Kickboxing strategies and how they relate to pregnancy

Back in my single days I loved kickboxing. Loved it.

This was not the aerobics class at the local YMCA or LA Fitness or Lifetime Fitness.

This was a boxing gym.

They trained fighters.

They participated in local boxing matches.

They had bruises and black eyes.

I was one of those people. With the bruises and black eyes. I loved it.

I actually did train to fight in the ring for a while. Not with the intention of actually getting in the ring, but one of the other girls in the gym did want to and needed a partner to spar with that was her height/size/class etc.

It was awesome.

I also used to go to the boxing matches in Atlanta and one of those fights will probably stay in my head for as long as I live, but probably not for the reason you would expect.

When the two fighters came out, one was a tall, broad shouldered, hulk of a guy. Thick arms, thick legs, looked like he could break a tree trunk in half by blinking at it.

The other guy was tall too, but thin, wiry, clearly muscled as well, but looked like a shadow of a person next to his opponent.

When the fight started it seemed like an obvious win.

The bell rang and the two opponents started circling. They threw out test punches and the little guy swatted a kick on the Hulk's left thigh.

The hulk barely noticed it. Never bothered to block or counter it.

They kept circling and the little guy kept deftly avoiding getting hit with anything solid and kept up these swat kicks at the Hulk's left thigh. In the same spot every time. They were solid kicks but not anything that was going to sweep the legs out from under the Hulk, he just kept ignoring them and trying to land a solid punch.

By the third round, these kicks were a little more noticeable. The little guy would swat kick that same spot and the leg would shake a bit. Then it started to buckle a bit at each kick.

The fight eventually ended with the Hulk having to withdraw because he couldn't stand anymore.

The crowd didn't know what to do. It was amazing and kind of anticlimactic. You go to a boxing match to see two guys beat the hell out of each other, right? This was done so deftly, so quietly that by the time the Hulk realized there was a problem, the fight was almost over. By repeated kicking just one spot, in a non threatening way, over and over and over the little guy slowly worked the leg right out from under his much larger opponent and won the match without ever having to land a punch or come down to a test of sheer muscle strength.

I thought it was brilliant, later, at the time I was just as amazed and kind of let down as the rest of the crowd.

Now, reference this back to pregnancy.

I have a little opponent.

Much smaller than me.

Not very strong.

But she's a kicker.

And she kicks me in the same spot.

Over.

And Over.

And Over.

And every time I make a face about it, someone has to say 'she's only a pound, she can't be kicking you that hard.'

No. She's not.

The strength behind the kick is not the issue here.

It's the fact that she only kicks me in one spot.

The same spot.

Repeatedly.

For hours every day and night.

So, yeah, she's only a pound but my little lightweight is winning this particular match.