More In The Gym

As Alan wraps his hands, he gives out instructions to the new people.  A few more new faces came in including Leonaid, Brenda, Robert, and Shane.  Surprisingly, there was no sign of Igor, and his name wasn't on the attendance sheet.  But then, Igor seldom pays for new sessions in advance.  Edward and his mother didn't come in, neither did Sam or Lindsey.

My left leg continues to hurt.  I've just accepted that it's going to take awhile to heal.  My workout consisted of alternating between shadow boxing and working the bags.  I had to sit down practically after several rounds.  Alan had jokes.  "She calls me an old man," he said.  "Yeah, and I have my nerve, since I'm only ten years younger than the coach," I smiled.  I was taking pictures for this blog, and Alan cracked, "This is for the geriatric boxing blog, right?"  "It might just come to that," I laughed.

I like Ben.  That's him in the picture with his hand up in a "I'm a champion mode".  He and Sean spent a lot of time behind the ring working out.  Ben teaches self-defense.

Brenda wanted to get into the ring, so Alan obliged with a light sparring session.  "Get Alan with a jab!  Now throw a punch to Alan's mid-section!" I said from ringside.  Alan was impressed with the fact that she wanted to get in the ring so soon, and that she went around with him for two rounds.  "You've got a sparring partner," Alan said to me.  "As soon as my leg gets better," I replied.

Ben said, "I don't mind wrestling with women.  But punching them with full power?  I can't see doing that!"  "I couldn't hit a woman like that either," Sean said. When Brenda stepped in the ring with Alan, Ben was under the impression that women only sparred with other women.  "Men can spar with women, but during a regular fight, both people have to be the same gender," I explained.   I explained how there are a few guys who go by the "an opponent is an opponent is an opponent" rule, but most will pull punches when sparring with women.

Ben asked about the upcoming Chicago Golden Gloves.  I keep forgetting to ask Alan if he has renewed his coach's license online.  I learned several weeks ago that everyone was expected to sign up online this time around in advance of the Golden Gloves.  All I have to do is to send my receipt and my picture in to the Wisconsin LBC so I can get my new license.  It supposed to take two weeks to get that all that done. I keep forgetting to ask Alan if he's signed up, knowing that the coach is not big on technology.

Shane works on the body snatcher bag.  He had to repeat his name to Alan a couple of times.  "It's Shane, like the Alan Ladd movie," he said.  I made a lame joke: "Come back, Shane!"  "I haven't heard that before," Shane smiled.  I won't forget his name now, however.  I either will just think of that old western movie, or of boxer Sugar Shane Mosley, and I'll remember.

Maybe I should take up using the kettlebells again.  I read about a 50-something woman who used the kettlebells to get herself back to good health.  I don't want to further injure myself, but I have to do something.