Learn how practicing choreography-based movement can help you be more present and enhance cognitive functioning.
Unless you’ve studied karate, the moves featured in the Zen Combat classes I lead at Equinox Bond St. will feel totally unfamiliar — and push you out of your comfort zone. The hour-long sessions are a high-intensity blend of martial arts, karate, and American kickboxing, a fusion that tests your coordination and cardiorespiratory system.
In each class, you’ll go through the same type of sequence: You’ll learn one movement (say, an elbow strike), and practice, practice, practice. You’ll try a second movement (maybe a cross), practice some more, and then do the two moves back-to-back. We’ll repeat the process with a third and fourth move. Essentially, we isolate the moves then integrate them. Within that, we’ll go from slow to fast, simple to complex. Then, once we’ve combined all the choreography, we’ll move through the upbeat routine for four minutes.
Though the class promotes physical health, there are also clear mental, emotional, and cognitive benefits. As the workout progresses and the choreographed sequences get longer, you’ll need to increasingly rely on your own memory. If you’re not diverting all your attention to the instructions or embedding the moves into your brain, you’ll struggle to execute them in the right sequence and in sync with the music.
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All day long, people multitask. But in a choreographed class, you need to turn off all other thoughts and worries. You have to be present — that’s why it’s called Zen Combat. When you're being present, there's a sense of clarity. Once you finish a class, it’s like you hit reset because you gave yourself a break from your life for an hour. But it’s so fast-paced and immersive, time seems to fly by.
In a choreography-driven class like mine, your movements may be slow and inefficient when you first start out. You have to be conscious of what you’re doing. But as you become more familiar with the technique, you begin to build muscle memory; your movement is more fluid, and the exercises become subconscious. Once you’ve mastered the format, you can go harder and faster. The movements become more accurate, efficient, and consistent. Emotionally, you feel more confident. By the end of the class, there’s a sense of achievement and empowerment.
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There are also benefits to choreographed exercise that you may not notice. Martial arts has been shown to improve executive function (the mental processes involved in planning, attention, remembering instructions, and other tasks); this may be a potential result of the activity’s complex, coordinated motor tasks, which increase demand on the cerebral cortex, according to a small 2015 study. Similarly, Tai Chi — an activity that involves learning choreographed movement patterns — may support visuospatial processing, processing speed, and episodic memory. A 2014 systematic review concluded that Tai Chi may enhance cognitive function in older adults, specifically executive function.
Of course, trying any new workout can be intimidating. So when you first walk into a choreography-focused workout, let the instructor know you’re a beginner so they can provide guidance as needed. Be willing to learn, and don’t compare yourself to others in the class, especially those who have more experience (they were once newbies, too). Understand that whenever you try something new, it’s going to be clunky — and that’s okay. Allow yourself to make mistakes; it’s all a part of the learning process.
Violet Zaki is a group fitness instructor at Equinox Bond Street in New York City, teaching Zen Combat, Athletic Conditioning, and ABsession. She holds a second-degree black belt and is the creator of the JOMURAI stick-fighting workout program.