Small Crowd Boxing

A small crowd was at Loyola Park's boxing gym:  myself, Alan, Connor, David, and Jason.  It's often nice to be in a gym when it is not crowded.  I try to convince the kids at LaFollette Park of that when they express concern about there not being enough people there so they can spar.  I figure they'll appreciate having all of the room sometimes when they become older.

Connor and David started off the sparring action.

Alan sounded like boxing analyst Teddy Atlas when he kept telling the men, "Stop posing and move around!"  David actually offered his chin to Connor a few times. Afterwards, Connor stated why he wisely didn't take the bait.  "I figured that I would get caught by something," he grinned at David.

It looks like Connor and I are posing in this photo.  He was moving around just fine.  I kept trying to figure out how to get around his arms.  He would pop me with a straight right followed up with an uppercut to the body.  It was a good combination that kept me off of him.  "I kept thinking, 'I have to keep Hillari on the outside' -- that was my strategy," Connor said afterwards.

Alan doesn't use Facebook very much.  However, I "tag" him in the photos I take, and most of them show up on his page.  "Could you take some photos of me?  I want to do a Facebook thing," he said.

I later posted the pictures on his Facebook page.  "I like the comments I get there on the boxing pictures," he told me.

November Punches

Keith backs Matthew up during sparring in this photo.

It's quite late.  The TV is on, and there's an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" featuring a young Cloris Leachman and John Forsythe.  The name of the episode is "Premonition", circa 1955, and I have the sound turned down so I can concentrate on what I'm typing.  Still trying to get used to the fact that Antennae TV has moved reruns of "The Jack Benny Program" to 3:00 AM.  If my insomnia keeps up, I just might see that show anyway.

But back to the gym.  Igor showed up, then got impatient when Alan wasn't right there at the time the gym usually opens.  He bid goodbye to Teacher John, Keith, and myself, and left.  A couple of minutes later, Alan did show up.  Matthew walked in a little bit after that.  Keith and Matthew sparred first.  John and I were iffy about sparring.  John was coming off of a bad cold he caught while on vacation, and my stomach was doing flip flops again.  But we pushed on through and sparred anyway.  We just went light.

John gave me a chance to practice the overhand right then left hook to the face combination, but I only attempted it a couple of times.  I did get a left hook in to John's midsection, however.

I wasn't wearing my mouthpiece because I kept choking on it.  It was as if I was wearing one for the first time instead of for several years.  I don't exactly know what that was about, but I can't keep sparring without it.  Adult teeth don't grow back once they've been knocked out.  I took the mouthpiece home.  I plan to wear it around the house tomorrow so I can get over the feeling of having it in my mouth.

I didn't do much on the equipment, but in order to get me more motivated during workouts, I've decided to give names of people who've ticked me off lately to the heavy bags.  It helps me to throw my punches harder.

Alan's left eye is still on the mend.  "I can barely make out John jumping rope over there," he said when I asked him how it was.  I was standing right in front of him, and I wasn't much more than a blur.

I forgot to tell Alan. . . .Professor wants to know when the next show fight will take place.  Also, Rudy, a professional boxer whom Alan trained years ago, wants to get in touch with him.  Both of them contacted me via Facebook.  I sent Alan an email when I got home, but I know that Alan doesn't always check that, so if he reads the blog, he'll learn that way.  Alan does have a Facebook page; I keep offering to teach him how to use it, but like a lot of people who aren't fans of technology, Alan always says, "Why do I have to know how to do that?"  The coach would never see the message if I sent it to Facebook.

A Relaxing Night

The gym was closed on Labor Day.  Today was Rosh Hashanah, so I ran the gym in Alan's place.  The crowd was small, only Colonel, Gabriel, and Igor.  Igor revealed that he had an operation, which explained his recent absence from the gym.  "I like when there's not a lot of people in here.  It's relaxing," Colonel said.

I was dragging on the way down to the gym.  The holiday weekend wasn't one of the best that I'd had.  The bright spot was me house sitting for a dear couple who had gone out of town. It was nice to get out of my apartment for awhile, and see some cable TV, since I currently don't have that service at my place.
The couple also has the most content cat that I've ever been around, and the cat had a calming effect on me.  I needed that to counteract other problems I experienced over the weekend.  I wasn't feeling well most of the day on Sunday, and part of Monday as well.  I haven't had much of an appetite lately; maybe that contributed to it.  Also, I learned that a friend has stage four cancer, realized that I missed my half-sister's birthday by several days (not the one who lives here, but the one who lives out of state), and I had to drop kick several individuals from my friends list on Facebook.  Yeah, the weekend could have been a lot better.

As usual, Igor didn't stay the entire session.  Forty-five minutes and Igor was out.

Colonel had Gabriel cracking up with tales of his exploits.  Gabriel said that Colonel was "the most gangsta person" that he knows.  I had to agree.  Colonel does have some wild stories, and I believe all of them are true.  He told us that he joined the military when he was 24 years old.  "I was the old man among everyone else.  People would call me Pops.  I had graduated college, and I had been to several countries by that time.  I had more combat experience than the officers over me," he smiled.

Gabriel was asking me about upcoming fights.  He's back in school now, plus working during the day, so it's probably going to be a matter of juggling time in order to be able to participate in matches.

Colonel noticed that I was bit slow on the speed bag.  "Usually, you make that bag sing!" he grinned.  I was pushing myself to do the workout.  A combination of me feeling run down and me being distracted by numerous other issues made it hard for me to focus.  Jilberto, who opened the gym door, asked me if I was ready to take a fight during Loyola Park's boxing show later this month.  I want to fight, but at this point, I'm not so sure that I'm up for it.  Several people have been telling me that it looks like I've lost some weight, so that's a positive in my favor.

Professor sent me a message earlier in the day saying that he was told that people who take boxing classes via the park district can't have gym privileges at other park district boxing gyms.  This is different from what was told the park district coaches about two years ago.  Sigh. . .that may knock out long-held plans I've had to get some sparring in up at Hamlin Park.  I'm going to have to look into the private boxing gyms in the area to see what their day pass rates are especially on the weekends.

Oldest People In The Gym

Alan was the only person inside the gym when I got there.  We figured that probably no one else was coming in due to the holidays.  He and I were talking while shadow boxing,.  I told him that I saw the photo his son Matt had put up of himself and Alan on Facebook.  "One of Matt's female friends saw the picture and said that the both of us were studs.  That made me feel good!" Alan smiled. 

When Ralphie got there about 45 minutes later, Alan and I were in the middle of four rounds of sparring.  The two oldest folks in the place were swinging on each other.  "Did Alan beat up everyone else and scare them off?" Ralphie joked.  Once again, Alan caught me not protecting my middle.  Five times he got me in the gut.  I got in a straight right, and he commented, "Nice."  Then I did an overhand right, which also caught him. 

Afterwards, I worked on the other heavy bag (Ralphie was working on the red bag, as seen in the photo above).  "This bag feels lighter than usual," I thought. A check of the floor below didn't reveal any sand laying around.  Then I noticed no duct tape was on the bag.  The old bag was in the corner, so I guessed Barry must have changed it out the last time he was in the gym.  Despite the lightness, the bag still felt good, especially when I threw my hooks. 

Pastor Roger shared on Facebook that his one year old son is now walking.  I sent him a note stating that I was going to be looking for boxing equipment that fits a toddler so we can start the boy's boxing lessons.  I haven't heard a response yet. . .heh, heh. The pastor's son is in the picture below that was taken some time ago.  Trust me, the kid is bigger than that now.  "All boy", like his mother says.  You can also see from the boy's shirt what sport his dad is more interested in.

 Ralphie showed Alan and I pictures of his child, who is about a year and half old.  "He's trying to walk.  Almost there," he said proudly as he showed us the photos on his cell phone.




The last time I exercised at home, I got on the scale at home and it told me that I lost four pounds.  I wonder if that was real weight or water weight.  I also wonder if it's an indicator that the pounds will finally start moving.  Once I lay off the eggnog when the holidays are over, maybe they'll move faster.