LA Boxing

I am 2 months into a 3 months “Real Test” of the power of LA Boxing. I can honestly tell you that I have found my gym home. I may have said this before but LA Boxing is only the second gym I have joined. My first gym experience was a Contours Express (which was very similar to Curves) where there was no guess work. I followed a circuit of machines and moved when the bad music indicated it was time to move. I only lasted a few weeks before I sprained my ankle and while I was out of the gym on doctor’s orders the gym closed. I have not been to another gym and I really thought I would never pay for a gym membership.

LA Boxing has me changing my tune.

I have learned so much in the last two months:

-I LOVE working out.

-Not all gyms are created equally.

-I can and do sweat (a lot) when I workout. I did not think I was capable of sweating buckets.

-I can and do push myself harder than I thought was possible.

-I am STRONG.

-I am confident but I swear I am MORE CONFIDENT these days.

What have I learned in the last two months?!?

1. I love to push myself.

2. I like sore muscles.

3. Sweat really really stings the eyes.

4. I really like getting all sweaty and gross when I work out…I really feel like I am doing something.

5. I enjoy challenging myself physically.

LA Boxing has changed my journey and totally for the better. I have been on the weight loss journey for a while now but I hadn’t really made the commitment to the physical piece. I was counting points and losing weight and exercising a little but nothing too strenuous and nothing too consistent. I was totally stalled. Stuck. Bored. Around the time of Fitbloggin I had just discovered a love of running but I was intrigued with LA Boxing. Their presentation and blogger results were amazing and I wanted to try but I must admit I was also scared. I have never hit anything and boxing seemed so intimidating.

I am so glad I went to the LA Boxing table at Fitbloggin.

I am so happy that LA Boxing offered me such an amazing opportunity. I have gained a new confidence since I started at LA Boxing. I want to and believe I can challenge myself. This month I even registered for a half marathon – this is a HUGE challenge. LA Boxing definitely played a small part in my decision to run a half marathon. I learned my abilities, I learned to push myself harder, I learned to trust that I can do anything I put my mind to….IT is almost all mental!

LA Boxing has tightened my body and has helped me develop muscles but the biggest changes are not physical. I want to workout. I genuinely like working out. I feel better when I workout. I want to keep pushing my body, mind and soul.

**Full Disclosure: As a participant of Fitbloggin’10 I was given the opportunity to put LA Boxing “to the test” – I was provided with a 3-month membership to a local LA Boxing for my review. The opinions are my own and I am always honest.

Today you get a “Five Things” post and an LA Boxing post, all wrapped up in one. (Five Things is a meme created by Trayce, in which I simply tell you 5 things about me.)

Ohhh, LA Boxing, how I love you, let me count the ways…

1. You provide an hour of “me” time, at least three times a week. Yes, I count sweating buckets as “me” time these days – a girl takes what she can get.

2. I have gotten the first “Hey! You are looking thinner!” compliments (from anyone in my family other than my awesome Mother-In-Law) since possibly before I had my last kid.

3. I can lift my 8-year-old over the railing and into her loft bed while she is sleeping with out the fear of giving her a concussion on one of the posts.

4. Apparently I have arm muscles, and the tiniest hint of ab muscles – who knew!

5. You have showed me that I can keep going. I can hold that plank, I can keep hitting that bag, and I can do one more rep. That is worth more than I can say.

Happy Friday, ya’ll! Now, either join us and blog your own “Five Things” or go hit the gym! I’ll let you choose.

One of the reasons I love working out with Lonnie is that every workout is different. And one of the reasons I hate working out with Lonnie is that every workout is TOUGH! (kidding! a little….)

Here is a clip of an exercise we did last week. The goal was to do drop the 8lb medicine ball, do 3 quick hops, squat down on my toes, and pick it back up with only one bounce. As you can see, I failed miserably at that goal!

This is MUCH harder than it seems and by the end of the two minutes I was crying. (and unfortunately my form was suffering too!) I did 4 sets of this exercise (2 minutes each).

Try it at home and let me know how it goes. In the meantime, enjoy my pain and suffering!

Workout Mommy Personal Training

Last week Thursday I stepped on the scale after being worked over by a trainer who goes by the handle, Gato.

I was pleasantly satisfied. The number, “187″ materialized on the digital screen between my big toes and I smiled.
187 pounds represents a 15 pound loss from 202.

The Good News: My backfat is gone. My six pack has begun to reemerge. My facial features appear to be sleeker. My arms are defined but the veins that used to plot routes up and down my biceps are conspicuously absent. My pectorals are no longer “mitties” (figure it out) and are cleanly separated along my sternum.

The Bad News: There are pockets of pudge that are trying to maintain strongholds on me and I have a nice solid layer of subcutaneous fat that needs to go. Unfortunately this layer of fat just beneath the skin, casually referred to as body fat or belly fat is usually the last, if not the hardest to get rid of — at least for non-professional and semi-pro athletes and other individuals like myself who don’t have the time to commit to two-a-days.

The Worst News: I want to reach my goal of 170 pounds yesterday/last week and the more gains I make, the more disappointed I become with the ones I achieve — the maniac health nut has returned.

The reality is that from 2006 – 2010 I gained 29 pounds. I’m not so sure I should be killing myself to lose in 90 days what it took 5 years to gain.

But knowing this hasn’t stopped me from trying. My goal for the beginning of July is to weigh in at 182. From there I will have to decide what steps I need to take to shave off the next 10 pounds.

But none of the above would’ve been possible without the good folks over at LA Boxing (Mamaroneck). I can’t believe that a mere couple months back I was filled with fear as I crossed the threshold of the gym for the first time. Nowadays I come in and say hello to everyone on staff for the day. I have my own LA Boxing t-shirt and I jump rope in plain sight of all, not the dark corner of the gym I started in.

The philosophy there is simple: If you don’t do the exercises the only one you’re cheating is yourself. What LA Boxing has done for me in the short time that I’ve been a member is let me know I can withstand the test, take it and give it right back. When I’m getting ready to give up during a workout, the voice I hear before any trainer’s is my own, demanding that I not fall down on myself, that I not cheat … myself. The trainer’s have an excellent eye for your strengths and weakness and they work very hard to turn your weaknesses into strengths.

I can’t say where I’d be with this regimen. I know for a fact that I’d still be 202, my knees would still, it would be difficult for me to move up and down stairs and a lot of my pants would still look like pipe cleaners.

* I’ve learned a lot about the craft of boxing. It isn’t something I intend to employ the next time someone makes me upset, but it is definitely an outlet for my daily frustrations and occasional woe.

* The mind numbing 800-1,000 cardio workout has tested me so much in these few short weeks that I’m not sure what I CAN’T do, anymore.

* I feel confident in myself and no longer ignore the man in the mirror.

* My LA Boxing experience has reinvigorated the warrior in me. The program has once again reminded me that nothing or no one but me is stopping me from achieving certain goals in this life. And I’ve been able to successfully and positively apply the same aggression, creativity and being light on my feet that is required of when I’m wearing the gloves to a variety of other areas in my life that needed “jumpstarting”.

On the morning of Father’s Day I went to the gym. Gato worked me over once again. When class was over he asked me if I was still dying.

“I’m never dying. The day I die is the day all this stops.”

It hasn’t stopped yet.

I don’t intend for it to stop ever.

Today was the first day that I watched some of the World Cup… USA, USA, USA!!! As much as I wanted to hoop and holler, I was quiet and felt a little lost. Growing up, soccer was my life. I played all the time and my weekends were spent with my travel team that was like a family to me. But now, I don’t want to be near a soccer ball-because it just “gets” to me. I would love to play on a women’s team, but I know that I haven’t kicked the ball in over ten years and that I would be pathetic. I mean, I don’t even know the “lingo” anymore!

As a mother, I’m realizing more and more that high school athletes are a dime a dozen. So many of us can reminisce about the good old days when we were athletes. But does that really even matter anymore? What really matters is the present. I used to have that killer instinct. I would think nothing of yanking another player’s pony tail and pulling her to the ground if she got past me. On the field, I had no fear… and I miss it. Somewhere along the line, I got old. In class when I hear “kick your opponents knee cap” or “crack them” I get grossed out.

I’m halfway through my “to the test” experiment with LA Boxing… and they want an update. To be honest, my hubby’s schedule has made it harder than ever for me to make it to LA Boxing. But with that being said, I crave it more than ever. When I make a class, I’m in a better mood and I feel stronger. I do things I could never picture myself doing. This week alone, I learned a move called the corkscrew… the name alone scared me. But amazingly enough, I did it. I also worked out in the ring. Yes, you read that right. I’ve always wanted to spar and fight- I feel like I’m getting decent on the bag. When there were only four of us in class on Tuesday, the instructor decided to have class in the ring and we even donned head gear. It was so fun- eventhough I’m still sore and I now know I’m not anywhere close to being ready to spar! But I enjoy getting my ass kicked. I enjoy getting stinky. And most of all, for that one hour, I enjoy feeling how I want to feel- like an athlete.

Nowadays, I admire the lady I see in workout attire after a run in the grocery store. I am envious of my high school friends that were never athletes and now compete in triathlons. I look at other ladies’ fit bodies in the gym and want to be them. So many of us lose our own identity when we become mothers. Life is all about our children and we put ourselves on the back burner…

I have gone from being a starting player to riding the bench. Slowly, but surely, I’m getting my groove back. It feels good to have a hobby again, to break a sweat, and to have something that is actually for me and not all about the kids. I crave working out and I no longer want my kids to hear from my mom that, “Your mom was a good athlete.” I want them to see it and to know it. I no longer want to be known as the athlete I once was, but as the fit and healthy woman that I am.