“Cut me Mick.” Old school boxing at Title Boxing club.

You're Gonna Eat Lightnin' And You're Gonna Crap Thunder!”

Micky – Rocky

The 4th of July weekend found me solo wheeling. One Wheeler in Bali, another in Florida, and our Brazilian-American becoming more and more of a Spanish-German.

I’ve boxed at Title in Springfield before. The main reason is it’s under 10 minutes from my house in NoVA. In general, I’ve found it comparable to LA Boxing, UFC, and other bag classes. Like those classes, how challenging it is depends a lot on the trainer.

Meet Tommy. A trainer who has been boxing for 65 years. He’s fought professionally, in the military, and now trains people. At 75 years of age, I expect he’s been training people a while.

Like most older boxers I’ve known, he walks a little hunched over, like he’s always ready to fight. Tough as nails, but approachable. I explained my history, and he kept his eye on me in the class. He offered correction, tips, and encouragement.

A bit about the facilities. It’s in West Springfield shopping center, which is rather tucked away and forgotten. The façade looks clean, but the long and short of it is Title boxing has aged. The sign is faded and glass is dark, and inside is showing its age as well.

The lockers are old boxing gym lockers. Bring your own lock if you wish, but no one messes with your stuff if you don’t. Most of the bags have been repaired a few times, and many removed. The old bags are available for purchase for $50, in fact.

The mats on the floor are worn in the areas you would expect, but still provide grip and cushion.

Beyond that, the sound system is great. Tommy had a head-mic and it we could hear him without issue, even over the music. He had music that someone my age appreciates, and it motivates the class.

The first part of the class is the warmup. He loosened up the arms and worked the legs. He likes to squat or lunge then hold, then jump squat and jump lunge. As much as I’ve been trying to maintain my leg strength, I struggled more than I expected.

Upper body and core warmups were variations on burpees, and planks. He also had fast feet and hand drills around the bag. My heart rate monitor said I got a lot out of the warmup. Like in the old days, I was worried about making it through the class.

The bulk of the class is eight three-minute rounds with various combinations. He adds punches to the combination as we progress. It sounds like every group boxing class I’ve taken, but it wasn’t. Tommy explained the “why” of the combination. Laughing at some memory of when he used it effectively against an opponent.

One particular combo he said he shouldn’t be teaching us. It’s how to break ribs. Another Micky quote:

“Go For The Ribs, Don't Let That Bastard Breathe”

It’s a simple jab to start, squaring your back foot by moving out, but getting in closer to the body of your opponent, slipping down to avoid a perceived punch. The resulting position is with your shoulders at rib height, and even. The coup du gras is two right hooks to the ribs (left for southpaws). I saw he used his left hand to hold the bag when the right hit, so I did that. He gave me a little wink. If the body can’t move away from the punch, something must give.

He had a few other tricks, but mostly he was motivating us to go the distance. I saw him work with a few people in correcting their stance or show them how to get the most power from a punch. I think he was happy with how I was doing, overall.

I went back to when I first learned. I exaggerated every move. On a hook, I twisted my entire body. A cross, I threw myself, right hand first. Tommy said to make it like throwing a ball. I pictured a shot-put, but the point got across. It was good to focus on technique, and power.

The last 15 minutes was for core work. Again, like a lot of classes. The difference here is Tommy made sure we did exercises to burn out the core, then hit us with the impossible.

After we had an effective core session, he had us put out feet under the bag, and sit up, holding the bag and hugging our knees. You can’t really hold the bag well this way, and he corrected me when my hands would slip. This wasn’t the exercise.

He had us try to relax and imagine a peaceful place. I assumed that meant we were close to done and getting into yoga. Mickey doesn’t yoga. He said he was going to have us put our hands on our chests, and lean back halfway, then up, then back and hold. He said to listen to him, and not let our bodies command out minds.

We failed, of course. I was surprised by how many muscles simply gave out. My abs stopped working, but then my quads and even my feet couldn’t stay under the bag. My shoulders wanted to help, but what could they do.

We got back in to the sitting position, and he talked to us. He explained a little better that the feeling of weakness is the body telling the mind to quit. How many times have we looked at an obstacle and decided it was insurmountable without even trying. How often have well meaning friends told us we were crazy for considering some challenge or other, which made it harder to consider.

My mind went back to my first half marathon. I wasn’t nearly in shape for it. I had only recently learned that three miles isn’t very far to run. I did it because I wanted to get to the end. It wasn’t pretty, but I made it. Like they say, run, walk, crawl, finish.

We did the exercise again. This time he counted down from five on the last hold. It was not five seconds. More likely 10-15. On one, I did give out, but I felt like I did better. Tommy said we had held twice as long as the first time, when we all failed.

Tommy gave me a big smile and props after the class, and for that I will not call him Meg. His attitude is that age is nothing. You do all you can for as long as you can, and don’t stop. Have heart kid.

Title boxing in Springfield Virginia has monthly memberships and you can buy groups of classes ala carte. The first class is free.