Day 1, Line dancing errr Kickboxing?!

Day 1, I couldn't sleep much the night before as I was afraid of missing my alarm and being late to class. My wife had pre-warned me that with my level of fitness, she thought I might find the classes a bit less of a challenge. OK, sounds plausible...

All right, music bumping, hands wrapped (I think we should probably have gone over wrapping on orientation day in lieu of a few minutes before class start), and its time to get moving. Warm-up, hey this isn't so bad, I'm a bit tired from my run and ride on side, but things are loosening up. All right, time to punch stuff! OK, wait, crap, the gym manager was right, I can't even keep my left and right straight. Oh well, fake it until I make it. Cross, cross, jab, jab, cross, jab, ok, I think I got this. OH, I have to move my hips and feet too?! Crap, now I'm lost again.

Time to kick stuff! Step, chamber, snap, what? Was there a dos-i-do and a kickball change in there too? Am I back in line dance lessons? Oh man, I'm so lost and I probably look like I'm having some sort of seizure trying to keep my feet and legs moving with the rhythm the instructor is calling out. It doesn't help that I have a hard time with hearing instructions in a noisy environment so I do my best to copy my neighbor's homework i.e. watch the FIT person closest to me and see if I can mimic their movements to the best (HA!) of my ability.

Finally, time for some bag work. We wheel out the bags. Whoa, rolling the bags out could be a workout on its own. I get mine into place and its time to start punching and connecting. Why am I wet? Oh, wow, definitely breaking a solid sweat already. Actually, as we get further into our bag work, I'm noticing that the sweat is literally rolling off me. Oops. Guess there's going to be some cleanup on aisle 1 when I'm done today.

Back to the bag. I'm having a hard time remembering right from left and what type and order of punches we're doing, but I'm giving it what I can. Dang, I can tell I don't have much arm strength. I'm already getting sore like I'm playing Mike Tyson's Punchout in the arcade. Time for some kicks! Aaaaandd my instability on my feet is fully on display. It's more of a kick, regain balance, kick, regain balance than any semblance of what I'm really supposed to be doing. I sure hope I can make some strides here.

Finally, class is done. Whew, survival day 1. I'm soaked through in sweat and my arms feel like jello now, but its all good. Maybe a solid ass kicking is what this 40 year old body needs to help push me to a new level. A quick picture after class (I'm guessing to commemorate our bludgeoned looks?) and we're out of there.

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