Free Choice- Boxing; believe it and achieve it

Ever since I was in Jr High School, I always wanted to be a boxer. Not because I was a person who got picked on and felt the need to fight a bully and not because I was the bully that felt I needed to fight everyone; but boxing to me was the one sport that I wanted to master. I felt the sport of boxing would help make my reflexes quick and strong and put me into the best shape of my life.  Getting back into shape to fight through boxing would prove not only to myself, but to my family and friends how much dedication I really have, and how athletic I still am. I am all about bettering myself and making all of my dreams into a reality…and if I can do it…anyone can do it; achieve their dreams.

                To this day, I am still the only girl in my group of friends, fellow college students, or co-workers that I know who is training to be a successful, competitive boxer.  In order for me to get into the shape I need to fight there have been many life style changes that I have made in order to help this process further move along more quickly. A first step that I took to training to box was completely changing my eating habits. I dropped the cigarettes that killed my muscles, and drained my wallet. I also tried to inform others around me of my goals to quit smoking and to start getting into shape. I put down my cans of Mt. Dew, and picked up water bottles. The soda intake was not only going to start decaying my teeth, but also was giving me high amounts of sodium and caffeine, but also increased my daily sugar and calorie intake. Trust me, cutting out cigarettes and soda was difficult; but for me it was mind over matter, and getting into shape came first. Along with a few bad habits like cigarettes and drinking mass amounts of soda, I also changed the food I ate. I never was into fast food, but I did like starch foods and red meat. I had to change from red meat to mostly lean, white meat protein such as chicken, turkey and different types of fish. With the change of main meat dishes, I had to change the side dishes I ate as well. I went from pasta noodles or bread with honey to fresh cut steamed vegetables. Let me tell you, my hair and nails have never grown so quickly since I started eating all of those vegetables.  Not only has the food and drinks I consume made me feel 100% better, I have been losing weight consistently since early November. I am down 89 pounds as of this day, compared to November of 2010.

                Not only was I changing the way I eat and drink, and spent my time socializing, I had to obviously get into the gym and work out. I had to change the way my body felt and looked. I knew that getting into shape after years of eating some-what okay, and years of smoking would put my body at a huge disadvantage. I started with doing mostly cardio. Work outs that consisted of brisk walking for at least 35 min, 3 times a week; to doing Zumba Dance for 45 min a day, 5 times a week. Between my brisk walks and Zumba Dance classes, I had got myself moving, made my muscles a little more limber and flexible, and had done enough cardio to get my heart rate up and burning calories. After doing Zumba for a few months, and starting to build stamina and finally seeing pounds come off of my body, I knew that before I would plateau off on the scale, I would have to increase my intensity that I brought into every work out.
                The past two months I have incorporated strength training, with cardio and core work. Strength training consists of dead weight lifting, working small and large muscle groups at the same time, and focusing on breathing. My cardio has increased to plyometric training (jump training) that mixes cardio with various jumping exercises. And on top of the weight lifting and cardio, I also engage myself in core work. By core I mean my stomach, hip and back muscles.  This mixture of strength training, cardio and core work will further help my body build muscles, gain stamina, become lean and able to respond quickly. I have been attending MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) classes to teach me defensive reflexes, and how to pick up on where someone may attack you and the basic moves that are seen in boxing matches. I am as of now, one of the only girls in the gym that I train in that are actively training to box. Although I am 20 pounds over my weight class that I am hoping to fight in, and I am still in the beginning of learning tactical moves, I have thus far proven to myself and my peers how much dedication, heart and persistence can get someone  closer to achieving their goals.  I have many things in my life that I could use as an excuse as to why I can’t train, or don’t train harder, or why maybe I shouldn’t even fight in the first place; but my drive makes me believe otherwise. Through hard work and determination, I will achieve my long set goal of boxing…and if you use your hard work and determination, you can make your goals/dreams come true as well!!