Bella the Gym Bunny – Boxing!

 Last night I had another killer training session with Jimmy. (Killer, both in the 80s “that was killer, man” kind of way as well as  the “it almost killed me” way). 

First of all, he was absolutely thrilled when I told him my results from the 5K on Saturday.  He was happy that I got a personal best as far as the time, and encouraged me to continue to do more 5Ks.  He said he’d eventually like me to start doing some interval training that incorporates a  bit of jogging, and I told him I’d love to get to that point.  So I may actually start doing a C25K program at the beginning of the new year.

Jimmy had me do a ton of abs work, which always makes me feel so exhausted and powerful all at the same time.  The ones I loved the most were when he had me hold a 4-lb handled ball over my head and then had me crunch the ball (with my arm straight) up to my extended leg.  I always worry about whether or not you can understand my descriptions of these exercises, but hopefully you get the idea. 

We also did step cardio with a weighted ball; throwing a medicine ball against a wall; and passing the medicine ball around my back to him and then receiving it on the other side over and over again.  (You may have seen this in some sort of relay-race kind of event).  All of those were good, and I loved it when Jimmy said, “Lady B, I can really tell that you’re progressing!  Nice work, especially when you push throug the tough parts. That’s what’s going to get you to your goal.” 

The best part of the night was when Jimmy let me do some boxing!  Now the gloves I was using weren’t girly pink ones like in the photo (although I’d love to get some of these!), they were Jimmy’s gloves that he uses for mixed martial arts/ultimate fighting.  He  taught me a few different punches, including a jab, a right cross, and a left hook.  He was also an ogre about keeping my non-punching hand up to block punches.  He pretended that he was going to jab me at one point, just to make sure that I kept my hands up to protect my face.  He also went over a tiny bit footwork – that I should always stay up on the balls of my feet and rock from foot to foot while punching.  It was so much fun to hit an actual object (his hand with pads on) rather than just mimicking punching the air, as I do on the Wii.  It also took SO MUCH MORE out of me!  Not only was I drenched in sweat (which I never do), but I was also sore from keeping my arms up for that long with the blocking.  Today my shoulders and back definitely feel it.  I love the boxing so much that I think I might take a cardio kickboxing class.  Jimmy mentioned it last night and I said I wasn’t sure if I could handle the class and he said,

Bella, I think you short-change yourself a lot.  I think you’re capable of a lot more than you give yourself credit for.  Just look at all that I ask you to do, and you are able to do it, even when you don’t think you can at first.

And he’s so right.  There have been many, many times during these past couple of months where he’s asked me to do a certain move and I’m thinking in my head that I’ll never be able to do it.  And then I try it, and I CAN.  For some reason, working out is one of the few things that I’m not confident in.  In every other aspect of my life, I have tons of confidence in myself; some would say too much confidence.  But with physical abilities I really think of myself as weaker than I am.  And that kind of thinking just has to stop. 

The one thing I will say is that I never tell Jimmy I can’t do something. No matter how crazy the move is, I always attempt it to the best of my ability.  Even if the voice in my head is saying “ya, right, you aren’t going to be able to do 25 reps of that.”  I try it and I almost always surprise myself in just how much I’m able to accomplish.  And my sense of competition won’t allow me to quit until I’ve done what’s been asked of me, as much as I can. 

So now my goal is going to be to give myself more credit, as far as the gym is concerned.  To start believing from the OUTSET that I can do it.  To squelch that voice in my head that says I’m too fat to do this or too out of shape to do that.  This realization makes me understand that personal training is going to do a lot more for me than just sculpt my muscles and help me lose body fat.  It’s also going to boost my confidence in my physical abilities and show me just how far I can go.

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