A Week of Personal Records with Minneapolis Strength Coach, Matt Miller, at Horsepower Strength and

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I've been on the struggle bus with my strength and conditioning of late, but sometimes these feelings are mere illusions. Though my training hasn't felt powerful, technical, or particularly satisfying, I surprised myself with 3 personal records this week and still have 1 more strength and conditioning training session to go. Though surprising to me, it came as no surprise to my strength and conditioning coach, Matt Miller.

I've taken to keeping a notebook on hand at Horsepower. After a year and a half of just letting my coach track where I'm at, I've decided I want to keep myself more in the loop, knowing what I've done before, and visualizing what levels of strength and conditioning I can aim for. This training journal, dubbed the "Power Log," shall serve to keep me on track.

My numbers for the week (thus far):

Power Cleans x1 Max 175lbs

Push Press x5 Max 135lbs

Deadlift x1 Max 345lbs

Not bad for a skinny kickboxer.

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We followed up last week's 1 rep max with 3 rep sets this week and the results have been surprising thus far. My x3 weights have actually gone up from what my max was 1 week prior on cleans and push press:

Power Cleans x3 Max 185lbs - 10lbs up from 1 week prior, and now at 3 reps as opposed to 1!

Push Press x5 Max 145lbs - 10lbs up from 1 week prior!

Deadlift x3 Max 320lbs - Just 25lbs short of my 1 rep max last week.

With my 2015 fights behind me, it's been nice to be able to focus a little more on brute strength during my Horsepower training. Typically, when I'm closer to fights, we don't get to spend as much time focusing soely on strength because we have to keep my speed and conditioning progressing to maximum capabilities as well. I'm enjoying this time away from fighting to build my body back up and work on different things. Working with my coaches at The Cellar and at Uppercut, we've identified soft spots, and are working to improve certain elements of my Muay Thai and boxing game as well, but that's top secret!