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Fitness kickboxing: Getting equipped

Fitness kickboxing is the latest buzzword in health and fitness circles thanks to body-beautiful celebs like Deepika Padukone and John Abraham.

Fitness kickboxing is a bit different from hardcore martial arts since you copy the movement that tones you but remove the full-body contact that may cause injury. It is a high-intensity fitness routine that challenges all your muscle groups and improves body-mind coordination, thus engaging the entire body thoroughly.

The latter is for those who wish to learn self-defence or participate in tournaments. Given this fact, fitness kickboxing routines offered by different gyms or studios may each be different based on the clientele demand or the instructor's initiative.

Here, in the first part of our series on Fitness Kickboxing, Muay Thai instructor Biki Bora suggests a few accessories you may need for your kickboxing classes.

This continuing series on Fitness kickboxing with Biki Bora has been coordinated by Shameem Akthar, yoga instructor. For more on Biki Bora's health and kickboxing tips visit http://bikiboxing.blogspot.com

Disclaimer: Kickboxing involves vigorous exercise and must be learnt under expert guidance. This series only provides broad guidelines.

Boxing bands

This is the first item you want to invest in. Rather inexpensive, they are available at most sports shops. What they are is long strips of cloth that are bound around the hand so as to prevent knuckle injury while punching. It is an absolute essential to buy a pair. Though some instructors carry spare ones with them, it is advisable to own your pair from the point of view of hygiene. These are washable and will need to be cleaned often.

Cost: Rs 125 onwards

Ankle socks

You may like to own a pair for intense kicking and intricate footwork. These protect the ankle from contact injury and protect the skin at the ankle joint or foot top from discoloration due to regular kicking. They also protect the skin on the sole during intense footwork. These are also washable.

Cost: Rs 125 to Rs 650, depending on brand.

Boxing gloves

This is also a good buy for a beginner since they protect the knuckles during hard punches.

Again, gyms or instructors may provide them, but it is better to invest in your own pair since these turn quite smelly from the intense sweating. Also, it is difficult to clean them from the inside.

Keeping fabric-freshners/ potpourri inside them while not in use and keeping them to dry out is a good way to prevent malodour.

Cost: Rs 350 onwards.

Punching bag

Actually, a good punching bag is only for hardcore kickboxers. Some gyms do stock them, so you do not need to buy one for your very first class!

You can also use small, speed-punching bags (whose stand may have to be drilled into the floor). These are fun and rather harmless. The metal stand to which the bag is attached will move with your punch. This helps improve your punching speed. Punching bags come in different sizes and most sports shops only stock the empty bags. The filling -- usually saw-dust -- has to be done by you.

As explained, a punching bag is usually used only by hard-core and advanced kickboxing practitioners since it can be extremely hard and tough to work with for a beginner. Even fighters advance to the punching bag only after intense training.

Cost: Around Rs 3,000 onwards.