BREAKING BOARD-ERS: Dancing and fighting TurboClick

November 23, 2009 by Sean Jaramillo 

TurboKick mixes hip-hop and kickboxing, which makes it a strange, new experience for anyone

One of the major points of this column is to move past the stereotypes of fighting styles and learn what that style is really about.

That has never been more true than when I tried out TurboKick.

When I heard about this class during my search for fighting classes, I asked everyone I knew: What the hell is TurboKick?

The name of it sounds like something that requires the L1 and R1 buttons on a PS3 controller, and using my über-oritentalist powers (reading the description on the UNLV Web site), I made the assumption that it was like a bizarre amalgam of Tae Bo and Jean-Claude van Damme.

That could not be less true… Well, maybe it could… You know what? I can honestly say that by the end of this class, I wasn’t sure how to describe it.

Lucky for me, Treasure Watanabe, a part-time UNLV student and instructor for the class, had a grasp on what was going on.

“This is a high-intensity, aerobic kickboxing routine, using hip-hop movements and a variety of different music along with leg and ab routines and stretching,” Watanabe said.

For those Power Ranger fans, yes, the description sounds a little like “Hip-hop-kido,” the martial art invented by the original Black Power Ranger .

Could this hip-hop style become a form of fighting? Maybe if it allowed for more power.

All of the basic moves of kickboxing are put into choreographed movements, and there were moments where I felt like I was the Black Ranger.

But because the class also incorporates dance and rhythm, there were also points where my instinct as a fighter went against the teachings of the class.

What that did, at least for me, was force kicks from positions that weren’t necessarily from balanced positions, which removed most of the force.

What I loved about my time in the class, though, was that it did feel like a workout.

Although there was little power involved, switching from punches to kicks to knees required a great deal of transitional motions, and doing that for an hour exhausted me faster than MC Hammer exhausted his career.

Watanabe agreed about the conditioning.

“It is fast paced, so if you try it out, you may get frustrated,” she said, “but it does stick with you. It’s a fun, aerobic class.”

For those of you thinking that TurboKick sounds a lot like Tae Bo, Watanabe explained that it is similar, but there is one huge distinction.

“[TurboKick] is kind of party themed. Tae Bo is the basic ‘jab, jab, jab, jab, jab,’” she said. “This is kickboxing mixed with hip hop.”

Another aspect of TurboKick that I appreciated was the core workout, which used exercise balls to provide an incline and make balance a necessity.

Sage Woods, a freshman who is shadowing the class for her fitness instructor training, took the class through this portion of the class.

She said TurboKick is perfect for people who go to gyms to get more fit.

“You’ll sweat a lot, which means you are working hard and that’s why people go to the gym,” Woods said. “Bring a friend. It’ll make it more fun because you can talk to them.”

I wish that I had known that earlier so I could have made my editor join me. At one point while I was doing the class, I felt like Marky Mark without his Funky Bunch.

And who doesn’t want the Funky Bunch behind them when they do choreographed routines?

But the million-dollar question for this class is: how useful is it for fighting?

Woods believes it is very useful.

“It teaches you the basic kickboxing moves,” she said.

What I would say as a person training in fighting is that the movements themselves probably would not be the best option in a street fight.

But the movements require training and syncing with others, so it feels very similar to ‘kata’ in martial arts.

I think TurboKick can best be described as a transitional style for fighters and dancers.

Fighters will learn to put their movements to a rhythm, which is a great step forward when learning to dance. Meanwhile, dancers can learn the basic techniques and stances of fighting before firming them up and adding power.

This class, which is held Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, is a great move for anyone who wants to learn either discipline, dancing or fighting.

As for me, I learned two things from TurboKick:

One, never just assume things about any style. And two, when you do TurboKick, either bring the Funky Bunch or a Mastodon Power Coin.

Breaking Board-ers is a column in which one martial artist explores fighting styles to try and knock out Hollywood stereotypes, one roundhouse kick at a time.