Boxer Rebellion

I've only had 4 boxing classes so far. I love it.

In my 4 classes, I've twice had the regular teacher, and twice had a substitute. The regular teacher believes in the importance of it being a beginners class, so we work a lot of form, technique, and taking things slow. He also emphasizes that it is a non-contact class (with classmates--we hit the heavy bags plenty), and he wants us to get used to using mouthpieces, etc. The substitute does some of these things, but has us run combination drills and we hit things a lot more. So far, I find them both equally enjoyable.

I went to class on Saturday after 2 weeks off (Beachathon and July 3rd), and was excited to get going. We had the sub, and the class was a lot smaller than normal. I was also the only woman in class, when the other times I've been there's been at least one other. So here is shrimpy little me with a bunch of burly guys, #1.

#2, the advanced class meets right after the beginner class, so most people just come to both to get a little more boxing time in. #3, I think the teacher would rather just monitor the more advanced guys in class, but he is really great about working with me and making sure I am getting proper training. He even said this week that I am a lot better than the last time he taught.

So we're running these defense drills, working on slips (dodging) and parries (blocking punches) when the teacher says to me, "You know, you are hitting too much when you parry, really, it is just a block and not a hit. I think we just work on taking some hits."

Taking some hits?

"Yeah, you know, the first couple times you get hit in the face, it is pretty jarring, but then you get used to it and how it feels."

Me: "Do I need to grab my mouthguard?"

Him: "Nah, I'm not going to hit you that hard."

So I get into position (see above photo) and dude proceeds to hit me over and over in the face. It was, in fact, jarring.

All I could do was laugh. He's punching my gloves, which are punching me in the face. It was like I was paying this guy to say "Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?"

I apologized to him for laughing, and he says "Yeah, it is really counter-intuitive. You'd really probably just run if you were being hit in the face in real life, but here, we just have to learn to take a hit. Ok, here we go..." and then he started punching me again.

It was hilarious. It lasted a 3 minute round, but it seemed like eternity. I had a wedding to go to that night, and I was envisioning bruised cheekbones. I punched myself in the eye with my glove.

We stopped again, and he says "Ok, now you work on hitting me. Really aim for my face."
And he gets into this position:

So I stop and say "So, you are holding your hands up higher than I was here--which is the better way do it it?" and he says, "Oh, yeah, the way you were holding them is right--I just don't like banging my gloves into my eyes."

Right. Of course.

It was hilarious. And now, I am not so scared to really be hit in the face. I am also happy to say that I have no facial bruising. I was, however, a little disoriented when I was leaving class, and it resulted in me accidently calling Fuzzy about 4 or 5 times while I was trying to play songs on my iPod (every time I hung up, I ended up dialing him again), dropping my ID on the sidewalk, and then bending over to pick it up, only to discover that the lid was not on my water bottle, spilling water all over the sidewalk, my iPod and myself.

Yeah, I'm a badass.