Tag Archives: inspirational

Bad Girls Boxing

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Bad Girls Boxing

Bad Girls Boxing

 

I came across a couple of videos for a group called Bad Girls Boxing out in Indio, California.  Bad Girls Boxing opened its doors 15 years ago as boxing club for young women from 8 – 35 and uses boxing as a vehicle for teaching empowerment while developing basic and advanced skills. In addition to individual and group training classes, the organization sponsors women’s boxing training camps with the likes of Laila Ali as a coach and mentor at those events. For more information about Bad Girls Boxing click here. You can also “like” them on Facebook here.

 

Cardio, cardio, cardio

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Cardio, cardio, cardio

I had my annual physical yesterday.  All looks good so far, though my doctor recommended upping my cardio.  It got me thinking how I would fit that in when I’m already at my max on time — not to mention the fact that I box on Saturdays which is about the best cardio I know!

Then it occurred to me that I wasn’t being consigned to an hour on a treadmill or the nordic trak.  I’m free to be as creative as I can while accomplishing the benefits in short spurts like climbing stairs in lieu of elevators (where possible), taking a faster pace when I walk and throwing in a few rounds of shadow boxing using my handy iPhone timer app whenever I can!  Dancing to three butt-buster songs from YouTube can also do the trick!  Or as my husband suggested going back to the idea of an evening “constitutional.”

The point is — once you reach a certain age you are pronounced an official medical grown-up which means it’s all about prevention!  And while strength is important for healthy bones, stretching for flexibility and stress reduction, the aerobics are necessary to keep your heart healthy.

Your moment, your time.

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Your moment, your time.

This is as good an early morning as any to admit that getting up before dawn to breathe deeply as I contort myself into poses my body has no way of holding is just plain silly.  Okay, well maybe not silly, but given that my eyes are at half mast and I’m drifting as I write there is the question as to whether I am hitting diminishing returns here.  Yes, I got the junk out of my bones as I stretched and released — with the added benefit of giving the cat a place to scratch as I attempted the right hand on my outstretched left foot pose (that’s the donuty looking one — great on the tape, ridiculous on me!).

The gripes aside — it being Wednesday after all when these sorts of doubts hit my consciousness — I got to thinking that it is still my little bit of quiet including all this baby-bitching. Yep, let’s face it, sometimes we need some time to complain. We need that arrrghhh growl. That “damn-it nobody changed the toilet paper” grumble. Or my favorite, the loud as I can be empty out the kitchen sink plate slamming session where the object is to make as much noise as possible with nary a scratch to any of the pots, pans, dishes or cutlery. Where I draw the line is with the mucked up sponge which in my world just gets tossed out with a few under the breath curses to the moron who left it there to soak in the overnight potpourri of bacteria languishing in their special stew.

The point is the moments that are yours don’t always have to be pretty. Let’s face it, why else would you want to hit things?  Punching a heavy bag does have its attractions after all. As does beating down a huge mound of clay, digging in the dirt to plant bulbs or running till your heart feels as if it is going to burst. And that’s okay. Release is not always a slowly modulated intake and outtake of breath kind of thing. Sometimes its messy and full of rage, and sometimes its plain old complaint city when for the 116th time in a week you plead, cajole and beg one of your loved ones to pahleasssseee open the hamper lid before stacking their dirty laundry.

Girls to women, keeping it real

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Girls to women, keeping it real

Cassy Herkelman, Iowa High School wrestler

Joel Northrup, a talented young high school male wrestler forfeited his match in Iowa’s state championship tournament rather than face his female opponent, Cassy Herkelman, one of two young women who met the qualification criteria to participate in the tournament, the first young women to do so in the state’s history.  In a written statement quoted in an article from Bloomberg.com, Northrup noted that “as a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner,” further stating, “It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”   A more in depth account in the Des Moines Register notes that Northrup who fights for Linn-Mar High School had declined to fight Herkelman in a match on January 13, 2011, however, given that it was not a state tournament, the team put in a substitute to fight Herkelman.  Articles can be found here and here.

All right, so much for the facts, that include statements from the Herkelman’s father  saying that it “takes a lot of guts,” to follow religious convictions.  From where I sit, admittedly comfortably ensconced in my Brooklyn, NY living room — the entire episode is an outrage.

What, the first young woman to qualify in a state championship tournament gets the win ’cause her opponent thinks “combat” with a girl is inappropriate!  Yes, Cassy, you get the win, the first win for a “girl,” but  there’s also the tiny asterisk forever associated with that honor — won by forfeit.

Where are we living???  What year is this???  I’m sorry but as mother and the mother of A GIRL, I find this beyond the pale.  Forfeit??? I don’t care how talented Joel Northrup is or the depth of his convictions, the sport of high school wrestling in the state of Iowa is open to qualified boys AND girls and if that is too much for him, he SHOULDN’T PARTICIPATE at all.  That his coaches and his school continue to enable this behavior because he’s got some talent in the ring is no less outrageous.    What’s the message to the young women in that school and in the community at large — oh, it’s okay to dis’ girls in the name of some “holier than thou” convictions about a women’s place in the world?

Any if you read the news and the blogs on this story (just google the story under “google news”) the contortions to be all PC are funny if it weren’t really, really sad.  And let me repeat this is sad, a very sad statement on where we are when a young woman who has trained her heart out and fought hard to earn her place at the state level has to stand alone in the ring to the cheers and jeers of a crowd because her opponent can’t face her.  Give me a break.

I didn’t see it coming…

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I didn’t see it coming…

Sometimes one can say “I didn’t see it coming” and eat canvas literally or figuratively.  Whether it’s a quick right to the temple or bad news in an email the effect is pretty much the same — shock, awe and a stunned sensation before jumping up for the mandatory eight-count in the hopes of mitigating any further problems.

The thing is somewhere between the canvas and the wait that seems forever before you resume your fight, the mind is racing all over the place with the calculus of just how you got to canvas in the first place.  As if reliving all the moves in a chess game and all the possible outcomes if only move b replaced move a, the momentary, “I got caught” feeling takes one down a path of roads not taken.  That space also brings the sickening shoulda’, coulda’, woulda’ sensations of lost opportunities as one licks back the blood, shakes it all off and readies for what happens next.

When it’s a life moment:  a sick parent or sibling or spouse, the death of someone close, those sensations are not very different.  We reel with stars and that winced brain feeling, choke back the giant ow, and somewhere in the midst of getting back to ourselves walk down the how-come-I-didn’t-see-this-coming path.  And it’s the I-should-have-known feeling that really lays us out because the longer we hold onto those feelings, the longer it takes to get back to our best game.  Those are the moments when we take to our beds and hiding in a tight ball under the covers absorb the waves of emotions that inevitably come with difficult news — or news we just don’t want to absorb.  At some point, however, the covers have to come off ’cause as nice and warm and cozy as the bed might seem, it’s not the messiness of a well-lived life.    Sometimes all it takes is a good night’s sleep before perspective kicks in and one finds in the promise of a new day, opportunities to move on with a feeling of joy for all the things you can see.  Let’s face it, no matter how hard we try, some things just get away from us and while we can dwell in the unfairness of our inability to “see” — as my Theravada Buddhist Dharma teacher used to say, “it’s just that.”

Sometimes you win …

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Sometimes you win …

BroBrooklyn Bridge at Night, 1948 Gelatin Silver, by Andreas Feininger

Brooklyn Bridge at Night, 1948 Gelatin Silver, by Andreas Feininger

 

 

I managed to crawl out of bed at my usual ridiculous weekday hour in the morning today.  My head is still spinning a bit from being tired and I’ve been fighting off waves of didn’t-get-enough-sleep headaches — not to complain, which I’m not, but to state that the inconveniences of those feelings are out-weighed by the suppleness my limbs feel after my third downward dog pose and all the other stretches these creaky bones held this morning.

While I may or may not get to four rounds of shadow boxing when I finish this piece, the hiss of the steam, wanderings of the kitty and the sounds of the house as it reverberates with the slow morning echoes from the street below gives me something else.  A kind of serenity as I greet the day before the stresses and hustle and bustle of all the have-to’s begin to settle on it.

When one has a busy life with a tons of constituent parts that demand time, attention and thought, it’s so very nice to have the gift of a few minutes that aren’t in competition.  Rather, they’re just for oneself.  A little piece of the world one can own — if not quite the room Virginia Wolfe envisioned where one could state, “I am,” this place has more to do with a gift of quiet.  And sure, predawn self-ministrations get “old” by Thursday morning when the accumulated hours of missed sleep are wearying, however, the idea of finding a part of the day for quiet doesn’t.  I’ve been keeping to this schedule for six weeks now and have to say that occasional grumpiness aside these moments of quiet have truly given me something I didn’t expect:  a place of peace that’s a little of my own.

 

Stepping up to fight against domestic violence plus a Daily News Golden Gloves Week Five Reminder

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Stepping up to fight against domestic violence plus a Daily News Golden Gloves Week Five Reminder

 

Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez takes on the challenge of ending domestic violence against women

For the uninitiated, the sport of boxing has become associated with violence of all kinds including domestic violence against women.  Boxers know that contrary to its reputation, the discipline and work ethic associated with the sport often curtails the kind of personal explosive outbursts of violence that have come to be associated with it.

That’s not to say that all boxers are necessarily non-violent, but it does mean that boxers are for the most part practitioners of the art of the sweet violence and abhor violence outside of the ring.  The exceptions are heartbreaking and the suicide of Venezuelan boxer Edwin Valero last April after confessing to murdering his wife is no exception.

Enter Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez to take on the cause of domestic violence against women.  Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KO) who is fighting @ Foxwoods on March 12th in his much anticipated HBO main event fight against Sergei Dzinziruk (37-0, 23 KO) used the opportunity of his recent press conference to talk again about the cause he took up in the wake of the Valero suicide saying, “violence against women is simply unacceptable.”  Bleacher Report has a piece about his efforts here.

84th Annual Daily News 2011 Golden Gloves Week Five reminder!

2/15/2011 – Red Hook Center, 110 West 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231

2/16/2011- Hempstead Kennedy Memorial Park, 335 Greenwich Street, Hempstead, NY 11550

2/17/2011 – Elmcor Recreation Center, 33-16 108th Street, Corona, NY 11368

2/18/2011 – St. Raymond’s High School, 2151 Saint Raymond’s Avenue, Bronx, NY 10462

For more information and to check on any changes due to weather, please click here.

The only thing you really have is your effort!

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The only thing you really have is your effort!

I wish that were original, but it’s not.  My brother-in-law wrote it on his Facebook page last night.  Given that he is a working musician, I give him his due as it is never easy.

Similar to professional musicians, professional athletes, talented amateurs and even the rest of us mere mortals on the ground —  can usually only be sure of something based on the effort we’ve put in to achieve it.  For this 50-something body that means I am truly *earning* the increasing tautness of my upper body from all those pre-dawn downward facing dog poses.

Yep, the effort does pay dividends — although I will admit to mornings where the seemingly endless long haul feels a bit discouraging.

And sometimes — the plateau is just that.  The top of where you are going to go — say my ability to do a hand stand!  To use the vernacular – that ain’t never gonna happen – but, it doesn’t mean I don’t stop the effort to get there.

Okay, I know I’m being Pollyanna-ish again, but this notion that what we have is our effort resonated with me.  Perhaps it’s because when the effort is honest and truly your best the outcome is not the issue.  In other words, it’s the doing that matters, and while it is great to have a goal — and in fact often the most motivating part of getting yourself to the piano, the potter’s wheel or the gym in the first place, after a while the goal tends to slip away in favor of the doing.  We often find that the mere fact of following the path we’ve put in place whether its reps on a machine, rounds on the double-ended bag, or practicing the first four measures of a song for the 15th time, means finding the chance to discover beauty and serenity in that effort.  Well, okay, the beauty part might seem a little bit funny in a funky boxing gym — but the point is to not forget the journey, ’cause it might just be what you are seeking to achieve in the first place.

My Boxing: Training on the go

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My Boxing:  Training on the go

My Boxing Trainer - iPhone App

I admit to being somewhat of a Mac head … meaning that I am all Mac’d up with an iPad, iPhone, Mac Book, numerous iPods not to mention an iTouch.  I’ve also come by all this Mac stuff somewhat honestly in that I also still have — and will occasionally use — my original Mac SE with all 4 MB of RAM!    That old museum piece has a small black and white cathode ray tube for a screen (that’s a small TV!) and a sleek (for then) all in one body. We are talking 1986 when I first got mine — and what an amazing beauty this bad girl was for her time what with her 20 MB internal hard drive!

So fast forwarding to my 32 G iPad — I am truly in techie heaven what with the world literally at my fingertips as long as I can find 3G or internet, and if not, I can dig deep and find all of the stuff I’ve got loaded up including books, movies, and those blessed apps!

This week I’ve been discovering fitness apps — in my world that means I found a few and have been sticking to them.  My two favorites are the My Boxing Trainer app (available as an iPhone app, but terrific on the iPad) and the Pocket Yoga app (available in iPad and iPhone versions).

The My Boxing Trainer app contains a terrific series of “how to” videos on such topics as boxing safety, hand wrapping and the boxer’s stance on through boxing tips for the ring including a video of Floyd Mayweather boxing “in the pocket.”

 

The other cool thing about this app is it contains a workout section that allows you to sequence your own training or follow a series of pre-defined training regimens.  Once you select a sequence, the user clicks a timer button to set the number of rounds you want for each part of your training, as well as the the length of each round and rest period.  The app also contains a straight boxing timer if you just want to use that.  For the end of your workout there are some pretty nice boxing conditioning videos — everything from ab exercises to tips on stretching, using a medicine ball and keeping your shoulders in great shape.  This app costs all of $1.99 and is highly recommended!

 

Pocket Yoga - iPad App

My other favorite app is Pocket Yoga.  This app has three general areas: practice, poses and history. The practice portion has 30, 45 or 60 minute classes or two sun salutation sequences that allows the user to program the number of reps from 2 – 30.  As a further refinement, each class and sun salutation sequence can be selected for a beginner, intermediate or expert level.

Once you choose a class type — the class or sequence you follow is animated with voice over narration.   I followed the 30-minute beginner class this morning and had quite a workout.  One other nice feature is the history tab.  It will keep track of your yoga practice listing the date, sequence/class you used and the level of difficulty.

While this app doesn’t exactly replace a live-action class, it can work well in a hotel room, during a break at work — or even at the boxing gym if you want to follow-up your training with a little yoga.  The app itself is $2.99 or $3.99 for the HD version and to my mind, well worth the cost.

National Girls & Women in Sports Day

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National Girls & Women in Sports Day

Tomorrow is National Girls and Women in Sports Day.  The U.S. Congress adopted the day in 1986 to honor female athletic achievement and recognize the positive influence of sports on women.  This year marks the 25th Anniversary with the theme of “Play, Believe, Achieve.”  In New York City, a commemoration event will be hosted by PSAL (Public Schools Athletic League) at the Theater in Madison Square Garden. Who knew, right?

A coalition of Women’s athletics groups and the Girl Scouts are also sponsoring events around the country. In particular, the Woman’s Sports Foundation, founded by Billie Jean King, and recently joined by new president and boxing’s own, Laila Ali, are key partners in promulgating girl’s and women’s sports participation.  (For more information click here.)

Growing up in New York City where a girls sporting event meant running for the bus my exposure to sports or anything related to athleticism was rudimentary at best.  Thus the notion of a day to celebrate women’s sports and athleticism truly hits home especially when I see my daughter and her friends take to athleticism with such each.  At 11 years of age, these girls are strong, lithe and full of confidence having been exposed to sports and exercise as a regular part of their lives.

The recent Colgate Women’s Games for the girls 11 and under held over the last few weekends was a case in point.  Watching these girls compete was truly a sight to behold.  Girls as young as 7 ran there hearts out with incredible courage.  In particular we cheered-on my daughter’s friends as they completed in the 800 meter having already run the 200 and 400 that same day.  These girls showed heart and wore smiles a mile wide as they crossed the finish line.  Particularly heartening has been listening to my daughter and her friends trade tips on warm-up exercises and their ab-routines with the same ease as talking about music and dance moves.

If you can, take a moment to think about this tomorrow and while you might not be able to participate in an event, be aware that we’ve got a long, long way to go before girl’s and women’s athletic programs truly live up to the ideals of Title IX.

We are all one #Egypt

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We are all one #Egypt

The Girlboxing blog is a place to engage in a dialogue about personal growth, courage and the extent to which we can use our physical prowess to affect change in our lives.  Given the momentous and historical events unfolding half a world away, it is also our place to bear witness.

In my opinion, the very fact of this blog site and the hundreds of millions of others on the web means that we are all creating a place where information and communications are truly becoming democratized — along with the ready availability of such things as mobile phones, texting and so on.

At this very moment, at Tahrir Square in Cairo, the nexus point of the Egyptian uprising against Hosni Mubarak’s regime, Egyptian F-15 fighter jets are circling the square in ever-lower circles.  During each round, the tens of thousands of people in the square have raised their hands towards the sky and erupted in a roar of “get out,” “get out,” “this is terrorism.”  The images and accompanying audio are being sent and reported via the Internet – and rather than be intimidated, many of the protesters in the Square are refusing to leave in part heartened by the fact that they know that their message is being seen and heard.  As well, others are walking to join the protesters.  We are thus privy to the unfolding of these events in real-time — not only “living” history, but experiencing a democratized form of history.  One not told from the point of view of leaders shaping the “perspectives” of their people, but from the people themselves as they live it.

I am reminded of civil rights protesters singing, “We shall not be moved,” as they faced down water canons and a phalanx of police — and of watching snippets of these events on the evening news, all of which revolutionized how individuals experienced America’s civil unrest paving the way for the communications opportunities we share and take advantage of day in and day out today.  At any rate, it is something to think about.

For real time information on what is happening: Google is here.  Live images here.  BBC here.

True Courage #Egypt

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True Courage #Egypt

Defying the curfew in Cairo, Egypt, January 29, 2011

Boxers know a thing or two about courage.  Walking into the ring to risk injury or worse is never an easy thing.  Yet boxers also train long and hard to mitigate the risks of the ring in their favor.


The hundreds of thousands of people who have taken to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, however, have not trained themselves for battle. Yet, they have risen on mass, young and old, men and women, professional and worker, student and pensioner to demand an end to over thirty years of oppressive rule.

This is one of those extraordinary moments —  such as the fall of the Berlin Wall when we must all stand as one to support the courageous people of such places as Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen in their bid for democratic freedom.  We must let them know that they are not alone — and that we honor and cherish true courage where we find it.

Information and live video can be found here, here and here.

To tweet encouragement add the following to your message #egypt, #jan25, #jan26, #cairo or #alexandria

We should all help to shine the light on a very dark night of oppression.

The world keeps on spinning

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The world keeps on spinning

As pressed for time as my life is it’s nice to take some moments to do nothing but drift.  By drift I do not necessarily mean gorking-out in front of the TV or getting memorized by online catalog sales.  No, drift time are those moments when the imagination can soar — such as going for a walk where you let your “feet do the walking” instead of taking yourself on a straight line from A to B.

It’s those opportunities for shaking up your tree that lets you take-in things you might not ordinarily see.  Say walking along and only observing the second floors of buildings.  There are some wonderous things to see!  Oddly carved gargoyles, balconies to no where, hand painted signs, and an assortment of drapes and window dressings that ranges from austere Modernism to Rococo to the merely ordinary.

So too with exercising.  You can have solid morning calisthenics, classes you take, routes for your daily run, sacrosanct Yoga DVD’s, and for boxers the set-list of rounds for each type of boxing training plus the time you spend with your trainer.  What’s nice is to spin yourself around by trying something a little bit different.  This sort of drift time let’s your body find its way to where you want to be.  That can mean an entirely new route for your run, yoga poses you never thought you could achieve, or in the boxing gym, a rhythm to your heavy bag or speed-bag work you didn’t know you had.

I guess the point is that we all need to step out of the ordinary so that we can find new ways of doing things.  Whether its writing a story backwards, taking a stab at creating an oddly shaped pot on the potter’s wheel or spinning a globe with your kids and inventing stories about what life would be like if you all lived in those places.  Believe me, nothing earth shattering will happen if you let things unfold without having structured it.  What you might find is a feeling of relaxation and calm that otherwise alludes you as your go about your overly busy day — at least that’s what I’ve found when I remember to give myself the time.

Remembering the Prize Fighter

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Remembering the Prize Fighter.

The Sweet Science.com is carrying a story about the Bob Arum’s move from HBO to Showtime-CBS  — and the potential of putting “terrestrial television” aka plain-vanilla broadcast TV back into the mix.   The main thrust of Bob Arum and Top Rank’s deal is giving him “ad spots and live coverage during CBS programming [that] will run either the first or last episode of a four-part promotional countdown to the fight show on CBS in prime time (the others will run on SHOWTIME). In addition, Top Rank will be allowed to sell ad spots that help cover the production costs of that show.” [Link to the full article here.]

This is pretty heady stuff and puts in my such glory days of boxing as the kind of main event fights that played on broadcast television from the 1950’s on through the great warrior battles of Muhammad Ali well into the 1970’s.

Howard Cosell and Mohammed Ali

The net effect of Arum’s move to Showtime-CBS will certainly bring more viewers for his upcoming Cotto-Mayorga fight, but more importantly will give him time to promote Manny Pacquiao’s May 7th fight:  a cross back into the realm of broadcast television thereby burnishing the place of the prize fighter in American lore.

Imagine this — the deal includes live promotion on CBS Morning Show and will also feature Christy Martin on CBS Talk Shows.  As well, in the run up to the Pacquiao fight, a feature spot will run on 60 Minutes one week prior to the fight.

As I’ve stated in an earlier column on the popularity of The Fighter and the splash that the new series Lights On is having on FX, boxing has found new life as people begin to view boxing as a way of battling through their own issues large and small.  For the fighter, it may still be a way out of “Palookaville,” but for the rest of us it’s a way out of powerlessness in a world that is moving way to fast for its own good.  I don’t know enough about the promoting game to be a fan one way or another of Bob Arum, but what I can say, is that his move to the wider audience of broadcast television shows that he is in touch with the subtle changes in the place of boxing on the American consciousness.  From the perspective of boostering women’s boxing, Bob Arum is also placing his money on the future place of women’s boxing in the prize fighting game, and given where we are vis-a-vis the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, that is a great thing.

You might also like “Lights On”

Twenty six days and counting

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Twenty six days and counting

When one embarks on any sort of daily regimen of exercise, diet, writing or otherwise — or what I call the daily something, some days feel great and others are to put it charitably, “tougher” than others.

At best, one feels something a kin to a “glow” of self-satisfaction for having put in the work and effort while basking in what feels like tangible results.  At worst, however, is that feeling of being in the mud having worked and worked without getting anywhere — and maybe even losing some ground.

Like any annoying Pollyanna, my response is to say focus on the bright-side, but when one has schlepped oneself day after day to some activity, or to the discipline of say, no chocolate except on Saturdays and the scale looks back with numbers on the wrong side of the goal, that is small solace.

To put it more plainly, when one is my age, a later rather than sooner 50-something, a scale that tips the wrong way feels like a miserable defeat!   Inevitably (with a pardon to the youngsters out there) it becomes one of those “shut-up” moments when the whole hot flashing, weight fluctuating, mood altering, welcome to crone-hood stuff comes crashing down in a giant, “G-d damn-it”  because in my world it means I can’t find my glasses again to even keep the awful number on the scale in focus.

That’s when my other, less grumpy, too cheerful for her own good self makes an appearance and screams out “suck-it up!”

Let’s face it, 26 days of a daily something is an amazing achievement — and what’s meaningful is the “and counting” part of it.  So whether it’s shadow boxing before dawn, writing a poem a day or blogging about it, or any of the myriad of great things we all work hard to achieve, congratulations to you for even trying.