Except for the purpose of recording content for the online centre, it has been approximately eighteen months since the last time I have attended Lowestoft Boxing Club for a beasting of a session under Head Coach, Colin Stephenson. Tonight, I dusted off the Team Kerrison Boxing kit and made the journey over to Lowestoft to get started and create fresh momentum. The Coronavirus pandemic has meant that training for the past year and a half has meant staying local and learning to appreciate my surroundings; living in an area that is rural and surrounded by hills has made running sessions interesting to say the least.
Returning to Lowestoft, I was not given any respite from the reputable intensity of the training that Colin puts the team through. We started off with the usual five mile run ‘warm-up’ consisting of sprints up scores of steps at different intervals and I soon learnt that the hills at home were far more desirable for one’s legs than the upwards incline of those in Lowestoft. We got back in good time and cracked on with the rest of the session.
Keeping in mind that boxing is an art that requires consistency, I jumped straight into ten rounds of sparring; two rounds of three minutes each with five of the lads. It felt great to find that I hadn’t lost my skillset, perhaps the pads and BoxFit that I task my clients with had been enough to keep my stamina alive. I came out of the ten rounds with a dominant performance that I was pleased with but not one that was necessarily a clean sheet. After looking in the mirror, a few marks under the eyes made sure I am kept humble and in the knowledge that there is always room to improve.
We set straight to work on sharpening up, beginning to bring my timing up to scratch with some padwork rounds with another of Lowestoft Boxing Club’s coaches, Neil. These rounds came hard after the intensity of the rest of the session. Flurries of straight punches and a finishing round with Neil wearing the body guard ensured that every bit of effort was forced out of me – a good session just the way I remembered them.
After the demands that were met from the rest of the session, we got off light with the circuit which was as follows:
30 press-ups, 30 squat thrusts, 30 sit-ups, 30 burpees, 30 mountain climbs, 30 windmills, 30 v-sit-ups, 30 butterfly crunches
(Please note that exercises can be known by more than one name if you are trying our end-of-session circuit yourself).
Unfortunately, it is difficult to show just how intense our sessions are in writing so look out for some videos of our training and try what you can at home! Feeling really positive and looking forward to the next session – back to Kerrison Fitness Studio in Rushall tomorrow morning at 6am and sleep is, as we know, just as important as exercise. It may be late but I’m sitting here replenishing with a good, balanced meal of peri-peri marinated chicken, rice and broccoli to ensure good weight management and to make sure my body has all the nutrients it needs to repair itself; then it’s straight off to bed.
Good night!
