Yay!

Martin was back today! Hurrah!!! He worked with Danielle and I on a pivot move that I'm now in love with. I'm going to pivot all day long now. 

For your viewing enjoyment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6XhhGNU-wc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxWwKSZXXO0

Sparkle!

All that practicing paid off! I laided 1-2 of those slip, upper, left to the body combos. And I got another couple good rights to the body in at sparring tonight. John told me to just eliminate my left hooks altogether for the time being, they're too wide and badly timed. Whatevs, I'm a body girl. I'm just going to stick with that and jabbing. 

Julie and I are campaigning to wear skirts in this fight. She found these awesome muay thai skirts that look like the skirt that Xena the Warrior princess wears! As long as the USA boxing people, the people sponsoring the fight, and John agree to it, we get to wear them for our fight "costumes"! So John and the sponsors are ok with it - but the USA boxing officials are incredibly elusive. 

John told me to try to get in touch with Sparkle... who actually was my first fight referee. I seriously adore this woman. #1 She weighed me in and was really sweet, it was my first fight and she made me feel totally comfortable #2 After the fight (I lost) she came over to my side of the ring and said "You're one tough cookie." It's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me and #3 Dude, her name is Sparkle - I want to be named Sparkle! I hope she remembers me. (Wow, I also hope I don't sound stalkerish.) 

 

Just do it

I spent about 6 rounds doing this: slip right, upper right, left to the body. 

Isaac was working with me on this in the ring, only when I do it I don't lean far enough to the left after the upper right (using the momentum to shift my weight) and then I don't sit down enough when throwing the left to the body. 

So I moved from the ring to the wall bag. Upper, left. Upper, left. Instead of sitting on the left, I'm still pushing forward straightening my right leg. Treating what should be a wide left to the body instead like a left hook. Isaac moves me to the mirror. 

I practice facing him. Slip, upper, left to the body. I'm not getting it. We work on the sitting... it's like you're sitting in a chair, not turning the foot like a hook. We practive while hovering above the bench to feel the sitting. Slip, upper right, left to the body. 

Extend the left arm on the body shot, it's wide, not a hook. Slip, upper right, left to the body. Shift to the left after throwing the upper. Slip, upper right, left to the body. 

I think I've got it. But I'm afraid I'll be thinking so much about doing this right when trying it in sparring tomorrow that I'll get hit with a hook to the head, just after the body shot. Oh, I can feel it already. 

Don't think, just do. Think, do. Just do, don't think. Don't think. Just do it. 

Wonder if the guys who came up with that slogan were boxers?

Made a video today

Not the dirty kind that shouldn't get into the hands of strangers. Well, there is some blood at the end, though I'm not sure the handheld camcorder picked up on that. 

We taped our sparring today and it was only Hannah, Julie and I (i.e. the three more experienced of the sparring bunch). We rotated so that we each did 4 rounds, 2 rounds with each person. Given my major disadvantage (one must refrain from eating sausage before sparring), it went surprisingly well. 

First of all, I majorly held back on being the aggressive puncher and worked on my defense. As Julie put it, I do aggression well and I do defense well, I just need to get to the point where the two work in harmony. But I slipped many more punches today and landed some good ones, apparently a right went right to Julie's "babymaker"...I'd been working on that punch all week. 

Second of all, there's nothing like watching yourself spar that helps you to see that, despite obvious critiques you may have, you're actually a good fighter. I feel like I'm in slow motion when I'm sparring, but I actually had some good, fast punches in there. I get wild in about my third round, which I could see the difference when viewing the tape. Hopefully, now that I can see what that looks like it will help me to correct. 

And finally, I stopped beating myself up and stopped hating myself in the ring. I put my brain on mute and tried to keep my cool. Apparently, it's obvious to Julie when I'm losing it. She said she told me to "breathe" in the fourth round cause I was visibly started to get frustrated. I must read like a book. I wonder if I'm like that in life? 

Today was good and fun, and I left with a lovely red bruise on my eye and the side of my nose. Luckily, I'm also pretty handy with eye makeup. 

 

Head Case

It's a good thing I didn't write when I got home from sparring last night. You would be reading my big elephant tears. This week's been pretty demanding in terms of work and I'm really staying at my allotted calorie count which means I'm probably malnourished for the amount I work out. Adding all this up... it puts some serious dampening on the emotional stability. 

Words of wisdom from John Snow (paraphrased) after my three rounds sparring:  

"Erin, there's only room for three people in that ring - you, your opponent and the ref. I can hear your brain going 'why did I miss that punch', ' i saw that one coming', 'need to move to the left', 'i should've moved my feet more', Sound familiar? You've got to block all that out and just see and react. Train your body to react to the situation so you don't have to think." 

I think at this point, I wanted to dissolve. He's so right and I don't know how to make it stop! 

I talked to him about afterwards and said "When I try not to think, my mind goes completely blank. I just feel like there's a disconnect between where I am and what I need to do". He corrected me, "Not what you NEED to do, but what your CAPABLE of doing."

Oy, isn't this what I'm reading about in my twenty something crisis book? Holy cow, I feel like a complete head case. 

So the remedy, according to John, is shadowboxing so that my reaction in sparring becomes immediate. For instance, when I touch something hot, I move my hand away. When someone hits me in the face, I don't move back but I slip to the right and under, then body shot. One of the other trainers taught me two specific combinations that I'm going to do over and over and over until Saturday sparring. 

I like blueberry muffins

Last night I skipped boxing in order to hang out with two girls I used to box with so that we could wax nostalgia about our days boxing. It's inescapable. 

Also, if my weight's not down yet, I've definitely lost inches. I can barely eat more than a side dish and share an appetizer at dinners. It's amazing. Though rest assured, I have not lost an affinity for dessert. So, in two weeks I'll need to reevaluate. I've been doing well with staying under 1350 most days (goal count to lose 2 lbs a week) and not going above 2000 others (in order to maintain). If by Sept 1, I haven't lost actual pounds, I'm sadly going to have to change what I'm eating (which still includes stuff like a blueberry muffin in the am or Lean Cuisine pizzas) that kept me under the calorie count. And instead, switch to full on weight loss mode which means an egg or toast for b'fast, salads with turkey for lunch (actually this is not so bad), berries or apples (acting as sweets) and loads of vegetables. 

I really hope it doesn't come to this. But I can probably continue to lose weight at the rate I'm going, it just won't be fast enough. 

  

What day is it?

Often people tell me that boxing much be a great outlet for getting out aggression. And it's true, I remember one morning I went to the gym after a REALLY horrible client meeting. I was so fired up, I could see the face of the client in the bag and she didn't make it past 2 rounds. 

However, nights like last night, after a particularly long, stressful day and getting started at the gym at 8:30, you just can't quiet muster the strength to get out the aggression. 

This morning I woke up and thought it was Wednesday. What a disappointment. It's going to be a really long week... 

Mold Me

I'm ashamed to admit, I've been sparring (and fighting for that matter) for about 4 years... and never have I molded my mouthguard until this past Saturday. This slight oversight probably has something to do with how badly my jaw hurt last Wed. I'm not sure why, but I always thought it was optional. Apparently, there's a reason you drop the wax mouthpiece into boiling water and then stick it in your mouth to make a mold - it's so you don't look like a complete idiot four years later.  

Feather...Welter... some Champion

OK, I'm definitely going to clear up this tomorrow but for now... 

Tonight I was hitting the bags when John asked if I wanted to spar. Duh. Yes. "That's (muffled word)," he gestured into the ring, "the (muffled words, etc.etc.) Champion." Cool. Yeah, I want to spar him.

I gathered my helmet, contact case, and mouthpiece and all too giddily hit the bags while awaiting my turn. Just before I went in John corrected my body shot stance, gave me about 5 things that I needed to do (cutting off the ring is the only one I remember) and sent me in. He told me that this guy would be great to work with, really relaxed. 

So (muffled word) Champion and I begin the round, he's swinging pretty wide (meaning I could see all the punches) and pretty much coming right down the middle each time (I have no idea how this kept happening). It was weird cause he was going pretty slow, letting me see the punches and try to move from them. He certainly didn't make any efforts to really hit me (as I'm certain he has some killer punches in 'em). He even let me back him to the side of the ring and just unleash a flurry of erratic punches to his sides. Twice. Nice guy. :)

I was def pretty winded after. Despite the fact that he hardly had to move, I was like a jumping bean in there. After my workout, when I grabbed my towel to shower, he told me that I was really good. I was like "you're pretty good yourself!" On my way out the door, I thanked him for working with me and god bless him, he told me his name twice and I still didn't catch it! Then he said again that I was really good and that "if he (muffled name said clearly and loudly), (something) Champion, said I was good, then I'm good"

So tomorrow, I'm going to clear up this name and weight business so that I can correct this post and give Mr. Champion the credit he deserves for building up my suffering ego. 

Ref 1: This is for you, Em, "cutting off the ring" is when two fighters are facing one another in the ring. Let's pretend guy A keeps moving around in a circle around guy B. What guy B has to do is "cut off the ring", essentially step in the line of movement so that guy A can't complete the circle. (You do this by moving sideways not back or forwards.) Then guy B is positioned to punch. Make sense?    

There's no crying in baseball

Today was monumental. I had my first breakdown at the new gym. 

There are a couple variations on a breakdown that I can produce during a sparring session. 

1. The "F.U.C.K why isn't this working?" breakdown - Usually brought on by feeling that I'm not getting it right - the trainer's telling me to correct something and I'm not doing it. Or I get that one thing right and then screw up something else. It's capped off with a massive punch that I should have avoided. And what typically happens is that tears well up in my eyes and I try to play it off, just a bit, and then am able to work through it ok. 

2. The "OMFG I'm completely worthless" breakdown - Definitely more serious. This one's all about what's going on outside the gym. I'm either not getting enough sleep, having a tough time at work, whatever. It culminates into a sparring session where (see #1) the massive punch occurs. Actually, usually it's a series of those that start to break me. But the after effect is uncontrollable tears. Uncontrollable, I tell you. Like I've gone on a run through the streets of NY crying after to try to get it all out. Or I stay in the gym and just continue to cry through the entire workout. 

Neither of these are particularly pleasant, as they both evoke feelings of insecurity. However, it also feels good to be human and get it out. Today was a #1 breakdown.

It's important to note that the sparring breakdown is never about being hurt. I mean, I can't close my jaw properly right now, but that's not the issue. The issue is that I couldn't do what I needed to do. Kills me. Absolutely kills me. Worse than any physical pain.

Julie and I were talking after, and she mentioned that one of the things about boxing is that it attracts perfectionists. Exactly, it does. There's the obsession with control over the movements and fight. The desire to get it completely right every time. The total frustration at the first sign of failure. It's a hot mess.   

Wishing and Hoping and Thinking

Wow, so I realized I haven't written anything in a while. Guess it's because there wasn't a lot new to write. Sparring on Sat went pretty well - I did 4 rounds with Julie. I got some great advice from one of the trainers Jonathan and my friend, Stephanie (who's now sparring with us on Sats). Steph told me that I should let Julie be the aggressor more often. And Jonathan told me I should vary it up more... that's she's thinking a lot and I should keep her guessing a little more - more fake punches, etc. 

So in the 3rd and 4th rounds, I tried to follow their advice. I realized that I'm pushing the rounds a lot more than she is, probably because I'm thinking "got to score points" and if she's just hanging out waiting for me to punch, she's able to set things up better to punch and score. When I tried slowing things down and waiting for her, my accuracy was much better. I got in on some jabs and body shots that I don't normally land. 

It's possible that she was off a bit, but overall I felt good about there being a difference between my work in the ring last Sat, as opposed to this past Sat. Improvement is good. 

And I haven't drank a drop since last Tues night. I kinda like this not drinking gig. 

can't decide

if this is embarrassing or not?

http://gallery.me.com/trinityboxing#100143

I mean, the pinata part isn't cool and the part where you see entirely too close-up of a shot of my mouthpiece face.