Martin said I had nice form

Last night I had a really great session at the gym. After a couple rounds jumping rope to warm up, I went over to the shadow boxing area and starting working on the stuff I'd talked to John about: leaning to the right in my stance, keeping my shoulders and arms relaxed, moving my head more (slipping the punch, etc.). 

So THE Martin came over to me and started working with me on my body jab - he taught me this whole combination of how I could do jab to the body, then pivot around hook to the head, hook the body, hook to the head, then weave under left and another hook to the body. Confused? So was I. It took many a try to just remember the combination. And many more tries to get all the stuff I was supposed to know to do with each punch. Then he had me and another girl that I spar with work on uppercut left, followed by a hook. The other girl was curving her uppercut too far to the right so he spent some time with us teaching up tips for how to set it up. It's really interesting to see/hear how trainers break stuff down. For instance, he had us simply do a squat to illustrate the feeling that we should get in our legs just before throwing the punch. Of course, I then mistakenly thought he wanted me to do an actual squat at the beginning of the punch....that's when he said: "I don't want to confuse you too much, because you already have good form." Yippeee... seriously? 

I spent a really long time at the gym last night. It was super hot, as always. Martin used me to demonstrate the body jab to a hot shot finance guy. And overall, he was complimentary. That's not to say there's not still so much work to do. But I really feel like I'm un-doing some bad habits I'd gotten into - or rather I'm just letting them mold me into the kind of boxer that they want me to be. Which is half the game, I think. 

In the movie, Million Dollar Baby, there's a part at the beginning where the narrator talks about the boxer allowing themselves to be stripped down to the bare minimum so that the trainer can build them up again. I've always agreed with this. I can't see what I'm doing and what "feels" right isn't always right and what "feels" wrong is sometimes perfect. So I try to just give myself over to the trainer completely and remember what he tells me to feel and do. About 95% of the time I have an opinion of how to execute a punch or movement on my own, it's wrong. Even when that opinion was formed from the advice of another boxer/trainer. Each trainer has his own way of doing things and you just have to not question and go with it. 

So tomorrow is another sparring session. Should be good, hopefully I can put into practice some of the stuff I've learned this week. And a friend from my old gym may join us, which will be so fun!