Kickboxing has exploded in mainstream popularity as a means to get fit over the last few years. There are three key reasons why a good kickboxing program will crush the average fitness class in terms of producing immediate and long term results.
1. Kickboxing is a high intensity total body workout.
The explosive compound body movements of kickboxing are the short cut to boosting your metabolism and turning your body into a fat melting furnace. Properly executed kickboxing techniques are explosive full body movements that put your entire muscular structure under intense stress. According to a recent Newsweek Magazine article, not only will you burn substantially more calories than the other popular types of fitness activities such as running, weight lifting, and aerobics but you also will speed up your metabolism long after the class is over.
2. Kickboxing training delivers the fitness triad.
The cardiovascular component of a kickboxing class is fairly obvious to anyone witnessing a class but kickboxing also delivers strong anaerobic conditioning.
The explosive kickboxing movements provide high muscular stimulation and the heavy bag work adds intense muscle contraction to each movement. This combination is how kickboxing delivers such amazing results. If you were to perform a kicking movement in an aerobics class, you would only benefit slightly from raising you leg off the ground. In a kickboxing class, you are not only raising you leg but also trying to hit a heavy bag as hard as you can with proper technique. This produces maximum muscle contraction not only in your leg, but in your entire body. This makes for a much faster and explosive movement, which means you will throw more kicks in a shorter amount of time thereby intensifying the workout and your results.
Kickboxing also dramatically enhances flexibility which of course has been shown to be an essential component of well rounded fitness. Flexibility improves circulation and enhances our everyday experiences by enabling us to do more of what we want to do safely.
Having all three of these components built in to every kickboxing class is also a huge time saver. You could try to reproduce the same results by going jogging, then hitting the gym to lift some weights, then rushing to try and make a yoga class. The reality is that unless you are a professional athlete, your busy life will get the best of you which is why it is so difficult to achieve an ideal fitness level.
3.Kickboxing produces lasting results.
The secret weapon of a good kickboxing program is the skill progression. The more advanced a practitioner becomes, the more challenging the techniques they can take on. This not only eliminates plateaus, but also eradicates boredom.
The primary reason most individuals fail at reaching their fitness goals is lack of training discipline. Kickboxing provides a built in solution by continually challenging participants to strive for the next level of skill. Great Kickboxing gyms will even have multiple levels of classes and progression based on skill which can provide years of continued effort and in turn motivate participants to workout consistently over a long period of time.
Lastly, kickboxing is fun! Usually physical activity falls into one of two categories. A sport which provides very inconsistent levels of fitness training but can be fun, or a fitness class which is a contrived means to an end and looses any sort of excitement very quickly. Kickboxing is both a fun sport, and arguably the most effective form of physical conditioning rolled into one. Choosing the right kickboxing gym is really the big challenge.