In week two of her get-fit campaign, Lazy Lucy gloves up for a spot of boxing.
Week two: the abs have recovered nicely from the pilates starter sessions and I'm even slightly less allergic to the idea that exercise can be vaguely enjoyable. Time then to up the ante - or at least the heart rate. Pilates was great for stretching and strength but the butt isn't going to shrink without being a little shaken up. Sad, but true.
Boxing. On paper it sounded like fun, with the added bonus of working off some accumulated work frustrations, as well as the lardy derriere.
Kirsty Gregg Studio in Grey Lynn, Auckland, part of the Reab pilates studio, runs Fighting Fit circuit sessions twice a week, with the focus on a good cardio workout, rather than training you to take on David Tua.
Elsewhere in this newspaper you'll find the column of a young reporter training for a big charity fight, involving diet regimes, seven-day workout weeks and actually getting hit. This lazy Lucy is taking it nowhere near those extremes. That said, class still starts with "gloving up" - I may not have hit anything yet, but I've nailed the lingo quite nicely.
I wrap my hands in tape like a pro, with a rousing rendition of Eye of the Tiger on high rotate in my head. Then the gloves are on and we're off and running. Running? I gasp, alarmed. What? Still no hitting things? Not before we've warmed up, apparently, which makes sense. I wouldn't want to strain anything when delivering a lethal uppercut to a defenceless punching bag.
The intensity of the class gradually increases over the course of the hour. It begins with a few jabbing punches to a pad held by the trainer as we jog past, moving on to circuits that include running up and down stairs, skipping, kicks into pads and long sessions of belting the person opposite you as they defend themselves with pads.
Finally, it all builds to an exhausting crescendo 60 exhilarating, minutes later with the class divided into two groups of four - one person defending themselves as everybody else tries to land punches. If it sounds alarming, it's not - in fact, it works as an effective warm-down even if it's not supposed to, merely because everyone is so helpless with laughter at the end of it very little boxing is being done.
By the end of it I am wrung out like a wet sock but I can't remember the last time I had that much fun, particularly anywhere near a gym.
Every inch of me feels as though it's had a workout and I know I'm going to be feeling it the next day in muscles I didn't know I owned, but for the first time in living memory I'm actually sorry a fitness class has finished.
A boxing circuit like this seems the perfect, fun way to work some cardio into your fitness diet - a great side dish to go with your pilates or yoga. I'll be back.
* Fighting Fit Circuit classes at Reab are $30 per class or $250 for 10. Bookings essential. reab.co.nz or ph (09) 360 2929
