If the celebs are at it . . .

Anyway, I was invited to try an new boxing-based class called Punch at private club Virgin Active in Glasgow. (BTW I’d never attended this club and I thought it looked really nice… if you’re a gym bunny kind of person).

The class was split into “rounds” and participants paired up to do 3 mins with gloves, and then as the pads holder. It’s as tough or as easy as you want but me, being me, wanted it to hurt. You should have seen the look on the face of my partner when I took my first sock at the pads she was holding up for me. I did adjust my power a little after this but it still proved to be a good workout.

The class also included bouts of skipping, press ups and sit-ups, all set to motivational music and with the assistance of a super-charged, super-enthusiastic instructor. I reckon I could have gone for longer than the 55 mins of exercise that the session offered but even so my shoulders, arms and back have been aching ever since. 

My friend Jo-PM was also in the class and according to her heart rate monitor she burned 350 cals. The class bumph reckons you can burn up to 700 cals (maybe that’s for much fatter folk?!) But 350 cals is still a reasonable burn.

What the class did show was that I don’t use my upper body nearly enough – which is why I’m developing the dreaded bingo wings at an alarming rate. (Doesn’t it annoy you that men do not suffer this affliction?!).

The chances are I’ll not take up a membership at Virgin Active because gyms do not suit my lifestyle but I will be writing about the merits of the Punch class. Watch this blog… 

And I’ve decided I’m going to buy a set of gloves and pads so that my hubbie and I can knock each other into the dust.  I expect I’m going to come off worse in this set-up but it might contain the bingo wings for a few more years. Every little counts…