Exercise update, Week 13

I was quite sure that I would have to pay into the penalty jar this week after 12 straight weeks of hitting the targets of my exercise initiative.

And it's mainly linnked to the writing initiative that I've started on. It's really taking a toll on me. I've written three nights this week until 2am with work the next day, and with only four hours of sleep for those nights, I struggled to make it through work, let alone exercise.

But to my surprise, I managed to kick start my exercise on Thursday feeling like a zombie, and built up momentum from that point on. It helped that I took a complete break from writing for three days while my family visited from Singapore, and that they wanted to play sports together.

This is how my exercise was this week:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: Rest
• Wednesday: Rest
• Thursday: 25 minute gym
• Friday: 40 minute Insanity Plyometric session
• Saturday: 1.5 hours badminton
• Sunday: 45 minute hiking (morning), 15 minute punching bag (afternoon)

I decided to try incorporate a new workout today, since my sister brought back her punching bag and boxing gloves from Singapore. She has been doing MMA and Muay Thai for many, many years and has decided to take a break from such high intensity workouts for awhile.

As I didn't have the equipment or space set up to hang it up, I propped it up against a wall outside my parents' house using an old chair and gave it a real go.

It was the first time I've ever used a punching bag, and I've never done any martial arts type classes before, and it was a grueling, grueling workout even though I only went for 15 minutes.

I think I understand why my friends who went for regular kickboxing sessions came out with more muscular and toned arms, shoulders and torsos. It's truly an awesome upper body workout. I am 100% sure that my lats, trapezius and lower back muscles are going to be sore tomorrow because those are the key muscle groups I feel activating.

And it was fun because I had my sister coaching me on proper punching technique. It's not as easy as just getting out there and swinging.

Punches have to be compact with the power transfer coming from the hips rotation. You are not supposed to extend fully or overextend, and the fist has to come back to protect your face almost instantaneously after releasing the punch. Your knuckles have to go a full rotation until you feel your index and middle fingers driving the punch at the contact point.

The four main punches used are the jab with the leading hand, the cross with your dominant arm, the hook and the uppercut, and each have their proper technique. I'm finding it very hard to get the hook right because I can't get my fist to snap the way my sister does it, and don't have a smooth transition of power from the rotation of the hips.

Just from one session, I'm starting to respect boxers a lot more. Even on a static, non-swinging bag, it's challenging to have a perfect, clean strike with proper form and power from the hips. But they have to do it while moving around and trying to hit a moving target who can attack back, and when you keep your hands up to protect your face, you actually obscure your vision, making it even more difficult to hit.

Well, I'm never going to step into the ring and I'm just starting to enjoy some of the fitness elements of boxing. I now see why all the boxers I see on TV have such good physiques; following their regime, they wouldn't even need to lift weights to build muscle. I'm going to bring a skipping rope over next and work out a proper routine to follow.

For those wanting a guaranteed way to tone your arms and shoulders, consider incorporating a punching bag into your routine. On top of the fitness you gain, it may even enable you to be a bit more confident if someone came to mug you or you experienced some psycho with road rage, which is not uncommon in this country.

Categories: Health