Juanita "Janie" Ramirez took her first boxing class in 2015 when it hit her that she needed some kind of stress relief.
“Everyday life is stressful,” said Ramirez, a UTMB Health family nurse practitioner working in Angleton Pediatrics. “It's just an overall stress reliever for anybody who works and has kids.
“Boxing helps you deal with the stress that life throws at you,” she added. “We need to relieve ourselves of that stress and not let it build inside and make it worse.”
An hour-long boxing class for Ramirez includes basic boxing stances and punches. It's important to learn the basics of punching the right way so you don't hurt yourself, she explained. In class, the coach will call out a combination of punches in numbered patterns—and the punching bags absorb the jabs, crosses and hooks.
Ramirez said the coach observes the class and offers students pointers on how to fix their form. Most boxing classes can be tailored to the experience of the student. An advanced student can perform combinations with extra movements,
while beginners can focus more on the way the punches should be thrown.
Ramirez goes three times a week—twice during the week and once on Saturday.
“They're pretty intense,” she said. “You sweat a lot and you burn quite a few calories while you're doing it. It's fun for me. You have to find an exercise that you really like to do for it to be fun and something that you’ll go back to do again.”
Ramirez has taken some training classes at other gyms that include pad working with simulated boxing. But that’s not why she's doing this.
“I just want to do a basic class. I just want to go in with a workout, get it done and leave,” she said, adding that she burns 500 to 700 calories depending on how hard she works. “Sometimes I have my bad days, and I'm tired and it's after work."
On those days, she’ll take it easy at the gym and do a slower workout. On the days she has more energy, she’ll do a more intense workout and burn more calories.
Ramirez’s love of fitness also can inform her work, she said, especially with young patients who could benefit from exercise. Pediatrics, she said, is one of the areas where there has been a rise in obesity.
“I always try to encourage them to find something outside the box of what school offers, even if it's just walking or trying to focus on breathing,” Ramirez said.
She’ll even encourage martial arts and boxing to her young patients.
Ramirez’s out-of-the-box boxing does more than relieve stress and burn calories. Boxing teaches discipline and self-control, she said.
“It's my me-time,” Ramirez said. “It's really enjoyable. I definitely encourage other people to think outside the box” when looking for a new exercise.