The Uppercut

The right uppercut is a very powerful and effective inside punch. The target must be at short or medium range punch distance. The uppercut is directed either high, towards the head under the chin, or low to the body, often in the solar plexus area. The uppercut can be thrown effectively with either the right hand or the left hand, with the right uppercut being slightly more powerful. To throw a right uppercut, start in the classic boxing stance with the back (right) knee bent. Lower the right shoulder to drop the right side of the body in a semi-crouch position. Remember to keep the left fist up by the chin to protect the head. Now as you rotate the hips forward, push the ball of the back foot, (the right foot), and punch the right fist up towards the target. The right side of the back and the right shoulder will follow through with the rotation of the hips. The hips finish being squared to the front. The right arm always stays close to the body and moves upward in a semi-circle.

Richard-

My top Ten supplements for a strong, lean body.

Optimum 100% Whey Protein -
Optimum 100% Whey is still number one, and sales are climbing! Whey protein has been proven to be the best type of protein for building quality muscle fast. Optimum did us all a favor by making a whey protein product that tastes awesome, actually mixes easily, and is cheap enough for everybody to afford.


BSN NO-Xplode -
BSN's blockbuster product won our Muscle Builder Of The Year award for 2006, 2007 and 2008! This real quote from a visitor pretty much sums it up: "No-Xplode is the best NO booster I've ver taken. It gives me vein popping pumps while increasing strength!" You will be shocked at how fast this product works!


Universal Animal Pak -
If you work out, you MUST take a multi-vitamin product. You simply can not be sure that you are getting all of the nutrients you need just from your diet. Also, you can't just depend on a normal grocery store multi since those were created for the average couch potato. Luckily, Universal Animal Pak was formulated to be EXACTLY what you need.


CytoSport Muscle Milk -
Muscle Milk helps grows muscle faster than gainers, whey or even creatine. This increased muscle growth is possible because Muscle Milk is the first product patterned after Nature's ultimate anabolic food - human mother's milk. Oh, and did I mention that it tastes BETTER than a milkshake?


BSN Syntha-6 -
Syntha-6 is a GREAT tasting, low carb protein powder by the gurus behind NO-Xplode and Nitrix. This ain't your little brother's low quality protein since it is a premium blend with the type of protein that is released slowly in your body, keeping you in a muscle-building, anabolic state for a longer period of time.


Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump250 -
Great pre workout drink, however be warned tastes like you chewed a bottle of asprin!


Nutrex Lipo 6x -
Nutrex Lipo 6x is the most popular fat burner! Never before has a fat-loss formula offered such an advanced method of delivering powerful fat-burning compounds, quickly, effectively and safely.


Optimum 100% Casein Protein -
Still only taking whey protein? Here's your sign. Whey protein is still the champ for post-workout fast-release protein, but more bodybuilders are taking slow-absorbing casein before bed and throughout the day since it can cause a 'timed release' trickle of amino acids into the bloodstream which can last for as many as 7 full hours.


BSN Nitrix -
Nitrix is the NO Nitric Oxide product that started it all! People are reporting greater muscle pumps in and out of the gym, and they are finally growing some serious muscle! This is a very hot product right now.

CellMass
Cellmass won the Creatine Product Of The Year award for 2005, 2006 and 2007! One of the sports nutrition industry’s most popular products over the course of the last few years, CellMass is BSN’s post-w orkout and nighttime mass, recovery and performance activator. Promoting these three processes is a unique combination of amino acids, minerals and key electrolytes that rapidly absorb to refuel muscle cells, maximize ATP stores and saturate your growing muscles.

Why woman should consider boxing for weight loss and a fit body.

Most woman join a gym for one reason- to lose weight. I’m going to let you in on a trade secret among fitness professionals - eating less plus exercising more equals losing weight. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I'll explain why not learning how to box could cost you in the long run.

First let me ask you a question - is losing weight going to help you keep your job? Unless you're a horse jockey or a fashion model, the answer is probably no. Boxing is a learning process, and the ring is the class room. We don’t focus on what you lose, but what you gain. Losing ten pounds of fat will be short lived if it isn’t replaced by twenty pounds of confidence – the confidence that comes from being good, not just looking good. I tend to look at life as a boxing match, not a beauty contest. Both show a lot of skin, but only one shows a lot of heart. When times get tough, would you rather be wearing high heels or boxing shoes?
Boxing makes you tougher - mentally, physically and emotionally. walking on a treadmill may relieves stress, but boxing builds character too. Hitting a heavybag & some weights will get rid of the stress you have today and make it easier for you to handle tomorrow.

Thinking on your feet, dealing with pressure and staying focused are skills you don’t pick up on a treadmill, but in the ring you become a master of these skills. Try it you will soon see yourself in a different light.

What Is A 'Fighter'?

A fighter is a metaphor. It’s a metaphor for anyone who doesn’t want to take life lying down and get counted out. It’s a metaphor for anyone who believes that having abs of steel doesn’t mean you have guts, and doing cardio doesn’t give you heart. Looking good may be important, but being good is critical. Taking step class is great, but when it looks like the world is crashing down, it might take some fancy footwork to avoid the pitfalls.

Training like a fighter not only gets you in great physical shape, but mental and emotional shape as well. When times get tough, having nerves of steel and the heart of a lion might help. Being razor sharp and ready for battle will see you through the rough times. Boxing helps you keep your cool while everyone else is going down in flames.

Although the first image of a "fighter" you might conjure up is a guy with a broken nose and cauliflower ears, I want to show you what our version of a fighter looks like. Stand in front of a mirror, pick up your hands and make a fist. That person looking back at you is a fighter.

We don’t make life easier, we just make you tougher.

Squats...Still king of leg development

Squats are one of the best lower body exercises you can do. Why? One reason is that squats are multi-joint exercises which target all the muscles of the hips, glutes and thighs. The chair squat which requires no weights or equipment (other than a chair) is great for beginners, for anyone with knee problems or for those who are overweight and need a bit more support. It's also great for anyone wanting to add more functionality into their lives because it mimics the movements we do each time we sit down or stand up.

Boxing training.......heres some basics

A boxer's training depends largely on the point in their career at which she or he is situated. If the boxer is just a beginner, a minimal training routine might consist of learning how to hit the heavy bag, the speed bag, and the double end bag (a small bag with a cord on top and bottom connecting it to the floor and ceiling) as well as doing shadowboxing in front of a mirror, skipping, calisthenics and jogging every day, as well as an occasional practice bout inside the ring (sparring). Most beginning boxers will spend most of their early careers conditioning and establishing the fundamentals.

For the amateur or professional boxer preparing for a competition or bout, however, training is much more stringent. This could include getting up at 5 am to jog, flying to a far away place to get isolated during 2 or more months before the fight, dieting, doing the same gym routine as a beginner, only that twice every day, and getting to the city hosting the fight two weeks before the fight to get used to the location's climate. Boxing is widely considered one of the most physically demanding sports in the world.

Weight
Boxing, like several other fighting sports, categorizes its competitors into weight classes. Some fighters try to take advantage of this by dieting before weigh-in so that they can be bumped down a weight class. In extreme cases, a fighter may forego solid food before the official weigh-in ceremony, and eat a lot afterward to compensate. In some very extreme cases, boxers have been forced to stop eating solid food up to three days before the weigh-in ceremony, in order to make weight for the fight. Sometimes, if a boxer doesn't make the weight agreed for on the first weight-in, he or she might go to a sauna or to jog with a jacket to sweat and lose the extra pounds, however this is mainly water that the body holds.

A boxer will generally try to have the maximum weight possible within the Boxing weight classes (s)he is fighting in, as a good boxer will be able to use his weight to his advantage


Sparring
High quality sparring is the best method to train in boxing. Sparring is "practice fighting" with the aim of training skills and fitness, not to determine a winner. Sparring should always involve use of a gumshield, head-guard and groin-guard. Sparring gloves are often more padded than gloves used in actual bouts. Sparring partners sometimes agree to practice particular types of punches or defense moves to focus their training.

Body Sparring refers to sparring where only hits to the body are allowed, not to the head. This is often used to reduce the risk of injury or for inexperienced boxers starting out in the sport.

A faster, more powerfull fighter with ungodly endurance!

Muscle will only respond in advanced
trainers or athletes with resistance. If the muscle is not
presented with new challenges ( resistance ) it has no reason to
adapt and grow. Your body has no reason to change( body ) composition ( burn fat, build lean muscle tissue, become faster & more explosive ).

With H.I.G.T, my fitness program ( high intensity group training ) the basis is to stimulate new muscle
development by recruiting type II (red)( fast twitch ) muscle fibers. Fibers that
will only come into play when the muscle becomes over loaded ( the
lazy muscle fiber ). H.I.G.T does this in two ways. When you have
taxed your muscle lets say with a set of dumbbell presses, most of
the work was done with type one fibers (white) ( slow twitch ) little to none of
your type two (red) muscle fibers came into play. This studied & proven by science.

However by immediately moving from one multi joint
exercise ( exercises that recruit the most muscle fibers to perform
the movement, IE: squats, dead lifts, rows, etc..) to the next, up
to four different exercises for different body parts in a set, type
one fibers have become overworked and force type two fibers to come
and assist, thus causing maximum damage and with proper nutrition &
rest new tissue.

The second way is with intensity, in my routine I achieve this with little to no rest between sets. The body will respond two ways training this way. First, you will burn loads of calories and force the most important muscle in your body to work overtime. Your heart! Pretty much eliminating the need to do boring types of cardio to strip away fat and shed water. Secondly, with little to no rest you fatigue your type one fibers much faster than traditional one set and rest old school training. Thus conditioning your body to recruit faster, type two fibers. The muscle building lean for life, ripped as a Mother F@#!*! Type two ,fast twitch fiber!

My H.I.G.T training will keep you lean & muscular for life, not to mention it is challenging and fun to do, in time of course. At first you will be sending me hate mail.

Richard Seymour

Nutrition for Fighters

Although there are many schools of thought as to proper nutrition for athletes and plenty of fad diets that come and go, fighters understand there are certain basics essential to their craft.

It is better to eat many smaller meals throughout the days than a few larger ones. Carbohydrates are necessary sources of energy that must be replenished regularly while training. Complex carbohydrates from natural food sources such as oatmeal and fruit are ideal. Best practice is to eat them three hours in advance of a workout, unless of course you are using a quick boost energy drink during a session.

Try to eat natural foods, free of preservatives and dyes. Processed foods like white bread should be avoided at all cost in that they have very little nutritional value. Go with whole grain products instead. Sufficient protein must be eaten while training to support muscle healing and growth. While many fighters supplement their intake with protein shakes, adequate intake of lean beef, fish, and eggs, will also do the trick.

Avoid soda and other high sugar drinks and snacks. Nothing packs on unnecessary weight quicker. Drink plenty of water. Deep fried and fatty foods are a no-no for every fighter who takes his nutrition seriously. Baked and broiled items are much healthier. Watch your fat, especially saturated fats. They are killers. Don’t confuse them with essentially fatty acids found in fish. By following these few simple principles, maintaining or losing weight for a fight should require little additional effort, aside from intense fitness training.

It is essential that the right nutrients are delivered to the cells for the body to effectively repair, nourish and rebuild.

maximum training and body conditioning is through a solid diet coupled with a superior nutrition strategy. This requires eating a balanced diet of protein sources such as meat, fish, eggs and milk. Round this out with fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Finally, top it all off with lots and lots of hardcore training.

How do I know that I am getting enough nutrients to feed my fight training and workout schedule?

Simple nutrition test:

Do you feel that you have plenty of energy before during and after a workout?

Do you get muscle cramps?

Are your workouts exhausting rather than invigorating?

Are you easily distracted?

Do you have difficulty maintaining focus and concentration during the day?

Do you start out on strong in a fight only to lose steam before being able to finish the job?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions then your nutrition program is in need of an update

Holly Holm vs. Duda Yankovich

In her last hard workout, Holly Holm puts the finishing touches on her training for Duda Yankovich, Saturday afternoon at Jackson’s Gym in Albuquerque. Look for a story on Holly early in the week.