Wednesday, February 23

Newest Addiction and it Involves Hitting!

Ever since I had that horrible knock-me-on-my-heiny mono this summer I have not been very motivated to exercise. I am busy with the boys, life, and the computer so I keep on putting it off. "Tomorrow I will start exercising" I tell myself as I sit on the couch watching Netflix for hours while crunching on chips and chocolate-covered almonds.

I am pretty lucky and I don't gain much weight when I stop working out, but I get flabby and a bit bloated. Sorry, I refuse to post a photo even though I have one of myself in my undies for motivation.  One look at that photo will usually damper my snacking a bit.

Exercise also works like a mild anti-depressant/anti-anxiety drug for me. If I stop working out I start getting easily overwhelmed. I also feel lazy and tired and about twenty years older.

So the other day while I was hanging out in the backyard with the boys rereading The Stand: Expanded Edition for the third time, my husband (who works out several times a week and is in amazing shape) brought home his new toy.

I took one look at his new punching bag, stand and gloves and scoffed "What in the world did you buy?  You are never going to use that".

I have since eaten those words (which are much healthier than the chips/chocolate I was snacking on earlier).  For a lark I put on those big black gloves and gently hit the bag a few times.  "Don't hit like a girl!" he told me.  So I pulled back and gave that bag my everything. That bag was every horrid boss I had ever had, every mean girl who threw a ball at me in dodgeball, every crazy driver that cut me off while they were texting. 

And it felt AMAZING!

Since that mind-blowing day I have been hitting our "gym" daily (elliptical, exercise tapes, weights, and that lovely punching bag).  And I am starting to feel like my old self!  Who knew hitting something could feel so good?

I used my Grainy B&W action on that image and also a B&W texture from Chasing Dreams newest texture set, France. 

14 comments:

  1. dude! THAT. IS. AWESOME! I need one of those... I have the elliptical and the DVDs... I just need to get motivated. Clearly I need a picture in my undies, cause I know that isnt pretty. Im like you- the flab occurs. ugh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds great, but I so can't imagine you doing it. LOL I need to get something like that for my older boys, so they won't hit each other, and I would probably get rid of a lot of pent up stress too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amanda, I never thought of myself as enjoying boxing either! We are going to get some kid gloves for the boys. Oh, it helps so much with that pent up stress!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amanda, I never thought of myself as enjoying boxing either! We are going to get some kid gloves for the boys. Oh, it helps so much with that pent up stress!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I take a kickboxing class taught by a boxer at our local Y. It is an amazing workout and great stress relief! We also have a bag and gloves at home for when someone needs a little *timeout*!

    ReplyDelete
  6. hehe. How funny!!

    maybe I'll need to take up boxing... and beat up some old memories! lol!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Now that is funny! I would never have thought of that as pleasant exercise but I like the idea of pretending it is everyone you have ever had a problem with!

    ReplyDelete
  8. That does seem like a lot of fun! I think at first I would be self concious of how I looked! LOL. But I can totally see myself loving it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I used to do Krav Maga which included punching and kicking pads held by another person. Even though I wasn't hitting the person, I was "hitting" the person, and it was pretty freaking awesome for stress relief.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh I envy you! I take a cardio kickboxing class and LOVE it! Enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. a puncing bag has been on my "wishlist" for many years. Maybe it its time to do something about it:-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. My boyfriend has practiced boxing, MMA and various disciplines of Karate for a very long time. He recently bought a house and canceled his boxing club membership in favor of a home gym. He's been teaching me how to box in the garage. It's so much fun.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I totally agree! I take Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) and there is something so satisfying about punching, kicking, and throwing elbows. It's a great stress reliever and incredible workout! The gym I go to has kids' classes as well so it's an entire family affair for us.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a message, I love reading them! All comments are personally moderated by me and I will post and answer them them as soon as possible.
Rita