Boxing, really?

I do not punch. I am a trained kicker. But when I began thinking about what sports I would like to try, boxing kept coming up. It’s not a sport you typically put your overactive toddler in. If you were raised in a quiet little farm community like me, you probably also mentally link boxing to hard knock stories depicting kids from the streets making good by getting their fight out in the ring. So you might be asking me, “Boxing, really?”

Female boxing is definitely on the rise. Think back to Girl Fight or Million Dollar Baby. You know something is catching on once Hollywood starts telling the story. In fact, the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics mark the first time female boxing will be an official sport since 1904.

If you believe Boxing Canada, it’s the incredible physicality of the sport that’s drawing women, and the undeniable results. “As these great benefits of a boxer's training program became more widely known, fitness programs were designed for the general public using boxing club facilities and equipment, and conducted by certified boxing coaches,” states the website. It seems to have worked for Hollywood. Look how toned Hillary Swank got. How tough Michelle Rodriquez became. (Ok, she was already tough.)

It seems that everything I read, including local news coverage, is hyping the sport. So I thought, why not give it a try? Honestly, I’m nervous. Not because I think I'll get hit, I'm not jumping straight into a fight, but because I have a feeling it's going to test limits I didn't know I had. I’ve seen YouTube videos with snippets of boxer-inspired circuit training. It looks intense. But it’s worth a shot. (I mean punch. :P)