Boxing Workout

I can tell my back and my “core” have gotten stronger already from the weightlifting and other things at CrossFit. I hadn’t been to boxing in eight days, and tonight when I was hitting the focus pad that my partner was holding, I could tell I was punching harder than before. I felt somehow more solid around my middle. Before we got to that drill, we’d had our butts kicked. Some painful highlights: three minutes alternating variations on the push-up position—15 seconds with one leg off the floor, 15 seconds other leg, 15 seconds one arm, 15 seconds other arm, and so on for three minutes. I was shaking all over by the end but lasted through it without sagging or putting down the fourth limb. It’s the first time I made it all the way through that one. CrossFit has not only made me stronger, but more willing to push myself, to decide that although it hurts I can hold out for the short time remaining. That round was followed by jumprope, alternating 30-second intervals of crossovers and doubles. I’m not as good at fast jumprope drills as I was when I was boxing several times a week. There’s an element of coordination in fast jumping rope that requires regular intensive practice. I liked being good at that, but right now I’ve been having so much fun learning new stuff at the other gym that I don’t mind slacking off a little on jumprope. After that cardio spike, as if that wasn’t enough, we went into two minutes of burpees: squat-thrusts with a push-up at the bottom and a jump at the top. I did a few and then switched to slow squat-thrusts with the jump but usually without the push-up. Spending all my energy on the previous round and then giving out on the burpees made me feel not quite up to par. I was so fatigued I could hardly talk. Never mind, there were still plenty of three-minute rounds to let me try to redeem myself. Next we had 30-second intervals of jumping over a line as fast as possible from side to side (feet together) alternating with running in place with the hands behind the head. I managed not to take mini-breaks at the 30-second bells, but went without stopping into the next interval for the whole three minutes. Next we went on to two or three more rounds of jumprope until we’d spent 20 minutes on all that cardio torture. Then we moved on to ten or twelve different kinds of crunches in sets of 25. As always, I gave out repeatedly on crunches. I tried to keep in mind that (1) this is only a workout—even if it hurts, I’m not actually being hurt and (2) a whole set surely can’t last longer than 30 seconds and I should be able to suck it up for that long. Next time I’ll try to be stronger on crunches. My difficulty has got to be more mental than physical. My core being made stronger from the other workouts has got to mean I can do more crunches than before, if I can make myself work through the tiredness. After the endless series of crunches, the workout was only half over and we still had 30 minutes of punching on the heavy bags, focus pad, and speed bag. At the end of class, I picked up the Lysol can to spray inside my gloves, and it felt so heavy I wanted to put it down instantly. Now I’m kind of leaning back with my arms supported by the sides of the folding-chair-back so that I can type without extending them. Tom and I kid around that we love to go to these nutty classes and get tortured because it feels so good when we stop. How do you like my new site layout? I had fun obsessing over the stylesheet and I learned a lot in the process. I hope it looks okay on other monitors and browsers.