Tuesday, April 23, 2024

 Wanted to add more details about boxing on Friday. As soon as I walked in, the front desk lady complimented my Bruce Lee tanktop, and then a coach I really like who's trained kung-fu before saw it and exclaimed "Jeet Kune Do!", which was a really cool welcome after a long, tiring day.

We partnered up for mitts and I really like the guy I paired with. Not the most athletic-looking but he has experience, a good attitude, and knows how to box. Traded off with simple 1-1-2s, 1-2-3s, and then combining them. I was throwing very hard and got tired pretty quickly, uncharacteristically, but I didn't let up on intensity; I just embraced having a sucky time and kept that fact hidden. Felt like I was dehydrated from the day compounded by the fact that the gym was hotter than usual, but it was a good sign my conditioning held up. 

Partner commented that I have "insane power" once I started throwing really hard near the end of mitt work. Moved on to the heavy bag where I once again felt tired and thirsty but was stabilized in that zone and just kept up the pace.

Funny thing that led to another: as class finished, I complimented my partner's gloves because they were a classy wine red color, mentioned I recently got new ones after using Fairtech Muay Thai gloves for years, and then the coach overheard us and brought up how he used to kickbox. I then said I used to do Muay Thai at the gym that used to be around the corner, and THAT led to a guy saying his nephew used to coach there, who was my Muay Thai coach! He and I then had a cool conversation about our training history. He used to train with Cesar Gracie (coach of the Diaz brothers). 

It felt very cool to socialize with like-minded individuals after being at work all day, where we either just make pleasant small talk or I'm being treated like an alien for my lifestyle.