By Gray Chapman
Spring break is sneaking up quickly, and the weight (no pun intended) of the post-holiday eating frenzy is still crashing down on some of us. So, like a hamster in a wheel, you trot on the treadmill until your eyes glaze over in boredom. But that’s no longer necessary when you head to X3 Sports. This tough-stuff gym is where both the monotony and the love handles end. Plus, they shed all the negative stereotypes of your typical gym—no sparkly pink legwarmers, no aerobics classes and absolutely no European techno playing over the loudspeakers.
Instead, X3 specializes in combat sports, martial arts and athletic performance to deliver real results. Classes range from Speed, Strength and Agility to Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu and even boxing. You don’t want to mess with the guys who run this place—the trainers are professional fighters, mixed martial artists and pro boxers.
So you can imagine my uncertainty when I headed over to X3 for a free kickboxing class last week. Downstairs, X3 was full of men kicking and punching bags (and each other). But the kickboxing class, which is offered as a free trial to those interested in membership at X3, was surprisingly diverse in its participants. On the phone, the owner had assured me that there are always a few people in each class who have never tried it before. I wasn’t wholly convinced. But once I got there and quickly bonded with the other “new girl,” I felt a little less intimidated.
The instructor led the class in a cardio warm-up, and then it was down to business. Jabs, crosses, hooks, roundhouse kicks—within ten minutes I was panting like a deranged animal. But getting into the rhythm of beating a 150 lb punching bag to death was surprisingly easy, especially when you have a terrifying pro fighter yelling in your face like a drill sergeant. One hour and hundreds of kicks and punches later, we finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel—a ten-minute “cool-down” of gut-wrenching abdominal exercises. After all was said and done, we removed our gloves, untaped our wrists, and somehow made it up the flight of stairs without collapsing.
According to one of the X3 managers, Jamie, the average person burns approximately 800-1,000 calories in one kickboxing session. It would take hours of boredom on the treadmill to reach those results. X3 is a place that can really deliver results, faster than any cardio class at your local gym could possibly do. Though X3’s membership rates are not for the faint of heart, they do offer a student discount and several different pricing packages. Even if you can’t afford a membership now, drop in and check out a free kickboxing class. It’s fun, and it works—plus, there’s nothing like punching inanimate objects to relieve that midterm-related stress. But be prepared: if you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to walk properly for about three days after!