Katharine Wootton Calling you all to ATTENTION! A military revolution has been hitting the exercise world allowing you to push-up, sprint and punch your way to a healthier lifestyle. From military fitness classes that throw you right into the fight to the gym-based boxercise classes running around the country, military and martial arts-style workouts provide the perfect way to get in touch with your angry alter-ego, de-stress your mind and tone up your body. Allowing you to forget your troubles and kick out also lends itself to boosted self-confidence as well as a sense of discipline that will hopefully give you the power to stave of the chocolate biscuits straight after.
Here’s a pick of some of the top combat exercise crazes around for all sizes, genders and ages to gain you stamina, speed, hunky muscle strength and self-control as well as hopefully making you a force not to be reckoned with:
Military Fitness Classes
These fitness classes are a so-called ‘civilian friendly’ version of the real training programmes used to improve the fitness levels of our British Army, Navy and RAF. Taking you out into the great outdoors to get back in touch with British nature in all its muddy rainy glory, military fitness classes are a chance to revitalise the brain and the body. With all the training taking place in teams, the military fitness classes also help you to build friendships and have fun as well as helping to motivate you in to not letting down your team. The largest provider of military fitness classes is the British Military Fitness who holds classes in Rawcliffe Country Park York.
Boxercise
An exercise hype to emerge from the 1990s, boxercise is still one of the most popular exercise classes on offer today. Working the entire body and activating the whole muscular system, boxercise draws upon the principles of martial arts that have existed for hundreds of years. Often involving circuits complete with punch bags, skipping ropes and focus pads, boxercise gets the heart pumping and unleashes the boxer within in a less intimidating environment than the boxing ring. Most gyms offer boxercise or boxercise aerobics classes as well as some boxing clubs where you can have your own little fight clubs.
Karate
Want to try a bit of lightning-fast kung fu fighting? The thrill of moving up the belt colours to become get the elusive black belt isn’t just for children. Karate sounds dangerous with all the punching, kicking, elbow jabs and scary sounding ‘knife hands’ but in reality karate offers you a very safe way of engaging in combat whilst losing weight and meeting new people. There are lots of karate clubs for all ages and levels around York which also offer opportunities to compete and show-off to all.
How about some more obscure ones?
- Keysi Fighting- a staple of Chris Nolan’s batman films that involves a lot of sharp elbows and can be effective against up to twenty attackers with a 360 range of aggression- always useful to know for when you and Robin end up in danger.
- Bando- developed in Burma, Bando involves fighting like animals. You have the boar movement, the python style and the scorpion movement which apparently involves a lot of bug-like kicking motions.
- Scuba and underwater martial arts- Yes this is a real if very rare activity, more often than not taught to lifeguards, professional dive shops and the likes of NASA. It’s pretty self-explanatory really- a kind of battle royale but under water.
