Kickboxing in Westchase with Social Distancing
Well, in my 35 years of being an owner and head coach of a Mixed Martial Arts gym, I have never experienced a time when my gym had to close except for one time and that due to relocating my school,and that was 10 years ago. Coaching professional and amateur fighters is a very important part of my life today to say the least. I have literally traveled across the world to coach my pro fighters and would do just about anything to see them succeed. We have had easily over 200 wins in kickboxing and mixed martial arts. With that being said teaching men, women and children of all ages is my life blood. I get no greater joy then seeing someone that has never trained before become an accomplished martial artist. Losing weight and learning how to defend yourself of course is par for the course for my adult program. Children gain confidence, increase their attention span and learn self defense as well. My students and myself have never gone through a time like this before, but I believe we will overcome and start achieving again very soon.
I will start with a question first. Can you get a good workout and still abide buy the social distancing as set by the government. The answer would be no! You can get a great workout.
Why would you want to even kickbox during the Covid-19 crisis. It seems that people that are in excellent cardiovascular condition seem to be less likely to suffer the worst symptoms of the corona virus. Obesity is another contributing factor in making a person vulnerable to sickness that can be turned around with diet and exercise. I think stress relief would be another major factor for wanting to get into a kickboxing program. No better way to release tension than punching and kicking.
How can you get a great workout without any contact and staying six feet apart. Easy! First of all one of the most important parts of learning to kickbox is shadow work. Shadow boxing helps to develop technique such as kicking and striking. Footwork and head movement can also be developed. Very little room is needed for shadow boxing so you can easily stay 6 feet away from the next person in class. Any kickboxing movement can be demonstrated in shadow boxing without a partner.
Bag training or for beginners, hitting a heavy bag is a fantastic workout again that can be done with social separation. Hitting a heavy bag can not only burn fat and build muscle it will also help you develop more speed and power in your technique. Again any kickboxing movement can be emulated on a heavy bag from basic kicking and punching to advanced footwork, head movement and combinations.
I use a body weight exercise routine after bag training to finish working your upper body, lower body and core.
To complete your kickboxing workout you should be stretching every muscle used which will increase target areas for your kicks, reduce the chance of injuries and make you more agile. I use the same stretching routine at the end of every class. One of my students from many years ago used his stretch to save his life while fighting a fire. He had to reach a ledge with his foot before the building collapsed. True story.
With phase 1 starting up next week I know I cant wait to get back to teaching and training. I suggest you check out your local kickboxing gym watch watch class and make sure they are abiding by the social distancing protocol set by the government and get to work. Don’t forget to WASH YOUR HANDS!