a ff p ho tos by Ang ie Baa n

Instructor Kerry Papenhagen pummels the bag.

Judith Doner Berne
Special to the Jewish News

F

or Beverly Hills resident Sharon
Sefton, 54, kickboxing was her
first formal exercise.
"It was a sport I could do:' says Sefton,
who had only walked to keep fit until she
began kickboxing eight years ago. "You do
it at your own pace. There's no one else
putting any undue pressure on you and it's
a great workout."
For a number of years, she took classes
five times a week, mostly at Powerhouse
Gym located across Orchard Lake Road in
West Bloomfield from the UPS store she
owns.
Husband Allan enjoys it as well,
although he says Sharon is the kick boxer
in the family. "I like knowing how to do
it and trying always to do it better," says
Allan, an insurance agent.
Sharon has cut down to two to three
times a week at Powerhouse, including
sessions with a personal trainer. "I want
to work on form and technique she says,
and is also cross training. She has never
had an injury from kickboxing.
Indeed, people of various ages and both
sexes kick box, with more women taking
part in local classes.
Although modern competitive kick-
boxing started in the 1970s, its roots

Sherry Shanbom of Bloomfield Hills prepares for a round of
jabs.

date back 2,000 years to Far East Asia,
according to a brief history compiled by
the Columbia University Kickboxing Club
and available online. Bruce Lee brought it
to the United States and, by the late 20th
century, full contact kickboxing started to
take on its own form.
Aerobic or cardiovascular kickboxing
is an even more modern offshoot, com-
bining elements of boxing, martial arts
and aerobics. It differs because it doesn't
involve physical contact between competi-
tors and may or may not use gloves and
punching bags. It includes easily learned
movements such as jab, cross, roundhouse
and uppercut punches, and a not so easily
accomplished variety of knee strikes and

Emila Miller of West Bloomfield gives it her all, even white
pregnant.

kicks, often performed to music.
"Kickboxing is your martial arts kicks
and American boxing punches:' says
Kristy Levy, assistant director of the
Jewish Community Center's Oak Park fit-
ness center and a former co-owner of box-
ing studios. "People started mixing it with
dance and weights. It is a fun, fantastic
stress release."

Class Time

It's a Saturday morning, and multi-certi-
fied martial arts teacher Eugene Plowden,
a second-degree black belt, is mixing
intervals of punching and kicking with
weights and aerobics in the only kickbox-
ing class at the Jewish Community Center

in West Bloomfield.
Jodi Isser of Commerce said, "I love
this class. This is the only class I make
an effort to get to. I drop my kids off at
Shaarey Zedek and then I come here. Then
I'm on to synagogue."
Noga Vaisbuch did kickboxing in Israel,
but this is her first time since moving to
West Bloomfield. "I love the energy:' she
said, following the class.
"In Israel, it is madness. He's nice she
said of Plowden. "He lets us breathe."
Amy Levine, a 29-year-old elemen-
tary school teacher who lives in West
Bloomfield, does weight training three

Footloose! on page B2

March 27 = 2008

B1

