Apologies for falling off the face of the earth for the past few months. After a little Christmas vacation R&R, I almost feel like a human again... almost. To celebrate my return to humanhood, I decided to do something I haven't done for months--exercise! I am lucky enough to have a buddy that engages often in hand-to-hand combat, and I figured he could teach me a thing or two about boxing. Unfortunately, buddy decided not to go easy on me despite my three-pronged explanation on why I was out of shape and should therefore be allowed to be a wuss. Instead, he suggested we do one minute sequences of "cardio-boxing". Seems easy, right? Haha. Ha.
First sequence: one, two, and three punch sequences associated with numbers. In other words, friend calls out a number, and I punch the (very heavy) punching bag with the associated punching sequence. Unfortunately, friend thought it was appropriate to call out "push-ups" a number of times during the one minute blitz and require me to drop and do 10 pushups. And by "pushups", I mean pushups on my knuckles with boxing gloves. Really? Oh, and friend was also kind enough to stop the one-minute timer during the interspersed pushup segments. Faaan-tastic.
Second sequence: one to four punch sequences, with the call for "defense"--which required me to drop to pushup position and then pop up and continue punching the bag. Unfortunately, my drop/pop wasn't fast enough, and friend decided to call "defense" after every punching sequence. An expletive may or may not have crossed my lips during that sequence.
Suffice it to say that after sitting on the ground with a defeated look on my face, friend and I compromised and made jumping jacks the occasional non-punching action during the next few minute blitzes.
While I will not bore you with the details of each workout, I will share with you the parting words friend and I shared as we walked out of the gym:
C: Um, I can't feel the pinkie or ring finger on my right hand. Does that mean I was doing something wrong?
Friend: Nope, that's just some nerve damage. Don't worry, you'll get used to it.
Interesting.
On a more positive note, I plan to purchase some boxing gloves for myself over the next couple of days. As much as I enjoyed scrubbing my hands and wrists with angry fervor to remove the *fragrance* that still remains, I think I'll opt for my own sweaty gloves next time.
