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| ENTRY 481 January 13 /2023 |
PANDEMIC CRASH
Wow. Hey. There you are. It has been a very long time but I'm back!
Whilst most people claimed to have experienced weight gain during the pandemic for whatever reason, I experienced a massive weight loss.
I began working at Amazon Fulfillment in Brampton in late 2020. I work in packing. I process, prepare, and package customers' orders. I am the last one to touch your order before it goes on the truck.
If you receive an order in a blue and white bubble pack or a white poly bag from YYZ4 (bottom-left of the shipping label), it may have been packed by me. You're welcome.
That work is surprisingly active. As per my fitness tracker, I burn close to 3000 calories per shift. As a result, over the past two years, I had dropped 20 pounds.
My last weigh-in before the gym closed in March of 2020, I was 179 lbs. This past summer, I bottomed out at 159 lbs., but have since gained a bit. I am now holding steady at 162 lbs. I am not sure where the added weight went. It certainly didn't go to my butt or gut. My wife said that had become more muscular, but I don't see it.
It went somewhere and as long as it went to all the right places, I am happy with it..
WELCOME TO THE CABBAGETOWN BOXING CLUB AND YOUTH CENTRE OF THE KIWANIS CLUB OF GREATER TORONTO?
The Cabbagetown Boxing Club spent the better part of a year doing a remodeling job.
When I went in for the first time back in September I was expecting a transformation. However, as in most cases of "expectation vs. reality", the reality was disappointing. There was no change but for the fact thet it was cleaner and less cluttered.Otherwise, I noticed very little difference.
I was then asked to return two weeks later for a medical exam as is normal for boxers in Ontario and that gave me a glimmer of hope that my second home would once again welcome me.
However, that was not the case.
For three months I waited for a sign of hope. I didn't train at another facility. I just patiently waited.
During that time I learned that the Cabbagetown Youth Centre along with the attached boxing gym was being taken over by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Toronto.
At first, it did not bother me all that much. Then, at the beginning of January, I was told that the gym would be re-opening on January 9, with instructions on how to "register".
The registration process was far from easy and there were many questions during the registration process that I did not feel comfortable answering.
It also looks like they are trying to "format". They have a schedule posted and you have to register for each activity. It used to be that you could just do whatever and whenever. There was always a schedule of sorts but you could just jump into any class and just pay for that one class. There was none of this pre-registration garbage. That is all Kiwanis Club nonsense. I want to be spontaneous. How the hell am I supposed to know what I want to do a week from now? I barely know what I feel like doing an hour from now. Another problem with "formatted" classes is that the "format" may not be convenient for me because believe it if not. I have a life outside of the boxing gym. Specifically, I work. If I go to my employer and say 'I can't work on Thursdays because it is sparring day', I don't think that would go over very well.
I won't even go into how long it took me to make an online payment. I am a person who has trouble adding bus fares to a prepaid fare cand, and they want me to do that?
Anyway, after navigating the unnecessarily complicated new website and finally figuring out how to make a payment, I was finally ready to re-attend the Cabbagetown Boxing Club.
I had to go through some red tape to join the Kiwanis Club just to return to a boxing gym that I had already been attending for two years prior.
Also, they keep all of the doors now locked. It used to be that you could just walk in and train but not anymore. You always used to have to wait for the boxing gym to open but you could wait in the lobby of the youth center. Now you have to wait outside on the cold. I find that to be very impersonal. Everyone there knows me. Unless something happened that they now need to keep the doors locked, but I don't think that is the case. I believe that it is just more Kiwanis Club nonsense.
Overall, I don't like it. I just have a "bad feeling".
Don't get me wrong. The Kiwanis Club is an excellent organization. It is just that boxing is not their "thing".
I've worked with Kiwanis before when I worked in Broadcasting. I produced a TV program for them so I sort of know how they operate. Their focus is youth-oriented activities and boxing is not one of those activities.
Since they don't really want the boxing club why don't they just let it operate independently while still under the Kiwanis Club umbrella? I don't see why it was necessary to swallow it and include it as part of all of its other youth activities.
However, I am willing to give it a chance. I will go back for a month to see how it works out and how I feel and to see how many of the original members return.
There is a reason why I travel halfway across the city from the Junction to Cabbagetown just to train at a boxing gym. It certainly isn't because I like riding the TTC.
I like the coaches. Although, I was told that I wouldn't be entitled to coaching unless I paid extra for it. Well, I mean, I am registered with Boxing Ontario as a competitive boxer, so no coaching wouldn't be helpful to me but I'm still giving it a chance. I have been loyal to the Cabbagetown Boxing Club and I don't want to abandon it based on "hear-say".
Regardless of whether I have paid for coaching or not, I am eventually going to ask to compete. Not a lot, but I specifically have the Cabbagetown Festival on my Bucket List.
Every year during the festival in September, the boxing club hosts a boxing event.
In my opinion, all Cabbagetown boxers should be represented in that event.
Although, I am not sure if they are going to do that anymore. Is the Kiwanis Club giving them enough money for that? It is very costly for a club to put on a show. They have to pay for the referees and officials and everything else. It isn't exactly free.
Technically, Johnny is the head coach and I consider him to be "my" coach. He worked very hard with me when I first started at Cabbagetown to get me to lose all of my bad habits and thus turn me into a 10-times better boxer.
That is how I became loyal to Cabbagetown and I really don't want to leave just because the Kiwanis Club or whoever wants to turn it into a "formatted" corporate nightmare.
By the time Cabbagetown (Kiwanis) wants me to pay for everything I really need to be a competitive boxer, their fees are in-line with the "for-profit" gyms but Cabbagetown is not a "for-profit" gym it is a non-profit organization and thus should keep their fees at a more affordable level.
The average monthly fee for boxing in Toronto is $150, and yes, there are a few that are higher. I have seen up to $200.
I am putting the Cabbagetown Boxing Club on a one-month probation.
I TRIED SULLY'S
Last week I attended a session at Sully's Boxing Gym.
Sully's is a well-known gym in the Toronto area and one that I have not yet attended.
Sully's had moved from Dupont Street to Dundas Street and I believe their former location was larger.Now, they are in the basement of a paint store and I was expecting a dark, dingy basement but I was wrong. It was actually quite nice albeit tiny. It is about the same size as Stockyards Boxing Gym and one of the reasons I left Stockyards was the size.I like a lot of rooms when I train and Sully's was crowded.It was that and the fact that their sparring times didn't match my availability.Otherwise, it is a very nice facility. I didn't expect them to have showers but they have really nice ones. Giant shower heads in the ceiling that rain on you. Really nice.Although, they don't have stationary bikes and I like to warm up and cool down on a bike.
Sully's is still on my list as an alternative, I also have a few others.
A friend of mine holds memberships at both Sully's and Cabbagetown. That is fine if you want to pay %250 a month for boxing. I'd like to put that money towards something else. Food and rent come to mind.
Sully's Boxing Gym costs $130 a month ($10 more than Cabbagetown).
FIRST WEEK BACK AT CABBAGETOWN
My very first day back was Thursday and at first, I was the only one there. After 20 minutes someone else finally showed up but for the rest of the session, it was just the two of us.
On Friday morning I returned and still, there were very few people and no sparring. I remember every Friday morning we would have a sparring session.
What happened to that?
I did Coach Johnny's class and I am a bit rusty. I need to get back into "boxing shape". Being "in shape" and being in "boxing shape" are two different things.
I was thinking of trying one more time this week on Saturday morning but I should take it easy going back into it. I am pretty tired from today's session.
Otherwise, I could try the evening session even though I am not registered for evenings I might go anyway. Regardless of what I am registered for, i am paying to use the gym and I will use it when it is convenient for me.
That would really piss me right off if I travel all that way and then I am denied entry. It is not as if I would be trying to get in while they are closed. It will be a ligitinate session and I am registered for open sparring and training.
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Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter (@paulbrickboxer) and Mastodon (Paul'TheBrick'boxer), and view my adventures on YouTube at "Another Brick In the Sprawl"
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ABOUT 'The Brick"
'The Brick" is a competitive boxer and has been training for over 12 years.
STATS:
9 bouts (Boxing Ontario)
2 bouts (Ontario Boxing Association)
1 bout (Florida State Athletic Commission)
DIVISION:
Masters Novice
STANCE:
Orthodox (left lead)
STATUS:
ACTIVE
CURRENT TEAM/CLUB:
Cabbagetown Boxing Club
Toronto
COACH:
Johnny Kalbhenn
CURRENT WEIGHT:
73 kg (162 lbs.) ↓
NEXT SCHEDULED BOUTS:
TBA
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