Berkshire Fitness Scene : K-Beatz

After three months of promising the lovely Gillian that I'd turn up to one of her classes, I finally made it. In my haste to get to said class I managed to slam the car door on my right index finger, which wasn't ideal given the class I was about to take part in involved some punching.

The lovely Gillian. Credit: K-Beatz

K-Beatz was devised by karate instructor and mum-of-two Gillian after a charity event revealed that there was demand for an exercise class with a difference. It combines aerobic exercise with martial arts set to music for a whole-body workout. The classes take place in school halls a couple of times a week and are slightly different every time. There were only three of us in the class on this particular occasion so I got plenty of help in nailing some of the moves.

The first half of the class was pretty dynamic with punch and kick routines, skipping and pad work. Some of the kick and punch combos, travelling up and down the hall, required some amount of coordination that eluded me on this occasion but I was assured it becomes easier very quickly. We worked our upper body with weighted bars and did some partner work on the mats, combining crunches and padwork. The hour went pretty quickly and I was quite sad it was over. If I was to compare it to any other type of class I'd say it was like Body Combat mixed with circuits. I'd definitely go back and do the class again, when I can!

In addition, Gillian's hubby runs something called KickPunchRun roughly every 3rd Sunday. Meeting in a local pub car park the group is lead on a run to Swinley Forest and put through an interval training session that also includes elements of hill running and karate techniques. Since I'm no longer a member of a running club and find it hard to motivate myself to do any serious hill sessions I think this would be ideal for me and I hope to get to a session in the next month or so to try it out.

Credit: KickPunchRun

Credit: KickPunchRun

The K-Beatz classes are a very affordable £6 on a pay-as-you-go basis with the option to pay up front for either 10 or 20 classes for a discount and you can get a reduction on the KickPunchRun sessions if you do K-Beatz too. It's great to find something that's so unique to my local area.