Right Newcastle, summer’s here and it’s time to get in shape. Whether you’re planning on jetting off to Kavos or Ibiza or you’re staying at home in the Toon, in this day and age you’re expected to be looking your best. Gentlemen, this goes for you just as much as the ladies – the girls have been under pressure to look perfect for centuries now, and they’re starting to cotton on to the fact that they can turn the trick right back on you lot.

So how to get that beach perfect body? One option would be hitting the gym, but if you’re anything like us you probably think that sounds a little dull. Besides, do you really want to end up using the same exercise bike seat as hundreds of other sweaty gym-goers? No. Thanks.

One much better alternative which a number of discerning Geordie fitness buffs have been investigating over the past few years is krav maga. Developed in eastern Europe in the 1930s and perfected by the Israeli secret services over the following decades, krav maga is a world-leading self defence system that blends a variety of martial arts including jiu-jitsu, muay thai, boxing and wrestling to powerful effect – it’s the mixed martial arts of the self defence world! Until a few years back, not many of us had heard about krav here in the UK, but more and more of us are now hitting the nation’s krav academies in our droves to get fit and learn how to handle ourselves in a tight spot.

For many, the main draw of krav is the self-defence aspect – anyone with their head screwed on who’s looking to protect themselves firmly whilst staying on the right side of the law would choose it over disciplines like kick boxing and karate. There are, however, other big draws that help to make krav so popular, and the biggest of them all is the fact that it can make you extremely fit.

Take the Spartans Academy of Krav Maga’s Thursday night training sessions at Bodyfit Gym on Carliol Square for example. These weekly two-hour sessions don’t just offer students the chance to learn the krav system, they also help to build cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, muscle endurance and communications. In a nutshell, this is thinking person’s way to get buff. According to the Spartans team, it also has a very real power to make you safer:

“One of our students went on holiday to Las Vegas. The group (including our student) got caught up in a fight in a casino. One friend of our student was on the floor, a guy about to stamp on him. This is when our student intervened, to defend his friend. As he went to do so another attacker came at him to smash him over the head with a large glass bottle – the student instantly blocked and countered this attack (an overhead swing as taught in class with a stick). The attacker was knocked out – our student picked up his friend and they left.”

Extreme stuff, but on a Saturday night when everyone’s getting mortal, this kind of thing happens all the time in Newcastle. Not only will krav maga help you to get fit enough to pinch someone’s girlfriend or boyfriend, it’ll help you to avoid getting yourself killed when they find out!

For more information on krav classes in Newcastle, click here.

All above articles written by York’s Pete Wise.