Jia Zirui, a white collar worker from Hebei Province, practises kicking during training at the Genghis Security Academy in Beijing. Photo: IC

With prominent individuals beginning to pay more attention to personal safety, a bodyguard training school in Beijing has opened its doors to the public, offering classes to non-professionals who want to train up flabby white-collar bodies, and learn how to protect themselves from physical attacks.

The Genghis Security Academy, whose main business is training security personnel for VIPs from a number of different fields, has witnessed a rising number of ordinary people looking for new ways to challenge themselves physically and mentally participating in its training sessions.

The school now offers students courses in physical fitness, hand-to-hand combat, techniques for restraining assailants, and general self-defense.

The school's month-long courses have attracted a wide variety of office workers, civil servants and college students. Many of the course's participants complain about a lack of exercise in their day-to-day lives. The school has also seen an uptick in companies sending employees for group training.

In one of the school's more grueling tests, students are required to complete training sessions while soaking wet, even during the middle of a freezing winter.

Male students at the school train generally to boost their physical capabilities, while women participate mostly to learn the self-defense techniques they need to be able to protect themselves in an emergency.

Chen Yongqing, the school's head, says that he expects the market for training non-professionals in self-defense to continue to expand.

Global Times

Trainees grapple for a ball during the training. Photo: IC

A coach supervises trainees carrying heavy loads during outdoor training. Photo: IC

A student vaults over a wall of people in artificial rain. Photo: IC

Students help each other relax after a combat practice. Photo: IC

 

 
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