So... Let’s just say my foray into the blogging world has
been as committal as the ‘Runaway Bride’... but hell... Johnny Farnham has more
comebacks notched up than me – so I think I am doing ok.
I’m a social media pest in every sense of the word, so much
so, I could write an entire blog by hashtagging – let’s be honest, I’ll
probably throw a few in as we progress... #justsayin
The last time I tapped on the keyboard with my left of field
comments – I gave you an insight to why I became involved in sport. How I made
my dad proud by getting my head stuck in the chair at Balmain Leagues Club and
that it took his team mates a good hour to get me out in between tears of
laughter...annndddd If we had ipods back then – I would say ‘Eye of the Tiger’
or ‘up there Cazaly’ would have been on high rotation.
I’ve also gone from talking about having my first fight in a
boxing ring – to having just finished my second – and sweet baby Jesus – I had
a cracker of a time doing it!
To paint a picture of what I looked like in my first few
sessions, I’m hoping most of you have seen Bambi... now put the little darling
on some ice skates, and some 16oz gloves... and then watch her walk through a
spider web! You know when it sticks to you and you start doing that “fighting
off an invisible ninja dance”... that’s what my boxing technique looked like.
Thankfully – Garth and Nat Wood both persisted in schooling
me on the techniques of boxing...now I’m void of the ice skates... but I keep
walking into those dam spider webs!
(caught up with the Grill team on TripleM - have a listen... Grill team Renee Gartner & Garth Wood
As I’ve progressed through the last few months – I have
grown more and more respectful for the sport and the discipline required mastering
it. Full credit to the boys for being patient and developing creative ways to
explain how to stick and move – by creative I mean, they described flurries of
short fast combos like ‘sets of six’, getting someone up against the ropes as ‘getting
in the in-goal area’, slipping punches like ‘getting your head to the right
side of the tackle’.
See – there is more to boxing than “punch them in the head”
or “knock them out”...yelling that at a fight – is kinda like yelling things
like “tackle him” and “he can’t run without a head” at a football game... are
you getting what I’m throwing down here?
You need to work from your feet, your hips, your core, your
back....your elbows...your shoulders... your hands... your head...and while you
are thinking about that you’ve also got a front row seat at the sizzler buffet –
and all they are serving are jabs – and apparently you reallllyyyyy like to eat
them ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh AND you are meant be finding holes in their defence and
feeding them too!
I also gave up that pale ale...which is just plain ridiculous
for a beer and wine lover – but funnily enough, effective when it came to being
able to concentrate, train...and diminish the beer keg I developed since I
broke my ankle and had nothing else to do except WATCH sport and fist schooies!
With boxing being a ‘weight game’, the booze ban certainly
helped... tortured me – but helped, not because I’m an alcho – but because I
love having fun – being social....and to quote the great Ron Burgandy...IT
TASTE SO GOOD WHEN IT PASSES THE LIPS!! ( he may have been talking about rum
but let’s just say same-same for arguments sake)
I basically drew inspiration from Rock I to V... ran around
wrapped in cling wrap and oversized tracksuits, shadow boxed in saunas... and
yelled out ADDDDDRRRRRIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAANNNN .... ok... I didn’t do that last
bit – but the extremities of the other parts were done – I just stopped short
of heading to the local butcher and punching large chunks of cold meat.
I love it – I have the bug... but I don’t want to go to the
drastic measures of the final days before weigh in again – I want to strip it
all back, diet – strength and conditioning, technique.... the full 9 yards –
and who knows.... Maybe Paul Kent wasn’t too far off the mark when he threw out
a comment that made me have a laugh... ( First step to Olympic ring for Gartner) but let’s just hope they install ramps
for my walking frame in the Olympic village.
So I raise my glass (of water...not beer0 and say, ‘Cheers
to dodging Spider webs and laying off the jab buffets!’
Warme ReGarts,
RG
