07 May 2009

I have a prankster of a trainer.

Ryan seems hell bent on making me laugh during boxing sessions so that I'd lose concentration and give him an excuse to holler out quasi-insults about my punches. He puts on this mischievous expression on his face and then keeps on saying things like, "Punch harder! Hindi yan suntok ng isang taong madalas mag-10k!" And while he shouts this out, he maintains this complicated footwork sequence (he looks, to me, like some sadistic court jester) that forces me to keep up with him and stay nimble on my feet as well.

Of course, I am part-exasperated, part-amused, and part-scared of him. Haha.

I always have to remind my trainer, while gasping for breath in between punches, that I do not run 10ks all the time. Just an average of 5-6km every other day if the weather permits. He knows I'm telling the truth, but I think he wants to annoy me to a certain level that would motivate me to punch harder. I have to admit though that his strategy works. Every time he cracks a joke at my expense, I make a face and punch the darned mitts so hard that I can hear some very satisfying, solid thuds.

This evening, I was a bit late getting to the gym, and Ryan gave me a hard time about it. So, as a form of punishment, I didn't get to have breather rounds (like working on the punch bags) and instead had to go through several 3-minute boxing drills with him without hardly any breaks in between. I forgot how many rounds, but I certainly boxed for more than 15 minutes straight. He was introducing me to some new combinations, and I struggled to keep up.

I thought I was doing so badly and that my performance was disappointing, because he barely let me breathe in between rounds. I finally had to stop when I could feel the skin of the knuckles of my right hand peeling and chafing. I could already sense a small surface wound on the middle knuckle.

As Ryan was stretching my muscles, I asked him worriedly if I had weak punches. He laughed and said that I obviously took his jokes too seriously. Then he said something that made my tiring, stressful day less tiring and stressful: "Ano ka ba, malakas naman ang mga suntok mo. Kailangan mo lang mag-improve on speed in throwing punches. At malakas kaya ang stamina mo! Nakakagulat nga eh. Pero di ko naman i-i-increase yung level of intensity ng workout mo kung hindi ako confident na kaya mo. Alam kong kaya mo. Regular ang takbo mo kaya maganda endurance mo."

Wheee! At least when it comes to positive reinforcement, my trainer isn't miserly in his praises.

***

Now that rainy season's making a premature entrance, it's difficult to schedule my runs in the evenings. I think I need to rely more on my boxing workouts these days to stay fit. Wish I could run on the treadmill though on some nights.

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