Last night the Ooh.com team ventured out to Hoxton in North London to get our sweaty hands in the boxing gloves at Kick Fitness by way of reviewing the whole setup. We were very pleasantly surprised.

Sophie, who set up Kick fitness after reaching black belt in Thai Kickboxing, welcomed us warmly to our trial class. She wrapped our hands in special binding cloth to prevent injuries from all the punching we’d be doing, then set us to work skipping to warm up.

Once warmed up, Sophie took us through some stretches and taught us some powerful Thai boxing elbow and fist attacks, which we practised together. (Not punching each other mind…)

Once we’d sussed the moves, we went into some pad punching to hone our skills. This was tough, but universally our favourite bit; time to work off some stress!

Sweaty but invigorated, Sophie’s trainees posed for a pic at the end of a tough but great fun session. The consensus the Ooh.com team reached is that Kick Fitness is a fantastic way to work out and about a hundred times more fun than the gym…

Sophie rounded off the session with some more stretches and some great advice about eating fruit immediately to restore our blood-sugar levels and then eating some protein when we got home to repair the damage we would have done to our muscles with the vigorous workout.

If you fancy trying your hand at a Kick Fitness session of your own (and we highly recommend you do) you can book yourself in here.

There’s been a lot of snow kicking around in the Northern Hemisphere lately. But we’re keeping our spirits warmed with thoughts of all the fun to be had on the snowy slopes of Europe, the USA and Canada. New Zealand, your time will come!

To share our winter cheer with readers, we thought we’d let you know about some great stuff to do on Ooh.com this winter. You can find even more Cool Stuff to do this winter in our Hall of Fame.

Here are a few of the most recently elected Winter highlights!

A fantastic opportunity to gain an insight into the Japanese language and enjoy some winter sports at the same time.

We’ve heard that winter 09/10 is going to be a massive year for backcountry (off-piste) skiing. And where would be a more exciting place to get knees deep in the fresh powder than Kashmir, India?

Backcountry skiing isn’t without risks, so take the opportunity to brush up on your avalanche awareness skills with this full day introduction to avalanches in Boulder, Colorado!

People often associate winter sports with skiing and snowboarding, but most haven’t thought of Ice climbing. If you’ve never thrown an ice axe and a crampon into a sheer face of ice, now’s a great time to head to Chamonix, France and experience the rush yourself!

That’s it for our top winter things to do roundup. These four are only a handful of the great listings you’ll find on Ooh.com, so head to the site, have a browse and see if anything takes your fancy. Of course, if you want to sell a wintery trip, course or event, you can do that too, for free! Bonus…

Quite a while ago now, we brought you news of the fast-growing Parkour scene in London. The sport, which originated in Paris, has been growing rapidly in the last few years and we’ve recently discovered a pocket of extraordinary Parkour talent in Syndey, Australia.

Ali Kadhim, of Parkroar first became involved in Parkour after watching Ripley’s Believe It or Not TV show and seeing some footage of a group of Parkour originators called the Yamakasi.

‘After I watched it, it changed my life: I knew straight away that Parkour was something I had already been doing my whole life. As a kid I was a huge monkey – I could never sit still and was always climbing and jumping off everything.’

We asked Ali what his favourite thing about the sport is. ‘It combines the grace and movement of gymnastics, the discipline of martial arts, the creativity of breakdance and it opens our eyes to use the world as our playground like skateboarders. I’ve practiced all of those physical art forms and Parkour for me just seems like the ultimate art form to practise.’

Ali is pretty keen on pushing at the boundaries of what is and isn’t Parkour and this comes across in his videos. We asked him what his favourite moves are: ‘My favourite moves at the moment are combining flips into the environment, like wall-flips and front flips off things. A lot of people don’t think flips are a part of Parkour.’

‘But, one of the main philosophies behind Parkour is to learn to master your body and mind, so in order to master it you have to learn to conquer your fears and control them. For example jumping off something can be scary enough, but when you add a flip into the equation the fear magnifies and it really tests your mind and body control.’

We also asked Ali how quickly he thinks Parkour seems to be growing. He told us: ‘If I compared it to how it was when I first started I would say it’s huge. Its been growing rapidly here and there are so many groups around from places like the City, Penrith and Hornsby. We get new students almost every week to our weekly classes and more and more are becoming interested all the time.’

Finally, we wanted to know what it’s like rocking up at one of Parkroar’s locally famed classes for the first time. ‘We start off with a long warm-up and conditioning session. The conditioning consists of things like tuck-jumps, push-ups, sit-ups and squats to name a few.’

‘After that we go through basic movements, these are always important and are never to be overlooked by anyone, that’s why we do them every class. We then teach new techniques after the basics or help students to overcome any fears they might have with any new movements.’

You can find out more about Parkroar from their website www.parkroar.com, or you can email Ali here with questions.

Ooh.com’s been busy lately, organizing the launch of the ooh.com site and a pretty cool comp to get you all thinking about what you’d most like to do in the world…

But the friendly blog team @emmadrew, @drbeanbagmd and @ejgthompson have not forgotten their raison d’être. That’s why we took time out to catch up with madman and paramotring guru, Alex Ledger.

Alex first got involved in this gravity defying sport towards the end of 2004 with his friend Giles Cardazo, the well-known owner of Parajet, one of the industry leading paramotoring equipment suppliers. Cardazo is less well known for his barmy, improbable but ingenious design of the Skycar. That’s a car, which a giant fan, and a giant parachute, which can fly for us lay folk.

“Since then I’ve been running SkySchool full time teaching people how to fly for the past 5 years. The thing I love most about the sport is the freedom it offers and it’s simplicity.”

We figured you’d probably want to know, realistically, how difficult it is to take to the skies a la James Bond: “The most challenging thing about learning to Paramotor is overcoming the weight of the motor while attempting to launch the wing in light winds. However, once one has developed the correct technique it becomes simple.”

Naturally we couldn’t help finding out if Alex had experienced any frightening moments during his time in the sky.

“My scariest moment when flying was when I misjudged the wind strength when I first started flying and ended up being dragged through a football pitch while they were playing a match, however this was also one of my most amusing moments as well!”

From the photos and the videos you can find of this relatively new sport, we think you’ll be tantalized into considering giving it a go. In a true triumph of administration, we anticipated your interest and asked Alex where you should go to give it a try. His top five locations were:

1. My top Paramotoring destination is Dorset, in particular around Milton Abbas, which is where I was brought up.

2. My second favourite location is North East Spain, from where I run the Spanish school – the landscape is so varied with the Pyrenees mountains and Costa Brava coastline.

3. My third is Southern France, near Toulouse, because of the rolling countryside and beautiful chateaus.

4. My forth is St Andre les Alps in the southern French Alps where the water is sapphire blue in the amazing gorges.

5. My fifth and final location is North Oxfordshire among the fantastic country houses and estates such a Blenheim Palace.

What to give this a try? Contact Alex here with questions or visit www.skyschooluk.com for more info on when and where to get started!

I don’t know about you, but I’m a proper water baby. I love swimming and I go surfing whenever I can. I’ve also tried kayaking, but not on the sea. So in the spirit of open-mindedness I decided to find out what it’s all about.

Seth Dent, of St Mary’s Georgia, started kayaking in the Fall of 2004 and has since become a qualified instructor and guide: ‘I began reading books about kayaking and took classes at the East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival.’

We asked Seth what it is he loves so much about the sport and he wasn’t short of reasons. ‘You can go anywhere in a kayak, places that powerboats and sailboats are not able to go: with the proper training, you can go wherever the sea will let you …you’re only limited by yourself.’

‘Kayaking creates interests in things that may not have been interesting to you before. Before I started, I had no desire to learn how to read nautical charts, tie a variety of knots, or put together meal plans for multi-day expeditions… Kayaking is good for you. It’s very good exercise that strengthens your core, but most importantly, it’s fun.’

We asked Seth for suggestions about the best places to go Kayaking and he suggested these amazing destinations:

‘The Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, the longest sea kayaking trail in the US, is one of the best paddling destinations on the East Coast. Since Florida’s coastline is distributed between the Atlantic Ocean & the Gulf of Mexico, the paddling opportunities are quite varied.’

‘Cumberland Island National Seashore is truly a gem of the Georgia coast. Cumberland Island is consistently rated as one of the best wilderness beaches in the US. The combination of salt marsh and ocean paddling makes it a fun place to camp and explore.’

‘The St. Johns River in Florida offers dozens of water-accessible campsites on public land that’s free to use. Most often when people think of sea kayaking, they think of paddling on the open ocean, but there are many inland waterways that can challenge even the most experienced sea kayakers. In December of 2008 I paddled the St. Johns from its headwaters to the Atlantic Ocean with my paddling partner, Keith Legette. Our expedition marked the first time that such a trip had ever been done!’

‘Washington’s San Juan Islands display the true beauty of the Pacific Northwest’s coast. State ferries provide transportation to several of them, but a sea kayak is the best way to experience these beautiful islands. With limitless opportunities for camping, the San Juan Islands should be on every paddler’s to-do list.’

‘There is no better place to sea kayak than its birthplace: Greenland. There are more reasons than I could possibly list, but suffice it to say that every paddler that makes the trip to Greenland returns home with a new appreciation for those that depend upon the kayak to live.’

‘The beauty of kayaking is that it only takes 5-10 minutes to learn the basics. When guiding trips I frequently encounter people that have never been in a kayak. After a short instructional orientation, beginning paddlers are ready to tackle calm, protected waters.’

‘I’m based in St. Marys and provide guided kayak trips and lessons to Cumberland Island National Seashore, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the St. Marys River and many more destinations. There are different trips for a range of skill levels that will satisfy even the most adventurous souls. I offer a Beginners Course, an Advanced Course and a Safety & Rescue course, each costing $60’.

You can contact Seth by emailing him here, or visit his website which is here.

I struggle to find many forms of physical exercise enjoyable or fulfilling , but since stumbling across Major Robin Cope, I think I may want to go to fitness training for the first time in my entire life. Often spotted in London’s parks, adorned with conspicuous coloured bibs, the clients of British Military Fitness are motivated and enthused by an all serving or ex-military team of highly qualified physical trainers.

So what inspired Cope to start BMF? “I set up British Military Fitness in 1999 to offer the public an alternative to lycra-clad aerobic classes which were then all the rage! I felt nothing was motivational and nothing really encouraged you. Bearing in mind I was in the army, I thought there was potential to get people to exercise outside with a military theme.”

Larger venue sessions can attract an average of 180 members at a time. What makes them so sought after? “Our sessions are great fun and also a chance to meet new people, which doesn’t always happen in a gym! We’ve had 13 marriages over the last 10 years from people meeting through our sessions. Our instructors guide individuals through the 60 minute classes ensuring that all exercises are performed safely while providing motivation and encouragement for the participants. The classes are an effective, varied way of training and promote group interaction through paired exercises and team activity.”

This emphasis on proper training outside, in a team, rather than indoors, alone is clearly a more socially fulfilling activity. Does the social aspect extend beyond the training session? “We run social events at each BMF venue which can range from drinks in the pub to days out paintballing etc. We also have an events department that runs 5Km & 10Km races, challenges to Borneo and social weekends away.”

So, it seems BMF is more fun than the gym, better for you, and better value. The best thing about British Military Fitness for Major Cope? “Knowing that the business we run is helping people to live active and healthy lifestyles.” If you can’t imagine the manager of your local chain gym saying that to you, maybe it’s worth checking out. Find out more about BMF and become a member at www.britmilfit.com.

Michael Walsh is known as “Guru”. I’m fairly sure he’s not a spiritualist, but what he clearly exudes passion for is fishing. As operator of Guru’s Top End Fishing charters in Darwin, Australia, he’s confident that “there is no better place than the Top End for the diversity of wildlife and scenery.”

Why is he the best at what he does? “I’ve been told it’s the laid back style, sense of fun, and of course the quality fish.”

Promising the biggest and best fish, the Top End, is famed for its game fishing; with mackerel, tuna, queen fish and the gargantuan giant trevally sure to make appearances.

“There is nothing more satisfying than putting clients onto good fish.”

“One of the best mackerel catches on light casting gear.”

“As a small owner operator the internet has been invaluable.  It provides all my marketing and contact information and is readily accessible to my market.  It is cost effective and provides better coverage than the printed press.”

You contact Michael and book at www.topendfishing.com.

Rich Blundell grew up in New England, Boston. In 1981, he repaired an old wooden surfboard and caught the bug for surfboard engineering. A while after he fixed that first board, he became curious about the construction of sustainable, wooden boards. “There were several established techniques for board building. I had a go at it, but it wasn’t perfect; the problem is how you build the rails, so I invented the strip and feather method. It’s flexible and light and it fills all the gaps between the strips of wood at once – it solves loads of problems in one go.”

“They must be pretty heavy?” I query. “It weighs about a third more than a foam board. But duck-diving (swimming under broken waves to get further out) under waves is so easy, because the wood has great momentum. Plus they catch and power through messy breaks really easily, unlike foam boards.”

For those not in the know, English surf is often messy. So in the UK, wooden boards with this magic ability to harness that power and turn it into forward motion are exciting news. Their use isn’t limited to the UK though, they’re also common in Hawaii and Australia and growing into a global phenomenon.

You can build one of Rich’s boards yourself. When you visit his site and make a donation Rich plants one cedar tree for each dollar you donate, then he sends you a pdf template for building a board from a range of different styles: fish-tails, guns and long-boards. You’ll need a good workshop, but there’s no sorcery. The most important things are a bench saw and a router. Failing the completeness of your garage, your local university or college almost certainly has these tools in their woodshop.

“If you had all the wood stocked up, you could build one in a week,” Rich says, “…as a basement hobbyist maybe a month. If you bought the wood for a 9ft board it’s about £50, but you can often get it free.”

Rich is currently seeking people who know their way round a workshop to start making wooden boards with him. He’s going to teach people his technique and informally provide surf instruction on the side. He’s building a board live at the Wood Festival later this year, and again at the Truck Festival in Oxfordshire on the 20th July.

‘What interests you about surfing?’ I ask. “I’m into the phenomenology of it – thinking about the lived experience. It’s intense, sensuous and contemplative being immersed in that medium. You’re at the interface of the sky, the sea and the land; such a dynamic place. I had attention problems at college but surfing is so different. Your back is to the land and you’re intensely focused on that horizon.”

Rich is looking for joiners and surf enthusiasts to team up with to take his work further and he’s putting together a documentary about how surf culture might answer some of tomorrow’s big questions. Have a look at his thriving website, www.grainsurf.com, and forum, or email him with any questions you have.

Emma Farrell is at the forefront of an extraordinary sport: freediving.  Involving underwater descent without breathing assistance, freediving can be both challenging and relaxing, and, perhaps surprisingly, it need not only be for the super-fit – “It’s more about relaxation than fitness. Some very fit people just can’t do it, whilst some very out of condition people take to it very easily. Saying that, it obviously does help if you are reasonably fit, as you can recover from deep dives quicker.”

Emma left a stressful career in the film industry to freedive upon learning of its availability in the UK.  However, whilst there was a facility at which she could dive, there was no formal training organisation to maintain quality of training and safety. 

“There wasn’t an organised and recognised education system and so a group of us in the UK got together to make a series of courses that could be taught. I was keen that people learn how to enjoy freediving safely to teach a generation how to do it properly and avoid dangerous diving. I was then one of the founding members of the AIDA Education Commission who took the course materials and expanded them worldwide.”

Having competed nationally and internationally between 2003 and 2006, coming 3rd in the 2003 UK Championships, 3rd in the 2006 Swiss Championships and 2nd in the 2004 Kalymnos International Championships despite being the only female in the competition, Emma’s passion lies in tuition – “Teaching is way more important to me than competing! I really struggled when I started freediving and I love being able to help people learn and avoid all the mistakes I made!”

As well as being a freediving author, and having chaired the British Freediving Association, Emma frequently appears in magazines and on television.  Whilst she may be whisked to glamorous locations, the realities of these trips are sometimes a little different – “It may appear to be glamorous but beautiful images and locations can be deceiving! I did a photo shoot for my book in Monaco and got very badly stung by a jellyfish that scarred my hand for a few years. I also did a TV commercial where I was so cold that I became violently ill for a week! Teaching in the United Arab Emirates last year was about teaching in a sea of jellyfish and then an oil slick which took 3 hours in a shower with a bottle of detergent to get rid of. Saying that, I have done some beautiful dives in Greece and the UK when teaching courses so that helps to make up for it!”

Emma runs a variety of courses in the UK and offers freediving holidays at a summer school in Greece.  For more information, visit www.emma-freediver.co.uk or www.deeperblue.com.

Photos used with the kind permission of Simon Reid.

We recently tracked down a two-wheeled supremo, Rob Penn.  Rob’s fairly unique in that he’s a man who’s ridden a bike for most days of his adult life.  We all dream of seeking adventure, but Rob actually did something about it.  In his late twenties, he threw in his job as a lawyer and set off to cycle round the world: it took him three years, covering  24,000 miles and 30 countries.  

Nowadays Rob lives in the Black Mountains and believes the finest road cycling in Britain is in the Brecon Beacons National Park, which is why he’s started a business offering road cycling training weekends. The weekends are designed for fairly serious wheelers – those who are in training for major cyclosportive events like the Etape du Tour, the Marmotte or one of the Gran Fondos in Italy, and have an urgent need to get some serious hill-climbing into their legs.

Rob’s ethos is: ride hard, eat well and sleep deeply.  We went to meet him and were struck by how passionate he is about cycling; even after so many miles under his belt.  When Rob imparts a piece of cycling wisdom, one takes it seriously: he learned his craft the hard way, alone, over three years and in the ten years since his return from his world trip.  We love the fact that anyone can tap into his great resource of knowledge in such beautiful surroundings and convivial company for only a few hundred dollars.

A couple of days with Rob will be tough, exhilarating, stimulating and will prepare folk for the biggest ride of their lives.  For more info, email info@uketapetraining.co.uk.