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In looking for interesting work outs for stay-at-home moms or anyone that doesn’t care for crowded, smelly gyms, I came across the book Forza The Samurai Sword Workout: Kick Butt and Get Buff with High-Intensity Sword Fighting Moves by Ilaria Montagnani.

Ilaria Montagnani is a fitness expert who has been on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Martha Stewart Show, The Dr. Oz Show, The Tyra Show, and CBS and ABC Evening News. The Wall Street Journal called her a “leading force” in the fitness world and New York Magazine labeled her one of the city’s top fitness gurus. She created Powerstrike in 1995 an early version of the now popular Tai Bo. She is a black belt in Karate and uses that to conduct group fitness classes.

There are different lengths and weights of sticks you can use for the workout and she goes through basic warm-up exercises before detailing proper foot and hand movements in wielding a sword. While you aren’t using an actual samurai sword, the high, low, horizontal thrusts and diagonal cuts are taught exactly as a real Kendo class.

The different movements become a kind of dance or aerobic routine that work every part of the body and burn a lot of calories. You can go as intense as you’d like and could record your progress with a stopwatch. Some reviews of the book online mention that this is not for serious martial artists since the combination of moves are more of a workout than a fight. The book has clear pictures and step by step instructions. While a regular metal samurai sword would weigh anywhere from 2.5 to 4 lbs, the wood or plastic exercise swords can go up to 5 lbs. Swinging and holding even a lightweight sword can lead to pulled muscles or other injuries if you haven’t done this kind of thing before. Be sure to do the warm up and work progressively. Don’t try to do every routine for an hour at first. Try working out for 15 min and increasing every other day till you get to 45 or 60.

As with any exercise activity, it will only help if you also eat healthy and pursue an active lifestyle.