Amy’s Bodyblog

With less than a month away till my big fight, I have finally figured out how to deal with the stress, the pressure and the brutal training. 

Obviously I’m aiming for a win, however, if I lose, that is ok with me as long as it was a fair fight and she is honestly better than me.  However, cause of all that’s on the line — my boxing club and coach’s reputation, my respect, and whatnot — I have a certain fear about losing.  If no won cared whether I won or lost, I’d give it my all but enjoy the experience.  Right now, it’s just a lot of go-go-go.  Everyday I am bombarded with people at my boxing club, telling me to win and watching me like a hawk.  Sometimes I feel like a kind of trophy, other times I just feel so overwhelmed.

The fact that my coach doesn’t speak a word of English definitely adds stress to the already stressful situation. 

I don’t weight train as much as I would like cause honestly, my boxing training requires an insane amount of energy and leaves me exhusted.

Here’s how I train for boxing… 6 days a week.

5mins = stretching

30mins = skipping

15mins (6 rounds) = shadow boxing in the ring

15mins (6 rounds) = pad work in the ring with my coach

25mins (10 rounds) = heavy bag work

30mins = skipping… (yes, again)

20mins = ab work

TOTAL TIME = 140 minutes = 2 hours and 20 minutes!!!

(that’s if I go non-stop, but usually I take a short break in between pad work and heavy bag, and then between heavy bag work and skipping… works out to be a little less than 3 hours)

Then of course my coach and I usually watch boxing on TV together for a bit or watched taped sparring matches of either me or my team mates, and after training I usually have a small meal at the boxing club with my coach. 

Through in the fact that there’s always something my coach wants to talk about before training, like ordering stuff (ie. handwraps, etc), my diet, or whatnot, and then I have to actually gear up (change into my sweats and handwraps)… it means I don’t even start training till about 20-30minutes after I have arrived. 

This means, the grand total amount of time, on average, I spend a day at my boxing club runs anywhere from 3 hours to 4.5 hours… it’s definitely a job but I love it, well, somedays more than others

In 38 days I will be competting as the opening fighter.

Exact date: Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

It will be my first professional fight and so the fight is super crucial for my status as a boxer.  I am super pumped about it but equally as nervous.  I can’t help but feel super stressed about it, for the following reasons:

a.  my coach is hosting the fight

b.  it’s being held in my home city (Korean home city that is) and so I’m the local girl

c.  a lot of my friends and some of my students are coming out to watch

d.  my coach is closing the boxing club for the day so that my team mates can come

e.  I’ll be the ONLY foreigner fighting

f.  I’m the ONLY professional female fighter at my gym

g.  it’s a status issue not just for me but also my coach, my team, and my boxing club

h.  I know nothing about my opponent except for the fact that she’s 27 and is Korean

i.  I know I still have to learn a lot

j.  I have to drop 10 pounds for the fight

k.  I know my boyfriend is nervous for me

l.   my parents don’t really approve of the fact that I box

m.  I’m not afraid of getting hurt, I’m afraid I’ll disappoint my coach

n.  even when I do my best, I am really hard on myself

o.  boxing has consumed me… my time, thoughts, effort, sleep, diet… etc.

p.  this is my offical chance to prove myself right to others… and wrong to some

q.  I want to win so bad

r.  language barrier is slowing down my growth as a boxer

s.  it’s a pride issue

t.  I’m the opening fighter for two of my team mate’s title matches

u.  morning runs, sparring practice, studying boxing videos and boxing training leaves me with little time in my day to recover and relax

v.  mentally very challanging to prepare myself

x.  so hard to stick to the diet when the streets are loaded with yummy street vendors

y.  I am expected to win

z.  I know I can do this but am afraid of cracking under pressure

So after sitting down and seriously thinking what my goals are, my mind started to think of a new approach to it all.  After all, it’s easy to say what I am striving for and whatnot, but what about what I’m doing wrong that’s preventing me from my goals.  And so, I came up of a list, a list of things I’m doing wrong that are making myself my worse enemy in my strive towards a healthier, toned body.

My personal bumps in the road to my success:

1.  Irregular eating habits

With my schedule being so different from day to day, I’m not eating at regular times.  Usually I skip breakfast, get lunch on the go and then wolf down something before hitting the gym.

2.  Only eating 2 meals a day

I know, I know.. I need to eat small portioned meals more regularly through out the day.

3.  I don’t cook and so I always eat out

Eating out could be healthy… if I knew what I was really eating.  Here in Korea, it’s safe to say that most of the times I only know a little bit about what I’m chowing down on.

4.  Poor sleeping habits

I stay up too late, sometimes sleep in and sometimes wake up after only a couple hours sleep.  I know this is really killing my energy levels.

5.  Not getting enough of the main food groups

The benefit of eating the local Korean food is that it’s save to say that I eat enough veggies.  However, fruit here is rather expensive and most dairy products are hard to find in skim or whatnot. 

6.  Not getting enough protein

I think I’d definitly benefit from some protein shake powder or protein bars but unless I pay an arm and a leg to ship them in, I’m limited.

7.  Drinking too much coffee

Because of the fact that I don’t get enough sleep and always seem to be on the run, picking up coffee has become a regular habit of mine.  I know I should not be so dependent on it, or at least limit it.  The coffee that they sell at the local corner stores is ultra fatty… it tastes ultra good too, that is, until I realize I’ll have to run on the treadmill for about an hour to burn it off.