“The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.”

This is one rule from the popular film starring Brad Pitt that is not enforced at Fight Club in Columbus, a class offered by Mitch Potterf and Mehran Habibi at a gym called Fit Club.

In spite of its differences, the club has more than a few similarities to the film’s.

Fight Club’s meetings are held in a similar building as those in the movie.

Fit Club’s current location is on Cherry Street, a small road that leads to what looks like the backside of old warehouses.

The entrance opens to an unremarkable flight of cement stairs leading up and down. The second floor boasts a steel door that opens with a pulley system.

Inside is an open area interrupted by support beams wrapped with black pads. A series of thin square mats cover the cracked cement floor.

The rafters above are exposed, but clean. Electrical wires string along the wall to large speakers that blast music from Metallica and Dio into the room for warm-ups.

Workouts resemble the group-oriented scenes from the movie, but without the bloodshed.
Participants gather in a circle and witness two classmates sparring with each other. Kicks are entirely legal, and pain is not out of the question.

To reduce the number of injuries, Fit Club offers fundamentals of “do jung ishu” as a prerequisite to Fight Club.

Friendship is another link between the club and the film. It is a key element for recruiting new members and maintaining member loyalty, said Kandi Shablin, one of Fit Club’s yoga instructors.

“The people here are genuine,” Shablin said. “You can pick up on it. There’s a real sense of community and we hang out outside of this.”

Shablin’s friend Brandy Barth asked her to attend Fight Club after she saw an advertisement on CraigsList. The two have attended regularly since March of 2009.

“We are not some big corporate gym,” said Potterf, who also works at Columbus State Community College teaching sport and exercise studies. “This is a private studio with friends working out together. And sometimes we punch each other.”

The similarities between Fight Club and the film are entirely unintentional.

“That’s what we do,” Potterf said. “We fight. We’re a club.”

Fight Club began at Ohio State in 1983 because founder Fred Karimian wanted to teach others martial arts. He made it an official club in 1984 and began doing demonstrations and participating in charitable events like the March of Dimes.

Karimian studied martial arts in Iran and was heavily influenced by Bruce Lee’s techniques. He mixed a variety of styles to form what he called “do jung ishu” — “the art of fighting” in Cantonese.

Ricardo Wilson inherited the responsibilities of the club in 1990, and he began spreading the message of fitness through useful skills, he said. Potterf is the latest person in charge.

The class is not aimed at releasing aggression like the club in “Fight Club,” Potterf said.

The goal of Fight Club is to teach members functional fitness techniques, said Potterf. Fit Club is Columbus’ newest CrossFit gym. CrossFit is a program used by police officers and professional athletes to obtain general and useful skills.

Trainer Don Costello uses his knowledge of kickboxing to teach Fight Club. He won a gold medal in a Bando National Kickboxing Tournament.

Costello observed that simple techniques get knockouts, so he teaches simple routines at a fast pace for a good workout and to teach functional methods, he said.

“Martial arts gives people confidence like nothing else,” Costello said. “The ability to take care of yourself takes you to a different level of self-confidence.”

In the future, Fit Club would like to create a class for minors, but their target age group is adults ages 18 to 35.

For more information, visit ohiofightclub.com.