Delhi is a city of confrontation. Not having to worry about your opponent’s size can be all the strategic advantage one needs. In the early 1930s, Hélio Gracie, an unimpressive-sized 19-year-old boy, beat a professional boxer and a proficient wrestler in a matter of seconds. Hélio and his brother Carlos co-founded the martial arts of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and (with Luiz França and Oswaldo Fadda) Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu.
Decades later and halfway around the globe, 22-year-old Jahangir Raza, an IITM-Gurgaon graduate, decided to teach the art to enthusiasts in the NCR region. “The world we live in isn’t getting any safer. Our focus is to promote the concept that a smaller and weaker person can successfully defend themselves in real-life situations against bigger and stronger assailants. This involves teaching women to use technique and leverage using joint locks and chokeholds to take, and hold down assailants despite their size or power,” says Raza. Over the past three years, Raza’s Warrior’s Cove Mixed Martial Arts Studio, located in DLF Phase 1 Gurgaon, has a burgeoning following which includes professional fighters, fitness lovers and the boys and girls next door looking for a reason to feel more self-empowered.
Jahangir and partner Rajiv Beri (35) conduct sessions from Monday to Saturday. Fees (monthly): `4,000 (women); `5,000 (men). Address: A- 5/9, DLF Phase 1, Gurgaon. Contact: Raza (+91)99586 05606
A buoyant 25-year-old standing atop a raised platform looks over his shoulder at a brimming eager class of students and smiles. Arun Sharma is the founder of the Jeet Kune Do Athletic Club that believes in the philosophy passed on to by Grand Masters Bruce Lee and Helio Gracie. “Being like water and having the ability to adapt, crash or flow—it teaches us to be calm as a lake or aggressive like a tsunami when required,” says Sharma. Classes are conducted through all days of the week and from morning to evening in groups of 18-24. Here, Sharma teaches the arts of Jeet Kune Do, meditation, Filipino Kali, kid’s bully-proofing, women’s self-defence, law enforcement, action strength and rapid assault tactics. He also holds regular training sessions with defence personnel and law enforcement teams and is in demand with various corporates looking at improving the overall health and wellness of their employees. The monthly fees range from `3,500 for alternate days classes to `5,000 for regular classes. Both packages include martial arts, fitness and meditation classes that do not make one run for cover and there you have it—a sensibly priced solution to stop the world from rattling your cage!
Celebrating their fifth anniversary, with two studios in Delhi, the club is supported by a certified team of TRX, functional fitness and meditation instructors with Arun at the helm of every activity and training programme. He believes, “Martial arts, fitness and meditation training give people the ability to perform better in their personal and professional life.”
West Delhi Branch: GL-26, L Block, Hari Nagar, nearest Metro Station is Tilak Nagar
South Delhi Branch: E-7/5, Basement, Malviya Nagar. Opposite Geeta Bhawan Mandir. Nearest Metro Station is Malviya Nagar; Contact: +91 8377811837