Boxing Babe

In search of some fun, I branched out and tried some new activities on Wii Fit this morning. Since we got Wii Fit a few weeks ago, I have pretty much stuck to the yoga and strength exercises. They are enjoyable, but provide a rather humbling reminder of my lack of physical prowess. A few years ago, I regularly attended a yoga class and loved it. But then the kids' schedules got busy and my husband started traveling a lot which meant that I couldn't escape for some yoga-induced serenity. Wii Fit has reminded me that my sun salutations are pretty good and my tree pose sucks. It also has me trying to squeeze an actual yoga class into my life.

The strength exercises seem to be a mixed bag. I'm still horrible at push-ups and side planks, but am fabulous at the jackknife exercise for some reason. I have no idea why. After giving birth to two children, my abs are certainly nothing to get excited about. But, hey, maybe with a lot more Wii Fit they'll be more washboard than washrag by the time the pool opens on Memorial Day.

Trying to break up the monotony, I thought I'd try some new games today, however. Heading soccer balls was a disaster which reminded me of failing the soccer test in ninth grade PE. Slalom skiing was laughable and recalled my one experience snow skiing. (No, I never need to go snow skiing/falling again, but I'll be happy to hit the resort spa while my family skis.) I did have two big successes today, though. Hula hooping was great! Who knew you could break a sweat by making freakishly large circles with your hips for several minutes. I still couldn't manage to catch and spin the second hula hoop, so I'll definitely need to work on that again tomorrow.

My absolute favorite thing, though, was boxing. Now this makes absolutely no sense. I hate real-life boxing; I hate fighting; I refuse to watch boxing or ultimate fighting and leave the room when my husband flips it on the tv. But something about Wii Boxing was wonderful! I knew that I wasn't actually hurting anyone, so I felt free to punch away as hard as I could. It felt great, so great that I worked through the routine several times. Hitting the fake punching bag really worked off some pent-up frustration and aggression. Now, I didn't appreciate my son and husband sneaking around the corner trying to watch me, but they did slink away, I think, after I caught them. They'd better watch out; I can box.

So, I'm thinking of boxing again tomorrow, unless my arms are really sore in the morning. If that occurs, I'll just break out the Dance Dance Revolution. I'm still trying to perfect my footwork for "Bust a Move" and "Tootsie Roll."