Boxing

I discovered boxing entirely by accident.

My husband saw heavy bags on sale at our local sporting goods store, dragged one home, hung it in the garage, and waited for our three boys to ruthlessly express their violent sibling-related urges. The boys thought it was crazy awesome for about 16 minutes. I, on the other hand, was fascinated. And quickly injured. I was pretty sure I was (as the LOLcats say) doin’ it wrong and I resolved to find answers.

So I watched Rocky and browsed fashionable boxing accessories.

Then, in only .34 seconds (and 69,200 results) I found and called up LA Boxing in Cary, NC. The guy on the phone encouraged me to come down for a free class. I didn’t need anything at all; I could borrow boxing gloves from the gym. (Pardon me just a moment: I encourage you never to use communal boxing gym gloves. Their stench is nearly imperceptible until you begin to sweat, at which point the evil is unleashed and attaches itself to you. Once you pull the gloves off, you’ll wish you could soak your hands in bleach. Everyone around will wish you could too. This has been a public service announcement.)

The boxing class rocked. I couldn’t move for five days after, but I was IN. (Excuse me just one more time: Warning: Conditioning Curve Ahead! You may say “Hey, I’m kinda in shape. I just ran a 5k last week.” You are mistaken. You are in no shape whatsoever. You are going to be in agony after your first one-hour boxing session, Little Meatling, but you may also fall in love.)

So now I may be the only professional business woman you know with a mouthguard on her keychain. I also have lipgloss, if it makes you feel any better.

Click here to see all of my current boxing posts, or just browse a few below…

Sparring With Pros

My gut churned. I leaned against my corner pad and tried to breathe slowly in through my nose for a two count, out through my mouth for a four count. It wasn’t working. The bell rang, I bit down on my mouthguard, and stepped out to the center of the ring to fight.  read more

Eight Reasons Women Should Take Up Boxing

You will burn calories like a buzzsaw.
I am not kidding. You may think you’ve done serious workouts before but you haven’t touched the level of output it takes to go hard for three minutes in a boxing ring. This is anaerobic activity; your muscles literally don’t operate the same way under this kind of test as they do when you’re swimming, running, or cycling. Sprinters have a sense of what this takes, but even they are primarily working lower body only.

You will feel like Superwoman.
Three times I had natural childbirth at home and it doesn’t compare. I am still terrified every single time I step into the ring, and every time I come out I feel like a rock star. Boxing is the most physically and mentally demanding sport I’ve ever taken up, and the high demands also produce a tremendous positive charge: “I survived! I kick ass!”  read more

Why Boxers Can’t Lie

Boxing is a relentlessly, sometimes crushingly, honest sport. Anyone who works their way up to ringtime experiences this, and they either relish or despise it; there’s very little middle ground. You are willing to be stripped bare of pretense in front of other people or you aren’t going to get in the ring again… read more

My First (Unofficial) Match

Tim was waiting on me and we walked in together. I immediately saw a woman already in the ring whom I’d seen fight in Fayetteville. I knew I would be okay if I had to get in with her. But she was working with another boxer who was even better: this woman was fast, light, and throwing multiple flurries that snapped and popped and echoed in the otherwise empty gym. “Crap,” I said. “I hope they don’t put me in with that girl. She’s good.” read more

Shiner

I did five rounds last night but wasn’t on my mental game, which seemed to glue my feet to the canvas. I could see lots of punches coming, but it was like one train seeing another train coming head-on down the exact same track and being utterly powerless to unshackle those iron wheels and get the hell out. The best I could do was barrel foward and hope that I could take more impact than the other could. There was damage involved. read more