Editor's note: This is the fifth story in a series that follows The Bee's Anna Tong as she takes boxing lessons at Prime Time Boxing.
Paying $200 to go to Prime Time Boxing for a month is like joining a high school sports team.
It starts with the camaraderie: Entering Prime Time, campers are greeted with a high-energy fist bump. All the staff members know your name. It's such a spirited atmosphere that I didn't dread going there after a long day at work – and I usually dread any kind of workout.
There's nothing high-tech about the drills and exercises, the studio isn't spotless, and the surroundings of the Sacramento studio are best described as run-down.
Yet in a back-to-basics way, the experience was fun. My instructor would make us spring around the uneven parking lot, sidestepping broken glass and clumps of weeds. We sat on yoga mats outside and bounced medicine balls off our abdominals. We ran up and down creaky stairs.
"Pain is good," my instructor would say.
Now that my monthlong camp is over, I find my workouts getting progressively weaker, if I can motivate myself to work out at all.
What I miss most is how Prime Time created friendly competition among the campers. I've never worked out as intensely as I did when I was told to do as many push-ups and sit-ups as I could in two minutes – because I knew the instructor would be comparing me with the other campers.
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Call The Bee's Anna Tong, (916) 321-1045.
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