Kickboxing/Boxing Bootcamp Master Class

Otherwise known as the best 90 minutes of the entire weekend.

On Sunday I went to MC Dance & Fitness for a kickboxing/boxing boot camp master class with Theresa Alini. I had never heard of her (not like that means anything), but if Yves says she good enough to teach a kickboxing master class, she is.

Theresa Alini

From the MC Dance & Fitness invitation:

Theresa Alini has been in the fitness industry since 1989. Her group fitness classes range from Pilates, vbarre, boot camp, strength training, and cardio kickboxing. Her favorite class to teach has been and always will be kickboxing with equipment. As a master trainer for ISCA, her experience has brought her through the United States certifying instructors, trainers and fitness professionals. Standing only at 4 feet 10 inches, her strong voice and big personality makes her a giant in the field. 

The class was freaking awesome. We started off with about 20 minutes of a regular kickboxing warm up. Very Yves-like routine, which you know means "the way it is supposed to be" in my book. We jumped, we punched, we kicked, and then my abs woke up from seven months of slumber.

Then we put on boxing gloves and did a similar routine so that we could feel the resistance. I own my a pretty pair of white boxing gloves, but of course I didn't know that we would need them (Yves, please include a packing list in the invite!) so I had to borrow a pair. A fun fact about me is that I don't like to wear things on my hands because I find it really uncomfortable and distracting. I also prefer gloves to mittens, and boxing gloves are a misnomer.

that's me in the front row, closest to the camera

Then we moved on to sprints, agility work, and focus mitt drills. I don't like to wait in line so I kept sprinting around the room until it was my term to work with Theresa and Yves.

the studio

We used the fitness squares pictured in the top photo. These things are really neat because they have a place for your feet and for your hands. I found it really helpful when practicing my sidekicks. It's also more challenging to stand on the square and keep your balance. You can flip it over and also use it as a sliding disc. There's a patent pending and I expect to see more of these squares soon.

source: Yves Maco

For some odd reason, Yves has yet to realize that he should just film me the entire time. You can see snippets of me in the mirror. That's Jackie in the teal tank.

We finished up the class with jumping rope and stretching. I successfully jumped rope for 10 minutes and only hit myself twice.