Kick up a storm

Perfect a mean punch, stay safe on the streets, and get fighting fit in the bargain. Sign up for kickboxing. Photo by AFP

On her first day at the Zaf Health Club in Four Bungalows, Mumbai, Pooja Punjabi, 29, was instructed to kick and punch the air with brute force and precision. The freelance director and producer had enrolled for kickboxing classes seeking to build stamina and improve her body's flexibility.

Going was tough at first, what with coordinating kicks and uppercuts and mastering the (rather embarrassing, she says) shouts and grunts that have to accompany each jab and thrust.

It all comes with time
But the returns were worth the effort. It took her a while to ease into the three-month course (split up into 12 sessions a month) and straighten the basics out, even though she'd been practicing yoga for the past 13 years and wasn't new to exercising. "It took me a month-and-a-half to get the punches right with the exact amount of power. Improving flexibility took longer; it happened over three months," Punjabi says.

Kickboxing is a great fitness sport for the simple reason that it helps sculpt the muscles, get rid of fat and improve flexibility. "The sport provides a complete cardiovascular workout that builds your stamina and strength, along with increasing your concentration and building self-confidence," says Shafiq-ur-Rehman, a kickboxing expert and instructor at the Intensity Gym in Khar.

In Rehman's class, you begin with stretches, move on to cardio (skipping, jumping and spot-jogging), and then do 15 minutes of punching on a punch bag and kicking on focus pads. The hour-long session also includes crunches, push-ups and squats, by the end of which you're exhausted. "The exercise ensures you get a good night's sleep," Rehman adds.

Rajeet Walia, 23, took up kickboxing in 2004 for both fitness and self-defence. Walia is a professional boxer and wanted to learn the ropes of a sport that allowed full-body contact during fights. "Soon after I began to do kickboxing, my agility and flexibility increased, and most importantly, my reflexes reached new highs, which in turn helped me with boxing," he says.

Walia hasn't in any way changed his diet, but makes it a point to steer clear of junk food. He now trains for an hour-and-a-half about 4-5 days a week. "For fitness purposes, kickboxing alone should suffice, but if you're taking it up professionally, alternating it with weight training and running will work wonders for the body," he adds.

An overall workout
Since kickboxing provides an overall body workout, instructors don't think it's necessary to combine it with another form of exercise. "The manner in which the exercises are distributed through a session doesn't require you to do anything else, unless you want to have, say, bulging biceps, for which you'll have to do weights in a gym," Rehman says.

The essential kickboxing technique for both self-defence and fitness is the same; only, in the former you're pitted against a live opponent while in the latter you're in a group and perform the moves on an illusory opponent. The activity largely comprises a fixed set of moves, with each instructor adding his nuances to it and deciding what's best for you depending on your body structure, strengths and weaknesses.

"Before your first session, you have to provide your complete medical history and inform the instructor in case you suffer from back or joint problems such as spondilitis and arthritis. If you do, the instructor will place certain limits on your moves you're allowed," says Delhi-based Dr Rajnish Jawas, chief instructor at the Martial Art Academy of India.

Get rid of body pain
Ziauddin Khatib, president of the Indian Kickboxing Association of India, stresses on rehabilitation exercises as a form of resolving body pain. "These exercises are performed before cooling down after a session and help cure a specific muscle or joint that may have gone sore. For instance, if your hamstrings feel strained, a ball is kept under the knee and the quadriceps of each leg exercised to easy them out," Khatib says.

If you're looking for spot reduction, though, kickboxing may not be the activity for you. "Kickboxing is no liposuction; you have to vigorously perform all the moves to lose flab. And after a while you'll notice you've begun to thin down most at the fatty areas," Dr Jawas adds.

Don't be misled into believing that a background in martial arts will help you become a better kickboxer, and faster than the others. One of its core advantages is that you can start off even if you're of average fitness. But how soon you'll see results depends on your dedication, the intensity of your workout, and your body's metabolism. "A 12-session course will teach you the basics, but if you want to see results, a 36-session course spread out over three months is a must," Khatib says.

Kickboxing instructors do not believe in diet restrictions; they propagate eating all kinds of foods in moderation. Sometimes, Jawas has been forced to tell his students to eat fatty foods considering the amount of weight they were losing over a short period of time. "All I advise them against is the consumption of alcohol. If you lose too much weight too soon, you tend to gain it back with even the slightest increase in food intake," he says.

Keep sipping
Punjabi is of the opinion that the best way to sustain an entire session is to remain hydrated throughout. "I drink a glass of juice before the session and kept sipping water through it," she says. She now does the freehand exercises she learnt while kickboxing, every time she goes for her eight-km jog on the beach.

"The yoga coupled with the lunges, push-ups and occasional kicks keeps me going. My body language has changed for the better and I've become lither than I was; it's almost as if I'm Lara Croft!" she says.

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