Martial arts and fitness have a lot of common ground. They’re both excellent for your physical and mental health and can help you build everything from muscles to self esteem to community.
The martial arts and fitness worlds have also learned a lot from each other. Martial arts lessons often include warmups and drills that have been inspired by traditional strength and conditioning exercises. Martial arts coaches and instructors might even encourage their students to take up a cross-training program that incorporates weight training, cardio, and mobility work. Fitness instructors and personal trainers have also incorporated martial arts drills into their workouts, teaching everything from boxercise to MMA-influenced circuit training.
Not all moves can make the crossover, though. Your sensei and training partners would be pretty confused if you tried to drag a barbell into the middle of the mats and did your squats there. And your fellow gym goers would be similarly put off if you started doing full contact sparring in the middle of the yoga room.
With a little bit of creativity and respect for your fellow exercisers, though, there are a number of fun and effective solo martial arts drills that you can adapt for more general fitness spaces. If you ever find yourself in the mood for a martial arts workout, but you can’t get to the dojo, here are 6 exercises that you can do in a hotel or condo/apartment gym without getting kicked out or side-eyed.
Boxing Exercises
Shadowboxing: As long as you have access to a few square feet of unoccupied space and enough body awareness to keep away from other gym goers, you can do pretty much any shadowboxing-based workout in a regular gym setting. Fitness enthusiasts are pretty familiar with this type of training now, so they won’t be freaked out if you start uppercutting the air for a number of rounds. They might even join you, because they know what a great workout it is. (You can also bring your boxing or MMA gloves with you for an extra challenge. Or hold a pair of 1-5lb of dumbbells in your hands as long as you’re careful about your grip.)
Bobbing and Weaving: Fitness people aren’t as familiar with bobbing and weaving drills themselves, but they’ll recognize the movement patterns involved and you won’t look that out of place doing them on a gym floor or in a yoga/Pilates/group fitness room. Maybe they’ll even be inspired to try some for themselves so that they can get a good leg and core workout that improves your muscular endurance, body awareness, and overall focus.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Exercises
Sit Outs: The classic grappling sit out drill, sometimes called “breakdancing,” wouldn’t look that out of place in a yoga/Pilates studio or stretching area of a regular gym. Mobility training and warmups/cool downs have a lot of moves that involve the plank/pushup position and twisting your torso, so you won’t look weird or disruptive if you combine the two and pick up the pace. Just grab a mat and get in a good workout for your mobility, core strength, cardio, and reflexes.
Triangle Drills: Sit on the front edge of a mat. Roll back until you’re balanced on your upper back. Use your abs to kick one foot toward the ceiling and bend your other leg to tuck your shin behind your knee, just like you’re setting up a triangle choke. Uncross the legs, roll back to a seated position and switch sides. Repeat as desired. This BJJ warmup drill that helps you add some bite to your triangle choke setups actually looks a lot like a combination of two Pilates moves (Rolling Like a Ball, and the Bicycle) sped up, so you’ll look like you belong in any Pilates or yoga studio. And if anyone asks what you’re doing, you can just explain what a great ab exercise it is.
Mixed Martial Arts Exercises
Ground and Pound Rounds: With a few square feet to yourself in a studio or functional fitness space and some small martial arts or fitness equipment, you can put together an MMA workout that will keep your technique, cardio, and focus sharp. Bring a pair of boxing or MMA gloves to the gym. (If you’re worried about other people looking at you, MMA gloves are a little more subtle and might draw less attention.) If you have access to a strike shield, bring that along, too. If not, you can improvise with a rolled up yoga mat. Get into mount on that shield or mat and start working on your straights, hooks, and hammer fists from that position in timed rounds or ladders.
As long as you’re not beating the crap out of a yoga mat at full power, your fellow gym goers should be cool to let you do your thing. Just make sure that you wipe down the mats and floor when you’re done. Ground and pound rounds are an intense workout and you’ll probably get pretty sweaty.
Ball Sprawls: This drill will require a little more space and awareness of those around you, but as long as you’ve got both, it’ll give you a good workout in an empty yoga studio or functional fitness space. Grab a Swiss ball or a soft medicine ball. Place it on the floor and give it a gentle roll. Then sprawl so that your hips land on top of the ball. If you’re working out with a friend, you can take turns rolling the ball to each other. Or you can recruit someone else at the gym if they’re curious enough and you’re bold enough to ask them to join in on your fun full body workout.
