Renewed, thanks to the gym.

Well the weekend was quiet this end and I only managed a few walks in amongst cleaning and running Amina, Rehana and Franklin around. But we did get to an inter-club tournament for a few of Franklin's amateur boxers which was fun.  One of the women he trains had her first amateur fight and at just past 50 years of age it was great to see. Well done Jo.

I weighed myself on the Friday and was a little disappointed to have put on a kilo rather than having lost anything, but considering that I am just getting started again and had a topsy-turvy time, I'm not going to worry too much about that for the first few weeks and will just keep my eye on it.

Today I got back into the gym though and it was very cool. For some reason training in the gym with Franklin and taking a more measured pace really worked for me. My last few sessions were only half an hour and Franklin worked me hard so I was probably pushing myself too quickly, I think I'm more the tortoise rather than the hare. Today I took it slow and steady and had a good amount of time on the bags, which was great as my arms are still pretty strong from lugging my (currently 9kg) baby around so much!

 

Punching the bag.

Felt really good to let the arms fly around a bit and its such a HUGE stress relief.

If you've never tried it and have any pressures in your life I highly recommend you give it a go.

 

 

Ground work. Groan!



 

 

 

He looks down and laughs at me doing ground work!

Its VERY mean!

 

 

 

Amina with Franklin's trainer Brian,

had her first go at boxing on the floor to ceiling speed ball!

She's a natural.

 

Overall things were a bit easier today which was a relief and its helped me feel much more excited about going back in a day or so. I feel like I'm renewed in my passion for the sport and for getting fit. Last week everything felt so hard and so impossible. I even wondered if my body was too old...silly I know (and a few friends will frown when they read that and yell 'you're 33 you twat' at their computer) but the most ridiculous excuses fly when your looking for them!

Then I thought about a couple of my friends in the UK who are just a few years older than me and who are super fit. I trained with some amazing women while living in London for a few years and they all taught me a great amount about boxing, kick boxing and life. There is one person in particular who is an amazing mum, kick boxer and athlete in general, (she will know who she is when I mention that she was the first person to punch me in the nose during a sparring session and made my eyes water!) but she certainly is one of those people who has inspired me lately to keep going, safe in the knowledge that I can get back to where I was if I really want to because I know that she must have faced the same challenge.

Who is inspiring you to train? And what strategies are you using to inspire yourself? Many people hang their favorite 'far too tight' jeans up on the hanger in full view, some put pictures of when they were slimmer or fitter up on display and some, like me, let the whole world know about it to ensure that they have to keep going!

Jess xo