COMBAT SPORTS
COMBAT READY: KEEP SOME ATTITUDE Combat Ready and Brighton Kettlebells are combat training brands developed by boxing trainer Christian Vila, who operates in Brighton. With a reputation for working with fighters, including Oli Thompson, Vila found he was attracting interest from the mainstream for his strength and conditioning workouts. “People are starting to realise the benefi ts of boxing
training,” he says. “They see the athletic build you can get and they want to look that way. Boxing uses the body in a natural way, plus it’s primal, good fun and bashing pads is a great stress reliever.” One of Vila’s most popular classes is Combat
Strength, which includes 20 minutes of pad work and 20 minutes of strength and conditioning. It doesn’t involve any contact. Boxing moves are combined with functional training using Jordan equipment such as tyres, sledgehammers, ropes, hammers and pull-up rigs. “I see this as the future of gyms: moving away from
machines and towards functional training, with shorter, more intense workouts,” says Vila. “It’s fun and it gets results. However, gyms need to be careful to strike a balance between making it appealing and unintimidating and not watering it down too much. There does need to be a bit of grunge and attitude with combat sports.”
GYMBOX: CREATE A VIBE
“We’ve noticed an upsurge in interest in combat sports from women, especially since the Olympics,” says David Cooper, operations director at Gymbox. “About 40 per cent of members are female and we don’t water the classes down for them. Popularity has grown because combat sports doesn’t just offer a cardio or a resistance workout – it encompasses everything: speed, power and endurance. People improve co-ordination and confidence through doing these classes.” Equipment includes Olympic-sized boxing rings, MMA
cages and punch bags, plus functional training kit from Escape. Cooper’s advice is to make sure the combat area is visible, as it will create a buzz in the club and encourage other members to give it a go.
Many classes at Combat Ready are non-contact activities
Between 70 and 80 per cent of combat classes are
non-contact, geared towards exercise, but real boxing and MMA is also on offer. Gymbox helps to build awareness of its concept by running white collar boxing events, and has found social media a great marketing tool.
FIGHT SCIENCE: FEEDER SESSIONS Nick ‘Head Hunter’ Chapman set up Fight Science in Aldershot, Hampshire, at the start of 2012. The club is sponsored by Life Fitness, which also provided a range of equipment. Spread over 1,860sq m (20,000sq ft), the club offers boxing, MMA, CrossFit, power lifting and Olympic lifting, with 15 martial arts classes each week. It’s also a venue for MMA shows. “I was so busy as a personal trainer that I had to start
employing staff. However, I was spending so much in rent at other clubs that I decided it was more cost- effective to open my own club,” says Chapman. “The business has gone crazy, with thousands of people coming through each week.” Chapman says a lot of his following is as a result of
his success as a fi ghter. However, he marketed heavily when he launched, with a £30,000 campaign involving advertising, leafl et drops, guerrilla advertising and social media. Now word-of-mouth effectively does the marketing, while running shows also helps drive awareness of the club. Acknowledging that the mainstream market might
fi nd the club intimidating, he set up separate businesses – branded Powerfi t and Crossfi t – to get people through the doors and act as feeder sessions. “Once they realise it’s a friendly, ego-free
Working out with punch bags can be a great stress reliever
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environment they keep coming,” he says. “People like the way fi ghters look and perform and want to emulate that. I believe everyone either loves combat sports or doesn’t know about it yet!” ●
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital May 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
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