I have been going to class three days a week, Tuesday night, Thursday morning, and Saturday morning. I had planned on going Saturday mornings until spring hit and Travis starts working in the mornings again. Saturday mornings are usually pretty full, definitely a two row kind of morning. Knowing this, I had every intention of getting to class early. Well, that did NOT happen, as usual. I walk in and every single bag was out and gloves on top. Hmm, now what? Well, this is what you get for coming in late. I wasn't late enough to miss the beginning cardio and the crab walks around the room. Seriously, crab walks on a Saturday morning, thank you, Maryann! I can't remember the last time I tried a crab walk. My triceps have no strength at all. I didn't even make it half way around the room. At least I tried, right? Stay to the inside of the bags and let everyone else go by, that's all you can do.
After we stretch out, Maryann's telling us to get to a bag. I'm kind of just standing in the back of the room looking around, trying to figure out what I was going to do. Then she calls off the combo and I try to wave her back. She tells me to share the bag with someone. There was a girl nice enough to let me share. I just felt really bad. I tend to move the bag a lot when I punch, so I was trying to punch lightly. After the first three minutes I was looking at this man. We will call him Bob. I think that's what they really call him anyway. I ask Maryann if it's okay to use him. She said that's fine.
So, Bob is a dummy punching bag. Found this picture online of him. This should be interesting!
When you're throwing a jab, cross, hook, it's usually to the head. Maryann says to mirror yourself on the bag or someone you don't like (HA, does help) and hit at that level. Well, with Bob, you don't have to pretend at all. He's made of some weird material that when you hit him, his head moves. It's kind of freaky. You see he doesn't have any arms, just shoulders? Well, round kicks were really interesting. You have a choice, either kick him in the ribs or up in the face. I stuck with the ribs. It was really weird kicking him in the face. As I'm going along, I start really looking at him. Look at his eyes...... AHH! They started to creep me out. I felt like he was staring at me and he was getting angry that I kept hitting him and he had no arms to hit me back. Upper cuts to the ribs, now, that was fun. Also, knees to the ribs, placing hands on the shoulder, that was great, I understand that now.
Even though I was scared of him, I did learn a few things. One - get over the face. If a person was going to attack you, it's going to have a similar face to this one. Two - follow through with your hooks. When you're punching the bag, you're kind of forced to stop. When you're punching someone in the face, follow through and get all of your body weight behind it, definitely. Three - kick and punch higher. Because I'm shorter, I need to remember to kick and hit a little higher than a mirror image of myself. My front kick was barely into Bob's belly button. Get that leg up higher!
The last thing I learned is you should try using Bob at least once during your time kickboxing. It really helps you understand form and placement!
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