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Emily Mclntyre

Fit by the Fork: Punch the stress away with Boxercise

Last Friday, I went to my very first Boxercise group fitness class at Ping with my best friend. After a long first week of classes, I was looking forward to pumping out some endorphins and torching lots of calories. Still, I had no idea what the next hour had in store. I’ve never been into boxing as a sport, but I had a good feeling about this.

The instructor, Sam Cross, already had uptempo music blasting through the room when we walked in to get us in the zone. She introduced herself and had each person pick up one of the split Bosu balls from the rack in the corner. After the warm-up, Sam described the mini routine we’d be following, demonstrating each move in front of us. We did some squats, threw some punches and perfected our hooks and uppercuts.

After the first mini-routine, Sam went through the three moves we’d be doing for 20 seconds each, as our “intervals” part of the class. The first move was balancing in the plank position with the split Bosu ball upside down and doing toe jumping jacks. The second move was toe taps on the Bosu ball (right side up) as fast as we could. Our last interval was completing burpees with the Bosu ball on the ground. We repeated these intervals throughout the class, and after each time, I thought my heart was going to explode.

I’ll be honest — all that punching felt silly at first. It actually felt like I wasn’t accomplishing much because there was no soreness in the process. Those intervals though ... that does it. Seriously, if you’re not dripping in sweat by the cool-down portion of the class, you’re either doing it wrong or too in shape to be there.

My friend and I had so much fun that we agreed to come back this week for more. The next morning when I sat up in bed, every square inch of my body was crying tears of joy, pain and accomplishment. I think I found sweaty bliss in Boxercise.

Emily McIntyre is a senior studying journalism with a focus in news and information at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Would you punch your way into a sweat with Boxercise? Let her know by emailing her at em564912@ohio.edu.

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