Pounding Away Brings More Stress... Tuesday, August 16

Ok, so I’ll admit it, I’m having a rough time.

My day consists of 6am military-style wake-ups that force me to pop out of the bed upon realizing I’ve hit the snooze button and then running off to the hospital while I’m mentally still back in bed. And then they end just around midnight after I’ve returned from the hospital with the smell of that place stuck in my nose.

My secret to my sanity has been exercising – always has been and probably always will be.

My rough time with spending countless hours at the hospital and going on limited sleep seeped it’s way into my weight training via a sand bag. I noticed the other day a sand bag located on the second floor of the gym I’m training out of here. I noticed also that I’ve been the only one to use it since I’ve discovered it.

I think I’ve found out why I’m the only one who uses it too. I think it’s been filled partially with rocks. With me having boxed for about five years now, I’ve had my share of pounding away on the sand bag. I’m definitely no stranger to it.

With no hand wraps on, I’ve been doing a lot of shadow boxing at this particular gym and keeping my sand bag work to light punches, focusing more on my combos and footing as opposed to the strength in my punches. Anyways, the other day I noticed this sand bag left my knuckles a bit red. They weren’t in pain, the skin was more or less just agitated, so I thought nothing of it.

Today I thought a lot of it.

I looked down after training and what should I see but low and behold my knuckles were puffing up and all red. I immediately iced it when I got back from training and I approached one of my mother’s nurses about it. She recommended Ibuprofen for the swelling and suggested I approach the gym and inquire about what exactly it is they put into that sand bag. Upon first touch, it feels normal but if you hit it a little harder, you can definitely tell there is something more solid inside.

Dare I say rocks perhaps?!