“I was so intimidated,” laughs Simon Fraser University criminology student Delia He, recalling the first time she spied the expansive Mixed Martial Arts or MMA-style fighting cage set up at her gym, “that I turned around and went straight home again.”

Mustering extra courage, He returned a couple of days later, pushed through the first few sessions (most classes are held outside of the cage) and is now a five-times-a-week convert to the MMA-style training offered at Tactix Gym in Vancouver.

“There’s no doubt being fighting fit makes you feel really confident,” the 21-year-old says of the conditioning classes involving kick-boxing, sparring on the punching bags and other exercises including lunges, pushups and squats. “I’m no longer worried about being out at night; I feel empowered and know that I am strong enough to protect myself.”

Hoping to pursue a career in Corrections, she believes the workouts give her strength and knowledge to help her cope with tricky situations. “Keeping your fists up to protect your face, for example, or knowing how to kick properly,” says He, who lives in Richmond.

For Jennifer Moschenross, an executive assistant with a Vancouver-based mining group, the cage is “like a validation” of all her sweat. “It makes me feel hardcore and tough,” she says, adding that people definitely check their egos at the door. “Somehow they have managed to create a gym where men and women work out together at totally different stages of fitness and there is no intimidation or the ’meat market’ feeling you get at other places. It’s just hard work, a bit of laughter and then home.”

The 36-year-old, who now trains three or four times a week, was introduced to the exercise when her 16-year-old son, Teigan, took self-defence classes (“we spar a little bit at home now,” she says). The fact that her workout can be tailored to any fitness level appealed to her: “Even if I am doing the advanced class I can adjust the exercises and the weights to fit me easily. The exercises within each hour change every few minutes so I don’t have time to get bored -and before I know it I’m done.”

Judging by the increase in the number of gyms offering such explosive workouts — from MMA and kick-boxing to CrossFit — there appears to be a significant uptick in people interested in this type of fighting and strength training.

Explaining its fitness benefits, MMA star and veteran UFC fighter Jason Day says the workout works well for strength and cardio because they involve movement from the entire body.

“When you kick you don’t just kick with your legs: it’s your hips, your core, your shoulders and your arms,” says the Tactix coach (along with fellow MMA fighter and stunt co-ordinator, Dan Rizzuto).

And switching from an upright position to being almost prone via such exercises as burpees (basically, jumping from a squat position to a pushup to a squat and then into a leap) takes many different muscles to be able to pull it off quickly and safely.

“The workouts are intense and satisfying and there are a lot of business men/women out there who want to see what it is like and test themselves, but would rather not go to work with a black eye the next day,” Day says.

“It certainly gives people a little glimpse of just how much effort and training goes in to being an MMA fighter. The public’s eyes are slowly being opened to see that the sport is a very skilled profession, not just two untrained guys swinging wildly at each other.”

Tactix owner Laurian Lapadatu, who has seen a great range of professions at the gym including police officers, paramedics, doctors and brokers, concurs. “The main purpose is to train as a fighter without getting hit,” says Lapadatu, who ran his own martial arts school in his native Romania two decades ago before moving to Canada in 2001 and setting up schools on the North Shore and downtown. “It just gives people a huge confidence boost. It’s a real achievement and discipline.”

And it’s a “great stress reliever,” adds Moschenross, whose six months training has seen her drop two dress sizes, too.

“I am not just lean now; I’m fit and strong,” she says. “I’m proud to wear a tank top and show off my arms. I never caught the running bug that so many Vancouverites seem to have; I just find it so dreadfully boring. But this is a super-efficient workout.”

As for He, what does that cage mean to her now? “It’s really cool,” she smiles. “I know that I am never going to be a size zero — it’s just the way I am — but I want to be strong and fit. Whatever is served at me, I’ll suck it up.”


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