Getting a kick out of fitness (photo gallery)
There’s a new fitness craze that is quickly becoming all the rage for the ladies of Crestview.
In just two weeks time the kickboxing-aerobics class at Club Jiu Jitsu, located at 641 North Ferdon, has really caught on.
Club Jiu Jitsu is owned by Monica Stanford, who recently relocated to the area with her husband, retired Marine Lt. Col. David Stanford, a Baker native and member of the Baker Class of 1983.
The Stanfords teach the martial art known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30-7:20 the ladies take to the mats for a rigorous workout that includes kickboxing, aerobics and various other cross training fitness methods that work every part of the body.
Participants in the class range in age from 11 to 63 and represent an equally broad spectrum of professions.
“We have teachers, bankers and someone that works at GE in Pensacola,” Monica said. “One of my instructors that helps me is a certified cross trainer, Patty Seip. We have ladies from all walks of life and all fitness levels. The beauty of the circuits we do is you can go at your own pace.
“During the workout you will see Muay Thai knees, Muay Thai elbows, Muay Thai kicks, roundhouse kicks taken from Muay Thai, a Taiwanese kickboxing. It’s all integrating the boxing.”
As the ladies do their cool down Stanford also teaches them self-defense.
Stanford had 12 ladies present the first night and the class has continued to grow since then, quickly increasing to 20 members.
“Out of the gate to have 12 women was amazing,” she said. “I was happy.”
This isn’t Stanford’s first attempt at opening a club. While David was stationed in North Carolina she ran a very successful Club Jiu Jitsu there.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” she said. “My husband has been training for over 11 years. I’ve been training for seven years in Moay Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and all kinds of mixed martial arts.”
Stanford, who also is a nurse, is a certified in Kickboxing Aerobics as well as Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Life Support.
Seip, who is certified in Cross Fit training, was contacted by Stanford through their mutual massage therapist.
“Monica contacted me and said, ‘You’ve got to come and implement the cross fit stuff into the kickboxing so that everything they do is total body, all around, so they are not just getting one thing,’” Seip said.
It hasn’t taken long for Seip to recognize the benefits of the workouts.
“You get so much more flexibility and it builds core strength,” she said. “You don’t have to sit there and do sit ups all day long. All the movements we do make you have to stabilize your body so you don’t have to do sit ups and crunches and you get great abs muscle and stuff like that.
“That’s why I like it. We do one exercise and I might do 20 muscle groups with one exercise.”
Seip thinks the class is one of the best things that has come along for the women of Crestview.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “I have lived here in Crestview for 26 years and I’ve never seen anybody get so excited about it (training), but that is what is happening now.
“I’ve never seen women get so excited about it. It’s just so much fun, and that’s why.”
Marcia Saranta is the most senior of the class at age 63. She heard about the class through Stanford at the Chamber of Commerce.
“Everybody looks out for everybody else, but it’s just fun,” she said. “There are a lot of things I never thought I’d be doing like boxing, let alone kickboxing, but I enjoy it.
“You do this for 45 minutes and you know you’ve done some work.”
