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.
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 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
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
For those who do not know, I am a mixed martial arts fighter. Mixed martial arts fighting is “a sport allowing a wide range of fighting techniques that include striking, kicking, and grappling.” (www.merriam-webster.com) It is a compilation of forms of different martial arts. Two fighters will face each in the rings (known as the octagon due to its shape) for three to five five-minute rounds. I started taking martial arts classes when I was six years old. I wanted to be a mixed martial arts fighter all my life. I loved the thought of stepping into the octagon and pounding somebody senseless as a sport. My mother and father, at first, did not want me to take the Taekwondo classes because of this fact. It took a lot of begging to finally convince them to let me do it. They realized that it is very important for any child to learn some type of martial arts. It is essential to use for defense. Mixed martial arts are the thing that helped me cope with my rough childhood and mold me into who I am today. Over the past twenty years, the sport of MMA has revolutionized and has become very popular throughout the world. Despite this being said, other people very hesitant about accepting mixed martial arts. The sport of MMA is gradually becoming a safer sport. Even though it is considered a dangerous sport, other sports at proven to be more dangerous.
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.
It wasn’t a specific day or date that I can remember, but more or less a time period that I spent a majority of my time “thinking my life out”. It was during my freshman year of college, I was going through a major transition. Moving away from home, not just to school, but across the entire country from Virginia to California. I was facing the reality that actions I took then could drastically impact the rest of my life. I spent a lot of time trying to picture my future, trying to figure out what was going to happen to me in the future. Where was I going to be? What was I going to be doing? Was I going to end up marrying my boyfriend, Matt? Would I be happy? Was I going to be a Mother? Would I be successful? I wanted to know it all. I tried to evaluate everything, like my reasons for coming out to USF, was ROTC right for me, could I do it? There were weeks when I questioned everything I did. I rethought all aspects of every dimension of my life. I contemplated each of my decisions that could possible determine things in my life’s path. I was looking for the meaning for everything I did everything, I chose and the reason why God had put me where I was. I got very agitated with myself and frustrated because deep down I knew that God was in charge of what was to happen to me. I knew that He would take care of me, and He would put me where He wanted me to be. In all honesty, I believe this was when I realized that it was time to allow God to take over, no more of this “questioning” my destiny or meaning of my life. I allowed God to take over, completely and I handed him back his job- my future and my life. I would have to say that at this same time I was also going through a stage of unpredictability and in...
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,
My opponent’s name was John Doe. There were other competitors at the tournament, but they had never posed any threat to my title. For as long as I had competed in this tournament, I had easily taken the black belt championship in my division. John, however, was the most phenomenal martial artist I had ever had the honor of witnessing at my young age of thirteen. And he was in my division. Although he was the same rank, age, size, and weight as I, he surpassed me in almost every aspect of our training. His feet were lightning, and his hands were virtually invisible in their agile swiftness. He wielded the power of a bear while appearing no larger than I. His form and techniques were executed with near perfection. Although I had never defeated his flawlessness before, victory did not seem unattainable. For even though he was extraordinary, he was not much more talented than I. I am not saying that he was not skilled or even that he was not more skilled than I, for he most certainly was, but just not much more than I. I still had one hope, however little, of vanquishing this incredible adversary, for John had one weakness: he was lazy. He didn’t enjoy practicing long hours or working hard. He didn’t have to. Nevertheless, I had found my passage to triumph.
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.