Martial Arts for Fitness: 5 Reasons Why It Works
There's a reason why many celebrities, professional trainers, and fitness videos are incorporating martial arts into their routines: it gives you an incredible fat burning workout.
Your body is in a constant state of movement, and you'll actually have fun while exercising.
Here are just some of the ways martial arts scan help you shed that unwanted fat.
Check why martial arts are for fitness!
1. Discipline
What holds many people back from exercising is that not everyone finds the motivation or will to do it.
Martial arts are a fun way to get into a healthier state of being both physically and mentally. The arts are so fun, in fact, that it's one of the more popular sports for children as young as toddlers to get into.
To get fitness body and lose fat, you have to be motivated enough to stick to a plan and execute it properly.
Martial arts instill a certain discipline.
You are given personal goals and are expected to carry out your journey. This will give you a dedication to your training, pushing you to attend classes or go to the gym on a weekly or daily basis.
Your body will adapt this newfound commitment, and you will begin to see the changes in your physique.
2. Burning Calories
One of the first things that come to mind when wanting to get rid of fat is to control calories. Proper dieting and balancing of what you put in and take out is the way to go here. That balance comes in via high activity.
Practicing certain martial arts styles is ideal to get your heart racing. In turn, it increases your body's ability at burning off excess fat.
As there are dozens of styles of martial arts, narrowing down an exact amount of calories you can burn with one is a tricky task.
On estimate, a person weighing about 160lbs may be able to burn around 700 calories in a 1-hour tae kwon do class.
With martial arts as a whole, on average, you can burn anywhere between 300-900 calories.
How much you burn depends on several other factors such as the style, your weight, intensity of the exercise, duration of the exercise, and your diet.
3. Improve Muscle Definition
Making significant developments to your metabolic rate is another key to getting rid of that stubborn fat. Muscle mass is a contributor to enhancing the metabolism and increasing the rate at which you burn fat.
Many styles of martial arts include additional exercises such as weight and resistance training. MMA, boxing, and Muay Thai are just a few examples. Weightlifting aside, sparring in those arts can be taxing on those muscles in the best way possible.
Every strike and kick you direct at a heavy punching bag forces your muscles to tense and work harder.
The harder your muscles work, the more improvement you'll see in their definition. Your metabolic rate will strengthen, and your ability to lose weight will as well.
4. Whole Body Workout
There aren't too many sports that you can get a full body workout with. Several styles of martial arts offer just like.
Just look at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's mainly grappling, but you'll find yourself working with muscles you never thought of before. You will utilize various positions, strengthening everything from your core to your legs.
Muay Thai is another art that will work your whole body. It includes strikes, kicks, elbows, and knees. You have to train all these areas of your body if you want to be remotely successful. This includes the likes of jump rope, which is an excellent workout in its own right, bag work, sparring, etc.
With certain styles of martial arts, you're engaging several areas of your body at a time rather than just one. The chance of fat loss only increases.
5. Interval Training
Who isn't aware by now that high intensity interval training (HIIT) is insanely effective at not only enhancing your overall fitness, but also burning away fat? It boosts your metabolism not only during the workout, but long after you're done. There are so many ways you can accomplish this type of training, and martial arts is one of them.
Many martial arts classes incorporate HIIT routines to push their students. Take a look at a kickboxing class, for instance. You can be directed to go in on a heavy bag, performing a combination of techniques, before having to move to floor exercises like push-ups, mountain climbers, planks, etc., and then it's back to the bag. It's a set of exercises you'll be expected to repeat once or twice.
Interval training not only pushes your metabolism, it increases the amount of calories you're able to burn in a single workout session. You can exercise for 30 minutes and burn the same or more than you would in a low-intensity workout that lasts an hour or longer.
As stated before, the style of martial arts can weigh heavily on how well you burn fat. Regardless, the arts are still a great tool at shedding weight and leading you toward a healthier lifestyle.
Martial arts are just perfect for fitness!
