Participants stood with their fists in front of their face, ready to throw punches to the beat, their feet shoulder width apart as the instructor, Seobia Rivers, had shown them.
The beat dropped, and the dozen participants started swinging, first a quick punch, then a hook, then a combination of moves. “Knuck if you Buck” by Crime Mob played as Rivers, the kickboxing instructor, described her next move and the group followed.
“Yeah we knuckin’ and buckin’ and ready to fight,” the hip-hop group raps.
The kickboxing class was part of a day focused around health and wellness at the Garfield Park Gold Dome Field House, 100 N. Central Park Ave.
Community members got a taste of several types of workout classes and listened to speakers talk about how they could improve their diet and take care of their health.
“My class, I want you to think about it as this is a physical workout, but it’s also a mental workout as well,” Rivers said before starting her class. “This is your time to practice talking to yourself, cheering yourself up.”
The Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative hosted the event as a prelaunch to its Black Culture Wellness Campaign, which will offer fitness activities, wellness workshops and nutrition education around various locations near Garfield Park.
The collaboration will offer programs like nutrition fairs, parenting classes, nutrition classes and exercise programs in the neighborhood’s park pistrict spaces and in some school buildings, Crawford said.
