Technology: My eBook about Apps will Change the Way you View your Finances

It's no secret to my readers that I love to write. That's why I have a blog. Writing lets me organize my thoughts. There's always a lot going on in my mind, admittedly not all of the mess in it is beneficial for me. One day I decided to set my mind's thoughts into something that's actually productive, so -- this may come as a surprise to most readers -- I've actually written my own ebook. As in a true legitimate book with its own adherence to copyright laws, ISBN (International Standard Book Number), and cover page. I'm proud to be able to strike that off the bucket list. 😊

The title of my book is Gen-Z Financial Guide: How to be a Badass in the the Philippine Economy. I'd like to thank the artist behind the appealing cover page of my book, Moody Bread. You can check out her Link Tree and some of her art in the link. Literally the cover wouldn't have existed without her so I'm truly grateful. Obviously I've heard of the saying "You can't judge a book by its cover". I'm taking it literally here instead of applying the expression to people as you can see. Nevertheless I totally agree with it in either of the scenarios, but honestly it's still nice to have a unique, eye-catching cover that everyone can see.

When I wrote my book, I wrote initially about my own experiences with personal finance, like how I make a profit at the Philippine stock market, or how do I make money on the side besides the market. But I've also done a lot of research to better specify what I wanted to go in detail about. Thankfully, my girlfriend used to be an economics professor. She's also a veteran stock trader so rest assured most of the information I've written down is augmented by a professional's eye.

The book was months in the making, with a hiatus in the finalization. I had some hesitations about the contents of the book -- it's the first book I've ever written after all. I want the information in my book to be as accurate as possible and I genuinely want the people who read my book to learn something they can use for their personal finances in the Philippines. It isn't a self-help book with generic motivational speeches. It's a helpful pointer to tools and apps that can help you invest and manage your finances, as well as make money on the side really easily.

The book is completely FREE and you can go over the whole thing in less than an hour if you go over it in one sitting. You can get it here and you'd have absolutely nothing to lose :)

Thanks as always for your time in reading my post. Let me know what you think about the book in the comments below!

Fitness: My Top 5 Favorite Boxers

It's no secret on this blog that I love boxing. My entire Fitness category is filled with mostly boxing-related posts. I've wrote a lot about my own boxing journey, but I haven't really written anything about the world of international boxing yet. I don't keep my eyes peeled for the latest and greatest news like some story-hungry paparazzi, but I do love to watch the sport whenever it comes on. I also watch full fights and highlights on Youtube whenever it's a slow day at work. I've seen plenty of professional boxers fight and I've grown to really like the styles of certain fighters.

Below are my top 5 fighters in terms of style.

#5: Guillermo Rigondeaux

This Cuban fighter's nicknamed "El Chacal" which is Spanish for "The Jackal", and it suits him. Rigondeaux's fighting style is slick and smooth. He's a technician with incredible defense. I like his evasive maneuvers more than Mayweather's because Rigondeaux is less frantic and more graceful (but let's be real here, objectively, Mayweather's defense is more foolproof). Unlike every other boxer, Rigondeaux very rarely throws jabs. He just positions himself right in front of you, waiting for you to miss. He's so close his enemies lose their cool and react aggressively. This makes their movements predictable, allowing Rigondeaux to calmly use his sophisticated footwork and head movement to evade the incoming punches.

With all that said, Rigondeaux also has some drawbacks. He's an aging professional but he's only had about a dozen fights. He's also on the short side, so he can't take too much hits. He evades a lot of punches, but if he messes up and one lands on one of his sweet spots, he's down. He was outmatched by Vasyl Lomachenko who I'll talk about later in this list.

#4: Gennady Golovkin

Golovkin is almost the opposite of Rigondeaux. If Rigondeaux just stays in front of you waiting for you to miss, Golovkin aggressively pushes onwards against you until you submit. Golovkin is like an immovable object; many of the fighters he's fought have thrown perfect shots trying to back him off, but Golovkin doesn't stagger much from the pain. He'll just keep throwing bombs to push his opponents into a corner, where he unleashes even more hell on them. The beauty of Golovkin's style is it's both brutal and simple. Incredible punching power, mixed with infallible endurance and unrelenting pressure. Make no mistake, Golovkin might be ranked on the lower side of this list, but he's proven time and time again that he could be the best boxer of this generation.

#3: Manny Pacquiao

I'm a Filipino, so Manny Pacquiao is definitely one of those Pinoy things that I'm totally proud of. He might be a lousy senator but he's a helluva boxer. When I think of Manny's style, I think of a ferocious, aggressive spark of fire. Anything and everything that comes into his radius won't be able to escape without getting hurt. His punches must feel like being hit by a machine gun, because he's a high volume puncher and he punches crazy hard for someone his size. He's always throwing numerous shots with blinding speed, and they're hitting his enemy everywhere! Manny's footwork was also great to see. He's always bouncing around in a way that make his opponents look like newbies.

With that said, I don't think Manny has a lot going for him defense wise. Manny doesn't use a lot of head movement to evade punches. His style usually involves just beating his opponent to the punch, and then using his bouncy footwork to get out of his opponent's line of fire either by pivoting his lead foot or taking a step back.

#2 Vasyl Lomachenko

The current superstar of boxing. He's been known under many nicknames like "Hi-Tech", "The Matrix" and "The Artist". These nicknames come as no surprise when you see him fight in the ring. He's incredibly entertaining to watch. His style makes the violent sport look graceful thanks to his footwork that gets him around the ring and all over his opponent as if he's levitating. His combinations are fast and fluid; he throws nearly as much punches as Pacquiao does. Lomachenko is very comfortable fighting on the inside. As Joe Rogan said, he sticks close to his enemies like glue, but Lomachenko can slip and dodge their punches with ease, while countering with a barrage of his own. It's an understatement to say, but it really is impressive to see a close-range fighter do the job without getting tangled up in clinches. It keeps the action fluid and exciting.

#1 Canelo Alvarez

This is where my opinion becomes controversial, because Canelo has a lot of haters. Regardless of that, this is my blog so I can say whatever the hell I want and what I want to say is this: Canelo Alvarez is the closest thing we have to a "Perfect Fighter" if there ever is one. Why do I say this? Because Canelo has shown us time and time again that he's an all-around superb fighter. Power, Technique, or Speed, you name it. He's powerful as an aggressor and he's slick when he's on the defensive. He throws snappy counter punches as if it's second nature to him. Put his power and his defense together along with those deadly counter punches and you have yourself a guy who can dish out brain damages while he avoids getting brain damage himself.

I was sold after he fought Golovkin for the second time. We've seen in this fight that Alvarez is powerful enough to make that beast stagger backwards, which is something we've never seen before.


That's my list of favorite boxers and their fighting styles summed up in a nutshell. I was thinking of including an honorable mentions list but I'll save that for another time because thinking about the styles of other fighters makes me want to write about their fighting styles too.

Who are your favorite boxers, and what do you think makes them unique? Let me know in the comments below :)

Fitness: Reviewing the sparring sessions that I've fought in

"'Taas mo kamay mo kahit di mo na kaya. Yan ang Fighting Spirit. (Keep your hands up even when you can't do it no more. That's true Fighting Spirit)" - Coach Julius, my first boxing trainer

Sparring is one of the most important parts of martial arts training. There's literally never been a professional fighter out there in the world that never did any sparring. This is very important because you learn to control your adrenaline, strategize while you're under live fire, and simulate what a real fight is like without exposing yourself to too much risk. You're pitted against a live moving target while wearing protective headgear. You learn to fight the smart way. Expert Boxing is one of the first places online I went to for some boxing wisdom, so you should check it out.

I was inspired to start writing about this because I just got out of a fierce sparring session yesterday. It was only two rounds of sparring, but I threw some heavy blows and I took some heavy blows. The whole sparring session was originally intended to be light i.e. nothing too serious, but things quickly started heating up in the second round.

I ate an uppercut that made spit come out of my mouth, I also took body shots that knocked the wind out of me. I wanted to keep it light because the guy I was sparring with was shorter than me, but those punches he threw made me take him seriously. I got lucky plenty of times in the fight. Since he was shorter I threw a lot of jabs and some lead left hooks. I hit him with plenty of those. I got extra lucky and hit his eye. He was tearing up but he acted like it's no big deal. That's the mark of a fighter.

So from here on out, I'm going to list down my most memorable sparring sessions. I'm in a reminiscent mood so I'm doing this for posterity. I'll place a divider between different sparring sessions so they're easier to tell apart.

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This is the only video of me sparring that I have. It's my first sparring session and it happened during the first year I was in a boxing gym. It's just light sparring so there's not a lot of force in our blows. You can clearly see I'm still a beginner in this video clip. As of today, I've already been in over a dozen sparring matches and I can confidently say I'm a lot better now. I now have the endurance to keep going in sparring sessions that can take as long as four to five rounds max. I'm also not afraid to take harder hits nowadays.

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One sparring session that I can never forget is the one that happened in the Elorde Gym at Taft. I wanted to go three rounds but I only managed to do two rounds because I couldn't take the hits that were being thrown at me. I admit I was scared for a moment. I took a straight right hand to the left side of my forehead which sucked so bad. I got dizzy when that happened, I saw stars during the spar and I knew that couldn't be good.

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As part of the Muay Thai club in my company, our coach lets us lightly spar if we have extra time to do that. This video shows the exact same meeting room where we normally do our light sparring. I sparred with one of my coworkers one day. I don't want to brag, but I can confidently say that I'm in full control of that sparring session. He's super hesitant to throw any punches at me, and he often positioned himself too close to me so I can hit him with some hooks if I wanted to.

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A couple of weeks ago I had another sparring session. It wasn't as heated as the one I had today, and it was the first real sparring match I had in a long time. He didn't hurt me much, because he was just throwing jabs. He was the evasive kind, so he was more focused on slipping and dodging my punches. I was still able to hit him a lot of times nevertheless. I managed to do that by incorporating some feints and footwork into my long combinations to create angles and openings.

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Last but not least I remember sparring with someone who didn't take the sparring session seriously at all because I was still a newbie. What made this sparring session memorable for me was the Drunken Fist he incorporated into his style. That's when I realized I still have a lot to learn, and up until now, I've been striving to be seen as more of a threat. I think it's reasonable to assume that I'm boxing more effectively if I manage to get my sparring partner to up their game.

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There you have it those are the most memorable sparring sessions I've had up until today. Looking forward to making more memories and learning new techniques as I continue to spar. I strive to be good enough at boxing that I can handle myself in a self-defense situation or street fight. I need a lot of technique and experience to take down a bigger guy. I'm hoping I could spar with someone bigger than me soon to be able to study what works and what doesn't work when I get the short end of the stick in a fight.

What awesome sparring moments do you remember in your boxing journey? Sharing badass fight stories make you 20% cooler :) Leave your comments below!

Fitness: Teaching Muay Thai and Getting Punched in the Face in the name of Volunteerism

Back in February I wrote a blog post about my volunteering adventures into an abuse survivor home to teach them self-defense. I had so much fun teaching other people how to fight that I wanted to keep doing that. I was lucky enough to get one more chance at another volunteer event hosted by my company. This other session is definitely a lot more intense than the last one.

The first time I worked the mitts back in February, I had to train little girls. It was fun. Some of them punched surprisingly hard for their size, but it was nothing I can't handle. As you can see from this video, I was in for a massive surprise, because I won't be working the mitts with little girls anymore. I was going to work the mitts with grown men. Some of them are bigger than me!

The NGO I was supporting when I did this is called CRIBS. Similar to the Visayan Forum Foundation that I mentioned in my other blog post, CRIBS is all about creating a better environment for the children and empowering people in the process. The participants in this session are the security guards and janitors of the building where we do our work.

Although majority of them were security guards, they didn't really have a lot of combat experience. We asked them if they've ever done any contact sport before and most of them said the only sport they've ever done was basketball. This was evident when we taught them through the proper Muay Thai stance. It isn't second nature for them yet to put their hands-up like the professionals do. Once we got them up to speed on the basic stance and strikes, it was time to wrap their hands, put on the gloves, and hit the pads.

Security guard to his friend while I was wrapping his hands: "Kunin mo 'to ng litrato, minsan lang to mangyari!" (Get a picture of this, it doesn't happen often!)

I have to admit I was intimidated at first, but I quickly saw this as an opportunity to see what I'm really made of. If I can't handle their power when I work the mitts with them, how am I going to take a punch in a real fight? I know I just mentioned they don't have any combat experience, nevertheless their size and weight made their punches hard to take. They learned really quickly too. 4-hit and 5-hit combinations weren't difficult for them to pull off after a couple of rounds at the mitts. Weaving under hooks is still awkward, but they managed to incorporate it into their combos.

I got hit 3 times. That's the highlight of my entire experience. I wish I had pictures or clips of when it happened but we'd just have to settle with my anecdote. It hurts but it's still awesome at the same time. A couple of those were my fault because I underestimated their power.

Burly group of men! They're not on the scrawny side.

The first one came from a security guard about my size. I told him to throw a barrage of hooks from both left and right hands. He lost control a bit and threw way too wildly so he ended up smacking my forearms, instead of the pads. They were real punches so they hurt a bit. Thankfully they didn't hit any of my sweet spots (e.g. my face, or my chin.)

The second punch came from a tall lanky security guard when I told him to throw a left uppercut. I didn't expect him to hit so hard. I didn't slap his fist hard enough so his punch went through and hit my face. Obviously this punch hurt more than the first.

The third punch came from a guy that was much shorter than me. It was also a left uppercut and again I underestimated the power behind the glove. When he threw that punch, the back of my mitt hit my face. Although it's a bit more indirect than the other one, it was much, much stronger than the other guy's. This is surprising because he's not a security guard. He's just a janitor! When I got hit by that, I knew I had to take him seriously. I slapped all of his other incoming punches as if they were no joke.

Besides weaving, their distance, slipping, and their overall defense still had a lot of room for improvement. They didn't keep their hands up, and they were too close. I didn't reprimand them about this because I was more focused on teaching them combinations, and I wanted them to have a good time.

Besides all the punching and kicking, we also had them do some calisthenics like real fighters. The video below encapsulates nicely most of what we've made them do, aside from the light sparring that I showed at the beginning, which is actually one of the last things we made them do as a culmination of everything they've learned in the short time we've been training them.

Fortunately, I have a clip of the sparring session; it's better for you to see the actual sparring, instead of me just writing about it. But I will say this: I learned some valuable things just by watching them go at it. They're big and they swing hard, but they tire easily. I'm thankful my coach pointed that out for me. They don't have the stamina to keep their hands up for the whole duration of a round (FYI, that's 3 mins). I have the stamina to go 3 rounds on average, so if I were to go up against a bigger, inexperienced fighter, I just need to keep my head moving, and my hands up until they tire themselves out. My opponent would be a lot easier to take down once he's burned out like that. That's something you can take into consideration too.

I think that's about everything I can say about the Volunteer Day 2019 event. I hope I can do more things like these in the future. I really enjoy the workout and experience I get, and it feels great to be able to give back to society in my own special way outside from the paycheck I get.

What's your special way of giving back to the community? As always let me know in the comments below :)