But....before I get to that, let me describe the setup that Tito has done with this amazing training center for anyone who wants to get into MMA shape or someone like me who wants to lose...let's say.....50 pounds?
There's an actual UFC cage, that is done to the same specs as the ones the professionals fight in. In a corner there was a mat area where Tito was teaching a wresting/submission class...watching the students, you could see they were in awe...for most, they were being taught by their idol. In another corner was an Olympic style weight center....I took one look at it and thought...."uh they're gonna laugh at me if I even attempt to step one foot in there"
Then I see what I felt was my holy grail of this gym....the rows and rows of red punching bags and I couldn't wait to get my hands in them gloves and start beating the heck out of one of those bags.
7pm rolls around and our instructor, who happens to be a UFC fighter himself, Rob Emerson comes out and tells us it's time to warm up. When I first see Rob, I notice he has a HUGE black eye…I thought to myself… “what the hell did I get myself into??? I thought I was fighting a bag, I didn’t sign up for some one to hit me!” He then explains to us that he was fighting this past weekend so some the moves he won’t be able to do with full force as he normally would. Whew! That’s a relief.
He had us running laps, side steps, swinging our arms round and round to loosen the joints, crawling like a bear on all fours, frontwards AND backwards, kick butts (that's where you kick as if you're actually kicking your own butt), then hold on to the bag and swing you leg back and forth and switch legs...this was to loosen those joints. Then if that wasn't enough, he had stretch our calves, thighs and core and THEN it was time for the workout......HUH???? You mean that wasn't it?
Now it’s time to get the gloves on; Rob starts us off with basic combinations of jab, cross, jab. Oh, this seems easy enough, I could sooo do this. I forgot to mention we have to be in our kickboxing stance, for me since I’m right handed, that my left foot front and my right foot back and I’m on my toes…kinda like bobbing and weaving…..ooooh float like a butterfly sting like me…Muhammad Ali ain’t got nothing on me!...as we’re all bouncing back and forth, Rob starts to yell out numbers…what we need to do is whatever the number he yells out that how many times we need to do the jab combination…so for instance…he yells out TWO! We jab jab cross jab and back to bobbing and weaving….FOUR! jab jab jab jab cross jab, ONE! Jab cross jab…you get this idea…so I’m thinking “what??? I got this”…well Rob must have seen the cockiness in my eyes because then he adds another combo…it’s a jab, cross jab, upper cut, hook…..huh???
Then before I have time to think I hear, TWO!...okay what did he say….jab, jab, cross, jab. upper cut, hook? Yeah that’s what it was….FOUR! jab jab jab jab, cross, jab, upper cut, hook! THREE! Jab jab jab cross jab upper cut hook…just then Ron notices that I’m doing the hook incorrectly, he sees I was hitting with my thumb and what I needed to do was hook my arm and hit with my fist…TWO! Jab jab cross jab upper cut hook…he tells me it was much better…OH I GOT THIS!!! Give me another number, I tell myself..ONE! jab cross jab upper cut hook. So far I’m loving this class……well, I spoke too soon, Rob then informs us he’s adding another combination…jab, cross, jab, upper cut ,hook, knee. Oh boy! Okay, okay I'm ready.
He demonstrated to us how the combination will look when done correctly….uh yeah…I will get as close to that as I could but I’m not quite the professional kickboxer that he is.
FOUR! jab, cross, jab, upper cut ,hook, knee…I grip the bag as best as I could considering I’m wearing 16 oz gloves and proceed to knee the bag as hard as I could…you don’t wanna know who I was thinking of when I did that….but I will say this….it felt gooooood!
This is such an awesome workout, by this time I’m sweating and my legs are shaking. We stop for a few minutes to get some water….by the way when doing any type of extensive workout, remember to take a bottle of water….I…uh…forgot mine….one of the students had an extra bottle and was nice enough to give it to me. I started to drink it as if this was the last time I was ever gonna have a water break… “mmmm…It was the best water I ever had….what is this? Fiji???”
Back to work! Rob had us do the same combinations he had taught but this time we had to switch legs for the knee part. So instead of kneeing with my right, I was kneeing with my left. Yiiiyahhh, that took a lil bit more coordination then my dehydrated behind was ready for…but….I did it…not with as much finesse as he did…but I did it!
We did that combination a few more times and then we had a freestyle period…that’s where we hit the bag anyway we want, with combinations or not, as fast as we can for a minute. I jabbed, I kneed, I hooked, I jab cross jab hook, as fast as I could and when he said stop I finished it off with a slap! "Uh! Take that you bag...you Ha! You didn’t beat me!"
Now it was time for ab work…whoa! wait…we’re not done yet? Rob proceeds to take us to the semi official UFC cage, because the mat in there is so much cushy than the hard floor we were working on. we all lay on our backs,but not before he shows us what ab workout he wants us to do. First one was lay on your back, lfit your legs and reach and tap your feet without bending you legs…you want to me what?? First of all, “the girls” were having a hard time letting me get passed them so I could attempt to touch my feet , but I finally got the momentum and I was actually doing it…reach tap tap reach tap tap reach…ugh this hurts and then here comes Rob…I was doing such a great job I just knew he was gonna tell the class “this is how it’s done”, however, so not what he said…what he did say was, “you’re going too fast; you wanna slow down so you could really feel the muscles in your abs contracting when you tap your feet and try to keep your legs straight” oh gee thanks, I couldn’t get them any straighter than I had them and my legs were shaking by this time…I tried his way…kill me now! 5, 4, 3,2,1…ugh!
Next ab workout…on our backs, knees bent and try to lift our knees to the ceiling while lifting our hips at least 1 inch off the ground. He showed us and it look sooo easy, psh…I could do that and I could use my arms to help push me up…yup yup I could do that.
I do exactly as he says…and lift! Nothing….not a movement happened I could not lift myself I centimeter let alone an inch. I looked at him so defeated and he said, “don’t worry, not a lot of people starting out could do it, it will come with time but you need to practice.”
The last workout was more of a yoga move, lay on our tummy and stretch up, did that for 30 seconds and we were finally done.
I thanked Rob for his time and told him what I was doing with my blog and the challenges I'm presenting to myself to help me achieve the 50 pounds I plan on losing by August. He wished me luck and said he hope to see me back and that I had good form and picked up the moves pretty quickly. Not a lot of people get it that quick.
HA! Bag, in your face…my instructor said I rocked it!!! (you like how I heard what I wanted to hear that)
All in all is was a pretty good class and an amazing workout….I will definitely be back.
I thought I was in pretty good shape considering I had lost 30 pounds before putting myself out there in cyber world. However, after that ab workout…I need to get out there more.
Below is a flyer that shows what classes the Center offers and I also included the website for more information.
Maybe I’ll see some of you at one of the classes.
Now time for bed…I've got weigh in tomorrow and I hope today’s class was well worth it ;)
Only the scale will tell.
G’nite.
Remember to continue to
Be Inspiring, Be Inspired
As far as the cost for this facility and the ammenities you can visit the Center's website at http://www.punishmenttrainingcenter.com/
The Kickboxing Instructor, Rob Emerson and myself...my face is red from the workout he just gave us...I know I shedded enough weight for weigh in tomorrow. Yeah!
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