  The combo's are the most fun.  I really enjoy the simple ones like:

• Uppercut Right
• Uppercut Left
• Hook Right
• Hook Left

Although the more complicated ones are frustrating when you combine, hooks, uppercuts, kicking and elbow's all in one, then switch it all around to work the opposite arm... my head starts to spin.  This stuff is quite a workout, and a blast!