Turbo Kickboxing

So yesterday Blaine and I decided to go back to the gym after a crazy week of finals. With my new class and work schedule, I can't make many of the zumba classes that I usually go to. But I didn't want to let this discourage me. Instead, I went to this turbo kickboxing class. I've only done kickboxing a couple of times a number of years ago. I remember liking it a lot. The class started at 7:00 PM and by 7:15 PM, I was already dying . It felt good and bad. Let me explain myself...


It was lame that I felt like quitting so early on in the class! If I hadn't controlled my breathing, I probably would've passed out. And the even lamer part was that there were these old ladies and old men kickboxing without breaking a sweat! Eyeopener...if I want to look as good as them and be as healthy as them, I need to make working out an unbreakable habit in my life.


It felt great that I was taking on a challenge, that I was sweating like crazy and pushing myself. I didn't execute all of the moves as well as I wanted to, but I didn't stop! There were many times when I thought I was done and couldn't push myself any harder. This was a humbling experience since I kick booty in zumba. Zumba is great and a ton of fun, but it wasn't as challenging as it used to be. But anyway, it also felt wonderful (in the most non-masochistic way) to wake up extremely sore today. I haven't felt that in a while. 


The most memorable part of last night's class though, has to be in the last 10 minutes when we were cooling down. While we were doing our lunges, the instructor encouraged us to go into a split if we could. Well, #1 I was a dancer a very long time ago, #2 I was never really flexible - it was my greatest weakness in dance. But they were playing one of my currently favorite songs, I was pumped, a little confident, and I felt that I could at least try my left split (although I'm a righty I've always been better with my left split). And WOW! I was horrible! It was so so horrible! Besides the fact that it was physically painful, the feeling of knowing that  you once had a perfect split and now don't was even more painful. So one of my goals is to work on my flexibility. And this is not going to happen with a couple of minutes of stretching in these classes. So I'll be doing some stretches in the morning and right before bed. 


Also, turbo kickboxing is a little different from regular kickboxing. It is more inspired by dance and tai chi. Kickboxing is more martial arts oriented. The instructor sets up the class into intervals of regular kickboxing and then turbo kickboxing. Turbo kickboxing is basically a crazy, intense, non-stop, high intensity session of kickboxing. So when I hear "we're going turbo!"...I brace myself. 


All in all, I had a great time yesterday. I'm usually not very enthusiastic to do something that I'm not great at. It makes me feel stupid. That's why I sometimes stay in my safe harbor of zumba. But it really felt good to do something different! Unfortunately, I can't make it to turbo kickboxing today. But I'm going to try a hip hop class which I am sure is going to be a lot of fun. I shall re-encounter turbo kickboxing Wednesday at 6:00 AM...