That NYSC Kickboxing Class
Yes, the cardio was good. It was also interesting to note that my lungs weren’t left gasping for air at the end of it, after an hour of more-or-less constant movement. The bodily failure was more anaerobic, actually: my legs were closer than not to giving out after the first fifteen minutes of running around, doing squats and jumping up and down. My arms are a bit tired, too, but not as much as the legs. So, for the sankyu test, my lungs will probably be fine; I just have to worry about standing (which shouldn’t be that terrible; we won’t uke for the test, so the ultimately exhausting getting-up-repeatedly-after-being-thrown shouldn’t be that much of a factor). I’m tired, but as Sensei notes, you just go to sleep that night, and you won’t be tired the next day. Being tired is not being injured.
I really hate boxing gloves they make you wear in the gym classes. They fit badly, and punching form goes out the window. I feel it in my right hand in particular: the metacarpals below the pinky and ring finger got crunched because it’s much harder to keep the punches aligned on the first and second knuckles. I think it might actually have been better to go without the boxing gloves, and strike with sho-te if the knuckles get rubbed a bit raw. I didn’t have my gloves at one point, and that worked well. I have to remember to keep my hands loose, since that’s what we’re supposed to do on jujitsu technique, and it’s harder to do that with gloves on.
It was a very small class — five people total — so we had a chance to do what they do in the boxing class: you work combinations with the instructor, who has focus mitts. I think I was the only one there who stepped in as if to throw, since during my second round with him he kept saying “don’t step in”. Arguably, I should be stepping in and out, but the pace was a bit quick to back away. Anyway, kickboxing concentrates on the middle distance, not close in, like grappling arts.