Moving Ahead: A New Gym, A New Beginning

Finally, after all my talk, last Friday I joined a new gym. My former athletic club shut down officially on August 31, so I decided to waste no time in getting set up in a new place where I can continue my boxing training.

Although I am stating this in a matter-of-fact way, the transition is still somewhat painful. I left an athletic club where I had been a member for almost 17 years, and where I had been one of the principal instigators of the revival of boxing as a sport at the club in 1994. I have a lot of good memories from my years of membership, and I am unhappy about the circumstances under which we closed. Nevertheless, it really is time for me to move ahead.

On Friday, I found a new home at a gym called GoTime Chicago. Here's a link to their Web site.

http://www.gotimechicago.com

Chad Robbins, one of the co-owners, is a great guy who gave me a tour and orientation, explained all the details about membership, and talked with me about how we can bring in the rest of the guys from the Chicago Athletic Association's boxing team, if they are interested. I will work on that more this week. I don't know how many of our boxers will go along, but I'll try to get all of them.

Chad also told me he has been thinking of holding some boxing shows at the gym. I already told him I'd be interested in boxing in some of those events. That probably won't happen for a few months, but it's nice to know it will be an option. Also, I need to figure out how Bernard can join us. But I am not going to get bogged down with all the details and make it seem like yet another job. I'm just going to enjoy my workouts and have fun for a while.

I did my first workout there on Saturday morning. Here's the recap.

• 20 minutes roadwork
• 4 rounds shadowboxing
• 3 rounds stretching
• 3 rounds on the heavy bag
• 3 rounds on the double-end bag

I have a lot more to say about this new experience. Details will follow over the next few days. This is good. I feel grounded again.