Boxing Intervals -- Even Without The Hitting, It's A Great Workout
THINK BOXING. WHAT COMES to mind?
Anger? Violence? Blood? Joe Louis? Ali? Don King's hair? Ears?
What about strength? Endurance? Discipline? Posture? Efficiency? Stress reduction? Confidence?
Whatever you think of boxing as a sport, it's also is a great workout. Many health clubs now offer boxing aerobics, boxing training or kick boxing. Amateur and pro boxers find their gyms sprinkled with fitness boxers who may skip rope, work on speed and heavy bags and drill on footwork - and never make contact with another person, not to mention take a punch themselves.
I went a couple of rounds five years ago, after reporter Sherry Stripling and I picked up some pointers from Bob Jarvis at Hillman City Boxing Gym on Rainier Avenue South. I quickly learned that boxing is as much about footwork as punching power. That three minutes of jumping rope with unsuspecting calf muscles can lead to five days of limping. That keeping a speed bag going is harder than it looks. And that just a couple inches of reach advantage can saddle one for years with the nickname "The Hammer."
It's easy to understand the fitness benefits of boxing training after seeing the setup for Steve Smith's class at Pro-Robics Club atop Queen Anne Hill. Encircling the room are makeshift circuit-training stations: A mat for abdominal crunches, one spot for wall sitting, a heavy bag for punching, small orange cones for high-knee sideways stepping, other cones for jumping drills, little dumbbells for jab-punch combinations, bigger dumbbells for triceps extensions that work the back of the upper arm, a barbell for squats. In the middle, Smith, wearing coach's punch mitts, offers the big pads as targets for combinations of punches and footwork.
After a warmup jumping rope and practicing technique, the 10 women and men rotate from one station to the next, spending 90-second "rounds" at each the first time through the circuit, then 60, then 30, with high-energy music pressing the pace. "TIME!" Smith shouts, to signal a switch to the next station. "And . . . BOX!" The outer ring of exercisers watch the action in the middle, lending whoops of support when a particularly sweet punch cracks into Smith's mitt.
"It's like a microcosm of what I do in Colorado Springs, for Olympians, scaled back for white-collar boxers," says Smith, who teaches classes at several clubs in the region but mostly does boxing personal training (averaging $35 an hour; 425-745-3763), often for other personal trainers who value the intense interval workout. Smith is also an elite trainer for national and international competition, and will coach the U.S. team at the Goodwill Games this summer in New York.
"I was surprised to find out that these seem to be better workouts for women than for men," Smith says, "because it helps with a lot of problem areas: inner thigh, buttocks, hamstrings, triceps."
If boxing workouts pique your interest but you're not up to or able to join such organized sessions, a new book ("Boxing For Everyone") and video ("Boxing For Women," $19.95 each, 888-240-1934, or http://www.girlbox.com ) by another Seattle coach and fitness trainer might help. With anecdotes and friendly humor, author Cappy Kotz, founder of the Capitol Hill Boxing Club, outlines basic alignment, stance, straight punches and hooks, heavy- and speed-bag work, skipping rope, footwork, stretching and strengthening, with three workouts plus circuit training and injury warnings.
The impact of boxing can run much deeper than the physical-fitness level, as Kotz demonstrated at a reading at Red & Black Books. "Just assuming basic alignment changes your body. It leads to a leaner, more compact look," Kotz said, demonstrating pulling back the head, lining up the feet, tilting the hips forward and letting the shoulders drop back and down, opening up the chest and back. Working on direct, efficient punches can carry over to more direct, effective everyday life, she said. "Punching at a target is like going at a goal 100 percent." Learning to jump rope like a boxer (and persevere despite repeated misses) can be "emotional management."
Whatever the goal, though, boxing's resurgence may be as much about something as basic as the sport itself.
"It's possible to box," Kotz said, "simply because it feels good."
Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Northwest magazine. ------------------------------- NOTEBOOK
Analyze your diet
Keeping a diet journal is often recommended for people interested in losing weight, gaining it or otherwise changing what or how they eat. But what to do with that information? Nutritional analyses often cost from $75 to $200. But Bastyr University in Bothell, which has a Nutrition Analysis Service for food manufacturers (to produce those "Nutrition Facts" labels or other customer information), also offers consumers analysis of a three-day period for $45. Information: 425-602-3121.
Interfitness
# Starting a running program? Looking for golf fitness tips? Want to exercise to help your Type II diabetes? The American Council on Exercise's Web site includes a "Fit Facts" section with a searchable database of more than 50 articles on a variety of fitness activities. Go to http://www.acefitness.org
# The Washington Inline Skating Association has discontinued its newsletter and therefore its fee for joining - membership is now free. WILSA information and Northwest skating news still can be found on its Web site: http://www.wiso.org
# Brooks Sports includes a funny, running-shoe-led photo tour of Seattle on its Web site: http://www.brookssports.com
Ask Molly
Questions on workouts, equipment or nutrition? Send them to Ask Molly, Pacific Northwest magazine, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, or e-mail mmartin@seattletimes.com.