If your goal is to improve your fitness or lose weight, but you need to do something more exciting than jogging on a treadmill to stay motivated, perhaps you should consider taking up a martial art like boxing, kickboxing, karate, or judo.
In this article, we list the top 10 reasons to consider doing a martial art for fitness and weight loss to help you decide if doing one is right for you.
1. Do martial arts to lose weight
It’s no coincidence that gyms, personal trainers, and exercise video and DVD producers are now heavily incorporating training techniques and exercises from a wide variety of martial arts into their workouts.
Boxercise, Tae Bo, Cardio-Kickboxing, Kung Fu Aerobics, and personal trainers who use punching bags, focus gloves, and kick pads in their sessions are just a few examples of how martial arts training is used in cardio exercises to stay in shape. shape and lose weight. .
Because martial arts training is typically high intensity and typically lasts for at least an hour in most cases, it burns a maximum number of kilojoules or calories per workout and is therefore ideal for anyone who wants to lose weight and lose it fast.
2. Do martial arts to stay in shape
Most martial arts incorporate drills and drills that improve cardiovascular fitness and endurance, help build muscle strength, and improve muscle flexibility, making them perfect for anyone looking to improve their overall fitness.
Improvements in cardiovascular fitness require us to regularly raise our heart rates for prolonged periods and most martial arts training can help us achieve this.
Improving the strength, size, and shape of our muscles requires that we regularly put them through some form of resistance training. Martial arts training helps provide this training by requiring us to perform exercises like push-ups and squats using our own body weight for resistance.
Improved flexibility is a natural byproduct of martial arts training because most, if not all styles of martial arts incorporate stretching exercises into their workouts.
As a result of providing all these fitness benefits, practitioners of martial arts such as boxers and kickboxers are widely considered among the world’s fittest athletes, and practitioners of karate, judo, etc. they are considered among the strongest and most flexible pound for pound. athletes of the world
3. Practice martial arts and self defense
One of the most obvious benefits of practicing a martial art is that it gives us the physical condition, strength, skill, and techniques necessary to protect ourselves from being attacked by others who want to harm us if the need ever arises.
As an insurance policy, we hope you’re never in a position to have to use your martial arts training to defend yourself, but it’s great to know that this skill is there just in case.
Because they are primarily concerned with raising our heart rate to burn energy and improve our fitness, many of the exercises listed above, such as Tae Bo, Boxercise, etc., do not actually provide this benefit to the same extent as weight training. martial arts with a dedicated teacher at a martial arts school who only provides one service: teaching you a specific martial art.
Many people mistakenly believe that because they hit a focus mitt 50 times during a session with their personal trainer, they know how to hit correctly and therefore can fight back if necessary. This is a huge mistake and we hope these people never find themselves in a situation where this belief is put to the test.
Unless they have had many years of martial arts training, most personal trainers and gym instructors will not be able to offer advice on your punching and kicking technique, they are only truly qualified to hold the focus gloves or pad for you. while punching or kicking them.
Remember, although they are probably excellent at what they do, these trainers are more like aerobics instructors than specifically qualified martial arts instructors.
4. Practice martial arts and self-confidence
In addition to giving us the ability to defend ourselves, one of the greatest personal benefits that martial arts training provides is a high degree of self-confidence.
This self-confidence results in part from the knowledge that we are much better equipped to defend ourselves since we have undergone some martial arts training, but it also comes from a sense of accomplishment once we begin to master the techniques we have been taught and new ones. confidence that comes from feeling fitter and stronger and looking fitter and stronger.
Since one of the first things to suffer, and one of the most difficult to recover later, when we gain weight is self-confidence, this benefit is especially valuable for those of us who have a weight problem.
5. Practice martial arts to improve body balance and coordination.
In addition to helping us become fitter and stronger, martial arts training generally involves mastering a variety of techniques that require us to be well balanced and have superior body coordination.
By learning to master these techniques, we naturally improve our balance and coordination, which helps us with other aspects of our daily lives.
6. Do martial arts for a change
Martial arts training provides great variety in two ways.
First of all, martial arts training sessions have a lot of variety built into them including warm ups and cool downs, stretching exercises, strengthening exercises, cardiovascular exercises and exercises designed to improve and teach us a wide variety of techniques.
This variety is excellent for both our mind and body.
Second, there is such a wide variety of martial arts to study that we should be able to easily find one that suits our particular goals and interests.
Whether we prefer to do a martial art that revolves mainly around striking or grappling techniques or a perfect combination of both, or we want to study a very technical or very simple style, the choice is excellent.
7. Practicing martial arts teaches discipline and provides motivation
Everyone knows that studying a martial art requires and teaches discipline.
Because it is also goal-oriented, training in one of the many martial arts also provides great motivation.
Lack of discipline and motivation are the most frequently cited reasons for weight loss failures, and for this reason, doing a martial art for weight loss and fitness can help many of us who lack the discipline and the motivation needed to achieve our weight loss goals to overcome these common barriers to success.
8. Practice martial arts for spirituality
One definition of spirituality is “Activities that renew, uplift, comfort, heal, and inspire both ourselves and those with whom we interact.”
Martial arts training has been practiced by millions of people for many centuries because, among other things, it has a great capacity to elevate us spiritually.
In addition to forging a better connection between our mind and body, it also has the ability to forge a better connection between us and our world and between us and others.
9. Doing martial arts training is relatively cheap
Compared to joining some gyms and hiring personal trainers, training at a martial arts school or dojo is relatively inexpensive.
Many martial arts schools charge a very modest monthly fee for training and the beauty of this is that you can train when and how often it suits you.
In addition to the low ongoing training costs, purchasing a uniform and any equipment you may need for training will in most cases also be relatively inexpensive.
10. Practicing martial arts has a social aspect
Many people who start martial arts training for weight loss, fitness or self-defense end up enjoying it more for its social aspects.
In addition to training and learning with others with similar goals, many martial artists help encourage and motivate each other and end up becoming very good friends.
Many martial arts instructors also have very friendly dispositions and foster a fun and friendly environment in which to train, which endears them to their students, who usually become close friends as well.
Conclusion
If your goal is to improve your fitness or lose weight, but you need to do something more exciting than jogging on a treadmill to stay motivated, perhaps you should consider taking up a martial art like boxing, kickboxing, karate, or judo.
In this article, we list the top 10 reasons to consider doing a martial art for fitness and weight loss to help you decide if doing one is right for you.
