Kickboxing is essentially a Japanese martial art that has derived its roots from karate, Muay Thai, and western boxing.
The biggest benefit of using kickboxing as a way to stay fit is that it breaks away from the monotony of a traditional cardio workout, making the experience a lot more fun.
With kickboxing, you not only find a way to stay fit, but also learn to defend yourself at the same time.
Improving Cardiovascular Fitness One of the biggest benefits of incorporating kickboxing in your boot camp workouts is attaining an improved level of cardiovascular fitness.
The idea is to focus more on stamina than power; hence there are a lot more exercises involved with minimal rest between them.
It involves various techniques such as kicking, punching, knee and elbow strikes, and self-defence tactics that boost your endurance and increase your heart rate in a short span of time, giving your heart a great workout.
And since you're using almost every part of your body in this workout, it gives you an enhanced level of upper body fitness, something that a traditional run on the treadmill cannot guarantee.
Strengthening Back and Core Muscles The core muscles mainly comprise of the back and the abs which are essential in giving your body a full range of movement.
Kickboxing routines involve several twists and turns, as well as various bending movements that help to strengthen the core.
It includes exercises such as the rising knee strike, straight knee thrust and the front kick.
Kickboxing also increases your BMR a lot faster than running does, thereby improving your metabolism which in turn helps you to lose body fat quicker.
Increasing Shoulder Strength The shoulder is one body part that generally gets neglected during a regular cardio workout, where the focus is mainly on running on a treadmill or cross trainer, cycling, or doing squats and lunges.
A military boot camp session mixes body weight exercises with interval training, thereby adding the dimension of strength training to regular cardiovascular training.
This includes various defense techniques in addition to running sprints and squatting, thus giving your shoulders a great workout.
Providing Greater Agility As mentioned earlier, kickboxing focuses more on building your stamina than plainly building power.
Most of the exercises involve a high level of balance and coordination that increases your overall agility.
Crunches, kicks, and punches are practiced back to back, thereby improving your reflexes.
Hence, kickboxing is not only a good way to enrich your body, but also your mind.
Building Arm Strength Engaging in regular aerobic kickboxing helps to build strength and muscle tone in your arms.
Typical routines involve various punching techniques like the jab, hook, and uppercut, all of which utilize the arm muscles.
You will begin to notice a distinct difference in your biceps and triceps very soon.
You can also use hand-weights and weighted gloves if you wish to further build on your strength.
However, you must make such advances carefully and gradually to avoid injuries.
Hence, you can see that kickboxing workouts greatly enhance your body and mind, thereby drawing you out of a fitness rut and helping you become fitter and stronger.