Finding the time to go to the gym can be difficult, fitting it around work schedules, social events, or just every other reason we can think of not to go. We all fall victim to the “intention of going” telling ourselves over and over that tomorrow we will wake up early and go to the gym before work or the age-old lie that our diet starts Monday. We know it won’t happen, but it makes us feel better saying it.

The gym is lonely and repetitive, and it takes a lot to drag ourselves there each morning just to run on the spot or lift a weight heavier than the person next to us is lifting. The gym is self-motivating and some of us just cannot commit to that. Yet we join our local gym knowing the only time we will go is when Netflix asks if we are still watching. That’s the weekly motivation we need to stop binge watching and get our butt into gear otherwise we will never get our summer body.

What is different about Xen-Do is that it definitely isn’t lonely, when our Senseis aren’t shouting at us during classes then they are chatting during a stretching session. What makes Xen-Do extra special is that there are no earphones needed, this isn’t the underground, we can chat to people! Find out what they do and maybe even make friends in the process and that’s what makes our dojos grow! The community we have in each club is inspiring, people pad together, help each other and we can honestly say we have the best students. Our students train at the club they are registered to and yet when thrown together in a senior grading with Master Raf the location of their dojo is irrelevant because we are all one team and that is so nice to see!

At the gym you can change what you focus on each time you go, with a chest day or leg day or whichever body part day you feel like until you get bored and come home. This is one of the many reasons we prefer coming to Xen-Do, it’s not up to us to design the exercise plan. Sensei teaches the curriculum that will lead us to our new belts so each class is exciting, fun and we could be dripping from sweat in just a couple rounds on the pads. That’s what we need, something to leave us feeling exhausted but in the best way, knowing that even if we have a cheat day, we will be ready to head back into the dojo and smash the pads!