Not-so-foxy boxing

We had been planning it since before Christmas. Amara, Abby, Kat and I were going to try a boot camp boxing class. Amara had been before but was looking for company to get back into it. Abby was excited about it, Kat was looking to get into something and me, well, you know I'll try anything once.

Abby bowed out today because she was still recovering from her bronchitis. Kat took a look at the website and got scared but she talked herself back into coming. Class started at 7:00 and lasted 75 minutes. It's $10 for a drop in.

It's advertised as "the toughest workout in the city" and I just might believe them, although I haven't tried the boot camp in the park program that starts at 5:30 am.

As part of the warm up we had to do two reps of stairs--that is, four flights of stairs, up and down twice. Challenging yes, but for me, terrifying. I should have noted this yesterday in my News of the Odd post; I have an irrational fear of stairs, specifically going down stairs. I am afraid of tripping down them. My thought is this has something to do with the whole Jack and Jill and Jill came tumbling after thing.

After the warm up and some shadow boxing we got to put the gloves on and hit the bag. Kat and I paired up. I grabbed the gloves. I cringed as I slipped my hands inside. The gloves were cold and damp. As in, soaked. With sweat.

"Just tell yourself they spray them with disinfectant," Kat told me. For the first drill one person punches while the other jogs on the spot, knees high. I held my hands up high, close to my face and nearly lost my lunch. Imagine your nastiest, sweatiest sports socks. Now imagine putting them on your hands and holding them half an inch from your nose. It sure makes you want to put some speed into your jab.

Later we got to practice jabbing at each other. One person hits, the other tries to catch you. Kat was better than I was so I let out a few surprised shrieks. I was embarrassed at my girliness.

"I never fought on the playground!" I told her in defense.

Aside from the icky feel and smell, I liked punching the bag the best. Shadow boxing was boring but really hitting something was great. Too bad you can't get that smell out of your hands though. I think I may have to spray my hands with a bleach mixture.

Near the end of the class we were on the floor for crunches and push ups. Kat and I were tucked away in a corner sharing a mat. We were crunching away, glad to have the smelly gloves off when someone totally let escape some rank and horrible odour that litearally hung around like a bad smell. We couldn't help it and we just started giggling like high schoolers. Okay, truthfully we were pretty much rolling on the floor.

I don't know if boxing is my thing, but it was a good workout. Especially all the ab work from the giggling.

When I got home I was greeted not only by Elmo, but also an Ewok. Apparently my mom and my sister found one wandering around the street. They took it to the animal hospital to see if it had a microchip or tattoo so they could find the owner. It has a tattoo and licence but the licencing office was closed so we have to keep the little guy over night.






See the resemblance?