Carmela Bozzo was looking for something new to help her get in shape, but she needed some convincing when an acquaintance signed up for a Cage Fitness class, a workout based on the structure of a championship Mixed Martial Arts bout developed by nine-time welterweight UFC champion Matt Hughes.
“I said, ‘Isn’t it all men? And isn’t it hard?’ ” recalls Ms. Bozzo, a 37-year-old mother of two from Hamilton.
“She said, ‘It’s not all men, and it is hard and worth it.’ ”
Sold on the enthusiastic endorsement, Ms. Bozzo signed up for the class at Wood’s Premier Martial Arts. A year later, she just re-signed her contract.
“I’m definitely hooked,” she says.
With mixed martial arts the current rage – helped by the prominence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship – the fitness world has seized on the desire for MMA-inspired workouts. Not everyone may want to learn jiu-jitsu or take a punch like a UFC fighter, but many people do want to get in shape like one, with a workout that combines cardio, resistance training and high-intensity interval training.
Cage Fitness is one of the biggest brands at the forefront of the trend, which is attracting both men and women in almost equal numbers.
“Mixed martial arts and the UFC is the fastest-growing sport in the world right now. We say an opportunity to take something that was already becoming popular and pair it with something that will always be needed,” says Jessy Norton, a Cage Fitness pro.
It also helps that in a time-pressed world, a Cage Fitness session is only 30 minutes. The workout goes through five “rounds” designed to exercise every part of the body. There’s also a fitness dummy bag that weighs anywhere from 11 to 18 kilograms that you have to throw around, just as you would an opponent in the octagon, the ring in which UFC fighters compete.
Many of the exercises are similar to those in a UFC event, from striking to lunge punches, where you lunge forward, bend over and punch the bag.
Launched two years ago, Cage Fitness is now in close to 360 facilities in 11 different countries. Based on that success, the company launched a home kit in November.
Many gyms have adopted similar workouts, even if they aren’t under the Cage Fitness brand.
Glen Kalesniko began offering a class called cage fit in September at Pride Gym Martial Arts Centre, in Trail, B.C.
“I wanted to get people who maybe wouldn’t come to the gym [but might] feel comfortable doing muay thai or jiu-jitsu as a workout,” he says.
High-intensity interval training, alternating periods of high and low intensity exercise, appeals to many people because “you can stimulate a lot of [health] benefits in a relatively short period of time,” says Martin Gibala, chair of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University.
Ms. Bozzo, who says she is usually pouring sweat after a class, can attest to the fitness benefits of following short rests with fast bursts of punching, kicking and lunging. “It’s intense,” she says.
K2 Martial Arts in Ottawa began offering a Cage Fitness class nearly two years ago. It’s so popular that the studio is preparing to expand the number of classes, program director Arthur Yrenaya says.
“It’s going to challenge everybody at every fitness level, because you’re going to go as hard as you can go,” he says.
Catherine Lemieux, 27, who recently graduated with a master’s degree in political science from the University of Ottawa, has been taking the class at K2 Martial Arts for more than a year as a way of complementing her kickboxing training.
“I remember trying it out and thinking, ‘Holy, this is intense.’ I like that each person can go at their own rhythm,” she says. “You work muscles you don’t normally work in kickboxing.”
The growing number of MMA-inspired fitness classes in Canada tracks with the sport’s overall popularity here. And the gender split of classes, which instructors say is usually 60-40 men to women, parallels the UFC fan base.
“Canada has had eight UFC events over the last 140 or so, and six of those are in the top-10 all-time for attendance,” says Tom Wright, the UFC’s director of Canadian operations. Plenty of women are filling the seats or tuning in to watch events on pay-per-view.
The UFC audience in Canada is a little more than 60-40 male to female, Mr. Wright adds.
On the whole, women make up a majority of Cage Fitness classes, Ms. Norton says.
“Women generally [gravitate] toward group fitness classes more so than men,” she says. The feeling of empowerment that can come from throwing the bag around also appeals to many women, she adds.
Still, the class could be intimidating, especially with the word “cage” in the title, says Edward Wood, who runs Wood’s Premier Martial Arts. In January the studio changed the name of the class to MMA fitness get fit … without the hit!
For Ms. Bozzo, the short duration of the class is a key draw, and the intensity of it, which has helped her lose fat and build muscle, also has a big appeal.
But it’s also got plenty to offer when you have a lot on your mind or are having a particularly rough day, something your typical aerobics class or weight-lifting session doesn’t provide.
“It’s so stress-relieving to kick that bag,” she says.
