30 Minute Hit.

I've been rather absent in bloggerville lately and would like to fake apologize for that.

Let me introduce my new hobby: 30 Minute Hit. It's a women's drop-in boxing/kick boxing circuit gym not far from my house. Here's the gist, you go around the circuit spending two minutes at each station with a fifteen second break in between. The guys who run the gym, lets call them S and L are always there helping slash yelling at us. it's essentially like having a personal trainer. i asked S the other day if anyone ever hits him, he said no, he's too cute to hit. often he throws out comments about my skills like, 'that wouldn't hurt a baby'. rather insulting, but certainly true. damn babies are indestructible. L has a European accent and is, therefore, way scarier than S. How about i give you a run down on the stations? I am going to shellify the names and perhaps make things up, but you'll get the gist. Yes, i said gist twice in one paragraph, and fyi it took me three spelling tries to get it right. Hang tight, i will google it and provide it's origin later in blog.

Station 1- Sir Skips-a-lot. two minutes of skipping, your choice on the method. i usually do a two foot jump at a rapid pace but often switch it up to Running Man and/or One Foot Fancy. One time i did the whole two minutes without messing up.

Station twosies: one-two punch. left hand, right hand combo. Usually fifteen second intervals of regular speed followed by a 'double up'- which is to go as fast as you can, but not as hard. make sure you push off the balls of your feet but don't pivot.

3- fantastic front kick. this can be switched up to a side kick or a back kick. my shitty hip flexers make the side kick nearly impossible, but my back kick is decent when i manage to get my aim right. the louder your kick sounds the cooler you are.

Number 4 is an Abs station. there is a ball there that often gets used. I've done sit ups, plank holds, straddle ball raises and elastic ab twists at this station. every time i go something new is thrown at me here.

Station 5 and we're back to punches. this one is a hook. left right hook with a double up every 15 seconds. i often get dizzy here.

Six is the kick bag. you kick the bag. i am terrible at this station. i am working on sucking less. i have to try really hard not to think so hard at this station or my kicks get worse. essentially you want to whip your leg around to connect your shin with the bag. S often tells me to kick like I'm chopping down a tree. Work in Progress.

Next is abs again. i usually flop to the floor in hopes i can get away with some crunches using a medicine ball. often i get instructed to do something way more exhausting than that. yesterday were seated crunches with the ball between my knees. i spent all two minutes whimpering like a loser.

8 is uppercuts. this is the station that i hurt my left wrist on. if you don't punch straight on you can do major damage to yourself. technique is everything..Directions: get in fighter stance, bend knees, come up with your left and hit the pad with the inside of your palm facing directly to you. hitting the bag on an angle will cause pain as well. the right hand, same thing, bend knees and as you are coming up use your momentum to hit with. this one makes me feel like Rocky.

Kicks again. an instep kick- this is how you would break your attacker's knee. You can also knee the pad here. my technique needs work.

Next we hit the floor and often do hip raises using the ball- this really works the back of the legs. Other times i do squats with the ball behind my back holding a weight in my hands.

11, we are on the floor and doing turtle kicks against a bag. fast and hard please.

Number 12 is a mishmash station depending how i feel slash what i am instructed to do.

LAST, lucky 13. this is where you meet Bob. He is the guy you get to punch, torso only. the pattern and frequency of your punches is up to your discretion. often i get told 'minimum of 4 hits' or, if I'm not sweating enough, to double up. I usually cheat at this station and i don't know why. maybe because it's the last one. maybe because i suck at life.

then, if you are smart, you go home. Normally, I [not smart] do the circuit again for a second time. 

As promised, here is a bit on GIST for you. I have to say i expected more of an interesting origin and/or even alternate, unexpected definitions, but was let down.

Definition: the main point or part : essence Origin: Anglo-French, it lies, from gisir to lie, ultimately from Latin jacēre — more at adjacent. First Known Use: circa 1711.

FYI, the next word in the dictionary is "git"! for shits and giggles, here's that definition as well: a foolish or worthless person. Synonyms: berk [British], booby, charlie (also charley) [British], cuckoo, ding-a-ling, dingbat, ding-dong, dipstick, doofus [slang], featherhead, fool [British], goose, half-wit, jackass, lunatic, mooncalf, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit [chiefly British], nitwit, nut, nutcase, simp, simpleton, turkey, yo-yo