Boxing In Malta Is The Perfect Place To Exercise And Kick Ass At The Same Time
If your doctor has been badgering you about getting more active, and the prospect of going to the gym is met with dismay, it might be worth noting that hitting stuff is always an option.
After becoming a Maltese Viking for a day, the taste for striking things remained. With that in mind, I decided to try my luck at Boxing, at Good Vibes Gym.
Lovin Malta took to the ring with Roland, one of the finest up-and-coming coaches, with the prospect of getting down and dirty with hardcore traditional boxing we’ve all come to know and love.
Our aim? To determine whether being a boxer could help one reduce a little stress and burn a few calories in the process.
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It all begins with technique
After a modest warm-up that consisted of skipping rope (spoiler alert: you’ll be humming: ‘Eye Of The Tiger’), you’ll start off with some physical education on the basics of boxing. The correct stance, how to jab, how to cross-punch, how to move – the works.
If you’re into boxing in general, the briefing wouldn’t last more than 15 minutes. During which, you’ll be doing all the wonderful things under the watchful eye of your coach.
This part of the workout was of low-to-moderate effort, with a heart rate that seldom went past 125 beats per minute. In these moments, the reliance is on one’s concentration, as the athlete begins to piece together the basics, thought beforehand, putting them together like an intricate web of movements made to turn you into a fighting machine.
Once we reached the half-an-hour point, however, it was time to get to fighting.
Then it ends with boxing
Where technique ends, combat begins. Not in the literal sense, but through pad-based sparring with the coach, in the ring.
Ten rounds of two minutes, with 30 seconds of rest in between. 25 minutes of combat that will make you sweat from places you hadn’t known existed. Sorry for the disturbing mental images.
It may sound daunting, but you’ll be pleased to note that each athlete would be allowed to go at his own pace, and not compete with others in any other way. By having free reign to hit those pads in that two-minute gap, you’ll be allowed to go at whatever pace you want, be it light, or otherwise. No need to be Anthony Joshua, we all have to start somewhere.
Still, with a coach to push you to test your limits, you’re sure to get some fine results.
Over a couple of laughs here and there as I missed the odd target, I burned no less than 453 active calories on the hour mark and clocked 4,481 steps in the process. More than I would have done had I gone on a thirty-minute walk.
Getting fit and keeping in shape does not have to be a boring ordeal, and the case couldn’t be made clearer after hitting Good Vibes, where any foreseeable suffering from having to workout is swiftly quashed by Roland’s present character.
The odd laugh is seldom far, and it makes for a great environment, even if you’re trying to bash a target repeatedly.
In the end, boxing may be the way to go for many, offering the perks of having learned a skill well over and above working out for the sake of working out.
Tag a prospective boxer