I’ve seen Instagram posts of this pretty-looking boxing gym: LiquidCage Boutique Gym. I’ve never given much thought how the gym would work until I was briefed that it’s a HIIT session. I initially thought I could punch and fight my friends 😅. Even then, I was still quite clueless until the class started.
You know you’re in for an intense fitness class when you’re given Red Bull prior to class… I typically avoid carbonated drink but I knew I’d be working out hard so I cancelled the guilt and accepted the drink.
Thank God I did.
The class started with some warm up moves; slow jog, side skip, high knee, and I don’t remember anymore.
We then got into positions to learn basic boxing moves that we’d use throughout our class. Jab, cross, undercut, hook, knee, power knee (or something I kinda forgot).
This HIIT class goes by time interval, meaning we do as many rounds of the moves within the set time frame. For example, we did as many jabs we could within 30 seconds and take 10 seconds off before moving on to the next 30 seconds with another move.
Actually, we didn’t just throw punches and kicks. We did normal workouts in between the boxing sets too. Crunches, sit ups, planks, lunges, squats, pulses and many more that made my entire body ache.
Phew. It was intense.
And I can’t quite believe that I completed the 45-min routine while having a lot of fun. I was quite surprised because HIIT has never been this fun for me. The music was pumped up and loud. The gym was changing colours like a disco. It’s like clubbing but with punching gloves on and an instructor getting you to work out.
Best of all, I was in the company of young cancer survivors and caregivers.
All of us came from different places. Different diagnosis, different prognosis, different treatment, different recovery phase. Watching a few survivors not missing a beat was an admiration and challenge to be better. Watching a few others doing the best to keep up was a testament of the cancer fighting spirit; it’s inspiring. And knowing that we don’t have to be shy to take breaks when we reach our limits was comforting and empowering.
I look forward to doing more activities with this bunch of peeps, thanks to our aMeiZing National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) Youth Ambassador, Mei Sze, for putting together fun monthly activities. This support group is definitely one of the blessings in disguise of cancer. I may even start calling this Young Survivors Group (YSG) and our activities as our perks for surviving cancer. 😂
