Boxing......Now What?

Back in May, with the support and encouragement from my trainer at Fitness Together, I set a goal to start boxing. But not only was I going to start incorporating it as part of my workout regimen, but to actually participate in a spar. Well, for the last several months I’ve been busting my ass to make sure I was ready to get in that ring, and Saturday I was able to accomplish what I set out to do!

It’s been a lot of hard work, it took extra training time in and outside the gym, and I was put in an environment that was totally out of my comfort zone. I’m not going to lie, but I was nervous as hell! I was going to start training twice a week at The Engine Room, a local boxing gym, and not knowing anyone caused a little anxiety. I didn’t know what to expect once I got there and all I could think about was I just set a goal where I’m going to purposely put myself in a position to get hit! Am I crazy? Yeah, I’m a little crazy, but like Michael has said before, we are all crazy so we need to just embrace our crazy! So, that’s what I did. I set my goal, with the many coaches/trainers from Fitness Together and The Engine Room, I was pushed beyond what I ever imagined I could or would do, and just a little over 90 days later I’m participating in my first open sparring event.

So, the two big questions I get are, 1) How was it?  2) Are you going to do it again? And to answer those questions…..

1) It was awesome! I was nervous, but I knew I was ready and trained hard for this. I was fortunate enough to partner up with Bry who had started training just right before I did and this was her first spar as well. Because it was the first time for both of us, we went for three rounds, each round lasted one minute. Even though I had been in that ring many times during training, doing practice spars with my coach and working on technique with others, as I was getting in the ring for the first time knowing the day I had worked so hard for was finally here I had some many emotions run through me. I was excited, happy, fear, anxious, and even a little doubt. But, when the buzzer went off for that first round all of a sudden it was just her and me, and all those emotions disappeared and were replaced with drive, focus, motivation, determination, and the thought of “I’ve got this!”. When that buzzer went off our final round to signal the round was over, my emotions went to accomplished, proud, ecstatic, and the thought “I DID IT!!!”.

2) Yes, I’m going to do it again! It’s a lot of hard work, but I had fun training and I also met a lot of new amazing people and made new friends. So, I’ve decided I’m going to keep doing this once or twice a week to supplement everything I do at Fitness Together and continue to work towards other goals. Maybe next time I spar I’ll be able to go two minute rounds! A huge thanks to the following coaches/trainers who helped me accomplish this goal! From Fitness Together, Michael, Terri, Roberto, Colt, Matt, and Sully. And from The Engine Room, Aaron, Terri (she's part of both fitness centers), Bruce, John, and Kevin. And a big thanks to Bry for being my sparring opponent so I could have fun with this experience!

Now that I’ve met this 90 day goal, Michael and I’ve been talking about my next 90 day goal. I’m working on what I want that to be, we’ll discuss it next week so we can get it set and I can start working on what I need to do to meet it, and then I will once again bust my ass to make sure I accomplish what I set out to do. What will it be? Stay tuned and once I have it set I’ll let you know! :)