Kung-fu fundas
27 Jul 2008, 1507 hrs IST, Norbert Rego,TNN
Are you fighting or are you dancing, is no longer a dreaded question of grace. Now, you can be lithe as well as lethal, with the combination of martial arts, aerobics and a jazzy remix of popular Bollywood songs.
“You need physical and emotional energy to manage relationships, a home and work. That’s why so many new fitness concepts like sports yoga, Bollywood dance and martial arts — society needs to constantly re-energise for go o d h e a l t h and fitness. I l ove my Bollywood dance, tennis and yoga sessions. At the end of the day, energy is what drives life,” says Geetanjali Kirloskar, chairperson, India Japan Initiative.
Self-defence is also creeping in to make exercise forms more robust. “Exercises based on principles of martial arts are popular as one uses less equipment and more of one’s own body weight to exercise. These exercises, once learnt, can be performed anywhere,” says Dr Dilip Nadkarni, orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine consultant, Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai. But warns, “One must ensure proper posture while performing. Sometimes, if the form goes awry, injuries could happen.”
The result is a strength training that is as powerful as it is useful, entertaining as it is addictive. Fitness instructor Reema Sarin has conceptualised and choreographed Bollywood aerobics, better known as the ‘Bollyfit Program’. It consists of dance aerobics steps, synchronised to Bollywood remix numbers. “Each song is carefully chosen and tested at increased speeds of 120 -130 beats per minute (bpm), which is the average speed for fun aerobic classes. For step aerobic classes, songs are remixed at 100 bpm,” she says.
It helps that Bollywood numbers are themselves superlative for the heart rate today. Many of the numbers are catchy, have fast paced tempos, and ensure that dancers get their heart rate up and reach the zone ideal for fat burn. Some of the faster paced songs can give your heart and lungs a great workout.
“It always takes many days and hours of practice to match the right moves to the right song, and to ensure that one gets a good workout, by teaching a well-balanced exercise routine, consisting both of high-impact as well low-impact aerobic moves,” Reema adds.
Choreographers today incorporate a lot of steps, which can help the body gain flexibility and muscle strength apart from a good cardio workout. “But fitness enthusiasts should get their fitness levels assessed before jumping on the high-impact bandwagon,” warns Dr Nadkarni.
“Aerobic kickboxing, the combination of karate and boxing, is one such form of exercise, which with basic kicks, punches, strikes and blocks in an aerobics mode, provides a full-body workout. Hence, it doubles the impact of aerobics,” says Roja Ayengar, Hyderabadbased learner of aerobics.
Cardio kickboxing or aerobic kickboxing is regarded as one of the most efficient calorie burners of all the fitness activities with around 800 calories burned in one hour, whereas regular aerobics burns around 500 calories per hour.
“Aerobic kickboxing is a combination of kicks and punches of martial arts with aerobic exercises to provide benefit of both in form of flexibility, strength, stamina, endurance, muscle building, cardiovascular exercise and weight management, and increase in overall fitness level with added advantage of self-defence,” concludes Dr Arpit Jain, consultant, internal medicine, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon.