Last week or so, I mentioned that I was trying out a new gym. After getting asked if I ever blog about boxing etc, I decided to do just that--and get into why searching for a gym isn't always easy.
Part One:
I fell in love with boxing about over a year ago when I went to my first kickboxing class. I knew from the first minute that I had found "it", although I still don't know that I could tell exactly what "it" is. I'm lucky that this specific class was my intro to combat sports. This class gave me a work-out and technique. It gave me logic--it showed me how it's strategy and sometimes like a science and yet it's creative at the same time. The coach knows his stuff and showed me exactly what my brain needed (ie, the reasoning, the follow-through, the big picture and not just the isolated movement). And, anyone who communicates with me via what my friends call "health speak"-- ie, "clavicle", "superior vena cava", "xiphoid process" and gives me the anatomy of what happens with x, y, or z punch is going to get through to me.
The first time that both myself and the coach wore gloves I realized that I would need more--just more and that there would be no going back to my pre-boxing status after that moment.
I've been searching for a new gym off and on the past few months. At first, it was just because I wanted more frequency and I wanted to try some other combat sports (like grappling). While that is still a main reason for my current search, I also just need more. I always learn something at the class, because the coach is a great teacher, but it's gotten to a point where I feel like I've plateaued- at no fault of the class, it's just that this specific class is limited due to location and liability.
It's kind of weird, to be honest. In most athletic hobbies you reach a point where you move up. Take ballet. You start in beginner, move to intermediate, move to advance etc. You get your toe shoes. And you feel great when you're at the end of that step and then your confidence takes a blow when you start the beginning of the next one. I can't decide if combat sports are like that or not. In some ways, yes, in some, no. BJJ has belt classes etc and I suppose signals the "up" that some of these other athletics have. But, really, where I think the similarities are comes to just how you feel. It's always a transition going from somewhere you are totally comfortable at (and is a habit, usually) to a new place. For example, I knew our warm-up 100%. There was no nervousness about it, no lack of confidence with the warm-up. Well, at the new gym, I don't have a freaking clue about the warm-up. See where I'm going? It's just a change and sometimes change is easy and sometimes it's not. I'll take it a step further- for me, the difficult part of the change is mental. I feel weird not working with my coach, to be honest. I've learned pretty much just from him since I started boxing and on a consistent basis. It seems weird to not get that consistent instruction.I have to get used to someone else's teaching style (more of that will be in part 2), someone else's lingo/vocab, someone else's expectations, and that someone else has to learn what I need, my strengths, my weaknesses. I have to learn if that someone else is okay with the way I already do things . And just because someone is a great boxer/fighter/martial artist, does not mean he/she is a good teacher. There is a difference.
I think that's enough for today. I'll post more later.
Part One:
I fell in love with boxing about over a year ago when I went to my first kickboxing class. I knew from the first minute that I had found "it", although I still don't know that I could tell exactly what "it" is. I'm lucky that this specific class was my intro to combat sports. This class gave me a work-out and technique. It gave me logic--it showed me how it's strategy and sometimes like a science and yet it's creative at the same time. The coach knows his stuff and showed me exactly what my brain needed (ie, the reasoning, the follow-through, the big picture and not just the isolated movement). And, anyone who communicates with me via what my friends call "health speak"-- ie, "clavicle", "superior vena cava", "xiphoid process" and gives me the anatomy of what happens with x, y, or z punch is going to get through to me.
The first time that both myself and the coach wore gloves I realized that I would need more--just more and that there would be no going back to my pre-boxing status after that moment.
I've been searching for a new gym off and on the past few months. At first, it was just because I wanted more frequency and I wanted to try some other combat sports (like grappling). While that is still a main reason for my current search, I also just need more. I always learn something at the class, because the coach is a great teacher, but it's gotten to a point where I feel like I've plateaued- at no fault of the class, it's just that this specific class is limited due to location and liability.
It's kind of weird, to be honest. In most athletic hobbies you reach a point where you move up. Take ballet. You start in beginner, move to intermediate, move to advance etc. You get your toe shoes. And you feel great when you're at the end of that step and then your confidence takes a blow when you start the beginning of the next one. I can't decide if combat sports are like that or not. In some ways, yes, in some, no. BJJ has belt classes etc and I suppose signals the "up" that some of these other athletics have. But, really, where I think the similarities are comes to just how you feel. It's always a transition going from somewhere you are totally comfortable at (and is a habit, usually) to a new place. For example, I knew our warm-up 100%. There was no nervousness about it, no lack of confidence with the warm-up. Well, at the new gym, I don't have a freaking clue about the warm-up. See where I'm going? It's just a change and sometimes change is easy and sometimes it's not. I'll take it a step further- for me, the difficult part of the change is mental. I feel weird not working with my coach, to be honest. I've learned pretty much just from him since I started boxing and on a consistent basis. It seems weird to not get that consistent instruction.I have to get used to someone else's teaching style (more of that will be in part 2), someone else's lingo/vocab, someone else's expectations, and that someone else has to learn what I need, my strengths, my weaknesses. I have to learn if that someone else is okay with the way I already do things . And just because someone is a great boxer/fighter/martial artist, does not mean he/she is a good teacher. There is a difference.
I think that's enough for today. I'll post more later.
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