Beginner Body Combat for Moms and Other Not-Necessarily-Fitness-Type People

Look, it's no secret that I love Body Combat. I'm even considering becoming an instructor, once I have the time. I keep trying to get people to go, but the workouts are an hour long, the gym cost is expensive, and most of my friends have kids. It's just hard. Also, when you walk into a class of 50 people who have been doing it for years, it's intimidating. Most people don't come back.

And that makes me sad.

I don't have any real miracle story, except that I started it two years ago, when my kids were three and we were all about to lose our minds. It's been a mental sanity savior for me. I didn't do it to get results. I did it because it was so fun, and I clearly don't care about looking like a fool.

So, the first few weeks when I looked like a dead, and yet somehow constipated, 85-year-old penguin out of water, it didn't phase me. I get how people could not want to look like that, though. Particularly if they're already under immense societal pressure to be something they aren't.

So, to combat (HAHA) the time, expense and fear factors, I made a preliminary (and really shitty) video of ONE track that we do (a typical workout is eight different tracks, then push ups and abs).

The class goes fast with not a lot of instruction, so I picked a track with ONLY three moves (all kicks) that just repeat forever. I might do one for punches, but I probably won't do too many more. As crappy as these videos are, I'm not sure Les Mills would laugh if they thought I was making it easy for them not to make their bajillions of dollars on this.

HOWEVER, I would like to point out that the point of this ridiculous and silly video (in which my kids also do it) would be to push more people into spending their hard-earned money, and well-deserved time off, on body combat. Just a thought before you all sue me.

Either way, the point is, doing this has saved me not because I had some massive fitness goal, but because it was so much fun and it stopped me from eating my children. Seriously.

I did end up losing about ten pounds, and I swear I'm more muscular, even though the pictures aren't quite as convincing as I thought they'd be.

Regardless, the main point of this post is that you should do it too! It's easy. Or at least, it could be easy. You can do it at your own pace, tailor it to your own needs, and the biggest point...you don't have to do it right. Doing any of it, even wrong as hell, is really fun, and worth it, imo.

Okay. Here is my masterpiece.








Go kick some stuff and laugh at me, you'll feel better. OH! And watching it, I just figured out what I did wrong in the second half. You're supposed to be front kicking with the other leg and back kicking with the other leg. See? I know nothing. But still, we have fun.

And if body combat isn't for you, maybe Zumba is! You can check out the best shoes for the dancing workout here.