Looking for a way to spice up your training and achieve weight loss, increase muscle tone and improve your stability and flexibility …
Kickboxing might just be the go! In this article we are going to look at all the benefits of Kickboxing for fitness, how it will work your body, how much better you can feel after doing a class and how much fun it is as well as how easy it is to get started.
For the average Joe or Jane starting out kickboxing for fitness and weight loss you don’t need to be Bruce Lee or the Karate Kid or expect to hop into a ring and fight an opponent to enjoy the benefits of the exercise!
All you need are some boxing gloves, a will and determination to lose weight, get fit and have fun.
Kickboxing cardio is one of the best forms of exercise out there in the fitness industry.
The benefits of kickboxing cardio are limitless providing an intense aerobic workout with a variety of different self defence moves, e.g. kicking, punching and knees, that leaves you feeling like you have had a hard, intense workout and achieved an all over body blast.
Kickboxing cardio is especially good for women wanting to learn a bit about self defence while also burning hundreds of calories, losing weight and toning up – all at the same time.
After a short stint of kickboxing cardio you will definitely see the results!
Here Are Some Of The Key Benefits Of Kickboxing Cardio For Fitness:
- Total body workout
- Muscle tone and definition – arms, legs, butt
- Increased strength and improved posture – core strength/balance
- Burns calories and raises metabolism – weight loss
- Self defence – increased confidence
- Increased energy/stress relief
- Fun
Total body workout – The reason why kickboxing cardio is so effective in losing weight and toning up is that you use almost every part of the body to perform the exercises i.e. when punching you throw a jab, cross, hook combination on the bag or pads you’re using your upper body.
For the lower body you use your legs to fire off a power roundhouse kick or push kick to the pads. At the same time while you’re throwing all these kicks and punches you are rotating through your core so you are giving your mid section a great workout.
Muscle tone and definition – Kickboxing makes you use muscle groups that you don’t use on a regular basis at such a high intensity.
It will make you use your arms, legs and butt much more than you are use to, i.e. roundhouse kicks, jumping on the spot and punching, so your body responds quickly, toning up leaving you looking lean, toned and defined.
Increased strength and improved posture – With kickboxing your core strength will go through the roof as you kick and punch those pads.
With each kick and punch you will be rotating through the core and hips to produce power and force into the pads therefore strengthening your core muscles.
Not only that, with increased strength in your core you will naturally improve your posture.
Another bonus is that some kickboxing moves require you to stand on one leg therefore improving your balance as you transfer your body weight producing more power into your kicks and punches.
Burns calories and raises metabolism – Kickboxing cardio is a high intensity workout utilising your whole body to punch, kick etc. The side effects of this are an increased heart rate and a huge improvement in your muscular endurance.
To burn even more calories you can get down and pump out some push ups, jump squats, crunches and my personal favourite, that my clients love the most – burpees!
Using all the big muscle groups in the body this way will make you burn loads of calories while raising your metabolism sky high.
Self defence and increased confidence – Kickboxing cardio teaches you the basic technique in punching, powerful kicking and kneeing.
So not only do you get a great workout, lose weight, get fit and tone up but you learn how to take care of yourself once you start to get more into it.
From doing kickboxing cardio you can move into sparring with a partner to test out your skills therefore you will grow in confidence knowing that you can look after yourself.
I’m not saying go out there and smack someone around because that is when you get yourself into trouble!
But you will feel safer knowing that you are confident in yourself and your ability.
If you do get into trouble and you know there is no way you can win, your kickboxing training will have strengthened your cardiovascular system making you a lot faster – so you can just run your ass off and get out of there!
Increased energy and stress relief – I can’t think of a better way to let all your frustrations, anger and stresses out than by punching and kicking the crap out of something i.e. pads.
Just imagine the pads as someone you don’t like, it could be your boss, boyfriend, ex partner, whoever!
Kickboxing cardio will give you that stress relief that you crave and, trust me, when you are working hard punching and kickboxing those pads you will not be thinking about the stresses of your day, you will be too tired thinking about how you are going to keep your hands by your face!
Because if you drop them the trainer will make you get down and do push ups or burpees – guaranteed! At the end of the session you will feel energized and all those fantastic positive endorphins will be flowing through your entire body.
Fun – This is the most important thing I think! It’s very easy to get stuck doing the same old boring exercises in the gym – lifting weights and running on the treadmill (or in some cases walking on the treadmill watching Oprah on the TV).
Kickboxing cardio will provide variety, it keeps things interesting for your workout, providing a bit of healthy competition with you and your partner on the other side of the pads.
This in turn makes you work harder which can only lead to better results for you. Time just seems to fly when you’re having fun!
So there you have it, kickboxing cardio gives you all you need in an all over body workout, creating weight loss and muscle tone getting you closer to the body that you desire. These are only an example of some of the great benefits you will get from kickboxing cardio.
To find out the rest why don’t you get out there and try it for yourself and add some variety to your fitness and weight loss program.
Trust me, kickboxing cardio will give you that hard intense workout that you’ve been craving, but most importantly remember, start out at your own pace.
Don’t try and kick as high as Bruce Lee in the class, your flexibility will improve over time.
Also make sure you drink plenty of water during the kickboxing session as you will sweat a lot, and keep it safe using proper technique when punching and kicking as you can put a lot of strain on your joints if proper care is not taken.
Oh yeah, and don’t whinge when your trainer makes you do burpees because they will only make you do more!
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Joe Bonington
