Kick your way into shape!

Lift, exhale, hold. Lower, inhale, relax. Repeat.

Who likes doing mundane exercises at the gym? I sure don’t! A lot of women tend to drop out of gyms just as quickly as they impulsively signed up to keep a new years resolution. Why? Because it’s not fun! Getting in shape should be enjoyable. Now, I’m not going to deny that you need to WORK at getting into shape – but I am saying that there are other ways of getting about it if the whole gym thing isn’t for you.

Last spring, I noticed that a coworker was looking thinner, more fit, toned, and generally walking around the office like she’s all that. Curiosity pulled me to corner her in the staff kitchen, demanding answers to how she all of a sudden had the sexiest body in the office. She just laughed at me and told me that she’s been doing kickboxing to get into shape. So what did I do? The next day, I promptly walked into Toronto Kickboxing Muay Thai Academy on Queen street west and demanded sexy abdominals. The instructors (with smirks on their faces) told me that it would take dedication, hard work, and a certain amount of aggression, and was I ready for it? I handed them my credit card in reply. After all, I need gear, right?

It was tough, I’m not going to lie. Within the 1.5 hour class, they had us doing some military-like warm up activities including the ever-so-effective mountain climber move to get our heart rates going. Then we would partner up and use sharp techniques we learn from the instructors to box and kick, with a Muay Thai martial arts aspect twisted into it.

I attended classes twice a week for about 3 months. Within the first 3 weeks, I was noticing that my ex-smoker lungs could hold more air, I was much more flexible, I could do more ab crunches, and I was losing the upper arm jiggle! I knew that even if I went to the gym for the same amount of time, I would never have gained as much results because, well, all I would be doing at the gym is sitting on the bike, mindlessly staring at the TV, wishing for my thighs to stop jiggling. Being in a class with other people, everybody sweating just as much as you, laughing as we would miss some shots here and there… It just feels like a fun party. Plus, if you have as much anger management issues as me, it’s the best way to get some stress out. Everybody’s geared up with padded support, so you can hit and kick as hard as you’d like. Studies show that it takes approximately 9 times the energy to produce a hard kick as it does to throw a punch, so those leaner thighs are closer than you think.

There are other forms of martial arts being used as fitness regimes these days, like ju-jitsu, karate, taekwondo, and many more. More and more women are choosing to partake in martial arts because they learn self defense at the same time. Being able to defend yourself and amazing biceps? Martial arts has women all of the world saying “Sign me up!”

Tags: fitness, getting into shape, gym, kick boxing, Toronto Kickboxing Muay Thair Academy