Boxing Day

The day finally crept up on me, catching me like a cat cornering a frightened little mouse. Boxing Day. Not the day after Christmas, but our first boxing lesson.

The child picked up the boxing gloves and showed up very impatiently at my dooor just a little late to get us there on time. We piled into my car and hit the road. We made it with all of 5 minutes to spare. She insisted it was my fault because I refuse to drive like a freak, and I had my dogs outside to pee when she showed up. Whatever. She should have shown up 15 minutes earlier, as I had asked.

The place is a regular boxing gym with a ring in it. It's nothing like Kronk, the now defunct, but very well known boxing gym in Detroit. I had been there before -Kronk was impressive. This was in a strip mall.

There is one other female in the class. She tried to hang with us, but most things in martial arts are done in twos, so she had to find another partner. The rest of the class appeared to be young males with a lot of energy, mostly maybe in their 20s.

Boxing is a demanding sport. We had to jump rope (remember how easy that used to be?) do sit ups with punches; lunges, squats, jumping jacks, and a combination of 3 kinds of punches with squats between sets. We did high leg lifts to the sides, and the back - 30 at a time, without setting the foot back on the floor. (That last one was probably the easiest for me.). One exercise reminded me of a frenetic hopscotch.

We also punched, jabbed, hooked, and did upper cuts. Remember I was good with this class because of no sparring? Instead of sparring, you get a partner. One puts on boxing gloves and one puts on paddle-thingies. The one with gloves punches the paddle-thingies that the other one bravely holds up.

Child is a bartender, with resulting stronger arms and shoulders than she has ever had in her life. Her decision to take this class was based on a desire to relieve aggression. I have a bad shoulder and one that was recently operated on. She whacked the paddles I was holding. I gritted my teeth. Once I said, "Don't do that again." She had pushed my left arm back with a solid jab and it hurt. My own fault, really, since I wasn't braced strongly enough. I was getting frustrated - I want to help her develop a good, solid, strong arm, but I want to keep mine from snapping off. Child has a good punch with potential power behind it, but her aim is still a little erratic and her form needs work. She missed my face every time. So far.

I spent many years in martial arts classes before. I even taught judo for a few years. Judo attracts mostly teenage boys, and I had to regularly beat the crap out of them per parental request. I had to pick them up and separate them when they fought amongst themselves. It was fun. I have a semi-decent punch still - I spent time also in several forms of karate and kickboxing. I didn't hold back much on my punches - child was able to absorb them, even though she had never done that before.

It will take time for my right shoulder to really allow me to do what I should be capable of. My left - I don't know. It needs surgery, too. Maybe this class can strengthen it enough so I can avoid surgery.

Our legs were a bit rubbery. Child almost passed out once. We both spent a little time whacking on the heavy bag, and some time just breathing hard and laughing.

Next week I will miss class because I will be in AZ. I am to be allowed to make up a class on a Saturday morning, because that class isn't full yet.

We can't wait to go back. This was one great work out, not boring at all, and a great way to relieve tensions. I even have my own beginning boxing gloves :-)

Did I mention the 30 sit ups with 4 punches into your partners paddles each time we sat up? We did that routine twice. <groan>

Child has real potential as a boxer. One of the guys in charge spent some time with us, helping her with her form. He has a strong Irish accent. We both got a lot of compliments from the instructors. It was good, it was all good.

I have to work on my rope jumping. It's hard to do while keeping my shoulders out of it.

Child was less aggressive as we slowly inched our way back to my car, sweat dripping off our hair, faces red as tomatoes.

Boxing is much more fun that aerobics.How did I miss this sport before?