Explosion and endurance

As my conditioning has improved and my training has progressed I have realized something: I am still working as hard as ever at the end of a round of pad work or sparring. I was concerned about this for a while wondering when it would be that I could get through a hard round and not be panting and pouring sweat at the end. Then I realized that the level of output in a round had increased dramatically. I was still clinching and delivering hard knees after 3 minutes and firing round kicks at the pad at full force and rapidly. That's when it occurred to me that the real goal is to be able to funnel as much explosive power through myself as I needed in each round. Previously, I was just as winded but the output wasn't much. Now I am exploding through my rounds and still able to go to the next round afterward. That's the other side of the equation of course and really where I see the improved conditioning in that I am able to repeat that explosive process through many rounds whether sparring, clinching or doing pad work. That's what I will need deep into the late rounds. And its coming along.  Progress, real progress.