LOS ANGELES — It’s an early Wednesday morning, and I’m about to work out — my noggin.
I’m at a “gym for the brain” in Malibu, readying for a group fitness class. It features a targeted aerobic exercise, performed to music, meant to develop focus, resilience and adaptability — all while torching calories.
The class is called Drumboxing, a new, so-called “brain fitness” technique developed by John Wakefield, a percussionist who plays with the Los Angeles Opera. He composed music, incorporating Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythms, that he combined with physical boxing moves and intricate, Simon Says-like patterns. The workout is meant to challenge your brain by switching up rhythm, tempo, meter and movement in an ever-fluid environment.
Wakefield has been teaching the technique, privately, to boxers and other athletes for more than a decade. He and his business partner, former pro beach volleyball player Christina Hinds, opened a studio for Drumboxing earlier this year and it’s caught on among locals, including several celebrities. Cindy Crawford and LeAnn Rimes are regulars; Gabby Reece has taken the class as well. So have moms, tech and entertainment executives, nearby Pepperdine University students and scores of others.