Kickboxing Trial Class Review

Today I went to a trial kickboxing class at a local martial arts studio. I was psyched up for it because I figured that the instructors were long-time martial arts practitioners and I would get more authenticity to my experience than your average gym. I wanted proper form and a challenging class.

Okay, let me correct that. I wanted the kind of class that breaks you down to build you up. I want to hit 45 minute mark and have to pause in order to combat a wave of nausea. I want all of the muscles in my body to be shaky as they near failure. I want my clothes to be drenched in sweat.

Why doesn't anyone else want this kind of experience? There must be someone. So who is providing it?! And can someone give me their phone number?

So the class was packed. There was a large group of new people, since a new session is about to start and it appeared that a local gym sent a ton of folks over. So the instructor was very careful about explaining moves and stopping to rest. Too careful. I had trouble picking up on the choreography but in terms of challenging me physically? No. The reason I was sweating is because it was like 80 degrees in the studio.

The class wasn't quite what I expected. It started off with some stretching. Followed by rhythmic bouncing, and some simple punches. We dropped down to do push-ups after each little section of punches. Starting with 10 - he dropped a rep each time. We did what he called plyometrics, which really was just 20 reps of different jumps. They were challenging because I'm not used to that sort of high jumping - I liked that part. We did some high knee and buttkick type stuff in between.

Halfway through class we then stopped, everyone got these punching mits - and we partnered up to throw punches. My partner looked a little timid, so I didn't really throw my weight into it since she flinched when I moved my arm. Lovely. When she was punching, her hand didn't hit the mit half the time. The instructors bypassed punching form and technique altogether, but hinted that it was due to the beginners. The best part of this session was when I lay on my back, my partner sat on my lower legs, and I did crunches while I punched up. That was a cool ab exercise. The second half of class repeated the first really, with 4 minutes of jump rope (2 sets of 2 minutes).

In the end I was just sort of disappointed. I asked around about the pace and challenge. The girl who teaches on Friday apparently goes all out with no stopping. The instructor and another student described her as "not caring" that people were new or behind. I like that attitude. I'll pick up on it. I don't need to be coddled. I'm thinking about giving it a try again. It's $12 for the Friday class. But given my mixed feelings on the class in general, I don't know that it's worth it if I'm not going to go with the session in the long run.

Instead I'm looking into my other options. I think I'd like to do the free Crossfit introductory class to sample that. There is also a Krav Maga school out in Malden that I want to take a look at. These are some of the one-time options there, but they appear to have regular classes also. I saw nothing on prices or what they were, however.

4.18.2009 - Women's Only Seminar (12pm to 2pm)

$20 per attendee

This single day seminar will cover defenses versus many common attacks that concern women. In addition it will cover building awareness to avoid a violent encounter and the offensive skillset to bring the fight back to the attacker should that be unavoidable. Invest in your personal safety! No prior experience is necessary.

OR

5.2.2009 to 6.7.2009 12pm to 1:30pm each week

6 Week Women's Only Self-Defense Seminar

This course will be split between Saturdays and Sundays on the following dates: Saturday Classes: May 2nd, May 9th, May 16th Sunday Classes: May 24th, May 31st, June 7th

$99 per attendee

The second one interferes with my race schedule, but perhaps the next time around or over the summer. If I'm going to be strong and fit, I want to my fitness to have practical applications such as through self defense and hand-on-hand combat knowledge. As well as aiding my recreactional pursuits.

My other options are local Bootcamp classes. There are two major groups that run a "bootcamp" class in Boston. One is more fitness/training oriented (Ultimate Bootcamp) while the other is run by former military and to "graduate" the Recruit level course you have to pass the Marine Corp PFT at the end. Wow. Like I was telling Chase, if I can pass the PFT, then screw FitBoot - I'm joining the Marines at that point. So I'm thinking about doing the one-time 90-minute Ultimate Bootcamp Blast class on Saturday. It takes place in Charlestown, which is really awkward to get to. I'll end up bumping my long run for the weekend to Sunday. This is doable since I'm aiming for 18 miles this weekend - the bikeway is only 10-11 miles, so instead of bussing out to Bedford, I'll just run to Bedford and run back. I should be in Arlington around mile 18 and can grab a bus directly back to my house.

So here is what I'm thinking:
Saturday April 4th: Ultimate Bootcamp Blast
Saturday April 11th (alternate: April 18th): Crossfit Introductory Class (depending on when I visit family for Easter and/or if I don't die walking through Roxbury to get to the Crossfit Boston locale - I guess you really do have to be hardcore to do it)

I'm working on setting up the rest of my marathon training schedule now too.

Best day ever at the gym.

Wednesday was pretty normal. I got around 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Got up at 5am to go the gym. Did some cardio on the bike to warm-up, squeezed three sets of ten in on the leg extension(80) and leg curl machines(73). Went to the 15 minute Abs class, followed by intermediate pilates. Pilates was challenging today - and when I commented on that, thinking its because I can't do Mondays anymore, Sandy said that its because we did so much, so fast within the first half. I'm not sure I buy it. I know my body, and I'm quite certain that I need to start practicing three times per week again, with or without classes. After class, I did some lower body, 2 sets of each studio-length: weighted walking lunges, oblique twist walking lunges, traveling squats, traveling plie squats, leg-weighted hip raises.

Now, I rushed through all that because today's workouts were AWESOME. Yeah, capital letter awesome. I mean, I can't say how excited I was today by my classes. To start, Katie totally rocked bootcamp class. We were busting from one thing to another of crappy stuff so much that I've forgotten half of it, let alone the order.

The class started (after my own upright bike warm-up) with pyramid sets of push-ups, crunches and squats, 1 to 10 reps, and since I was the overachiever, Katie told me to start back down again - which I wasn't psyched about so I was slowed down a lot and got some water until the other girls finished up. It then went into these rounds of increasingly advanced/challenging exercises in sets of 20. Push-ups, burpees, plank, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, diamond push-ups, dips, plie squats, side plank, this strange plank-on-step while stepping forward thing I can't describe, and some other stuff. Each of these things then increased in its intensity with each round, like doing uneven push-ups on the step or side planks off the step with leg lifts. And we still managed to finish up "early" with enough time to do the most horrific barbell-weighted lunges off the step in four directions. I just went to work after class. Screw extra working out. I was pooped, but totally revitalized.

The evening was just as awesome-intense. I love Catherine's new exercises and routines. She's seriously kicked it up a notch in muscle conditioning these days. I did 3 sets of assisted pull-ups before class - I'm comfortably using 75lb assistance for 10 reps each now. Next week I hope to drop it down to 70lb. So anyway class: She did these crazy combo moves today (a la Arthur, but less dangerous) where we were doing squats with dumbbells (10lb each) raised vertical over our heads. Or we did the wood chopper move. Lots of balancing on one leg, or stepping out to the side and balancing back, while doing hand weight moves like curls or reaches. We had this crazy tricep kickback which turns into this swinging arm-leg lift, balancing on one leg. They were so much fun!! And freakin' challenging when you're choosing between 8 and 10lb dumbbells. I suspect these moves could have been adapted from kettleball exercises. While we totally burnt out our upperbodies, we at least didn't have push-ups today - I was planning not to do them if we did anyway, since I was push-uped out after the morning.

So after class, I went out to do my tricep-biceps. I pretty much had my ass kicked twice in one day, so I didn't have a lot of faith in my physical capacity to do the rest of the upper body machines. The tricep pushdown on the cable machine is my favorite exercise in the whole world - because I get to stare at my uber-hot muscle flexing in the mirror as I do it - so I decided I'd just do those sets. I always have been uncomfortable with the overhead tricep extensions that we do in class anyway. So I go over to do that.

Joyce and her friend (whose name I totally don't have down yet because its unusual and rarely said) were over there too - they ended up asking me how to do the stuff on the cable machine. I showed them and they really liked it. So we hung out a while trading off and talking. Joyce laughingly said that I was seriously their role model (because of my dedication I assume - or maybe my general knowledge of cable machines, haha). I mean, she's said before that she's impressed when I finish my workout after class - but I mean, I guess I didn't take it very seriously. We've always been on the same strength-level in class. She's pretty buff herself. But today just seemed different, just very sincere. I mean, she's the second person to say something along those lines from my classes in the past few weeks - I bust my ass and people have noticed apparently! It's noticeable! Woah. Anyway, it really made my night. :)

Bootcamp, pilates, kickboxing - oh my!

Thursday Review

Thursday was, well, a typical Thursday. I dragged myself about of bed after 4 hours of sleep in order to make my morning bootcamp class. As I predicted the day before, it was far more challenging than with my usual instructor. Or rather, they have different styles. Catherine is all about go-go-go, no rest. Which is good. She incorporates more cardio and jumping. Katie is more structured and really cuts everyone a lot of slack. Catherine does everything with us, so really you have no excuse for slacking. Whereas Katie demonstrates how to get started and otherwise chats with us while we workout. I do love Katie's classes - but I think the fact that Catherine doesn't entirely compromise the workout in order to accomodate people who aren't fit is better. In my opinion, everyone should be pushed hard and if they can't take it, then on an individual level they can rest. The entire class shouldn't have to reduce the quality of their workout for the few who can't keep up. She should go full force and everyone completes it at their own level - but that the maximum is demonstrated, to aim for.

Anyway, I did some burst intervals on the stationary bike before class. Class was 45 minutes. I then tackled my upperbody with the remaining time before work - biceps, triceps and rows on the cable machine; lat pull-downs and shoulder press on the weight machines; assisted pull-ups on the Gravitron at 75lb assistance. Sadly, after the work in bootcamp, I ended up doing three sets of 10-8-6. I suppose if I could handle three 12-rep sets, it would be time to drop even more anyway. So I'll work at 75lb assistance for now and hopefully get down another five by the end of the month. I'm now pulling more than half my body weight though!

Speaking of which, I've been bad and weighing daily. I'm at 160 which wavers up to 162 by the end of the day. I'm hoping that I'll drop into the 150s next week. Fingers crossed. Hopefully I'll have a good/healthy eating weekend. I have big running plans, since the snow kept me indoors all week. I've been doing my little cardio bursts, since I can't stand the tedium of treadmill running, but nothing is a substitute for a good long run. I'm excited for the spring and warmer weather to be here. It means clear roads and sidewalks.

Alright, I went back to the gym on Thursday night for Muscle Conditioning class, again with Catherine. I used a combo of lighter and heavier weights since I didn't want to overtrain certain muscles that I'd already worked in the morning. Our abs and leg work were the same moves that we did in the morning, so I modified them slightly and/or skipped the weight versions. I admit that I was a little tired. It was good to get some extra work in though. Even today I feel the work I did on my abs yesterday.

Friday

Now I managed to catch up on sleep last night. A full 9 hours! However, given that I'm still up, I'm not really sticking to that. Utilizing this improvement in my schedule. Today was an easy day at the gym. I took Beginner Pilates with Marie. While the class is far easier, one aspect that I really like is that fact that she spend so much time talking and explaining things that I'm stuck in these positions for extended periods of time. It takes a lot of strength to keep my upperbody lifted and my legs out straight at 45 degree angle while she talks for a minute straight, and after all that do the exercise.

After class I asked her about some of the more advanced workouts that I was seeing only. For example, a version of scissors that looks like a cross between scissors and a rollover. You rest on your shoulders with your torso vertical, arm on you lower back for support, and then execture scissors. She was dismissive of it, it was neither Stott nor Power pilates she said. She said that Windsor pilates, which it may have been, is a mutation on the originals developed by a woman in LA that wanted to be able to make money off the move, so she modified things pointlessly for the sake of making it unique. Interesting take. Anyway, she had us stretch for 20 minutes after class. I wanted to work out some more, but I had to meet some people for drinks and by the time we were done stretching, it was late and I didn't have time. I feel so rude bypassing the stretch, but since I'm going to just continue exercising and stretch afterwards, I technically don't need to stretch twice. At least not that extensively.

Tonight I was talking with the boyfriend of an old coworker. They both teach at a local Tae Kwon Do school, which happens to offer a kickboxing class. They run at 6:3op Monday, 6:30p Wednesday and 6p Friday. He said that they sell packages or sessions, the next one starting on April 1st. I can do a trial class for free. They also sell packages that can drop price down to around $10/class. The session is $150, which is unlimited classes for three months. I'm putting a lot of consideration into this because I'm not getting what I want from my gym classes lately. If I could ad cardio three times per week in the form of kickboxing - wow. The thing is the cost. That's $50/month. The cost of my gym membership. That's not really cash I have laying around. So I'm going to have to give this some thought. I really want to get back into kickboxing though - and a class taught by TKD black belts is reassuring on the instruction front. I have the rest of the month of March at least to think about this all.

Something new in bootcamp today

Thursday Morning

Wicked tired. I got 5 hours of sleep, which is normal for Wed nights, but it just kicked my ass this morning. My entire body is sore, like every muscle. When we were doing jumping-jacks today, my underarm muscles/obliques were preventing me from actually lifting my arms for the jumping jack until I stretched out my side a bunch during the 10sec rest.

I think my ass might be getting used to the ungodly number of lunges and squats I've started subjecting it to. Lunges and squats are just so powerful that I think they will be key to tighten things up and helping with my speed issues. I'm trying to incorporate more plyometrics into my self-run routines, since jumping-type activities really go a long way with running.

Anyway, this morning was Bootcamp Class. It was an easy day. She decided to do this 20-sec on, 10 sec off x 8 for all of the exercises. Wayyyyyy too much rest time. And she didn't evenly disperse the exercises, so there wasn't enough cardio/movement exercises in between the stationary ones. This is how I would have changed it:

Push-ups with one-arm raise ---> keep
Hamstring curl on ball ---> extend to 30 sec intervals
Side plank ---> extend to 60 sec each side, OR do raises/pulsing
Tricep chest crossover on ball ---> double hand overhead with bar
Plank train ---> no rest, do 4 straight
One leg squat ---> jump squats
Overhead weight with wall squat for 1 min ---> weight deltoids raise with wall squat
Cardio (fast feet/side shuffle; high knees; butt kicks, jumping jacks)
Add: 8-count body builders
Add: Walking lunges

After class, I biked for 3 miles and then did my upperbody routine. I did regular asstd pull-ups today, rather than negatives. Superset: row/chest press; Superset: lat pulldown/shoulder press; Superset: Bicep/Tricep curls. I kept getting interrupted at machines, so I did some push-ups for chest press; some 15lb one-arm rows for seated row; pull-ups for lat pull-down. Kind of a pain in the ass, but I wanted to get it out of the way, so I can go right home after muscle conditioning tonight.