Kick Boxing? Have No Fear and No Modesty!

So I met a buddy for a “Turbo Kick Boxing” class at the gym and it was definitely an experience!  The instructor started with asking who was new to the class and my friend and I shot up our hands without hesitation.  She warned us, “don’t judge this until your 5th session after you’ve learned the routine” (or something to that effect). She then put on that techno/hip-hop music you would expect and we began the 60-minute laugh fest. No stretching or warming up – which for me is a plus – is that bad? It was about 45 minutes kick boxing moves, dance moves, and lame butt-smack and sassy hand movements.  About half way through everything went to “turbo” speed, which further aggravated the “oh crap I’m lost! Why? Why, am I doing this?!” thought process tee-hee – I’m kidding, it so wasn’t that bad.  The last 10-15 minutes were abs exercises on a floor mat.

The fact is that you have to attend the class enough times to learn the routine to be able to follow along well enough to make a concentrated effort on form and really activating your muscles.  I noticed one chick who obviously knew the routine as if it was second nature and she did every move in such a concentrated way that I was in awe of her.  She must have been a gymnast because I feared she would kick her own face each time she did a kick movement b/c her legs stretched so far up.

Me, on the other hand…I spent the majority of the time laughing at how ridiculous I looked, trying to spin around to face the right wall since I was always a few steps behind, watching other people fail miserably at keeping up (because commiseration is fun hehe!) and mostly seeing if my own made-up routine would look close enough to the real routine so that I could really just stop trying to keep up and actually get a work-out in.  Also, I had to keep my kicks and leg movements really stiff and short because I, stupidly, chose to wear itsy bitsy little butt-shorts and had no intention of giving everyone a free show.  Ya, it was real fun trying to do the ab workout on the floor and do the bicycle kicks while trying to conserve my dignity.  Fail!

That being said, exercise should always include laughing!  Making fun of myself has been a hard thing to learn, but now that I’ve learned it, I never cease to be amused!

Top 5 Reasons to do a TKB Class at the Gym

1. You need a laugh
2. You like smacking your own butt and doing sassy hand movements
3. You get bored easily
4. You find uncoordinated people amusing and/or motivating
5. You like to pretend you’re at a really bad club when you exercise

Top 5 Reasons NOT to do a TKB Class at the Gym

1. You take yourself too seriously
2. You prefer super cardio, drench in sweat, isolated exercise
3. You are expecting to really burn a ton of calories*
4. You are compelled to create your own dance moves when the beat gets pumping.  I had to try so hard not to just break into the running man and Roger Rabbit….
5. You stupidly wore tiny butt-flaunting shorts

*It says, based on my weight, that I would burn 620 calories in an hour of TKB here on Spark People.  I think that’s insanely high of an estimate and feel 300-350 calories is more appropriate of a guess.  I felt like I had done an hour of aerobics and not an hour of running (in which case I really would have burned 600 calories). I would probably have burned more calories had I been able to execute the moves properly though, so I might give it a few more chances and see!

Having trouble getting to the gym? Read a post I wrote here on the top 5 ways to enjoy the gym
Have you guys tried a TKB class or a similar one?  What do/did you think about it?

Tags: calories, exercise, gym, turbo kick boxing