What It’s Like To Box For The First Time
Spoiler: I died.
Two weeks ago, I was talking to my friend about boxing. I’ve always wanted to take lessons – the ones where you box with a bag, not with another person – but boxing memberships are expensive. I’m a college student, not a wealthy professional, and I never thought that it was ‘in the stars’ for me to box.
It just so happened that this friend had a membership to Title Boxing on Newbury St, and she invited me to come with her because the first class is free. I jumped on it because why not? I’m a college student, so when I hear “free”, I say “yes”.
I spent the next 24 hours mentally preparing myself for the endeavor. I was warned that the class was intense and unforgiving, but I was ready. I could feel my anticipation building. By the time it came to go, I was bouncing. I walked to Newbury, got in the gym, filled out some paperwork, bought a pair of wraps, and got suited up for the class.
Then came an hour of the hardest workout of my life.
Now keep in mind that I’ve done gymnastics, figure skating, and karate over various years of my life, so it’s not like I’m a couch potato who doesn’t work out ever. This class wasn’t just a work out though; it was a mental and physical exercise.
It started out with 15 minutes of intense cardio – from too many squats to high knees for days. Then we did 30 minutes with gloves on and performing different combos with the bag. Finally, the last 15 minutes were filled with a core workout; and by this point, I was sweating hard, and I felt the burn everywhere.
Throughout the class, the instructor would walk around and get people to go harder – higher knees,lower squats, or anything inbetween. You could only rest if you were drinking water. They don’t want you to stop. While it feels like torture in the moment, afterwards it feels like you accomplished something great. I’ve never felt so proud of myself for the work I put into it, and it followed with sore muscles for the next week.
Although it was a difficult class, it was well worth it. I definitely want to take more classes and even get a membership for the months to come. If anyone is even considering taking a boxing class (and even if you aren’t): do it. Give it a try. You’ll never know how much you could love it if you never even try it.