Goals

Weight Loss Goal: Start Boxing

April 27, 2010

Boxing is a total-body exercise. One jabs, pulls back, hops around, dodges, ducks, lunges, spins, then repeats. I've long marveled at those who use this for their regular exercise and toning. I see it used more and more as a component of exercise routines. You see it on The Biggest Loser a lot, because it's apparently great exercise.

There's hitting a big hanging bag that is akin to pummeling a padded wall. It never moves, it just hangs there, laughing at you. There's hitting that little thing - a speed bag? - that looks a little like a uvula in the back of your throat; it always looks like it's gonna snap back and hit you in the face. Then there's hitting a person in sparring ... where they actually do hit back.

I've never been in a fight, I've never been a fighter. I certainly have never felt up the physical toll, stamina, strength needed for it, and I'm pretty sure I'm a big sissy. But I want to start boxing. Guys who box a lot are fit. It really is a great workout, and I want to some day work it into my routine. These days I do mostly classic cardio exercise - treadmills, ellipticals. It makes me sweat and it does the job, but it sure gets boring after a while.

Someday, that stuff will just be the warm up, and some day, I want to enjoy all sorts of cardio and exercise that I feel I'm not ready for ... or am too embarrassed yet to learn. I can join a boxing gym, I can learn to fight and be in tune with my body. I can enjoy an all new level of fitness I've yet only dreamed of.

Creative Ways to Get Your Cardio

February 4, 2010 @ 02:00 pm

The treadmill, elliptical, rowing machine, stair climber. All basic forms of getting your cardio. But also really boring after a while. My gym has TVs at each machine to help ease the dull roar, but there are plenty of other ways to get a great cardio workout. Here's a couple of sample videos. The first is boxing - I'd really love to learn how to do this stuff some day. Something about the sheer force and raw power of hitting a bag combined with the need to dodge and weave. I'm not particularly combative but boxing has always interested me as a sport I'd like to try.

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The second is a rock-climbing wall. Not content with a normal wall, some gyms have these infinite walls that let you climb until you fall off. And it's a total body work out if I've ever seen one. I've been rock climbing before, believe it or not, and it's not exactly a walk in the park. I'd love to go again.

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