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Why you should pre-book ski & snowboard gear before your trip

For a lot of skiers and snowboarders, one of the key considerations when planning any trip is whether it's better to rent equipment at their chosen resort or to bring their own. For those who might be classed as novices to the sports or who maybe ski/snowboard less frequently, more often or not the preference will be to rent. For those who perhaps take the sport more seriously the perceived notion is that you should look to own your own kit as soon as possible. Is this the best advice? The answer in short is it depends! There are pros and cons for both and it of course depends on where you ski/snowboard and how often. We've partnered with Skiset…

Freeze Yourself Fit

FREEZE YOURSELF FIT 5 benefits of training cold Train hard and train cold. One of the simplest training methods known to man, but recent studies from the world of sport and military science show it could also be one of the most effective. That’s because scientists have linked cold-weather training to everything from an improved immune system to accelerated fat loss. Is it conventional? Nope. Does it work? Absolutely! Miles away from the warmth and comfort of any gym, here are 5 ways you can Freeze Yourself Fit…   Burn More Fat: Training in the cold can burn more fat! It’s a bold claim I know, but research from the Journal of Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise wanted…

Snowboarder rescued from a crevasse

This guy was extremely lucky to fall 50 feet into a crevasse in Chamonix and live to tell the tail, via footage recorded while he awaited rescue. The important message from this is to be prepared for the dangers when you're out in the mountains and take the necessary precautions. An extended article on this survival story can be read here. Featured image credit, original author (Brendan K)…

On the operating table

Time to crank up the old blog again. No I've not stepped back into the ring. It's time to say one final farewell to the sport from a hospital operating theatre where a long awaited operation called a septoplasty was lined up for me after a wait of many months. This is an operation to realign a deviated septum (the cartilage in the nose) which was causing me no end of problems breathing, particularly at night.I was admitted to ward 7 of the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. There were five other beds, all full. Opposite me was an old chap in stripy pyjamas in for a hernia who looked like he was still in costume from the set of Dad's army.…

That’s All

There's been quite a gap since I last updated this blog, but don't worry, I've kept up the training but just not got around to writing about it. The tempo at the gym has upped a bit due to the cardiff exhibition fight which is 2 weeks away now so everyone's fitness levels (and aggression levels) seem to be on the up. Little Nick's son Ash who is 18 has joined us. He is a southpaw like Joe Calzaghe which is very confusing to fight, and hard not to step on his feet but he is fast and sharp but easy to read.Thankfully I've missed a few sessions which have given me time to recover from a broken nose -…

Monday

I had a strange fear of tonight all day, and this got worse when without a warmup I got into the ring with Jason for a couple of rounds of practice which was OK. His mate called Richard Bowen came along who hadn't trained for a while and it was great to spar with someone who could not reach me. I went easy on him but wished I'd used my advantage to practice my combinations.Now I realise the jab is just half the battle - the rest is to follow on with left -right - left hook - left hook - left hook. We practiced that on the bags.Another trick is to jab while standing at a slight angle to…

Spare ribs please?

I missed a Monday so had a one to one with Jason on the Tuesday. I have one word - bastard. I did some light sparring with the Addy and Eddie duo from a few months ago which was OK although I was still a little breathless from Nick's deliveries to my ribs the other week.Then Jason said to take out my gunshield and put on my bag gloves. Why the hell he did that when he was planning to smash me up I don't know - but I'm not happy about it. He's a great boxer and genuinely intimidating the way he moves around the ring constantly calculating my openings. I was feeling a little tired anyway after the…

June 23rd – Ribs again

I've not posted for a while but have been keeping up my training. Gutted that a date has now arrived for our first exhibition on 13th September at the Holland House Hotel in Cardiff and I am away that weekend. Never mind - there will be others and I'm not 100% happy that I could perform in front of 500 people for another few months..Last week was a hard session - not pleasing boxing - more uncontrolled brawling with Little Nick and Dave resulting in me having a massive bleed from both nostrils making the front of my shirt red which I think shocked a few people at the gym. It always looks worse than it is though and the…

video coach

Here's some footage from yesterday - my best punch is at 43 sec and shows how a strong stance and a left right left hook combination can win points. It is also obvious how when tired I drop my hands - especially the right and pay the price. Don't waste energy and punches on a covered up opponent.Meet Dave, and in the second half, little Nick and his big gloves…

Wednesday Skills just me

Only me today - we've got to get a few more people along otherwise it'll become hard work to keep the club going, not to mention serious lack of sparring partners. OK for me though - a private session with Jason to work on my weaknesses highlighted by my bloody nose last week at Steve's gym. Jason said I should seriously learn to parry incoming punches and follow with a counterpunch rather than using my face!So we did a lot of practice with pads:1. parry a jab and follow with a right cross2. parry a right hand and follow with a left3. lean backwards to avoid a punch and follow with a strong right handNumber 3 is great and I…

Tuesday – visit fight to Fitness Factory Cymru

After a lot of thinking about what tonight would be like, I was was off the mark. Anticipating a pummeling by well trained giants it turned out the be an excellent session. Either I am getting better about having less butterflies before a fight and just digging in and getting on with it, or I am getting more stupid... About 12 people turned up and after a long warm up that got rid of the pain in my rear, Steve pitched us against two of his best fighters - Jas said one of them was in a commonwealth boxing team. He also made us wear headguards that kept slipping over my eyes.The two guys we sparred with were totally professional.…

Monday after a week off…

I’ve had a week off in Italy and hoped the break would help me to recover from very sore ribs and a damaged muscle in my backside (piriformis), but for most of the week I could not walk without a severe limp let alone even think about putting on my running shoes. Instead of getting better it got worse, particularly at night where it often kept me awake. Received a text message from Jason telling me that the sparring visit to Steve Robinson’s Gym would be on the Tuesday. He’d rearranged the visit on my behalf and I felt nowhere near fit but had to go.So tonight’s sparring was Richard and me. He thought we’d have a light easy session…