SINGAPORE, June 8 — Hardcore, high-intensity fitness regimes may have been the domain of men, but not anymore. Over the past two years, women have increasingly been going beyond the gym to seek out more challenging training programmes, from boxing to bootcamps and even parkour, to up their game.

Fitness trainers say women are now more body-aware, and with the popularity of events such as marathons, as well as the rise of high-intensity workouts such as CrossFit, everyone is looking for more ways to challenge themselves physically.

The second instalment of the Spartan Race earlier this month, for instance, saw a rise in the number of women joining the challenging, mud-drenched obstacle race, as more than 2,100 females took on 30 obstacles along the 12km route.

At the Juggernaut Fight Club gym in Hong Kong Street, managing director and head coach Arvind Lalwani said the percentage of women coming in to train has increased in the past two years.

“When we first started the gym in 2011... the percentage (of members) then was 90 per cent male, 10 per cent female,” noted Lalwani, 36, a former national wrestler and president of the Singapore Fighting Championship.

“Now, it’s more like 60 per cent male to 40 per cent female.”

The women who train there range from those in their teens to those in their 40s, with quite a few young working professionals in the mix, said Lalwani. “They are easier to teach than men, and they pick up techniques quickly.”

Working that body

It’s not that these females are looking for a fight. Rather, women tend to seek out boxing and Muay Thai — the two most popular disciplines among females at Juggernaut — as an alternative way of working out.

“The perception is that boxing or Muay Thai is hardcore, that you’re going to get beat up,” said Lalwani. “But the truth is that these workouts are simply more intense. At a gym, a one-hour training session isn’t going to work you as hard as at one of our classes ... The intensity just isn’t there.”

A female participant hits it at a Spartan Beach Boxing Bootcamp, one of the classes offered by the Spartans Boxing Club. — TODAY pic

He has seen people transform in just a few short months. Women can drop as much as 10kg in three months. That’s not just losing weight, that’s packing on muscle and getting the hard body that some women want to achieve.

Jeanne Chua, a 41-year-old mother of two, joined Juggernaut in January this year. Although she has been practising yoga for 16 years, she found that going to Juggernaut once a week has given her overall fitness a boost.

“I became obsessed with boxing after the first class,” said Chua, who used to attend kickboxing classes. “I love learning the techniques, and you never know what to expect week to week. Each class, you spar differently. It wakes up the brain cells ... It’s also a great complement to my yoga practice.”

Her stamina is better now, and boxing has helped build her core muscles, as well as build more strength in her arms and legs, she shared.

Women are a staple at the Spartans Boxing Club in Joo Chiat Road: The five-month-old gym not only features ladies’ boxing classes twice a week, but also has a woman fronting its main web page.

“There’s a 50 per cent ratio of men to women,” said founder and boxing enthusiast Nazar Musa, 44, who added that it’s not surprising, since “health and wellness doesn’t discriminate between the sexes”.

The gym has offered ladies’ boxing classes from the get-go, but its regular boxing classes have an even mix of men and women.

The gym’s clientele range from those in their teens to professionals, but among the women, there are also a good number of young mothers wanting to drop their baby weight. Musa pointed out that one of the women’s classes is regularly attended by a group that calls itself “Punchy Mums”.

Julia Kong (white shirt) and Chee En Jia show off their moves at the A2 Movements Free Runner Lodge gym. — TODAY pic

Looking for new challenges

The people seeking out hardcore workouts are generally bored with regular gym-work, he added, and are looking for a new, intense challenge that keeps their bodies fit and their minds engaged.

“At a gym, you might run on the treadmill for a while, or figure out which machine looks nice to try out. But at the end of it, you haven’t worked your body at all. In a bootcamp or boxing class, for example, you work really hard and leave — and feel better for it.”

The gym has started a new class, the Spartans Beach Boxing Bootcamp, every Saturday at 8am. It starts with a run from the Joo Chiat Road location to East Coast Park, then participants don boxing gloves and do pad-work, as well as other high-intensity exercises such as body-weight training and suicide drills that test speed and agility.

One of the club’s members, Laila Widari, trains there three to four times a week. The 32-year-old architect took up boxing as a complement to Capoeira, the Brazilian martial art that combines dance and acrobatics, which she has been practising for five years.

“I wanted to work on speed, and the explosive movements in boxing definitely help with that,” said Widari. “Once you get used to the awkwardness of coordinating your hands and feet in boxing, it really builds up your strength and conditioning,” she added, saying how sparring with another person “is like Capoeira because it’s play; and you get to know another person through play”.

This element, she said, keeps her engaged and interested.

Another member, Desiree Koh, picked up boxing in January, and now trains six times a week. She attends the beach boxing bootcamp, and does two more boxing classes that same day.

“One of the reasons I started... was that I saw how fun it was when some friends of mine started boxing,” said Koh, who is heading to the National University of Singapore to attend law school later this year.

“Boxing has helped me reach the peak of fitness. It requires strength, stamina and speed ... Through boxing, I have emerged swifter and stronger, both physically and mentally,” she added.

Getting out and about

Other women are even turning to more “active” sports such as parkour. A2 Movements — a parkour and free running academy that started in 2010 — has seen an increase in women looking for a new challenge.

It started out with only one ladies’ parkour class in 2012, but is now offering three classes, with as many as six women in each class.

Female members from Spartans Boxing Club spar with each other. — Handout via TODAY

Engineer Julia Kong, 28, is one of them. Having first heard of parkour several years back, she took her first class on a whim last year.

“I had seen videos, of course, and always thought it was super cool,” said Kong, who runs regularly and is also an avid hiker. “I went for class one day when I was bored, with nothing else to do.”

She got hooked and soon began roping in her friends, both guys and girls, to join her. She trains with her friends once a week, and aims to do her first free run later this year.

Kong said her endurance has improved and her fitness level is better. “Parkour complements what I already do,” she said. “I love it for the challenge. You keep going back to try to do better each week, to try and overcome your own limitations.”

Females in general, said Chi Ying Tan, founder and director of A2 Movements, are looking for more than just physicality. “It’s a holistic development of body, soul and spirit,” he said.

There isn’t a target goal in mind, he added. “Rather, this is a journey of self-development. One must also overcome one’s fear, and must work to break one’s negative thought processes,” he explained.

Parkour enthusiast Chee En Jia, a private tutor, began training last year and loves the vaults, cat crawls and climbing drills that she has to do.

“Each week, you strive to go beyond your boundaries and barriers. Both the students and instructors are super supportive of that goal,” shared the 26-year-old, who describes parkour as both fulfilling as well as mentally and physically challenging.

According to Tan, the women don’t mess about as much as the men. “(Women) immediately try what they can,” said Tan. “Often, they’ll ask the instructor to break down a technique further, so they can understand it better. They really want to see what they’re able to do.”

Ultimately, women are drawn to the communities that they find in the gyms, where members and instructors build an encouraging environment.

“Everything feels genuine, there’s a cool family vibe,” said Chua. “It’s not glam, it’s gritty. Everyone is equal. No one is above anyone else. The community stresses this, and that keeps me going back.” — TODAY