Cardio kickboxing classes can be an awesome way to jump into beginner level martial arts. When you are looking for a cardio kickboxing class, you should look for the right academy. The colloquium should fit what you want, and the course of study should include intensive teaching in the art of kickboxing (not only kicking but punching as well).
You can sometimes find a course at your local community college, but these courses also include a grade, and sometimes make you run through a form from their respective original art (like: Karate, Judo, Aikido, Kendo, Kung Fu, T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon do or other arts). In most of the courses I have taken pertaining to cardio kickboxing, the homeroom was a group exercise room. The lecture was in the form of instruction from the head instruction to the lecture group (us). The more serious instructors would quiz our group with the respective forms and moves we needed to know. Having been in the martial arts for a long time, this reminded me of seminars that I did as I came up in my seminary of kickboxing. I had to study hard, and sometimes had a study group of kick boxers! I know it sounds crazy that I would have to study the subject of kickboxing, but when you get into the names of moves from different arts, you really had to assign some time to learn the terms! We formed our own round table for questions about the names of certain maneuvers, and made sure we combed through each section to make sure every subdivision of material was covered.
To most instructors who were classically trained in a realistic self defense model of kickboxing (then started teaching cardio kickboxing classes) the classification is very important and took painstaking designations to make sure that their original art was codified properly. They wanted to designate all the differences that divided the different arts so that we could evaluate when we were learning the real stuff from a real instructor as we continued our education in kickboxing (or cardio kickboxing, I know, some of these guys were fanatical about it). I think most of the instructors also didn’t want to be pigeonholed as just cardio kickboxing class teachers and assess them as phonies who knew how to teach kickboxing as a fitness style. Some instructors even want as far not only to grade us in our cardio kickboxing class but to also rank and rate us in regard to our scores in their eyes (the cardio kickboxing class instructor’s eyes). Sometimes the time of reckon would come in groups of two, or the instructor would separate us to individuals. This recitation of maneuvers proved useful in appraising our individual skill levels so we could be classified for more advanced material (including teaching parts of the class). I found this phase of the cardio kickboxing class especially exciting, because there was an assortment of different kickboxing exercises targeting the abs and rest of the body thought up by everyone in the class. During this time, you could always account for unique kickboxing experiences as everyone had their own personal brand of kickboxing they had learned and taught form. Teach student had an allotted time, and each had to hold the class for that entire part. This also helped the cardio kickboxing class instructor identify what the classes understanding was of the material. And he was able to judge and give the proper marks to teach student based on what he or she had gauged form the student teaching time.
Cardio kickboxing classes can be great fun, whether you take them in a gym or you take them from a college, like I did. Just enjoy the ride.