Posted on August 18, 2016 by Kate Halsall
It’s an understatement to say that the last 6-9 months have been a challenge for me – both physically and mentally. My back pain returned with absolutely debilitating results. I had to stop 99% of my physical activity, simply because there were days where getting out of bed was almost impossible. Movement has often been severely restricted, sometimes everyday tasks took everything out of me, my fitness has dwindled and my confidence took a massive beating. My poor osteopath has dealt with sobbing Kate, stroppy and frustrated Kate, overly optimistic Kate and now finally “an almost-ok-and-in-the-right-head-space” Kate. But this is not a story of woe or doom and gloom. It’s a story of my pink collar boxing challenge: it’s about coming back from injury, it’s about breaking that cycle of fear, it’s about patience, determination and listening to your body.
As a Level 4 specialist in Lower Back Pain, I know which exercises I need to avoid and I also know how to write gym programmes to help strengthen my core muscles, to support my back, and to encourage good functional movement. But ultimately, that doesn’t help you when you’re having a “good back day” and you’re terrified that doing anything will result in a “bad back day”. It also doesn’t help when you’re a personal trainer, a class instructor and a very impatient person! Too cautious and scared to start training myself properly I had to take action.
A friend of mine told me about a white collar boxing match they went to and thought I would love the training regime and the discipline of it. I wasn’t sure….as a boxercise instructor, these days I only hold pads – I don’t get to hit anything….but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t like to hit something! I started searching and came across pink collar boxing in Leeds. It meant I could train late evenings so it wouldn’t affect my clients, and I could raise money for motive8 North’s charity of the year – Martin House. Having someone else training me and telling me what to do, training with other people and having to commit to an 8 week programme has given me the motivation I needed.
I’m too busy concentrating on my foot work (keep on your toes, side step, MOVE!), my punches (jabs, hooks and upper cuts), my MASSIVE 16oz gloves (they seriously cover my entire head) and the sweat dripping down my face to be worrying about my back. The muscle soreness I’m getting (which is ridiculous by the way) is in my calf muscles, my traps, shoulders and rear delts (I’m going to write a programme to help with this) – not my lower back. So I have to say so far there have been no back problems, after all boxing encourages spinal rotation which is good for your spine. But this training isn’t easy – I’m returning to fitness after all. It’s not just skipping and punching – and I’m no Rocky Balboa! My cardio fitness really needs to improve – and if I have any hopes of holding my own on fight night, it needs to improve fast!
The beauty of pink collar boxing is that it’s all inclusive. I’m training with a great bunch of ladies who are from all walks of life with different fitness levels, different goals and different reasons for rising to this challenge. I’m not going to say I’m not a little nervous about the impending fight on the 1st of October….but I’ll be ready!!
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