Kicked up exercise: Ringside Fitness shakes up the routine workout
Erin Cruzado wanted to box, but she didn't want to do it alone.
So she convinced her 60-year-old adopted mother, Rose, to join her for a class.
"I didn't think I could do it," Rose said. "But when I actually got in there and started moving around, I thought 'this is comfortable, I like this.' You never know you can't do something until you try."
The Cruzados might seem like an unlikely pair in the ring, but combat sports such as boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts are not just for fighters anymore. They're for regular people looking for a different type of workout.
So there they were Friday, mother and daughter, practicing footwork and punches together, hitting the protected hands and abdomens of their trainers as they called out combinations.
"It's fun," said Lynet Cutts, who runs Ringside Fitness in Alexandria with husband Farrell and their partner, Shane Clark. "It's different. You get an awesome, awesome workout. It's great cardio and it's fun."
Farrell Cutts knows. He wanted to get in shape, but could not stick with a workout. Until he started training in boxing a little more than a year ago and lost nearly 40 pounds.
A big fan of mixed martial arts -- which combines kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu (a form of submission grappling) and wrestling -- Cutts thought his love of the sport and the results he got from his boxing training was a perfect combination to put into a workout facility. Open for about a month-and-a-half, Ringside offers classes in boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts/Brazilian jiu-jitsu and cardio kickboxing.
Like other gyms in the area that feature martial arts and other combat sports training, some people come in looking to learn or hone skills in order to compete. Others just want to get in shape.
"You're learning a sport, you're learning self-defense, you're getting cardio, you're getting confidence, it's a good stress reliever," Farrell said. "It's all of those things."
So why try combat sports to get in shape instead of more traditional ways?
One is results. The acts of punching, kicking and grappling are physically demanding, and fight training includes extensive work strengthening the core muscles, including the abdominals.
"You wouldn't believe how much cardio really goes into kicking or throwing," said Brodie Paul, who teaches kickboxing classes at ringside. "It takes a lot out of you."
"I've played all kinds of sports," said Stormy Willis, an aspiring young fighter and one of the gym's boxing trainers, "and this is the toughest thing I've ever done."
Another is variety. While some people thrive on a regular workout routine or can run or bike several days a week without getting tired of it, others need to shake things up and try new things to stay interested.
"I have a stationary bike at home and I don't get on it," Rose Cruzado said. "I don't want to be stuck on weights. That's boring. This is not boring."
By Jeff Matthews
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