By Rachel Grunwell

“Instead of being a big dog, be a fast cat”.

So says Commonwealth Games gold medallist David Nyika just before taking a group of “fit chick influencers” through a boxing lesson to trial the new adidas climachill gear.

I was there – and it was nice to do something different instead of running, running and more running…

Nyika shared a few gems of advice (before making us suffer in our own sweat baths). He revealed his strategy around winning. He reckons boxing, by the way, is “a super chaotic sport” and there are so many “different animals in the ring trained to do different things to you”. So to come out on top he says he becomes a “chameleon”. What he means is, he knows he’s not the biggest, strongest guy. So instead his strength is “adapting to whom I’m fighting”. So he adapts to who he faces in the ring to overcome adversity. So instead of being a big dog, he becomes that fast, light-footed cat who devours its prey and spits it out. And not just some pussy…

I loved this lesson. Adaption is important. Taking a different approach is sometimes key. Being someone, or something, that people don’t expect too keeps you one step ahead, so to speak.

Anyway, here are some pictures from that sweat bath I was talking about…

By the way Nyika told us “I don’t bite, so this should be pretty fun” before we entered the sweat bath… 

 

 

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Fast rounds of punching and then doing “combinations”… but I’m keeping my cool when the heat is on.

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Finding focus…. ten points if you can guess who I’m visualising as that poor bag #meangirl ha ha ha

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The exercises were a killer on the arms. I hope my arms will be able to move tomorrow… at least enough to lift my toothbrush.

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Game on girlfriend pow! Actually, this is the lovely Jen from transforme_nz

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Pictured here with David Nyika. Sometimes you just have to have a sneaky step up on the box so you can get (almost) to the same height as your opononent. Just saying… #shortgirl

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Who else laughs when they’re getting their ass kicked in a boxing session? Or am I alone… and weird. Maybe both. Yes, definitely both.

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Here’s some of the sweat team.

Thanks adidas.

ps thanks for the set of boxing gloves. Life can get tough; these will be very handy…

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Rachel is a wellness magazine columnist, Cigna wellness ambassador, multi-marathoner, qualified yoga teacher, healthy recipe creator, Goodpeoplerun ambassador, Achilles charity ambassador and adventure-seeker…