Don't hit like a girl!

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, Feb-March, 2002 by Maureen Meyers Farrar

Cardio kickboxing classes give you a killer workout, but they don't necessarily make you throw killer punches. Four m&f hers staffers seek out self-defense disciplines that can help you protect yourself and make you strong.

I've been in a workout rut for a while and needed something fresh to motivate me. I took cardio kickboxing classes on and off over the past couple of years, and although it's a great workout, I got bored. Throwing punches into empty air wasn't challenging anymore and I found myself literally going through the motions.

A friend in college was involved in taekwondo, and I loved to watch the high-flying kicks and fluidity of the movements, but I was too intimidated to walk into a class until recently. I thought I'd be the only woman, for one thing, and I was afraid of the very things I hoped to accomplish with martial arts. I wanted to learn self-defense, but I didn't want to get my butt kicked. I liked the discipline but I couldn't make the time commitment. The physicality was appealing, but I wasn't sure I was up to the challenge. And another thing: The sports I've always participated in -- cycling, step and kickboxing classes, swimming and walking -- required little or no contact with anyone else. Taekwondo was going to force me to interact with others in the class.

When I got up the nerve to visit Gavin Espinoza's ATA Black Belt Academy in Valencia, California, was I ever surprised. Not only was I not the only woman there, but about half the class was female. According to Espinoza, martial arts--inspired workouts like Tae Bo and cardio kickboxing have brought more women to the traditional martial arts. So many, in fact, that such facilities are recognizing the need for uniforms (called a gi) specifically for us.

I considered myself pretty fit, but nothing prepared me for taekwondo, which translates to "the way of the hand and foot," a Korean variation of kung fu. A relatively modem martial art, it's known for its powerful high kicks and hand strikes. I thought my kickboxing experience would help me out, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

Taekwondo requires much more focus and control because you throw punches and kick at pads and sparring partners. I felt the impact through my entire body. Making contact with something while punching awakened muscles I never knew I had; my shoulders, arms and hands ached. My knuckles were bruised from a couple of misplaced punches (no, I didn't hit anyone). My hips were sore and my thighs burned from the repeated kicking. Nothing says "thigh workout" like an hour of kicks! I was drenched with sweat at the end of each session.

Every class began with running laps across the room, followed by a massive amount of sit-ups and push-ups (on our knuckles, no less). We also did a lot of stretching, and for the first time in years, I started to feel limber. Then we'd work our way through a series of punches and kicks in various combinations. Near the end of class, we paired up and practiced the combinations on each other Generally, we would spar with partners of equal skill, but the more advanced students moved around and worked with those of us who were just beginning. At first I was nervous, but after a while I realized I was safer with someone who had more control. Yes, it still hurt, but at least I suffered no accidental punches to the face.

Taekwondo isn't just about self-defense: It teaches you to set and reach goals and to not set limits for yourself. My instructor regularly stressed goal-setting; he'd tell each student what he thought we should try to accomplish in the next class and how to achieve it. It felt good to have a purpose for my workouts.

When I first started I was afraid of getting hurt, but I learned I can handle myself in physically demanding situations. Even getting my butt kicked by a 12-year-old wasn't so bad!

RELATED ARTICLE: KENPO KARATE

maura weber

For me, the hardest thing about starting kenpo karate was just showing up. Going into a karate studio where I didn't know the rules or routines was intimidating, and the thought of classmates practicing their kicks and punches on me didn't make it any easier. But once I overcame that fear, I gained a new appreciation of what the martial arts have to offer.

My experience with kenpo consisted of individual and group classes at Mohamad Tabatabai's Kenpo Karate, located in Woodland Hills, California. In my time there I learned some good self-defense moves and got a glimpse into the rigors of karate. Partly a fitness workout and partly an exercise in memorizing choreographed forms, or katas, a karate class is first and foremost a system of developing discipline and control to achieve power you never knew you had.

"This system is very practical," says Tabatabai, an American kenpo karate seventh-degree black belt, or senior professor. "It's built to suit the individual, not the other way around. Kenpo is well-suited to women, because you learn how to use bodyweight to get maximum force and maximum reach."