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'Five-0' star teams with former MMA champ to teach self-defense

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Fans of TV show "Hawaii Five-0" fly thousands of miles to get a glimpse of its star, Alex O'Loughlin, at the annual Sunset on the Beach red carpet season premiere in Waikiki.

But last week when the actor arrived at his favorite gym, no one blinked, least of all a small group of women who had just finished a workout.

O'Loughlin, sporting an unshaven look, black T-shirt and a ball cap emblazoned with the logo for the skateboard magazine Thrasher, walked into Egan's Training Center all but ignored. Students at the Moiliili facility are accustomed to seeing the actor, who slipped into the office of gym owner Egan Inoue.

But the actor will put his star power front-and-center next month when he joins Inoue, a former mixed martial arts champion, to give a pair of self-defense seminars for women. Students will get up-close, hands-on demonstrations designed to help them fend off attackers, and 100 percent of the proceeds from the May 3 classes will go to the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children. The 90-minute seminars will be at Inoue's training center.

O'Loughlin helped teach a class in 2013 that raised $10,000 — no, he didn't have to fend off any screaming ladies — and he said there is a real need for them.

"There's lots of cases here where women are getting into trouble," O'Loughlin said as he sat with Inoue and described the classes. "It's a very real thing. ... It's not going to stop. It's so important to give women the confidence to try to fight back."

WOMEN'S SELF-DEFENSE SEMINAR With Egan Inoue and Alex O'Loughlin

» When: 1 and 3 p.m. May 3 » Where: Egan's Training Center, 2700 S. King St. » Cost: $300, includes an autographed photo of O'Loughlin and T-shirt » Info: [phone], www.athawaiifitcamp.com

(Photo courtesy Kelli Bullock)

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George Kam was 13 when his uncle called him into the backyard of their Kalihi Valley home to help him hang a ratty old speed bag and a heavy punching bag from the branches of the mango tree. There, in the shade of the tree, Kam learned the boxing basics.

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A few years ago, health and fitness advocate Gabrielle Reece started training friends on Kauai whose busy lives left little time for workouts. She took them to an old warehouse and fired them up with a circuit of high-intensity exercises.

It became so popular — Reece says interest in it exploded — that she was able to create a deal with 24 Hour Fitness to bring her workout philosophy and exercise routines to its gyms.

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