Kick it at Club Hero, the city's new home for mixed martial arts

The worldwide craze for mixed martial arts (MMA) and Thai boxing (Muay Thai) is in top fighting form in Shanghai thanks to the launch of the most comprehensive martial arts gym in the city, Club Hero. This two-floor, nearly 900 sqm space is equipped with a mind-boggling line-up of sandbags in every size and shape, equipment from world-renowned Thai brand Twins Special, and even a regulation size boxing ring. 

At Club Hero, nearly every day you’ll find a dozen people kicking, sweating and crunching their way through some of the most intense workouts this side of boot camp.

We just started cross training 15 years ago ourselves -- combining all the various martial arts we studied. MMA is very new in China but we know that all over the world it’s gotten popular very quickly.— Bryan Schnell, visiting instructor at Club Hero

Imagine this: a 1.5 hour class of nearly non-stop punching, kicking and running stairs, with short breaks. What do you do during the break? Push-ups, of course. Welcome to Muay Thai, Club Hero-style.

The makings of a ‘Hero’

Club Hero’s co-owner Han Ke, originally from Beijing, has been working in leading gyms for years. Most recently he was personal training director for the elite Tera Wellness chain, directing the education of dozens of their trainers in China. 

A few years ago Han happened to take a few classes of Muay Thai and liked it so much he decided to train all of his coaches at Tera Wellness. That’s when Han hired Muay Thai world champion Vince Soberano to Shanghai for a series of teacher training sessions. 

“I thought this was a perfect sport for our clients,” says Han. “I launched a private class called Real Boxing at Tera. Clients loved it and I started to see that people were willing to pay for this.” 

In February 2009, the first Club Hero in Beijing opened. 

Han was impressed with the facility and the teachers. Soon, he was exploring the idea of investing his own time and money into launching another branch of Club Hero, this time in Shanghai, which he sees as an even greater potential market. 

“Shanghai people are more open minded,” says Han. “If they see something good, they are willing to pay more for it. And in Shanghai there are also more people working out than in Beijing.” 

Shanghai steps into the ring

Han resigned from Tera Wellness and began setting up Shanghai’s Club Hero, which he launched with a partner in April 2010. He was determined to design it according to international standards and invite an elite team of teachers. 

Students at Club Hero get healthy and kick some butt while they're at it.

“One thing that makes us stand out is our international team of instructors from four countries, and each one of them is an expert in their own country’s martial art.” In addition, Han says that in the future the gym will put on low-level competitions for amateurs, so that interested gym members have a chance to get in the ring.

Bryan Schnell, from California, is a recent visiting instructor at Club Hero, specializing in MMA, jujitsu and children’s martial arts training. Schnell spent eight years training at Black Tiger, one of Vince Soberano’s chain of gyms. “I’ve gotten to be the top student under several world famous people and I worked very hard to get where I’m at and that’s why they hired me,” says Schnell. 

Schnell came to Shanghai in March and says he was impressed with the scale and professionalism of Club Hero. “Not only is the number of instructors much higher than at most gyms in terms of the student/teacher ratio, but also we’re all extremely qualified. I’m used to teaching 40-50 people in one class, while here I teach a handful,” so each student gets a lot of personal attention. 

Schnell was one of the first people practicing MMA. “We just started cross training 15 years ago ourselves -- combining all the various martial arts we studied -- that’s before it had a specific name, before it was known as MMA,” says Schnell. “MMA is very new in China but we know that all over the world it’s gotten popular very quickly.”

Han says that he greatly enjoys running the gym -- although it’s certainly not a way to riches. “This is not a way to earn a lot of capital,” Han says with a smile, “but the experience of helping somebody become healthy and get in shape is very personally rewarding.”