Benefits of Kickboxing Exercises

What is kickboxing? A Thai martial arts, popularly known as Muai Thai, is where kickboxing originated from. As the Thai martial art has been practiced for centuries in Thailand, kickboxing was popularized in other countries, mostly in the U.S. through similar techniques.

You might remember some martial art movies like American Ninja, The Karate Kid, The Seven Samurai, Ong Bak (series), or Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies. As kickboxing matured through time, it has now focused on two parts: self defense (fighting) and cardio exercise.

Since, the two best elements are involved in kickboxing exercises, women are becoming more and more interested into mastering the domain (as martial arts has been a male dominated domain). But as the time keeps changing, these workouts for men and women have become one of the popular exercises across the world.

Whether you sign up for a class or want to learn the workout at home, there are specific techniques and fundamental maneuvers that have to be practiced. Combining both the martial art and traditional techniques, can help you gain inner strength and emotional peace.

While you're attempting to start at home, learn the perfect fighting stance needed for complete balance. The body will be tilted to a 45º angle with feet shoulder-width apart. Keep your dominant (left or right) leg ahead and the hand in the back.

For example, if you are a left-handed person, your right leg and hand is forward, and vice versa for right-handed people. Curl both the fists keeping the elbows bent and close to the face (protecting it).

Place your chin low, slightly tucked towards the chest and your eyes focused up, ahead. Your overall body weight will be balanced by the balls of your feet, which will help in making fluid movements.

Try not to extend your elbow too much, which means, you need to position yourself accordingly. Keep the dominant hand's elbow slightly bent as you jab and let the other hand stay as it is with curled fists. Hit the target with your first 2 knuckles and bring the hand back quickly to primary stance.

Follow the same instructions with the other hand and keep practicing the jabs at least 3-4 sets of 10 to 15 jabs per day, per hand.

You will swiftly raise your front knee, bringing it closer to the chest, and extend the leg swiftly to strike the punching bag. The ball of your foot should kick the bag in front of you in one fluid motion.

You will have to keep practicing the kick till you are really quick, as if an actual opponent can grab your leg and you need to be able to retract before he/she can do so. Follow the same instructions with the other leg and keep practicing the jabs at least 3-4 sets of 10 to 15 kicks per day, per leg.

It always depends on your trainer as to how intense your workout is going to be, but, you too can put in a lot of extra effort as well. Because at the end of it, no matter how much someone shouts out the instructions at you, it is your will power, dedication, and motivation that will make all the difference.

• Burn maximum calories in short amount of time.
• Firm gluteus muscles.
• Excellent hand-eye coordination.
• Quick and healthy weight loss, that stays off.
• Improvement in overall balance and coordination.
• Increase in confidence as you learn self defense strikes.
• Improvement in cardiovascular fitness.

As you can see, these exercises are not very difficult to master if you keep on practicing the techniques. To achieve the benefits of cardio-kickboxing mentioned here, you can definitely start the workout from the comforts of your own home.