Entering into the aerobics room, I see people stretching like a cat waking up from its morning nap. The instructor, a woman with nicely placed wrinkles, named Joanne, is beginning the first exercise. Everyone becomes excited like a child getting a birthday present, however, they knew it will be an intense workout, especially me. The music turns on and the sound of the bass cloaks the entire room. The first exercise commences, and my heart quickens to each thump in the music. The desire to punch and kick all of my stress fills me up like pouring a glass of water. Having this type of feeling shows that kickboxing has this power of relieving stress and I knew from then on that it would be a class that I would continue to take.
The sound of tapping on the floor was difficult to hear as the people were moving around like a line dance. The pace quickened and the instructor clenched her fist and thrust it to the side. She continues this one move, going left then right, however, she was nowhere near done yet. With her clenched fist, she punched up and continued to alternate with each arm. Following her motions, my biceps were starting to burn. The time felt like it was slowing down with every punch; I could only endure for so long before I stopped. Everyone else were feeling the burn too; their faces were crinkling up like a candy wrapper, with every upper cut. I thought that I could hear their heartbeat a mile away, because their heart rate was increasing by the second. As the music continued to play, I realized that this intense music that follows behind everyone’s punch creates a form of kickboxing.
Kickboxing has been around since the 1970s after karate practitioners found it frustrating that punches and kicks could not make direc...
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...veryone in the room "come on guys only three more times". The rest of the class pushes through the last set of kicks and punches to relieve the rest of his stress.
The class finally ends and everyone is dripping sweat. Some people’s faces looked like a red tomato, while everyone else looked like water was poured on them. One student who comes religiously loves this class. "Kickboxing is my favorite class at Pace University. It gives me an exhilarating feelings and builds up my confidence. Even though I come back smelling like a sweaty gym sock, if it was possible, I would go to this class every day of the week." Ashley Bentham said. Kickboxing has found its way to stay alive for all of these years. Every passing day it becomes more popular and continues to gain millions of people try it out. Kickboxing is not going away anytime soon and I don't think it ever will.
As the cessation of the century approached, Rhee had accomplished more than he had ever hoped, garnering awards and apperceptions virtually too numerous to count. He had been denominated one of President George Bush’s Daily Points of Light. His ebony belt students included not only Members of Congress, but eminent figures like Tony Robbins, Jack Valenti, and Jack Anderson. He had appeared on the cover of Parade magazine with Cheryl Tiegs. And he had been designated by Ebony Belt magazine as one of the top two living martial artists of the 20th Century.
The workout portion was after all, the most strenuous part. The other forms and kicking combination portion was elementary memorization. Two months into training, I was extremely anxious regarding whether I would be ready for Black Belt test in time. But with Mister Alex's words of assurance I stayed headstrong and determined to pass the test. After working hard with Mister Alex as well as on my own at home for the minimum six months, Mister Alex said I was "definitely ready to take and pass the Black Belt test." When Mister Alex told me this I felt nervous about the veracity of his words. I had been in training for the minimum 6 months only. The average training period at my karate institution was actually 8 months. I felt under prepared for the test, but I was only kidding myself by undermining my
Have you ever wondered, “What is the difference between MMA and boxing?” Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights originated as hand-to-hand combat performed as a sport called Pankration from the greek words Pan and Kratas, meaning “all powers” (Shamrock). Often a practitioner of one of the skill groups in martial arts challenged a practitioner of a different skill for ultimate bragging rights (Shamrock). In 393C.E. Roman emperor Theodosius the first banned the Olympic games,spelling the end of Pankration as a popular sport (Shamrock). This style of fighting later resurfaced in the twentieth century in Brazil via a combat sport known as vale tudo”,anything goes” (“Encyclopedia Britannica”). MMA
Its 7 o clock PM, prime time at the gym. I walk through the packed gym doors. Scrambling around, grabbing stations as fast as possible, I get in the zone, nothing around me matters. To get out of my zone is a difficult task but certain guys manage to do just that. I have given these men special titles the screamer, the instructor, the confused, and Mr. Bi-bench.
The class begins with middle punches. This entails bringing the left foot out into a sitting stance where our legs reflect a person riding a horse. The hip is rotated backwards then propelled forwards as the fist on the belt twists towards our imaginary opponent in front of us. Then Master Copper pairs each student with a partner of equal height to practice kicks. When my partner extends his sidekick, the crusty dirt on the sole of his foot brushes past my eyes, and the speed of the kick creates a breeze of stale air. In the middle of class, we incorporate the punching bags into our workout. The low belts use the tall, thin sun colored bag, and the high belts utilize the thick, blood colored bag. However, the black belts utilize “Bob the Bully”, the tan, lifelike bag with dense padding and broad shoulders. After six hours of school and at least four hours of homework, punching and kicking the toned face and rippling abs of Bob brings a substantial amount of satisfaction. As my knuckles make contact with Bob’s rigid jaw, I grit my teeth and each blow connects with more power than the last. Beads of sweat roll down my face as Bob’s head shifts from side to side following each blast of force. The instep of my foot creates indents in the sides of Bob as my half turning kicks
Instantly, I felt as if I had done something very wrong and filled with emotion, but the class begun so there was nothing I can do about it. Later that day the, main instructor confirmed that in order to get my white belt, which I thought was something just given to you, I would need to recite the long student creed. A week later, I’d done it I got my white belt, might not seem like a huge achievement for most, but I was ecstatic, feeling like I had defied all odds. As time continued on I realized that karate was fun and that as long as I put hard work into things that I can be good at them.
Even if your stress or anxiety only revolves around your work life, it’s important for your overall wellbeing to find a method that helps you get relief. Boxing could be the answer to your personal or professional stress. Have you considered
Society today have change from historical times, one of the changes in our culture here in the United States is the changes in Martial Arts. This change has created a subcultures called Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), which is a distinct form that is different from the mainstream or traditional form of martial Arts .“The Random House Dictionary defines subculture as (1) the cultural values and behavioral patterns distinctive of a particular group in society. (2) a group having social, economic, ethnic or other traits distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society.”
One of the longest living sports in world history is starting to fade in the public eye because of low demand and little to none boxing gym. I understand that people are drawn away because lack of knowledge of where to practice or workout at, I was the same too. I was 14 years-old when I was introduced to boxing by my dad, I thought it was a pointless, violent sport and wasn’t interested in it. I soon grown fond to the sport not because the content of it but the all the hard workouts and cardio training underneath the flash and thrilled of this sport. I play when I was 16 years-old just for the experience and I remember a kid always complaining about boxing and said it was a dead-end sport that nobody watched. I thought the same thing until I start traveling and realize it is still popular in a few cities as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Detroit.
Kickboxing is offered at many local gyms and community centers. There are also many workout videos on YouTube. If the office is equipped with a workout room a kickboxing workout could be purchased as well. Kickboxing is high energy and is really a full body workout. Kickboxing is good for Type A’s because its high energy and high intensity. They can work out a lot of their anger and hostility through the kickboxing.
The reason I am doing fitness and toning is because it is something easy that I have been doing for a class. Everything in the class is pretty easy. Who is in the class? Lots of other kids and the teacher. The teachers name is Miss, Campbell she is really nice and understanding. There isn’t very many kids but it seems like a lot.
I had said before that “Some quotable quotes in the first two weeks of dance class were me to “my arms hurt”, “my legs hurt”, and “I feel like goo”.” I have found that this class has actually helped encourage me to work out on my own. This has had favorable results as I feel I have improved physically. While I don’t think that I will be pursuing dance as a career, I think I am ready to continue on to other forms of dance for the remainder of my education here at CSU. I expect the other classes to be more technically demanding, but I have a feeling this one will have been the most physically demanding. “I feel my entire body engaged…” I wrote this after we first started the forward/backward crescent movement exercise, before we added the pleats in first and second position.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said that, “What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.” Every year millions of people try to change their old ways into good habits. To be a better person people feel that they should do better to be better. This year I will be more organized, not procrastinate, and live everyday like it could be the last one.
Happiness can come in different forms for each person. Some people dream of achieving great wealth to buy everything they ever wanted. Others may find simple tasks such as, reading a book, to make them happy. There are people who find happiness by making others happy, whether it’d be, feeding the homeless, or giving random compliments to strangers. I think that most people would agree that the purpose of life is happiness. There are several things that bring happiness to my world, which include, family, health, and laughter, among other things. Accomplishments can also bring happiness to people, which is what many people strive for during their lives. It can be a promotion, diploma, house, etc. It is usually something that is challenging,
Stress comes in many shapes and forms, it comes with the job of being human. My sources of stress come from the major parts of my life; academic pressure, social settings, and time management. As a high school student, high school in general is very stressful, but not only am I high school student I am also a college student. Double the responsibility means double the stress.