What is kickboxing?
Do you know you can burn about 700+ calories* in a 60min kickboxing workout? Hence, if you are looking into a stress buster cum effective exercise, now is the time to pick up those gloves and kickbox your way to a healthier you!
So what’s kickboxing about? There are many styles of kickboxing such as Muay Thai kickboxing, American kickboxing and Japanese kickboxing etc.
Such variants differ in the emphasis of strikes and defensive techniques but have 1 main thing in common. The utilization of the legs and incorporate such kicks into the upper body punches/hooks/uppercuts.
Is kickboxing for the average person?
The answer is yes and no.
If you are looking to enter a competitive mode, you would need to train up real hard. Not only do you have to beef up your cardio, speed and strength, you have to be physically and mentally prepared for the full contact (impact) of strikes to the head/body.
Fortunately, for most of us, kickboxing is available as a health and fitness program if suitably tailored.
How to use kickboxing as a fitness workout?
With the advent of fusion gyms and martial, kickboxing has also found its way into the life of many fitness professionals and enthusiasts. There are 2 main forms of kickboxing as a fitness program:
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Aerobic Kickboxing and
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Resistance-based Kickboxing.
Aerobic Kickboxing refers to a typical setting where music is played in the background and participants perform a series of choreographed moves according to the instructors/program syllabus. Such exercises are entertaining and to a certain extent help the participant to gain a fair understanding to the basic moves/combos that one can expect.
However, aerobic kickboxing heighten injury risk factors to participants’ joints as such strikes are thrown into thin air. At high speed and repetitions, such movements could hyper-extend the joints and might result in long-term cartilage problems.
Conversely, Resistance-based kickboxing, where training is done via punching mitts and kickpads, allows the resultant force of the strikes to be absorbed and minimise the possibility of joints injuries.
What other benefits of resistance-based kickboxing are there?
In addition, in more advanced forms, the instructors could add in contact/light sparring to further improve the coordination and acumen of the participants. This would then allow a comprehensive workout by engaging the whole body (arms, core & legs) and the mind.
It would also sharpen the eye-body coordination as participants would need to react according to the direction of the mitts/pads as opposed to pre-choreographed moves when the student is already “tuned” to the movements.
*Source: Nieman, David, C. Exercise Testing and Prescription, McGraw Hill, 2003, calories burned is dependent on your weight, fitness level and routine employed.
Authored by Vinz Low
Principal Instructor, Zesty Kickz Kickboxing Singapore
©Zesty Kickz Kickboxing Singapore