Starting the Year with a Renewed Commitment to Fitness and Training

November 28 was my birthday. I've enjoyed, for the most part, a long Thanksgiving and birthday weekend.

Since I view each birthday as the beginning of a new year for me, one way I celebrate birthdays is to plan a set of goals for the coming year. Another part of my celebration is to renew my commitment to the things in my life that are important to me. One of those things is my boxing training.

To kick off the new year, I did the following workout today:

Bike ride: 2 hours 20 minutes
Roadwork: 15 minutes

It was an intense bike ride, but an enjoyable one. I rode through sleet, driving wind, and spray and flowing water that covered the bike trail as I rode alongside a very choppy Lake Michigan. I am considering biking to and from my gym, once I develop enough endurance to do that in a reasonable amount of time.

I am happy that I have done the most important part of renewing my commitment to fitness and training: I have begun doing it in the new year.

Blawg Review # 187 Is Now Online at LawyerCasting

Joshua Fruchter, the Editor and Publisher of LawyerCasting, is hosting this week’s Blawg Review. In honor of Evolution Day, Blawg Review # 187 has a theme of “survival.” It has a collection of many links to informative blawg articles, organized around the following general topics.

• State of the Legal Industry
• Advice for Individual Attorneys
  • Excel at your work
  • Switch practice areas
  • Go solo
  • Leave law
• Advice for Law Firms
  • Conserve cash
  • Consider (and reconsider) the need for and value of layoffs
  • Focusing on existing clients
  • Continue marketing cost-effectively and creatively
  • Bailout money

Overall, Blawg Review # 187 offers practical suggestions and tools for lawyers and law firms working to “survive” in today’s challenging economy. These are strategies that attorneys and their firms need to go from merely surviving to thriving. Read it!

New Addition to My Blogroll: SportsAgentBlog

Earlier today, a new reader of this blog and fellow lawyer, Gary Wimsett, Jr., told me about an interesting blog: SportsAgentBlog. I have added a link to it in the "Sports Blogs" section of the blogroll.

I haven't yet had a chance to spend a lot of time there, but I already like what I see. SportsAgentBlog provides some great content and a lot of coverage about the business and law of sports. While the blog covers most sports, it contains some entries about boxing, and here's an informative commentary about MMA's Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar.

I hope you'll enjoy SportsAgentBlog as much as I already am. Thanks, Gary, for the fine recommendation and welcome to Lawyer-boxer's Blog!

Thursday Roadwork

Did 43 minutes today. It was quite cold, and there was a little snow. Afterward, I was like a human popsicle.

Sunday's Training

Sunday's training was quick, but very useful. It included the following:

• 35 minutes of roadwork
• 3 rounds of shadowboxing
• 1 round on the uppercut bag
• 4 rounds on the heavy bag
• 2 rounds of stretching

I'm starting to introduce (or reintroduce) new elements into my workouts. One example is endurance drills on the heavy bag. Those drills consist of punching nonstop for a set period of time. I did 30-second drills on Sunday--30 seconds of punching at the end of the round. I'm pleased with how it went, but of course, I want to improve it. The more variety I can offer myself in the workouts, the better it will be all around and it will be easier to stay motivated for training.

Another Brief Training Report

I am trying to balance work and training. Here's a quick recap of this week's training so far.

Sunday, November 9:

12 minutes roadwork (yeah, just a short one today)

Monday, November 10: Gym workout

40 minutes of roadwork
10 rounds of shadowboxing
2 rounds of stretching

Tuesday, November 11:

60 minutes of roadwork

Wednesday, November 12:

A rest day--no training

Thursday, November 13:

30 minutes of roadwork

Brief Training Update on Election Day

I haven't posted all that frequently lately because work is starting to ramp up and that's a welcome development. Now that I'm settled in comfortably after my move, life is getting back to normal (whatever that is).

Training is getting back to a level where I am getting ready to start focusing on specific improvements. For now, work in the gym and roadwork continue.

The roadwork is more enjoyable than ever. Being able to do it along the shore of Lake Michigan is nice. The weather has been mild lately, too, and that helps a lot.

Here's a recap of the last few days.

Sunday, November 2:  Gym workout

• 1 hour and 4 minutes of roadwork
• 4 rounds of shadowboxing
• 4 rounds on the uppercut bag
• 4 rounds on heavy bag
• 6 rounds of stretching (done in 2-round sets after each 4-round set of the other exercises)

Monday, November 3:

31 minutes of roadwork

Tuesday, November 4:

30 minutes of roadwork

It's happening.  There's always room for improvement, but it's happening.