Engage Activities

Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art which adopts the joint locks and throws from Jujitsu in combination with the body movements of Japanese sword and spear fighting. All techniques in Aikido follow a fluid, circular motion and therefore can be quite graceful to both train in, and watch as a spectator. Aikido makes use of central body movements to connect and harmonize with the person receiving the techniques. There is also the opportunity to practice weapons training. 

Animal Flow is ground based movement, made fun, challenging and effective. This system is designed to improve strength, power, flexibility, mobility, and coordination for all levels of fitness enthusiasts. Animal Flow includes a range of movements and combinations that are grouped into categories that are called the ‘Six Components’. Each Component is designed to elicit specific results. The Six Components can be mixed and matched in many ways, allowing you to incorporate one, some, or all of them into your workouts. 

Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows. The word comes from the Latin ‘arcus’, meaning ‘bow’. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern times, it is mainly undertaken as a competitive sport and recreational activity. Come and try to learn this exciting Olympic sport and feel like Robin Hood from Nottingham!

These sessions are open to all staff members, so all you need to do is just turn up and join in! There is a WeChat group so you can join and find out who is playing that evening. Rackets can be hired from the Sports Centre Reception too if you don’t have your own. Badminton is a great way to keep fit, make new friends, and improve those agility and racket skills! Click here to find out more.

Barre fitness is a hybrid workout class, combining ballet-inspired moves with elements of Pilates, dance, yoga and strength training. Most classes incorporate a ballet barre and use classic dance moves such as plies, alongside static stretches. Barre also focuses on high reps of small range movements.

Staff Basketball club is an easy going group of staff members meeting and playing 5x5 or 3x3 basketball every weekend. Come and join their game and meet new colleagues!

Boxercise is a High Intensity Interval Training class based on standard boxing techniques. It has grown in popularity since the early 1990s with over 1.2 million participants worldwide. Boxercise has become popular as a fitness class and also with personal trainers and bootcamp instructors using padwork to train their participants. It differs from boxing in that boxing is a competitive sport, whereas Boxercise includes aspects of boxing training, such as pair work with focus pads and gloves, but not actual sparring, so is suitable for all ability levels. The class involves group exercise, warm-ups and techniques such as jabs, hooks, crosspunches and uppercuts.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting and submission holds. It focuses on the skill of controlling one's opponent, gaining a dominant position and using a number of techniques to force them in to submission via joint locks or chokeholds. Due to its effectiveness, BJJ has become an essential part of mixed martial arts (MMA) in recent years.

Following the principles of the popular weekly event 'Park Run' which started in the UK, staff and students have come together to set up the UNNC Campus Run. The campus run takes place everyday Saturday morning at 9am where participants take part in a 5k running route around campus. Staff, students and family members are all welcome to join, and anyone of any ability is welcome to run, jog or event walk the 5k. Whether it's your first ever 5k run or if you have ran marathons, everyone is welcome to join. If you don't want to run, but want to be part of the community, we are always looking for volunteers to help out each week.

This class is a combination of Chinese operatic dance and Chinese folk dance. It places an emphasis on using breathing techniques and emotions to lead body movement. The dance itself uses balanced force and softness to create a graceful Eastern dance style.

This is a fun fitness class where you are going to use your body weight and a lot of different light weight equipment to do a series of functional whole body exercises in specific time intervals. Over the course of the workout, you stop at each station, perform the appropriate exercise - anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes - rest for about 30 seconds to one minute, and then move on to another station. Once you finish the ‘circuit’ of 10-15 exercises be ready to do it again and again! This is a great training method to build stamina, or lose weight in a challenging but fun environment.

As part of UNNC’s commitment to developing Adventures Sports, UNNC Sport are offering all-ability sessions in climbing, which is aimed at anyone wanting to give climbing a go. UNNC Sport have some of the best climbing facilities in the city right here on campus, along with expert staff to provide coaching and guidance on the technical elements of what is fast becoming one of the most popular recreational activities in China. There are also opportunities to get involved with additional climbing trips off site and in the countryside for people who are wanting to climb outdoors!

Fun group rides for students and staff, either on weekday afternoons (20-50km) or weekends (40-100km), catering for different ability levels. The routes will be in and around Ningbo and led by experienced UNNC cyclists. Come join us and explore the beautiful surroundings of the city and countryside whilst benefitting your health at the same time.

This class is specially focused on compensation, correction and strengthening exercises for Runners and Cyclists. It is not only aimed for legs but upper body and core as well.

Fencing is a modern and exciting competitive sport involving the skilled use of the three weapons – the foil, épée and sabre. These sporting weapons are lightweight, flexible and without sharp points or edges. The sport of fencing has kept its romantic image while continually evolving and to challenge its participants.

This staff only session is a great opportunity for UNNC staff members to come along and have a kick about once a week on the amazing new artificial 3G pitch. All in good fun, the session will help you stretch those legs and improve your cardio fitness, whilst maybe also improving your footy skills! 

Burn some calories and let yourself go with simple, fun and modern dance moves. Let your creative juices flow!

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a cardiovascular exercise strategy which alternates short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less intense recovery periods. This latest fitness training philosophy is currently one of the most talked about around the world, due to the effective results participants gain in terms of anaerobic fitness, weight loss, and toning muscle. Most of the exercises are bodyweight exercises, so you can push yourself as easy or as hard as you like!

Group Indoor Rowing Classes are similar to spinning classes, except that every major muscle group is involved. Each class is half an hour long and is designed to burn fat and improve cardio, strength and overall fitness. Our classes are offered to all levels of experience and each rower will work at his/her own intensity. Rowing works 9 major muscle groups: quads, hamstrings, glutes, lats, core, shoulders, triceps, back and biceps. As a result, rowing workouts offer both strength training and cardiovascular benefits. Rowing is also great for injury prevention and rehab because it is a low impact activity.

The Kettlebell class consists of whole-body movement exercises that deliver cardio, strength, and flexibility benefits in a short amount of time and can be beneficial for anyone, no matter the level of fitness. Kettlebells come in a range of off-centered weights and a workout includes different movements such as the deadlift, swing, clean and press, and snatch. Each of these movements are multi-joint and multi-muscle exercises that build strength, improve flexibility and burn fat and calories. In addition, kettlebell movements are highly beneficial for the tendons and ligaments, resulting in stronger joints.

UNNC Sport now offer the Kids ENGAGE Programme, aimed at children of staff members. The age range starts as young as 3, all the way up to 18, and offers a wide variety of regular activities for children to get involved in. These sessions and fun opportunities will help staff children to remain active, learn a new sport and skill, and make new friends in the UNNC community. Coaching is delivered by qualified instructors and UNNC staff, who will ensure the children have a great time! Activities currently include: Kung Fu, Climbing, Badminton and Football. There are also summer camps available as well. Click here to see the classes we offer.

Pilates focuses on improving core strength, flexibility, posture alignment, and the ability to sense and control your body. It involves precise moves and specific breathing techniques while emphasizing a strong mind-body connection. If you are troubled by lower back pain, or an active exerciser who wants safer training and better performance, or simply seeking a way of starting your fitness journey, then Pilates is for you.

This 60-minute addictive workout challenges all of your major muscle groups by using the best weight-based exercises such as squats, presses, lifts and curls. You will use light barbells with various weight plates depending on your level of fitness. The key is the rep effect, a breakthrough in fitness training focusing on high repetition movements with low weight loads. This amazing workout sculpts lean muscle, builds muscle to help burn more calories, elevates your heart rate to burn calories, helps with coordination, and takes the intimidation out of weight lifting for anyone who wants an introduction.

This class aims to teach participants how to defend themselves in situations where they may be confronted or attacked. Utilising holds and direct force, the class will not only teach individuals how to perform important techniques to fend off unwanted attackers, but also give them the practice and confidence to be able to perform such techniques and moves should they need to.

Spinning, or Indoor Cycling as it is more commonly known, is one of the leading group fitness class activities in the world. The instructor leads participants through routines that are designed to simulate terrain and training techniques used when riding a bike outdoors. Some of the movements and positions include hill climbs, sprints and interval training. One of the major advantages of Indoor Cycling is that each participant can control his or her level of intensity to suit their fitness level, but still remain fully engaged in the same class. Participants can typically burn between 300-500kcal a session, and experience a fantastic cardiovascular workout.

Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese art form that is a self-paced system of gentle physical exercise, deep breathing, and stretching. Each posture flows into the next without pause, ensuring that your body is in constant motion. Tai Chi is an excellent form of low-impact exercise to help reduce stress and improve posture and flexibility. 

This martial art is a combat sport that has been developed in Thailand. It is also known as "the art of eight limbs", because both hands, elbows, knees, and legs can be used to attack an opponent. Thai boxing has influenced the development of kickboxing which has grown to be a huge success in Europe and in North America. Almost every act of moving in Thai boxing uses the whole body, so makes for a fantastic workout.  

All the fun of rugby, but without the contact! This ‘give it a go’ session sees the popular small-sided adapted version offer students and staff a great way to play and learn the sport of rugby but without any of the impact. Instead of tackling, opponents try to stop you scoring tries by touching you with one hand. In a similar set up to Rugby League, this is an addictive, socially engaging sport that will really help improve your overall cardiovascular fitness. 

The TRX System, also known as Total Resistance Exercises, refers to a specialized form of suspension training that uses body weight exercises to develop strength, balance, flexibility and core stability simultaneously. It requires the use of the TRX Suspension Trainer, a performance training tool that leverages gravity and the user’s body weight to complete the exercises. As complicated as it sounds it is very easy to do and it is open to all fitness levels. Book early as places are limited.

Yoga has been around for over 5000 years, with over 100 different forms being practiced for different purposes and at different intensities. However, it does more than just burn calories and tone muscles. It’s a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation. Here at UNNC Sport, we offer several styles each with different formats and teachers, but all are aimed at improving your health and are open to all ability levels. 

Zwift is a massively multiplayer online cycling physical training program that enables users to interact, train and compete in a virtual world by riding their bicycles on stationary smart trainers. Players may cycle freely around the ‘game world’ and join organized group rides, races, or workouts with other users. The smart trainer simulates the resistance of going up or down hill. UNNC has created a bespoke cycling studio with 6 bikes for people of all abilities to have a go.