Muhammad Ali I Ain't, but Boxing is Still Super Fun!

One of my Christmas presents from the Nerd was a pair of these:

And he also picked up a pair of these:

... so now we can hit each other all we want (in appropriate, socially approved ways, using safe-words in case it gets too rough, of course!).

Actually, I've had my eye on boxing as the next element of my fitness plan for a while now, and I am thrilled that the Nerd is so supportive of this and is willing to play along.  He's a good sport, and seems to enjoy hitting the focus pads.  Actually, he's incredibly patient with me, but I suspect that he thinks it's fun, too, because he was not hard to convince, at all.

For now we are taking our training from a variety of boxing apps with videos of proper technique for the 4 basic punches: jab, cross, hook, and uppercut.  I can see that this will be insufficient soon enough, and we will avail ourselves of a boxing trainer that the Nerd's sister knows, to make sure we are learning the proper fundamentals.  One of my bigger problems right now is my stance - - I am left handed, but I do everything right handed when I stand.  I have started out using a southpaw stance (right foot forward), but I think given that my right hand is my power hand, that I should switch to an orthodox stance (left foot forward).  I should make up my mind and pick a stance now, so that I can work on the correct body position for each punch, because I am discovering that there's a lot of hip and leg action in boxing.

Right now the Nerd and I are just taking turns doing punching drills, but once we have the fundamentals down I would like to transition to doing some combos. 

I have to say that boxing is surprisingly fun and cathartic.  Tough day at work?  Do a little boxing!  Visualize those work problems on the focus pads, and let 'er rip! 

I am trying to start slowly and focus on getting the basics right first in order to avoid injuries.  I have such a propensity for pushing things too far, too fast, and boxing is so darn fun that it is taking an effort of will not to just jump in with both feet (or gloves, as the case may be).  My rule for now is that we can do boxing on the 4 days a week that I am not doing my free weights - - I don't want to overtrain my arms, and a lot of the same muscles are used for both.  Last night we had a fun little exchange with the gloves (jabs, crosses and hooks), but today was a weight day so no boxing tonight.

Here's a photo of me boxing last night.  I think the picture is so blurry because the Nerd was laughing so hard when he was trying to take the photo.  Better luck next time!  For now, you will have to imagine my non-blurry, intimidating ol' self in your mind.