Fighting is so much more than throwing punches.

Every day is a story.

I'm Shannon Kaysen.

It's Tuesday.

I mean, there's kicks, there's elbows, there's knees.

I'm just starting off with kickboxing and mooie tie.

It's also mooty.

I'm just learning the basics, getting the movements down,

getting used to the conditioning. I walk into the powerhouse gym on Woodward in Highland Park.

And it's an old relic of a building. It's one of those places that still has the wood

paneling on the walls. And the place hasn't changed much since I was a kid.

I've been coming there since I was a kid, and probably the same machines and equipment are still there.

Old photos of world champion bodybuilders and power lifters cover the walls with boxing posters

and side pictures of celebrities who have been there over the years.

And I walked back to this fitness studio that's in the back, in the back corner, and there's

a wooden floor, and a few punching bags and heavy bag are hanging and the

trainer will call him tea he's already there on the ground like in a stretched out pose and there's a few

new people one of them is a lady she's an older lady lady. She's older than me, of course. I would say

late 60s maybe. And she introduces herself as, I'm used letters for people's names in this.

G. Her name is G. And T invites me to the ground to stretch with everyone.

And I tell him I got to go take a piss first.

So after nature, I get on the ground on the wooden floor with everybody and we stretch out.

...