The Flying Scissors, and being generally flipping cool

Got new boxing gloves this week.

Golly, it's exciting. My old gloves were almost ten years old, and starting to cause a wrist injury. I used the new ones for the first time this evening, woweeeeeeeeee :) *happy dance*

So my gloves look kinda like this...

...Twins Special is a top brand in martial arts apparel, these particular gloves being hand-made from genuine leather in Thailand. They are used by professionals all over the world.

At one point this evening, I really felt like I had spontaneously become a more awesome boxer. I felt faster and stronger, my punches felt like they carried more weight, I thought my posture had improved and that maybe, just maybe, I looked as wicked-cool-dangerous as I feel when I'm boxing. Oh yeeeaaah, these gloves have definitely made me a more proficient boxer. Move out the way Ali, I'm about to float like a butterfly and sting  like a bee. 

So, I was well into my training this evening, and increasingly convinced that I have been transformed into the next Baby Jake. I've been working on a wicked combo for the past few weeks, one that I've nicknamed "The Flying Scissors". It sounds dangerous, doesn't it? Yes. I'm impressed too. My husband assures me that it is rather intimidating to watch as well. I don't care that he's biased and trying to win brownie points.

The Flying Scissors consists of a back-hand, followed closely by a some weird kung fu sweeping backhand by the other hand. I then use the momentum from this sweeping motion to perform one final, lethal, spinning backhand with the same hand that delivered the first back-hand. Ok, I know I've lost you, but essentially, it's three back-hands one after the other in a Tekken-style spinning motion, probably highly illegal in most martial arts, and very aggressive. And it feels pretty flipping cool.

This particular combo requires several things that I naturally fall short of...
Grace. (usually bestowed on those who don't habitually trip over their own feet)
Hand-eye coordination. (not the kind where you hit yourself in the eye - that's the kind I do have)
Balance. (Yeah, right!)
Aim. (There's nothing quite as awkward and humiliating as missing the punching bag at full speed.. Doh!)

Being the clumsy, nerdy girl I am, I was quite surprised this evening to find myself delivering the Flying Scissors with such grace, coordination, balance and aim. Such precision. Wow. If I were my punching bag, I would have been profoundly terrified of me.

If I had known that my intrinsic clumsiness could be cured with a new pair of boxing gloves, I would have acquired these a long time ago.  I officially feel kick-ass cool.

For now anyways.


Bruce Lee: Fear not the man who has practiced a thousand kicks once; but the man who has practiced one kick a thousand times.

Music to Get Your Gloves On...

I decided to do a little bit of a musical experiment this weekend - I hope you are as giddy with excitement as I am...

As I previously blogged last year, dance music (unaffectionately nicknamed doef-doef music) is admittedly one of the best music styles for any kind of exercise, including kickboxing. I decided to find out, by absolute trial and error, what other music is good for boxing. So I pre-selected a variety of music, and loaded it onto my iPod. I clicked on "shuffle" and off I went to the garage, where my punching bag hung waiting. My results were interesting, to say the least. Here are some observations:


Linkin Park
No good for boxing at all. I found this surprising, as I would have thought that their aggression would have contributed to the sport quite well. Not so - in fact, I felt quite drained boxing to Linkin Park. Not recommended, I'm afraid. Which is sad. But true.


My Chemical Romance
Now don't accuse me of being biased, but my findings suggest that My Chemical Romance is exceptionally suitable for boxing. The combination of near-psychopathic energy, aggression and most importantly, emotion, is what does it for me. I felt like I could tear a hole in the punching bag with my bare hands, and land in a sobbing heap on the floor. A bit over-the-top and dramatic, but effective nonetheless.


Sting
No surprises here, I would not suggest using Sting as motivational music for a boxing session. I felt more inspired to hang up my boxing gloves and take up yoga and meditation instead. Zero on the boxing-music chart.


Elvis Presley
Yes, I possess Elvis Presley music. (And proudly, I might add.) You won't believe this, but Elvis is truly great boxing music. I expect that the warbling croons of the likes of "Blue Moon" and "Love me Tender" instantly transformed me from a sweaty novice panting doggedly in my dirty garage, into Cinderella-Man... Has-been Champion pro, fighting for love... for survival.... for dignity... Age-old romance really does it, who knew? (I do now) 


Red
Red is a hardcore Christian band, and I honestly wasn't sure how I'd manage with them, but their extraordinary intertwining of bleeding guitars, screaming vocals and soaring orchestra (yes, orchestra) made me feel like a warrior, battling a giant red demon in the middle of a raging apocalypse. Red filled me with a passionate desire to overcome the punching bag, and overcome it I did. With goosebumps from head to toe. 


The Rasmus
Now this is a 'dark band' and, in my opinion, quite effective with a punching bag, but... it seems to work only if fueled by some kind of heartache in addition to it. It's what we call an emo band, and emo without pain is... well, just a lame fashion statement really. So use The Rasmus wisely with the punching bag, because they don't pull the emotion off quite as well as My Chemical Romance.


Good Charlotte
Again, an astonishing result - I expected the lovable punk band to provide me with bounds of joyful energy to work out, but instead I just found myself getting annoyed. But like, really annoyed. In fact, I had to stop boxing on a few occasions to take my gloves off, and change the track whenever Good Charlotte or Blink 182 came on. Gosh could this be the first sign that I'm getting old? .....Naaaaah, couldn't be.


Sum 41
This band did nothing for me. Neither did 30 Seconds to Mars or Hoobastank. It was all merely very good background music, but that's all it was. So, standard-issue alternative music seems to be pretty neutral ground. Better than Sting, at least. 


Kongos
Now this is excellent boxing music. Kongos is just a refreshing rock bad, with driving rhythm, brilliant durmming (as so well demonstrated on their hit track "I'm Only Joking") and good old-fashioned great vocals. Even their more 'toned down' tracks, like "Escape", make for pleasant exercise and boxing music. Great for light sparring and warming up.


Rihanna
The problem I experienced with the likes of Rihanna, Shakira and Beyonce is that I felt the urge to strip my gloves off, and dance with my punching bag, instead of hit it. So, while I can't accurately say that this is not energizing music, it's not the kind of energy I'm looking for. Well, except for one song - Breaking Dishes - which I've mentioned once before HERE."Breaking Dishes" I could box to... but I'd probably break something. 


Guns N' Roses
Now it's not easy to mention Guns N Roses in this forum because my iPod only played one of their songs, "Sweet Child of Mine". Big no-no with the punching bag, it seems. I'm not even sure how this happens, but in losing my focus to this track, the punching bag actually managed to punch me back, in my solar plexus, and left me somewhat winded for a minute or two. So classic rock, the likes of Guns n Roses and  Metallica , not conducive to safe boxing, and not recommended.

To summarize, I'd have to say that ny top three boxing bands are....

My Chemical Romance 

Red

Kongos

And if all else fails, Fellow Inhabitants of this Planet, there's always that blasted dance music.

Everybody *dance* now!

 Yesterday I did something that I have never done before: I bought (paid good money for) a dance-music CD. Actually, a compilation of three discs, to be precise - Kevin Grenfell's Club Anthems 2011, vol. 2. For those of you who know my musical preferences, you will understand the significance of this occurrence. But I could't deny myself any longer. 


I have been listening to a lot of radio lately, giving my poor, overworked iPod a bit of a break, and the radio has been playing a great deal of house and dance music. Now, usually, when this type of music abuses my radio, I roll my eyes, sigh in exasperation, and utter some derogatory word or two about 'this damn doef-doef-music'. However, I have discovered in my radio-listening weeks that there is a reason that this music is called "dance". Despite my resistance to liking the stuff, I can not help myself - when it is playing, I simply must move. Something about it makes me jiggle and jive and bop and wriggle... All in the embarrassing confines of my car. I just want to dance! 


With this in mind, I realized that it would be the perfect music to play while boxing. And so that is my excuse. I refuse to admit that I have come to like house music, but will concede to it's usefulness in an exercising environment. 

And so it was while working out this morning, and listening to my cheesy dance CD, that I decided that I have a lot to say about boxing. A LOT. Enough to blog about, for sure. So, if anyone is out there, and if anyone is interested, my next blog will be about boxing and kickboxing... I'm quite sure I've wasted enough of your Sunday talking about dance music *sigh of exasperation, eye-roll*, and so I shall address the matter another time. (I do have a LOT to say)


Get your boxing gloves ready and your doef-doef on, Fellow Inhabitants of this Planet, it's nearly Monday!