Links, links, rechts

Links, links, rechts! Links, links, rechts! Zeit! (Left, left, right! Left, left, right! Time!)

I felt like I was in boot camp tonight as I embarked on my Probestraining (trial training) at a local boxing studio. After having a baby and moving to Germany, I am looking for ways to get back into shape, and boxing sounded different and exciting. So a few weeks ago I dropped by the studio and talked to the owner (in German) about the Fitnessboxing Kurs. In my halting German, I understood it to be somewhat like Tae-Bo, but a little less perky…

When I walked into the studio tonight I caught the last few minutes of the previous course. I was already a little intimidated to be in this group setting when my German isn’t very good, and then I heard Herr Trainer barking orders. Yikes! (Here I must tell you that I have a theory about yelling in foreign language – probably German in particular. When you don’t understand exactly what’s going on, it’s easy to imagine things much worse than they are. I will take my in-laws as an example. As I don’t really understand much Swedish, there have been many times when yelling is taking place at the Oppenheimer household, and I misunderstand it for much more than it is, imagining great feuds and family turmoil. It's usually just talking, according to my husband.)

I digress – back to boxing. We started by jumping rope for about 10 minutes. Sounds simple enough, but it was easy to pick out the Anfangers (beginners) – our feet kept getting in the way. The next hour was filled with boxing, sit-ups, push-ups, and sprints –with Herr Trainer barking orders (I just followed the other Anfangers). Needless to say, it was nothing like Tae-bo and I think I will be hurting tomorrow. Despite Herr Trainer’s less than amiable demeanor, I think I will try to give it another shot. Maybe there is a little boxer in me…