A Week Off

I had a bad cold last week, so I stayed out of the gym. Last night, I returned to find several new people there. Forgot that a new session started. Near the end of the evening, Steve had them do interval training on the heavy bags: 1 minute of non-stop punching, 30 seconds punching at half-speed, then 30 seconds more of the non-stop punching. I never saw people clear out of the gym so fast afterwards. I half-wondered if Steve did that to weed out the people who are not serious about sticking with the workout (smile).

Keith came in with his girlfriend, but alas, did not do a workout. Jermaine introduced me to a friend of his named Muhammad, a big fellow with whom he played football with while he was in high school. Muhammad was surprised that I had also graduated from that school, and was a member of the very first class that graduated from there.

The regular gang stayed late, past 9:00 PM. It was pouring rain when we left, so Steve drove Sadiq and I home. Sadiq won a belt last weekend at a boxing tournament that was part of a tribute to boxer Barney Ross. I am so sorry that I was laid up with a cold--boxing historian Burt Sugar was there. Steve told me that he, Junior and Sadiq got to meet him and talk with him a little.

Unfortunately, Junior lost another fight, so Steve gave him a week off from the gym, figuring the kid needs the time to get his head together. Junior worries before every fight, and during the bouts, he often makes the mistake of waiting to see what his opponent will do. Steve asked me if I knew of any books Junior could read along the lines of setting goals and focusing his efforts. The first author that came to mind was the late Norman Vincent Peale, who was the pastor of a church in New York. He wrote many books about positive thinking. Steve also mentioned some sports psychology books, that I might pick up for myself.