When you feel like you know it all, like you're pretty good at most things in your life, you've got things under control...go do something you know you really stink at. Something that intimidates you and makes you feel really vulnerable, silly & stupid. That's how i was feeling yesterday.
So i went to my boxing gym.
Ok, so i admit i'm a bit more confident walking in that place than i used to be, but i'm still filled with a bit of apprehension, never knowing what kind of tricks the trainer, the instructor of the Boxing Fitness class, has up his or her sleeve. (ok, forget that, they don't wear sleeves)
Today was no exception. New instructor. the New kid on the block. Doesn't have his bio up on the website yet, so i can't check his credentials. Actually subbing today for the owner who was scheduled to teach today. So of course now it's my job to size up the new instructor and critique his style of teaching just as i'm sure he is sizing up all his students, figuring out which ones will listen and obey and which ones will give him a hard time. (i know, i've been a teacher of various sorts..)
so this new kid...literally practically a kid.. so young he could almost be my own son, i'm thinking, and if he were, gosh dang it, i'd give him a wuppin' for making my abs hurt so bad by the end of the hour!! First impressions: by reading his tattoos, i'd venture to say he LOVES: his mom, the Chicago Cubs, a bunch of stuff i didn't recognize and a cute smiley multi-colored gecko lizard planted right across the top of his bare foot, which i observed when he helped me with a ducking move later on.
One more character analysis: he was an excellent yeller, a real loud barking voice that worked great for shouting commands: "10 PUSH-UPS!!! GOOOO!!!!!!" etc, etc. (hold that thought, i'll refer to the Voice again later..)
Work-out analysis. i liked that he changed things up a bit: Instead of just a few isometrics and then getting to the bags right away, we hung out without our gloves, doing a PLETHORA of stuff like burpees, push-ups, squat jumps, down-and-ups, presses with hand weights, and more for quite some time. So by the time we finally gloved up and went to the bags, our heart rates were really pumping, our muscles were really hot, and we had that feeling of just starting to "empty the tank" so when we start railing at the bags, we could really let 'er rip, those punches really flew.
And i liked the punch sequences he gave us, they really made more sense, felt so much more fight-like, more natural than some randomly choreographed combos some other instructors have given us, just for the sake of a work-out. These had a natural flow to them, a good rhythm, like you could easily imagine using them in an actual fight. My favorite? ok, let's see if i remember: it was 1,2,1,2, roll right, 2,3&5. Breaking that down some more: jab, cross, jab, cross, then roll/duck right, pulling that right shoulder back, then SLAM!!! back at the bag with the power of a superman punch in another jab-with-momentum, a left hook, a right upper. YAH!! Also helps that it fits perfectly in an 8-count rhythm, so you can do it to the beat of the loud hard rock music that pounds all around the cage.
The chick next to me was a newbie and the instructor would often come over to our corner to assist her, so i wasted no time in asking questions, too. Gotta get my money's worth here.
Learned to bend my knees more, reach, don't lean forward, weight on balls of feet.
Another thing, his teaching style: i liked that he just kept it real. Barked out commands, not in a mean way, but just a loud "lets-get-down-to-business" way. Not overly enthusiastic or cheesy cheerleader-style, and not just plain MEAN like the Donut Man. (referring to another instructor at this gym..) Mr. Donut Man could be mean sometimes, singling people out for dropping their arms out of pure exhaustion on some kind of exercise, and then punishing the whole class for their error by making us all stay in push-up position for another century or so. Too much drill sergeant, doesn't impress me a bit.
Speaking of donuts... in the middle of our class, one of the other instructors who had been sitting at the front desk, left the building for a bit and came back with DONUTS! not for us, of course, but he cruelly came and gave our teacher one in the middle of class, eating it in front of us while we drooled our way through more planks and sit-ups under the bags. What's the deal with these boxing instructors and their donuts? (oh yeah, i think this guy's from So. Cali, too.) Trevor, the tatooed instructor who's teaching us, informs us that soon this donut-scavenging dude that's working the front desk today, (Alex) will soon be teaching more of these classes, in preparation for a fight he's going to participate in this coming November.
Speaking of real fights...
At the end of class, as we're finishing up our last set of sit-ups, Trevor throws in a plug for next weekend's Bull City Brawl, a fight that happens in Durham every few months or so. Trevor just happens to be the "matchmaker" (i had to google what that one meant) and the ANNOUNCER for this event. So that explains the loud barking voice, i can imagine he does a great job yelling through the fights, too. He jokingly assures us that the fights are "kid-friendly", so come out and watch. hmmm, i had to see about that, so i google-imaged it, and will share my findings below:
oh and it also explains the crazy-looking bull horns strapped to the front of one of the cars in front of the boxing gym, I assume it's this instructor's car. Looks pretty silly, really, bull horns as a hood ornament. Tried taking a photo but in my nervousness and trying so hard to be sneaky and not look like a secret spy, i messed up the photo. oh well.
hmmm, kid-friendly? then why do these girls have to stand there in support of the men, wearing only barely-there bikinis? What is that teaching our young daughters? hmmm? They should be having a fight of their own.. (just sayin)
One final (i think) note: One of these photos led me to this website of this GIRL referee for some fighting matches in our area. Her blog is below. I'm impressed. Here it is..
http://grapplinggirl.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html
Guess I have new things to learn about. (and then blog every last detail about them, cuz this stuff just gets stuck in my brain till i air it out, i'm such a dweeb...) ;-D
likin this stuff. you can learn something new every day. so much to learn, so little time.
No comments:
Post a Comment