Questions for Coach

QUESTION:
Dear Coach John,
I feel drained some days in training, but it seems to be more than just from the training itself. I mean, I always get tired from your classes, but I feel good afterwards. But other days, every so ofetn, it seems more than just physical exhaustion. For instance, my ability to focus towards the end of a class gets harder as does my desire to make a 100% effort as well. Like I said, this doesn’t happen all the time of course, but once every 2 or 3 weeks it does. Any ideas what may be the cause?
Thanks,
GH
ANSWER:
What a great question GH! And sorry to hear that you’ve incurred a stumbling block in your training, but you’re not alone with this type of challenge! I’ve had many-a-student of the years have this happen, as well as have it happen to me as well!

For me, I have 3 things that affect my training in a negative light: lack of sleep, poor food intake and over training. Lack of sleep is by far the biggest killer of my workouts! When I don’t get enough sleep I don’t have enough energy physically or mentally, my speed is diminished and my power is that of a 8 year old child. Over the years, there have been hundreds of studies conducted of the effects of lack of sleep and not one has shown anything positive from it! In fact, every area of life is negatively affected; even the length of one’s entire life span is shortened, simply from lack of sleep! The standard amount of sleep is 6-8 hours, perhaps you need more? Look into getting extra naps a few times; I know it has helped me in the past.

The second killer to my training sessions is poor food intake. If I either do not eat enough, or eat too much junk food, my performance slows down quickly. For instance, the past few weeks I have cut my carb intake by almost 50% and I can feel the effects in my workouts. I have the strength and power, but my stamina is diminished. So be sure that you are consuming healthy food daily to help FUEL your training sessions. 95% of what you consume should be as fuel, the other 5%... well, have fun.

The last thing that severally affects my training is - training too much! I love to train, but over the years I’ve learned to listen to my body about when to rest and when to push it. When I did over train, not only would I get gassed-out early, but so would my strength, power, focus and desire to keep going. Over training has been shown to be a leading cause of injuries for athletes of various sports and all ages as well. So be sure to take breaks from training, or create a training schedule that allows your body to recover for 24 to 48 hours between sessions. As you continue to train, you’ll know what will work best for your body.

There are a few other things that you want to look at as well with this challenge you’re facing: I’ve found some people go out and party all night, then work all day and come in for a workout. That will kill your training session fast. Some folks have extremely stressful jobs and demand a lot of mental focus through the day- which has just recently been shown to have a dramatic effect of one’s workout.

BUT YOU MAY WANT TO SEE A DOCTOR!! Listen, fatigue, lack of energy, lack of focus and desire can all be symptoms of larger and more problematic issues. Since you’re over 35, I would strongly suggest seeing your primary care physician for any under lying causes/issues. This way, if there is nothing big to worry about, then check out your sleep, food or training schedule.

Good luck-
Coach John

Questions For Coach John

QUESTION:


Dear Coach John,
What should Boxers eat?
KB



ANSWER:
KB, that’s a great question and my immediate answer would be food…but let’s dig a little deeper shall we? I think the best answer would be “FUEL”. As an athlete, more specifically a fighter (Boxer, Kickboxer, MMA or Wrestler) you will need fuel for your training and competitions as well. By using the term “FUEL”, it literally gets you in the mindset that what you put into your body makes a HUGE difference in your performance and skill development. Image eating ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner and then try to train in my classes! Also imagine eating nothing but salad and then trying to train! It would still be catastrophic because there is simply not enough FUEL (nutritional value) in salads for what a fighter needs!


Now, my question would be: do you need to lose weight, gain weight or maintain your body weight for your next fight? Knowing the answer to that question will also help you decide what fuel/food you should be consuming and what amount as well. If you need to lose weight then you need to figure out how many calories you’ll need to drop out of your daily FUEL intake and at what times? (Don’t skip meals, just eat smaller amounts.) If you need to gain then be sure it is in the form of muscle and not fat, so at that point you’ll have to figure out how many more grams of protein you’ll need to consume on a daily basis -as well as what exercises will help you build strong functional muscle. If you need to simply maintain, then get your daily FUEL intake down to a science NOW so that in the future, should you need to drop or gain weight, you’ll know exactly where to add or subtract extra calories.


Keep this in mind: if you train as a fighter does, then you’ll burn anywhere from 800 to 1200 calories in a session. Knowing that will help you figure out much more quickly what your FUEL intake needs are on a daily and weekly basis. Another thing- your off-training days should not have as much calories as your training days. One more: the 2 most important meals of the day are your breakfast and your after workout meals, NEVER skip those.

Here's an example of what I ate yesterday:
meal 1: 1 cup cheerioes with fat free milk, 46 gram protein shake with water
Meal 2: 1/2 pound lean ground beef, slice of 12 grain bread, slice of cheese
Meal 3: 1/2 pound of roast beef, two slices cheese
Meal 4: 48 grams protein (Chobani Yogurt)
Meal 5: 70 gram protein shake with water
Meal 6: 1 packet uncle bens rice, one can tuna, teaspoon soy sauce

Here are good sources of Protein: Chicken, fish, lean beef, canned tuna, tofu, eggs, protein shakes

Here are good sources of carbs: Potatoes (sweet and regular), rice (brown and white), whole grain bread, pasta, oatmeal





WARNING!!!: Across the nation I see fat coaches who attempt to give nutritional advice to fighters about how to get into shape. Never ask a fat man how to get into shape.

Questions for Coach John

QUESTION:
Dear Coach John,

Traditionally they say do 10-12 reps for 3-4 sets. I noticed in your workouts you do a higher number of reps than that when you strength train.

My question is if your training as a boxer (or just looking for more functional strength) is it better to do the higher number of reps?

Should I be looking to burn it out for 25 reps for 1 set and move onto the next exercise or just stick with the 12 rep 3 set routine and just add weight every week?

Thanks, AC

ANSWER:
AC,
I think this is a great question! Most any magazine or book you read about lifting weights says almost that same thing every time!

“3 Sets for 10-12 reps each is the perfect amount for muscle growth.” Blah, blah, blah, quack, quack, quack!! It’s like a Doctor who’s too scared to tell you to ‘walk it off’, or ‘to work through it’ because they think you’ll sue them! I think everything works, but nothing works for ever.

So, with that in mind, here’s my answer:
You have to experiment and see what works for you both physically and mentally. For 4 weeks, do the normal 3 sets at 10-12 reps. Then for the next 4 weeks, hit higher reps, like 20-30, even 100. Then the next 4 weeks go down to 4-6 reps on your weight training. Then do nothing but drop-sets for 4 weeks! After 4 weeks on each, you’ll have seen some results (hopefully) and you’ll also know if you enjoy a particular type of training better than the others- which is also highly important in regards to weight training.

Another way you may want to experiment is to do one week of a certain training method rather than 4. This way you can keep it fresh and not get bored. Still another way to train with weights is to create a circuit that will cover one body part, such as back or legs, or perhaps every body part, this way you’ll get a weight training workout and also a good cardio one as well. Whether a beginner or an advanced practitioner, it’s imperative to find what works for you both genetically and emotionally as well. If the typical body building style workout bores you, then find a way to make it different so that it is fun for you- but do it!

The Bottom Line: try it all, find what works, know it will not work forever, change it up to keep it fresh and ABOVE ALL make it intense!! Because it’s not what you do that your body will respond to, but how you do it!!

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See you there!!