, and like her character, List has taken a few kickboxing classes in the past. Though List also played basketball and ran track and field growing up, she'd never done any karate before being cast in season two except for a 45-minute intro session leading up to that first fight scene against All Valley champ Miguel Diaz in the Cobra Kai dojo. Now, as a soon-to-be regular for the upcoming, List says her skills have noticeably improved, but not without intense work off camera.
List told POPSUGAR that, ever since her earliest episode as"Tory with a Y," she aims to practice as much as possible. She takes martial-arts classes online or spends chunks of time going over moves with her stunt double."If I can get it in every day, I do. And we go for hours and hours, and I've really fallen in love with martial arts," she said.Cobra Kai
is based, even commended her for her progress after the most recent season."He said, 'When I saw you in season two the first time, I was talking to Billy [William Zabka] in the corner going, 'Why did they hire this girl?' Like, 'Thanks, Marty,'" List recalled, laughing. The fight scenes, List reflected, are more challenging to learn than her lines — especially scenes with a lot of hook kicks, she said — and the actors do most of their own stunts within reason . After a day of endless punches and kicking, she'll stretch and use herAside from martial-arts training, List likes to do home workouts, and she particularly enjoysbecause it has upbeat music that syncs"perfectly," she said, to the martial-arts-inspired moves.
List said she wishes she would have gotten into karate when she was younger."If I ever have a kid, I'll put them into martial arts, especially if it's a girl," she said."I just think it's so important to learn self-defense, and I feel so much stronger and so much more confident since seeking out martial arts. I wish I could go back in time and do that.