Keeping Up with the Kickboxing Craze

We’re revealing all there is to know about this popular workout

No matter what your goal is – increase in strength, confidence, coordination, or you’re just looking for a killer workout – kickboxing will keep you coming back for more.

What is kickboxing?

The term “kickboxing” was created by a Japanese boxing promoter named Tatsuo Yamada in the 1950s. He came up with the term to refer to the combination of Karate and Muay Thai. Kickboxing is a combination of stand-up combat sports where both kicking and punching is the foundation of the sport. Historically, it developed from Karate mixed with boxing and uses moves from multiple types of martial arts including full-contact Karate, Muay Thai and Boxing. Kickboxing is practised for self-defence, general fitness, or as a competitive contact sport.

Although the name implies kicking as a priority, this type of martial art uses both hands and feet as points of contact. Unlike Muay Thai, elbows and knees are generally not used, and the points of contact are limited to the hands and feet.

Why has the kickboxing craze emerged?

Kickboxing is incredibly high energy and promotes overall health and fitness – increasing the popularity of the sport at the gym or at home. Many professional gyms now include non-contact kickboxing classes as aerobic or cardio workouts.

The training regimens in a kickboxing class are so effective at whipping participants into shape. This has made kickboxing workouts extremely popular among fitness enthusiasts everywhere. You’ll learn to perform kickboxing techniques, like jabs and roundhouse kicks, at a fast pace to high-energy music. By incorporating the cardio component of a fighter’s workout, kickboxing classes provide a great calorie burn and teach participants authentic kickboxing moves. This workout is now trending and even celebrities are fully behind the kickboxing craze as their main form of working out.

Some celebrities who kickbox;

The reasons so many celebrities are endorsing this workout craze are endless, kickboxing has incredible benefits for your mind and body. Once you’ve mastered the sport, it will become an exhilarating kind of fun and the only workout you’d want to do.

Top Ten Benefits of Kickboxing

1. Develop self-defence skills

Through kickboxing, you’ll learn the correct way to punch and kick to make a much bigger impact, and you’ll learn countless combinations of kicks and punches. This can be used if you ever end up in a dangerous situation.

2. Kill calories

In a kickboxing workout, you can burn as many as 500-1000 calories in a single hour workout depending on the intensity. By burning so many calories- you will lose unwanted weight quite quickly while gaining strength and improving tone.

3. Improve posture

If you’re hunched over a computer all day, kickboxing workouts will challenge many muscle groups that don’t get enough attention throughout the day. Core muscles in and around your abdominal wall are targeted with kickboxing routines because you need to use your waist, bum, hips and abs for balance to execute each carefully coordinated move.

4. Improve agility and flexibility

You’ll improve the strength and flexibility of all muscle groups in the body. It has the ability to improve your overall flexibility and agility, increase your reflex speed and overall fitness levels.

5. Strengthen the entire body

Because kickboxing involves bouncing, ducking, pivoting, punching and even kicking, it puts your entire body through a wide range of motions. These repeated movements provide strength, tone and power, especially to your arms, legs and core area.

6. Boost energy

Kickboxing is an intense, high-energy cardio routine that will give your body and mind a boost which will increase your energy levels. You’ll be breathing hard and sweating out all those toxins – giving your body a killer energy boost.

7. Improve coordination and body awareness

Moving many of parts at the same time requires a good connection between your brain and your body. With patience and practice, focus and discipline, your increased coordination and body awareness can transfer over to other sports and activities you may be involved in.

8. Help to relieve stress

Kickboxing helps to relieve physical and mental stress. Research shows that people who kickbox regularly are more cheerful, getting rid of stress and tension with every punch!

9. An outlet for anger

Kickboxing provides a good opportunity to release pent up aggression. With each kick and each punch – you’re able to let go of built up anger without blowing up at someone. This can help you relax after a long, difficult day, and has a lot of benefits for your relationship with yourself and the people you spend time with and care about.

10. Improve confidence and self-esteem

Practising the techniques involved in kickboxing often make people feel pretty good! The better your technique, the more force you can put into your punch. The feeling when you make a good impact and the noise you hear when you land a strong, accurate punch right on the sweet spot of the focus pad is so satisfying. You also learn many techniques that can help you in everyday life while making you feel stronger after every workout.

There is a reason that kickboxing is becoming so popular as a workout all over the world. You’ll have an overall mind and body release with every workout. You lose weight, gain strength while losing any emotional baggage you’ve carried throughout the day. If you feel like you could really use something to kick or punch, we offer incredible kickboxing classes that will have you sweating and releasing all those endorphins.

Spaces are limited. Are you ready for