The similarities of combat fitness and getting tattooed

I missed last night's boxing class (April 10) and will miss tonight's combat fitness due to getting tattooed on Tuesday night. I've been getting tattoos for 21 years and even after all  that time the process is still god damn painful. As I laid on the table last night in X-Treme Ink in West Chester while Keith, the artist, etched a scorpion just below my armpit on the inside of my bicep, I couldn't help but think of the similarities between getting tattooed and the combat fitness circuit.

The circuit is 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, or 30 seconds of pain, 30 seconds of recovery. This is just like a tattoo. The needle is never on your skin for more than 20 seconds at any given time. The artist has to keep stopping to wipe away blood and ink and this becomes your recovery period. It might only be 5 seconds of recovery, but it's 5 seconds that steel isn't stinging your flesh. And just like during the circuit, it's a mental game of telling yourself to just get through the next  few seconds and you will be rewarded with rest, or lack of pain.

The combat fitness circuit and getting tattooed both have the ability to slow time down. This is a peculiar influence of pain and duress. It's just 30 seconds, what's the big deal? I've spent lifetimes of agony lived in seconds. Whether it's hour two of getting inked, or doing jump squats during your second lap of the circuit,  seconds can stretch into hours.

The similarities don't end there. The act of getting tattooed sucks, just like going through the circuit sucks. The enjoyment of both only begins when it's all over. I hate life in the midst of the circuit when all that's before me are burpees and dips and mountain climbers and I hate life in the midst of getting tattooed, I curse myself for volunteering for the pain. It's only once I'm showered and have eaten and I'm sitting down and ease into the wonderful state of relaxation that the stress of the circuit gains its value. It's only after  the tattoo gun goes silent and a few days have passed and the pain of the new ink fades away that I actually begin to enjoy my new art.