Boxing To Keep Fit

I've always been pretty fit, I've been blessed with good health all my life and have enjoyed participating at many sports at a fairly decent level, soccer and cycling to name but two.

But as I got older the thought of turning out for my local soccer team on a Sunday morning to play an opposition of what could be described as the missing link between Neanderthal man and Homosapien didn't seem to have the same appeal as when I was 25. I'd raced bicycles at to a good standard in my late teens and always enjoyed it, but cycling is one of those sports that you have to be totally dedicated to or you fall by the wayside, and with a young family it just wasn't possible to keep the training up to the desired level.

As I reached my thirties I was fully aware that I needed a form of exercise that I could partake in that would give me some structure yet flexibility as well as pushing me to my limits.

That's where I decided upon boxing.

I'd always loved watching boxing. I remember watching fights on the television with my Father as I was growing up. I knew that boxers were a special breed of people, after all, which sane person would get into a ring with the sole intention of hitting someone else but not getting hit?
What I wasn't ready for was the level at which boxers train at and what genuinely wonderful people they are.

As I've already mentioned I'm pretty fit, I'm also very competitive, love to learn and don't give up readily. As I soon found out, these are good traits to have as a boxer.

The thought of going to my local boxing gym had always been a bit daunting, I was never quite sure how I'd be received, being the wrong end of twenty with no experience at all in the sport, so when a friend of mine whom I'd met at my local sports centre informed me that he'd been training at the boxing gym and that I should go along with him I jumped at the chance.

It was a decision I wish I'd made years ago.

The place was mesmerizing. The smells, the equipment and the noises were all totally alien to me, I was in awe.

The gym consists of 14 individual punch bags of differing types, all for developing different skills as well as a ring. I'd never seen a boxing ring before and being the inquisitive fool that I am I had to step inside. It was en-powering!

I had no idea about the basics of boxing, when you see it on the television it sort of looks pretty easy to get the fundamentals, throw a punch, keep your guard up, move, don't get hit, block a punch, throw another punch and so on, but you try doing that when you've got someone in front of you who wants to hit you harder and more times than you hit them, and don't forget to breathe!

Luckily I didn't get the chance to stay in the ring for long; I had to learn the basics. One of the coaches at the gym took me to one side and started working on my foot work, the most important thing to get right first.

In the first week I went to the gym four more times and even though each time I ached a little more I couldn't get enough of it. Soon I was ready to progress to a circuit class which was held twice a week where twenty or so boxers are put through their paces. The circuit consisted of 16 x 2 minute rounds with a minutes rest between rounds in which you were instructed to do either press-ups, squat thrusts, burpees, star jumps or some form or other of crunch / sit up. In between all of this one of the coaches would call you out of the session for a round or two of pad work. I'd never experienced any form of training half as hard as this before, but I loved every second of it.

Because the training is so intense you find yourself looking at the way you live your life outside of the ring, diet and nutrition being the main thing that I changed. I couldn't see the point in training as hard as I was just to go and undo all the good work.

The rules of boxing in the UK mean that as an amateur you can only box competitively up to the age of 34, an age that passed me by before I was at a level to fight, but still I trained as if there was a goal. I've never been fitter than when I was boxing, and I'm now 37.

Seven years on and I still go training every so often. My commitments in life have changed as have the demands on my time but I still get the buzz when I step through the doors.

The one thing that struck me and endeared me more than anything to boxing was the people. All of the staff and boxers were such genuinely nice people it was really hard to miss a session. Before long I'd made some of the best friends I'd ever made.

So if you're looking for a sport to get you fit as well as motivate you maybe boxing's the one for you.

I try to pass on my musings on life and experiences in a way that people may find interesting to read.

http://www.nike-trainers.com

You may not always agree with my writings but I hope to inform.
Harwood E Woodpecker

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