AKA how I, an indoors-loving introvert who grew up with the most sedentary lifestyle, fell in love with cardio kickboxing and now teach other people to do it.

DISCOVERY

Seven years ago, in a little town called San Luis Obispo, I walked into a small little room covered in mirrors. I was exploring group fitness classes at my school’s gym and found one called Body Combat. It intrigued me. I had taken a few tae kwon do classes during high school and knew I liked martial arts. I also had never worked out, nor did I play sports. I had no idea what I was in for.

But once the music started I was hooked. 💪 The music was amazing! I got to perfect my jump kicks and do this badass thing called a street brawl. I had unleashed my inner warrior. The instructors had us run in a circle at the end of the class, giving us high-fives. The energy was through the roof! We learned this amazing Swagger Jagger song (what a bop) and I killed my glutes doing lunges in the Muay Thai track. Over the next few months I slowly found my spot in the front of the room where I fervently attended classes up to 4 times a week. It was the reason I went to the gym and is still the reason I go now.

When I got settled into the Bay Area, I wanted to venture out so I tried some classes in search of different workouts I might like (Hot yoga: is this what hell feels like? Spinning: if my feet slip out, are these crazy fast bike pedals gonna cut my toes off?) Ultimately I gave in and found the closest gym that offered Body Combat classes. I attended my first class after a 9-month hiatus and found myself stupidly smiling as the warmup started and the music came on. My shoulders were in pain and my quads were burning but my ear-to-ear grin would not leave my face. Hell yes, this is definitely my happy place.

Over this past year, I’ve consistently attended these classes at my local gym. I even moved into an apartment within walking distance. Every week, I’d rush home from work, change, and skip down to Andrew’s Combat class, ready to train and fight my reflection in the mirror. It’s exhilarating.

At some point last summer Andrew mentioned there was a Body Combat instructor training happening in the area and he pointed to me in in front of the whole class, hinting at the idea that I could become an instructor. Ever since that moment, the idea has always been in the back of my mind. I knew I wanted to teach at some point, but couldn’t justify why. It’s not like I want to be a full-time fitness instructor nor do I love talking onstage in front of a room full of people. But I couldn’t let the idea go, and when the opportunity came this year, I grabbed it. Even though my family and friends were skeptical, I signed up, knowing this was a challenge I wanted to take on.

“I’m training to become a cardio kickboxing instructor!”

“Okay? But why?”

TRAINING

Mid-July of this year, I drove up to the Presidio and spent 20 hours in a room with 10 amazing people. It was Body Combat on steroids. People who knew what I was talking bout when I said Swagger Jagger. Amelia, our trainer, taught us everything from the perfect technique to the history of martial arts to the three layers of coaching. We were assigned to teach one track from Release 80 by the end of our training to the rest of the class, and as nervous as we were going into it, our group’s passion and love for Combat carried into our performances and we nailed it. Although we were physically exhausted by the end (I couldn’t feel my hamstrings, my lower back was sore for the next week), the nervousness I had around teaching was fading away and I could envision myself standing in front of people, showing and cueing the moves I’d been doing for 7 years. It just felt right to lead. I was physically fatigued but so mentally invigorated.

Over that weekend I realized why I wanted to be an instructor. Body Combat has changed my life and I’m so passionate about what it does for my physical health, but even more so mental health. I feel so strong and empowered every time I nail a boxing combination or land a jump kick. The music pumps through my bloodstream and makes me go better, faster, harder, stronger. The tracks and my excellent instructors motivate, challenge, and push me to become the strong person I’ve always dreamed to be. I want to be an instructor so I can show people how amazing Body Combat is and allow them to develop that same passion I developed for group exercise. I want to show people, especially girls, that they can be strong, defend themselves, release stress in a controlled and fun way, and make them feel amazing after. I want to give back to the community after being so lucky to have had such incredible instructors. And personally, I wanted to challenge myself. This was something that had been brewing in the back of my head for a long time, as a “wow my life would be amazing if I could do that” pipe dream. The thought of actually teaching scared, and still scares, the bejeezus out of me. But life begins at the end of your comfort zone, and besides, when should you ever turned down an opportunity to do something amazing?

PUSHING MYSELF

Now came the two months of training on my own. Having re-learned the techniques during my initial training session, I attended my weekly combat classes and worked on my form. At home, I watched the master class in the comfort of my bedroom, training alongside virtual Dan and Rach. As someone with the memory of a goldfish, choreography is hard for me to learn. But over time, over weeks and weeks of commuting to work on public transportation with my headphones in and fists clenched trying to sync the movements to the music without looking like a crazy person, I was finally ready to film my submission video. I brought my friends to the gym on a slow Saturday afternoon and set up makeshift aerobic platform table as my filming station. My anxiety was at an all time high as I mentally prepared to teach my friends for the first time and experienced one technical difficulty after another. After two fulfilling classes but failed videos (the laptop froze and my camera turned off), I finally decided to film myself, in my living room, teaching to a wall of iPads.

Less than a week later, I got an email…

“Thank you for all your hard work on your BODYCOMBAT assessment video. You have a bit more work to do in order to move forward with your certification. ”

I didn’t pass; I had to resubmit a new video. I was utterly disheartened. For a whole week, I didn’t open the email again. I couldn’t overcome this fear of failure. What was I thinking - that I could become a fitness instructor? Why did I sign up for this? I may be a good student but I’m not teacher material. I suck at memorizing choreography. I can’t even do a pushup! I developed excessive anxiety and turned that failure into self-sabotaging procrastination.

But the voice in the back of my head was like “B*tch you signed up for this, finish what you started!” So I listened, and I got up again. I reluctantly dragged myself to the gym and put on the music. Raising my guard, I threw a slow jab, and then a cross. I watched myself in the mirror and made sure my stance, guard, and strike matched every punch and kick described in the instructor handbook. This isn’t even hard, I realized. It was my internal fear weighing me down, preventing me from trying again.

Two weeks later, I re-filmed my assessment video out in the yard not once, but twice. It had to be perfect. Three days later, I got the email I’ve been dreaming about for months. “Congratulations! Welcome to the Tribe!”

A silly video I made using all the failed video clips I had filmed over the past three months.

Aah! It happened! I’m a certified Body Combat instructor! It still feels surreal.

Thank you to my amazing instructors Gabby, Ali, Shelby, Pauline, and Andrew. Thanks for planting that crazy idea in my head. Thank you Kara, who introduced to me the possibility of becoming a Les Mills instructor even before that, and Amanda, my gym buddy who fell in love with Body Combat the same time I did. Thank you to Yue and Joann, who willingly took one of my first classes. And Simon, for all your patience and understanding. You guys have inspired me in more ways than you know.