This week, Savage Martial Arts club are launching their new Savage Ladies Kickboxing course in hopes of empowering Sheffield’s women to achieve their fitness goals.
The new women’s only classes will take place at Hillsborough Leisure Centre every Monday evening at 6:45pm, and at Wisewood Sports Centre on Tuesday evenings at 6:15pm.
Instructor Casey Hargrieves, 27, says: “I set up the sessions to help motivate women to enjoy exercise and to ultimately make women feel good about themselves.”
The classes are also a way of exploring a new sport by introducing beginners to kickboxing throughout the programme.
With kickboxing being a full-combat, contact sport, the classes teach a range of self-defence techniques such as punches, kicks and knee strikes.
The class further aims to teach valuable self defence techniques such as wrist grabs or bear hugs, which are more tailored to real life scenarios, such as situations of domestic abuse.
The course also focuses on improving general fitness, through incorporating strength building exercises and cardio elements. The class always ends with a ‘burn out’ fitness test – helping women to burn calories and build endurance.
Hargrieves added: “I’ve seen some incredible body transformations. Lots of women lose weight or tone up on our programme – one lady I trained lost up to 3 stone.”
The 6-week course helps women to build confidence in kickboxing, initially beginning with drills using pads, gloves and kick shields, before building up to partnered combat using more advanced striking and defence techniques.
Mr Hargrieves said: “The last course we carried out in late 2023 was a huge success. I saw all of my ladies’ hard work pay off and so much progress was made. I was so proud of how much their confidence grew, so I’m very excited for the launch of this new course to give even more women the chance to challenge themselves and to get into kickboxing.”
The course aims to boost physical fitness, alongside targeting mental health, with kickboxing classes having positive stress relieving effects as well as being an enjoyable pastime.
Mr Hargrieves added: “We work hard but the ladies love it. We always have a laugh along the way.”
There is a large focus on keeping the sessions fun and friendly, with the inclusive classes welcoming ladies of all backgrounds and fitness abilities. The classes are open to all ages, currently ranging from 14 years up to women in their 60’s.
Savage Ladies Kickboxing aim to help women meet other like-minded individuals, and to feel included as a part of the martial arts community.
Mr Hargrieves said: “We don’t only have an awesome team of ladies, but we have a family where we all help each other to reach our goals. We keep each other motivated, and I’m even looking to introduce an awards scheme such as ‘Savage Lady of the Month’ awards. It’s so rewarding.”
Mr Hargrieves further added: “We dedicate ourselves to bring out the best in our ladies, and assure them they’re never too out of shape to kickstart their fitness goals.”
Bookings can be made through their Facebook page here, or their website here.