Offseason fun!

When the rush and hecticness of fitness comeptitions and dancing ended all at once, I got bored. I welcomed the calmness but by Nov, I was so over it. I needed something that would keep me in shape and would challenge me mentally, so I decided I would run!! I had my eyes set on a half marathon and started a running regimen. Then came memories of my stress fracture last time I trained for a half years ago. I also felt like I would lose muscle I worked so hard for last year to compete in fitness! Furthermore, I had to face the fact that I could NOT stand running. I don’t mind sprints, or run intervals during cardio but I couldn’t commit to all that running. Then I injured myself, so I had to completely rest for a couple weeks….half marathon idea went out the window.


At work, a couple coworkers were assaulted. Personally, I’ve been swung at, and threatended by MOSTLY men, so I finally put my foot down and researched martial arts (MA) gyms in my area. My search covered just about all MAs out there, from Tae kwon do, hapkido, karate, caperioa, then I landed on a couple MMA websites that offered muay thai! I knew I wanted to learn how to punch and block, but the dancer in me wanted to utiltize my legs and KICK. A light bulb went off! So here I am, a couple weeks into muay thai training & loving it, from the sore muscles and joints to my bruised shins.

The past couple of visits, I stayed to observe their no gi ju jitsu to see if it’s something I wanted to try. Ton of big guys take that class, so it always scared me because of how "close" we have to get. SOMEHOW I ended up jumping in mid class and actually enjoyed it!! I don’t see why I can’t train in both muay thai AND ju jitsu!

I think my biggest challenge is the mental aspect of getting over the fact that I’m doing something completely new and somewhat of a "brutal" sport, not that I’m planning on jumping in the ring. I suck: my boxing technique stinks, I punch like a fairy, and I don’t kick as hard as I thought I could!! Additionally, after some exposure to ju jitsu, I know NOTHING about submissions or rolling. Then I have to calm myself down and remind myself, everyone was a beginner once. If they can grow into a great boxer, or get that good at ju jitsu over the years, so can I!

After dancing for so long, I developed the dancer’s confidence that I brought to any dance class, I knew I could hang with choreography or technique progressions! Muay thai and ju jitsu is the complete opposite. I go to every class intimidated, surrounded by men who kick ass (yes there are girls who kick ass, but the men to women ratio is like 10:1 at that gym). That alone pushes me to not drop to my knees on our 90th push up, it forces me to suck it up when my arms feel like I can not do another jab, and it gets me fired up despite my legs and booty being on fire after several rounds of kicking.

Since I planned on retiring from the pro dance scene after this year, I am thrilled to find a new sport that pushes me like this, mentally and physically. I’ll always remain a dancer at heart, but I found a new passion.