| Fighting
Fit - Martial Arts and Weight loss
by Scott Haywood
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 keep you
motivated, perhaps you should consider doing 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. Doing martial arts for
weight loss
It's no coincidence that gyms, personal
trainers and producers of exercise videos and DVD's
are now heavily incorporating training techniques and
exercises from a wide variety of martial arts in their
workouts.
Boxercise, Tae Bo, Cardio-Kickboxing,
Kung Fu Aerobics, and personal trainers using punching
bags, focus mitts and kicking pads in their sessions
are just a couple of examples of how martial arts training
is being used in cardio workouts for fitness and weight
loss.
Because martial art training is
typically high intensity and usually lasts for at least
an hour in most cases, it burns a maximum number of
kilojoules or calories per workout and is therefore
great for anyone who wants to lose weight and lose it
fast.
2. Doing martial arts for
fitness
Most martial arts incorporate exercises
and drills that improve cardiovascular fitness and endurance,
help build muscle strength and improve muscle flexibility
so they are perfect for anyone wanting to improve their
overall fitness.
Cardiovascular fitness improvements
require us to regularly elevate our heart rate for extended
periods and most martial arts training can help us do
that.
Improving the strength, size and
shape of our muscles requires us to regularly subject
them to 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 art incorporate stretching
exercises in their workouts.
As a result of providing all of
these fitness benefits, martial artists like boxers
and kickboxers are widely regarded as being among the
fittest athletes in the world and practitioners of karate,
judo, etc are considered among the strongest pound-for-pound
and most flexible athletes in the world.
3. Doing martial arts and
self-defense
One of the most obvious benefits
of doing a martial art is that it provides us with the
fitness, strength, skill and techniques necessary to
protect ourselves from being attacked by others who
are out to harm us if the need should ever arise.
Like 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 this ability is there just in case.
Because they are primarily concerned
with elevating our heart rates to burn energy and improve
our fitness, many of the workouts listed above like
Tae Bo, Boxercise, etc don't really provide this benefit
to the same extent as doing martial arts training with
a dedicated teacher in a martial arts school that only
provides one service - to teach you a specific martial
art.
Many people mistakenly believe that
because they punch a focus mitt 50 times during a session
with their personal trainer that they know how to punch
properly and can therefore defend themselves if they
need to. This is a big mistake and we hope these people
never find themselves in a situation where this belief
is tested.
Unless they've had many years of
martial arts training themselves, most personal trainers
and gym instructors will not be able to offer advice
about your punching and kicking technique, they are
only really qualified to hold the focus mitts or kick-pad
for you while you punch or kick them.
Remember, while probably great at
what they do, these trainers are more like aerobics
instructors than specifically qualified martial arts
instructors.
4. Doing martial arts and
self-confidence
In addition to providing us with
the ability to defend ourselves, one of the greatest
personal benefits that martial art training provides
is a high degree of self-confidence.
This self-confidence partly results
from the knowledge that we are much better equipped
to defend ourselves given that we have done some martial
arts training, but it also comes from a sense of achievement
once we begin to master the techniques taught to us
and the new confidence that results from feeling fitter
and stronger and looking fitter and stronger.
Given that one of the first things
to suffer, and one of the hardest things to reestablish
afterwards, when we become overweight is our self-confidence
this benefit is of particular value to those of us who
have a weight problem.
5. Doing martial arts to
improve body balance and coordination
As well as helping us to become
fitter and stronger, martial art training typically
involves the mastery of a range of techniques that requires
us to be well-balanced and have superior body coordination.
In learning to master these techniques
we naturally improve our balance and our coordination
which helps us with other aspects of our daily life.
6. Doing martial arts for
variety
Martial art training provides great
variety in two ways.
Firstly, martial arts training sessions
themselves have great variety built into them by including
warm-ups and cool-downs, stretching exercises, strength
building exercises, cardio exercises and exercises designed
to improve and teach us a wide variety of techniques.
This variety is great for our mind
as well as our body.
Secondly, there are 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 primarily revolves around striking or grappling
techniques or a perfect mix of both, or we want to study
a highly technical or very simple style, the choice
is great.
7. Doing martial arts teaches
discipline and provides motivation
Everybody knows that studying a
martial art requires and teaches discipline.
Because it is also goal orientated,
training in one of the many martial arts also provides
a great deal of motivation.
Lack of discipline and motivation
are the most often quoted reasons for weight loss failures
and for this reason, doing a martial art for weight
loss and fitness may help many of us who lack the required
discipline and motivation to achieve our weight loss
goals to overcome these common barriers to success.
8. Doing martial arts for
spirituality
One definition of spirituality is
"Activities which renew, lift up, comfort, heal
and inspire both ourselves and those with whom we interact."
Martial art training has been practiced
by millions of people over many centuries because among
other things, it has a great ability to spiritually
uplift us.
As well as 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
us and others.
9. Doing martial arts training
is relatively inexpensive
Compared to joining some gyms and
hiring some 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 you can train when and as often as it suits
you.
In addition to low ongoing training
costs, buying a uniform and any equipment you may need
to train in most cases will be relatively inexpensive
as well.
10. Doing martial arts has
a social aspect
Many people who start doing martial
arts training for weight loss, improved fitness or self-defense
end up enjoying it most for its social aspects.
As well as training and learning
with others with similar goals, many martial arts trainees
help encourage and motivate each other and end up becoming
very good friends.
Many martial arts instructors too
have very friendly dispositions and foster a fun and
friendly environment in which to train which endears
them to their students who typically also become close
friends.
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 keep you
motivated, perhaps you should consider doing a martial
art like boxing, kickboxing, karate, or judo.
In this article we listed 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.
Scott Haywood is
the editor of Australia's premier weight loss and healthy
lifestyle website http://www.weightloss.com.au
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Haywood
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