As much as I was excited for my kick-boxing class, I was equally worried and nervous just before the class. What am I going to do? People attending the class may be doing this for years and what if I couldn't kick or punch? Will I know how to wear the gloves? all sorts of silly questions. There were a ten thousand questions revolving around my mind and as I entered the cardio studio with these questions I heard a stern voice, "guys, are you here for the class?". I said, "hmm..ye..yea..." assuming that he is the trainer. He continued, "have you done kickboxing ever?" I gave him a impression that I was nervous and my past x generations have never done kickboxing in their life including me!! As more people entered the studio, he said, "thats not a problem; you will be fine" and my wtf roomie and I felt a bit better. Phew!!
He took out some cds and played the swamp song by tool and said, I am Mike Quisumbing, your trainer for the class, start with 75 jumping jacks, 25 push-ups & 25 squats. Shank and me stayed put as if it wasn't applicable to us and Mike repeated, "guys, 75 jumping jacks, 25 push-ups, 25 squats, thats when I realised, damn this is gonna be a lot tougher than I imagined.
Later during the entire session, I realised, this is something different to what I have been doing for the past few months. You lose a lot of calories in an hour session, test your stamina level and I actually get to jab, kick, upper-cut, hook my roomie...whoa..what more can I ask for :)
Mike had divided the session into small bits and taught us different stuff, each session was 10 mins long that seemed like 120 mins. By then I realised kickboxing is more energy, constant movement, very tiring but loads of fun & all about being fearless and more strength. Since it was my 1st class, Mike made sure that I am not overdoing anything and taught me that the speed was more or equally important compared to the force, be it a jab or a upper-cut or a kick. Most importantly, it was very much required to keep your face covered at all times so one hand or both the hands always cover the face.
After the class, Mike came up to us and said, you guys did wonderful for the 1st class and I hope to see you more often. By then, I had already made my mind that I would take not one but two of these sessions in a week - I replied back, Mike it was a wonderful session, thanks a lot and we would connect again in the next session.
All my reading mates, kick-boxing is sure a thing to be fit. I recommend if you get a kick-boxing chance, grab it!
~RJ