Getting a KICK out of Kickboxing

I am freezing my FACE off!

Sometimes I forget how cold my beloved hometown can be. At the moment it is 1°F / –17 °C but feels like -17°F / –27 °C with the Wind Chill. Actually, this is NOTHING compared to what Winnipeg can get, think –45 with Wind Chill. BRRRRR! Even though I lived here for almost 18 years, being away somehow makes all the freezing memories fade…until you return that is!

Anyway, onto the show:

For the past two days, my mom’s fitness instructor has graciously allowed me to accompany her to classes. My mom does the 10 week Ultimate Bodyshaping Course at Robert Lee Martial Arts. The program consists of alternate days of kickboxing and strength training with bands and is taught by Rob, who is the nicest guy!

Yesterday was kickboxing. (The lights were so bright, it was hard to get a good picture!)
 

The class consisted of several series of jabs, punches and kicks in different sequences. For example: one sequence would be 4 punches, 2 left front kicks and one right roundhouse kick, and you would repeat that sequence until Rob switched to the next one.
It was pretty awesome to watch my mom roundhouse kick!

Me in Action:

Mom in action!:

Afterwards we did some conditioning (pushups, abs etc).

It was a fantastic workout! It was definitely what you made it though. If you didn’t put all your effort in, you didn’t get much out. What a fantastic release though! I would highly recommend kickboxing as a stress relieving activity or just a way to get your heart pumping. Who knew punching and kicking a bag could be so fun!

Rob, the instructor, and I after class. I look slightly wiped

Rob is also very health conscious. He owns a Vita-Mix (jealous!) and makes himself fruit and veggie smoothies or juices every morning.  He eats as much organic as possible, purchases low mercury, wild fish and limits his red meat intake to twice a week at most.

This morning we went back and did a 45 minute strength class with resistance bands (you can see them in the back-right of the picture above). It was TOUGH. The women in the class truly impressed me with their strength. I could barely do some of the exercises today and believe me I will be feeling it tomorrow!

I would really like to incorporate resistance bands into my training from now on, they are very challenging!
And I have some awesome new abdominal moves up my sleeve. Maybe I will do a video of them one of these days (with a little help from my friend JH perhaps ).

Have a wonderful rest of your Tuesday! Hope it’s not nearly as chilly where you are

When strength training do you usually use free weights, barbells, machines, bands, your own body weight or a combination? What do you like best?