So yesterday morning (8/25) I decided to try out my new gym, Finney's and do their boxing and kickboxing classes. The drive there was nice without any headaches of traffic or unforeseen weather issues. My first class was at 10:15am and I left my house at 9:35am, by the time I arrived it was 10:10am....so yea I'm glad this place is near my job so it would only be about a 10-15 min commute on a great day without traffic, but I'll be leaving during rush hour so....yea....might be a bit longer than 15 min.
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| Movie: Girlfight, Released: 2000, Michelle Rodriguez |
I arrive in time to scan in, go downstairs, get my gloves and wraps out, throw my bag in a locker, secure it and walk really fast to the workout room. As I arrive I can see about 15 - 2o other people in the room getting themselves wrapped up and talking. Within 10 minutes the instructor (a brotha) was putting us through the warm up paces. I tell ya what.......I have NEVER been put through warm up's like this. I won't lie I wasn't even able to complete some of them. I tried my best but damn they were NO joke. I was sweating HARD and this was just the WARM-UPS!
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| Octagon MMA cage |
So after that the instructor tells us to partner up. I inform someone that I'm new to the class and the instructor takes myself and another newbie into their Octagon MMA cage to give us one on one instruction. So the instructor starts to walk us through the basics. He informs me to put on my gloves and the other lady to put on boxing pads. He gives out instructions on how to throw the punches, so I follow his instructions and within a few minutes he starts to smile and asks me if I've boxed before. lolol....I tell him yes and I used to be a member at two previous gyms. He nods his head in satisfaction and then he starts throwing out combos he wants me to hit. I was a bit rusty but it started coming back to me fast. The other lady who was holding the pads was a bit worried because I was hitting so hard she was trying to hold her stance and not fall back. So my instructor told me to hold back some so she could get used to the impact.
Eventually we take a break and by that time I was breathing hard, my arms were sore and I had to ask the instructor to take my glasses off because they were fogged up. There were also two other guys in the ring with us that were working out and I could hear them talking to our instructor and they said I was pretty good and could tell I had done this before. That made me smile:) So after our break it was my turn with the pads and then the other girl gloved up. The instructor goes through the same paces as before and the other lady did a darn good job for her first time. The instructor noticed how I was mirroring her movement and was impressed, because if you can mirroring the person instead of just standing still, you can still get a workout without having gloves on.
By the time the class was over with I was just drenched in sweat my body felt stretched to the max but I still wanted to stay for the kickboxing class. So I took a break and went to the women's locker room to chill for a minute. Let me tell ya something when I checked out my appearance in one of the mirrors I damn near scared myself. Apparently I sweated so much I had pushed the oils out of the pores in my face. YUCK!!! So after cleaning that up.....ugh.... I went back into the workout room and sat down.
A different instructor starts the class but my previous instructor was still there. So after trying AGAIN to do the warm ups in that class I had to quit after a while, but that was mainly because I could tell that one of my bra straps had damn near come undone and the last thing I need was one of my tits just flopping around while the other looked as though it could hold up the Great Wall of China. So I sat out until warm ups were done and then we partnered up. I was partnered up with this awesome chick who just literally got back from China. She is into Muy Thai and I could tell by her legs she had been doing this for a while.
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| kickboxing |
So the first thing we do start off with some boxing. I gloved up and she was holding pads. After a few hits she asked me if I had boxed before. I told her I had taken classes at other boxing gyms. She said she could tell by my technique and power. After throwing some different combos we switch up. She was doing a good job but I could tell she was still trying to find her rhythm and power. So eventually we change up to the kickboxing part. Since this was my first time, my instructor from the boxing class instructs me on the proper way to kick. After a while I'm starting understand it and try out some kicks on the pad that my partner is holding. I put in some pretty powerful kicks. The instructor and my partner were really impressed. It was really cool to hit the pad so hard and watch her back up at times. I was like, wow wowwie wow... So then he did another technique and I mirrored that as well.
I tell ya I was nervous doing this because I was afraid that I was going to do something to my knee but once my instructor showed me the proper technique I felt more comfortable with it. Eventually we had to change up and I was holding the pads and it was my partner's turn to start kicking. Let me tell ya something, that girl's kicks had ME backing up and I felt as though I was getting creamed by a truck. In fact my right arm is still SORE this morning from her kicks. This girl did not play around.
So eventually class ends and the young lady and I were talking about how great of a workout we had. I mean it was so much fun we were like it can't be over yet, it didn't even feel as though we had been there overall for 2 hours. We do some stretches and make our way to the locker room. She was talking about my boxing and I was talking about her kickboxing. I gave her some advice in regards to how to make her punches more powerful. I told her I plan on coming 6 days out the week and would be making the evening classes. She said she would try to make those as well. Since she just got back in the country less than a week ago, she had not had time to get a cell phone so I know eventually when she does we will swap numbers.
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| Boston Market: 3 piece dark, green beans, corn, cornbread & ice tea |
So after having such a great time I went to Boston Market off of Clayton road and had a nice lunch. I decided while I was there since I had not been to the movies in a while that I would go see The Expendables part 2 @ 2:15pm at the Esquire. I must say I did enjoy this even with all the cheesy packed lines and exaggerated over kills. I head home after all that excitement and decide to deep condition my hair. I normally do it on the weekends anyway but after THAT workout it was a must.
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| ME! outside my home enjoying the night air |
I chilled out at home until 7:30pm and then hit up some stores and finished off with a nice dinner at Applebee's. I got back home and enjoyed the night air outside before heading in.
THIS MORNING (8/26): I woke up and I am sore... I mean I'm so sore I am feeling muscles in places I'm like damn......I have those there? My arms, back, stomach are just in shock mode. I am seriously considering taking a soak in the tub with some Epsom salts but even though my body is sore I tell ya my spirit could take flight and soar. Can you believe i can't wait to do this all over again on Monday?
Until the next episode....
All That MsJazz
