Determined grans take on martial arts

Two grannies are proving that age is just a number and anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Lee Fonseca (60) and Rehana Asmal, who turns 57 next month, are super grannies who train at CombatCoaching.Com gym in Seadoone Mall in a variety of classes, including mixed martial arts (MMA), better known as cage fighting.

Rehana has been a member of the gym for 14 years and also trains in Brazilian jiujitsu and a reality-based personal protection class headed by the gym’s owner and world-famous coach, Morne Swanepoel. “I love the combat arts. It initially took me months to convince my husband to allow me to join but once he did, I never looked back.” Rehana lives in Durban but travels to Toti to train three times a week.

Lee has only been a member for a week but she has already taken part in the protection class, as well as MMA and wrestling. “My daughters Michelle and Nicole wanted to join, so I thought I would join as well,” said Lee, who moved to Toti from Johannesburg in 2007. “I’ve never been a gym bunny and my idea of a work-out was doing some yoga stretches.”

Rehana’s training has already helped her out of a potential dangerous situation when she used her tactical driving training to survive an attack when thugs attempted to push her off the road at 2am.

“As a gym owner and MMA coach I could easily turn away older people like Rehana and Lee and focus solely on my fighters who win me medals but it’s more rewarding to me to see the confidence and this training offers them. It means more to me than trophies,” said Morne.

The two fighting-fit grans have some advice for other oldies who are keen to get fit: “Get off your butts, put down the knitting needles and join us. The older you are, the more chance you have of becoming a victim. When you get older and your joints get stiffer, you think you need to slow down but you should rather get up and start exercising those joints.”

READ ALSO: Toti fighters fly MMA flag high