I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since the last entry. Epic fail on that! But does that mean there has not been a continuous fitness trek during this time? No! And from here on posts might include a backward chronology of fitness activities, books read, or other things pertaining to fitness, health, and well being.
The latest adventure I started is joining the UFC Gym in Corona, CA on Thursday, June 15, 2017. I was invited to the gym on their "Member Appreciation Day" to check out their special rates. And sure enough, they offered me a price I could not refuse which includes not only access to the gym facility but all of its classes. This isn't my first time around. I had a membership back in 2014 but I paid a much higher membership fee. The only reason I got it then was I was working at Disneyland and needed a facility open 24 hours. Plus they also offered Krav Maga classes back then. (Unfortunately that training isn't offered anymore.)
Since I have joined the UFC gym, I have gone 4 times. My first time before joining, one of the instructors (boxing being his specialty) gave me a fitness assessment and personal coaching session. It was intense! I didn't want to admit it but towards the end I was getting nauseous and couldn't even hold plank for a full minute.
We started with variations of squats as he was assessing my form. Afterward he placed me on a machine which I ran but also swung my arms also recording my heart rate and other things. From this assessment, it showed that during the recovery period my heart rate didn't lower as much as it should have. Hmm? I'll have to look into that more. I also ran stairs for 5 minutes. In that time frame I was supposed to do 15 up and down. But I was only able to do 12 1/2. Whew was that hard!
After that, we did some basic boxing moves. Stance was quite different than what I'm used to from Krav Maga or martial arts training. Stance is actually feet at a 45 degree angle and your body angled. Placement of the hands for blocking was in a different position as well. Instead of next to the cheeks, left hand was higher near the eye and right hand was lower a little below the cheek. We did some 1 punches (jab) and stepping forward. Next we added 2s (cross). He would call out 1s and 1-2 combos. Ending exercises focused on strengthening the core. We did some leg lift variations each for a minute and ended with holding plank. But I was so drained I dropped at about 38 seconds.
No worries! I was very pleased with this hour long session. And I joined! I'm looking forward to continue training!
