The True Integration of Fitness and Kickboxing

Jim Graden has won a World Kickboxing title and has trained state, national and World Kickboxing Champions. He knows there’s no better way to get in shape than to train like a fighter. If you just eliminate the getting hit part, you have one of the most effective and safest forms of conditioning available.

The UBC kickboxing class, at M.A. Fitness in Seminole, has all the health benefits of any other aerobic training class plus much more. Because of the kickboxing, the classes not only give you a great cardio workout but also develop body coordination, flexibility, balance, focus and self-defense. This is just a few of the added benefits of fitness kickboxing training. By integrating kickboxing into your workouts you’re getting all the muscular, cardiovascular and weight control benefits, plus you can KICK BUTT!

Certifying 6,000 instructors

Jim’s first attempt into combining fitness with kickboxing was a program he developed in the mid 90’s called Cardio Karate. A rhythmic styled martial arts fitness class. After developing Cardio Karate and certifying over 6,000 instructors to teach it, Jim started focusing on creating additional fitness kickboxing programming. “I knew there was so much more to martial arts fitness training than just Cardio Karate”, Jim says. “This is when I started focusing on developing the Ultimate Body Challenge (UBC)”.
The UBC is a 10-week course that combines fitness kickboxing with resistance training, a sound nutritional program and flexibility training. Jim currently licenses his UBC programming to over 100 martial arts and fitness studios worldwide.

“Because of the depth of kickboxing training and the simplicity of most fitness exercises I always felt they would complement one another and be a perfect match”, says Jim Graden

Consistent Repetition

So why does Jim think kickboxing and fitness training are a perfect match? “One thing I learned from my martial arts career is the importance of consistent repetition”. Jim continues, “To be good at martial arts you have to do it over and over and over again. To get musculature and cardiovascular benefits from fitness training you also have to be very repetitive. So, if you take the repetitiveness of fitness training and match it with kickboxing techniques, you’re receiving dual benefits.”

The idea is that the repetitive kickboxing movements become your daily exercise routine and your martial arts practice all rolled into one. Jim feels there is no other fitness training that you can do that has this much depth. You are only limited by the kickboxing techniques you know.

Time is the Biggest Challenge

The biggest obstacle to most adults participating in something as complicated as the martial arts, is time. Fitness kickboxing allows you to use the time that you spend exercising to practice your kickboxing techniques.

Hitting the Heavy Bag

Most fitness centers that teach a fitness kickboxing class are doing more of an aerobics-styled class with punches and kicks. The participants are not hitting anything but the air.

With UBC kickboxing, the majority of the classes are performed on heavy bags. Hitting a heavy bag isn’t anything new, but it’s how you hit the bag that matters. A person getting ready for a fight is going to do rounds on the heavy bag. A fighter will usually do 2-3 minutes of work (rounds) with a minute rest. This is great preparation for a fight, because that is how boxing or kickboxing matches are structured.

UBC Kickboxing Class

However, for long-term health benefits and weight control you’re better off hitting the bag non-stop for approximately 30 minutes with varying levels of intensity. This is the structure of the UBC kickboxing class. The UBC kickboxing class is a 45-minute class that begins with jumping jacks or jumping rope, followed by shadow fighting and static stretches. You then put your gloves on and head to a heavy bag for approximately 30 minutes of straight heavy bag work. The class ends with floor exercises and cool down static stretches.

This class structure allows you to maintain a target heart rate and burn the maximum amount of calories over an extended period of time, just like if you were running or cycling. The activity of punching and kicking the bag can be done at a pace that gives you the same health benefits of any other aerobic activity.

Plus, the instructor is not setting the pace of the class like they do in an aerobics class so anyone can do it. “We take pride in the fact that anyone can participate in our UBC kickboxing classes”, says Jim.
“The fact that you can hit the bag five times, fifty times or a hundred times a minute means that all the classes are self paced so anyone can participate. In fact the majority of our students are women who are bored with what the local fitness center has to offer and are looking for something new and exciting”.

Burns More Calories

Hitting the heavy bag is one the best exercises you can perform. It burns more calories per hour than practically any other aerobic activity. In fact, the only other activity in its league is swimming. What does swimming and hitting the heavy bag have in common? They are both aerobic and anaerobic activities. Along with aerobic benefits you’re also able receive the benefits of resistance training. When you’re swimming, you’re pushing against the water and when you’re hitting the heavy bag, you’re getting the resistance of the bag. Anyone who has hit a heavy bag for an extended period of time knows how fatigued his or her muscles can get!

Overcoming Workout Burnout

Another major obstacle to working out consistently for most people is boredom. The fact is, repetitive fitness exercises are boring for many people and don’t hold most people’s interest for a long time. The term “drudgery” comes to mind when people describe how they feel about “working out”. If drudgery is what you are feeling, there’s no way you are going to be able to be consistent and consistency is one of the keys to losing weight and staying fit.

The UBC kickboxing classes are structured so the students can learn the techniques and then use the class to practice and perfect them. This way the workouts are always fresh and exciting. You’re so busy focusing on perfecting the techniques and feeling the energy of the class and the ‘bag slamming’ music that you never feel the drudgery of working out!

Even if someone sticks to just the seven basic kickboxing techniques of jab, cross, hook, uppercut, front, round and side kick, they could do them in hundreds of different combinations and sequences to improve their skills and get a great workout. This makes the classes mentality engaging (enough to keep it interesting but not so complicated that you get confused). Fitness kickboxing can be so complex and simple at the same time.

A good fitness kickboxing program will give the student a sense of growth and empowerment that isn’t based just on the size of their biceps or how much weight they’ve lost, but also on the skills they have and are developing. The techniques being taught can greatly improve someone’s ability to defend them selves. Plus, kickboxing can be a great stress reliever because the student can take out their daily frustrations on the heavy bag.

“The example I like to give when talking to someone about my UBC course”, Jim says, “is that if you were going to run three days a week for the next ten weeks you’d become a much better runner. Well, instead of running you’ll be punching and kicking under the guidance of an instructor so you can’t help but develop good basic kickboxing skills while getting in the best shape of your life”.