---

With all the pressure to remain slim and have a beautiful appearance, we are forced to seek ways to remain healthy and improve fitness levels.

Most people seek traditional exercise classes found at health clubs. Some are basing their decision on price rather than qualities and benefits.

As I tell my clients, your health will only benefit you. In saying this, make sure you seek a professional business and don't base your decision on price alone.

A person who is paying $150 a month will benefit more through better equipment and facilities than a person paying $50.

With all the options out there, the martial arts schools are often overlooked by people who are primarily concerned with fitness.

Let's take a look at the differences.

When you become a member at a health club your training regime doesn't essentially alter much. In other words, the average person participating in resistance training will somewhat perform the same routine with a few modifications.

If you choose to participate in a cardio class it will probably consist of the same movements with some variations. At a health club you will probably not find any upgrades to your membership hence keeping your training regime mundane.

Adding a personal trainer to enhance your exercise regime will come at an additional cost and most qualified personal trainers charge their client an hourly fee per session.

A personal trainer can cost $60.00 per session and some much more.

When you become a member of a martial arts progamme, you automatically get a personal trainer - your instructor. He will develop you to be the best that you can be.

Furthermore, you will never perform the same thing twice; you are always learning something new which keeps you motivated and interested.

When you receive a belt promotion and move to higher rank you are now exposed to new concepts so you are constantly learning.

Upgrades are available to you as you progress; the black belt club for children is an excellent way to enhance your child's academic experience, to be in this programme your child must maintain excellent grades in school.

Also, in addition they will learn more concepts than a child who wasn't enrolled in the black belt club programme.

For adults, there are advance classes and master classes all designed to enhance the learning experience.

These classes are not only designed to improve your physique and fitness levels but also your personal development through life skills and benefits.

A great martial art programme will develop the entire person.

Participating in martial art classes will also develop a level of strength and fitness that is hard to achieve in other classes.

Kicking and punching, stance training, throwing and other martial arts movements are all exercises that involve almost every muscle in your body.

Besides the actual muscles involved in, for example, a punch, you also use the rest of your body for stabilization, power generation and recoil.

The result is that you get a great workout no matter what skill you are practicing on.

Finally, martial arts training provide other benefits that are simply not found in an exercise class. First and foremost, you learn valuable skills that can help you defend yourself if a dangerous situation ever arose.

Also, the improved confidence and self discipline can be life changing for some people.

I can expand on the topic of the dissimilarities between martial arts programmes versus health club programmes for months.

A good health club can be an excellent place to workout but they do not offer what a good martial art programme can.

A martial art curriculum can be so vast and offers great personal development skills for our social problems.

These life skills taught will develop more focused, goal oriented and aggressive to succeed people in our community.

In closing, I challenge those martial arts school owners who possess the hobbyist mentality to move to become martial arts entrepreneurs and to develop their martial arts programmes so that potential clients that knock at their door will have a great and empowering experience.

In doing this we will all benefit in helping those that seek us out and we will change the perception of martial arts in Bermuda.

Sensei Shawn Harvey 1st degree Black belt and Founder of the Bermuda Small Circle Jujitsu & Fitness Kickboxing Academy. Please send comments to [email protected][[In-content Ad]]

---