Boxing is a great way to learn how to defend yourself, while you burn calories. People come to our gym in Stamford, CT with one goal in mind. It’s either to learn how to box and the art of self-defense, or to shed those extra pounds. After they’ve worked out a while, they realize they get a bonus. Those who want to learn self-defense, get ripped and lose weight. Those who wanted to lose weight, find they love their new found skill and want to get better.
Boxing burns more calories than many other sports.
Those who decided to turn to boxing as their preferred weight loss technique do so because it’s an effective calorie burner. While running will help you burn calories, boxing can help you burn even more. Not only is it tough when you’re sparring, you have to prepare you body to box with warm up exercises like jumping rope, calisthenics and sparring putting a torch to calories in the process.
Unlike running, boxing builds muscle tissue.
One of the pitfalls of running, compared to boxing, is that it doesn’t discriminate from where the energy calories come. Running great distances actually burns muscle tissue and fat to produce the necessary energy. When you’re boxing, you’re building muscle tissue at the same time you’re expending energy. Since muscle tissue requires more calories for maintenance than fat tissue does, the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you’ll burn even at rest.
Boxing can provide the tools that can help you win, even when the fight isn’t on a level playing field.
In real life, there’s seldom a level playing field when it comes to self-defense. The attacker may be bigger, there may be more than one or he or she may have the element of surprise. Boxing can anyone defend themselves by providing the ability to hit a moving target by improving hand-eye coordination. It offers training in footwork that aids in avoiding an attacker or hitting them with a well-directed, well-timed blow. You develop the power to knock out with both hands using various techniques delivered at different angles and ranges. Boxing teaches you to fight with passion and aggression, being able to take a hit and use defensive moves to avoid them.
- When you practice boxing, you boost both your anaerobic and aerobic capacity. That’s important for both burning calories and self-defense.
- Unlike other forms of exercise to burn calories, you learn a skill and the knowledge that the skill can help you overcome an attacker, even if he or she is stronger than you.
- Boxing gives you the confidence to face someone bigger than you and the courage to walk away from a less skilled harasser that you could wipe out in seconds.
- That new confidence from achieving a fit body makes you look victorious and not like a victim at all. You’ll be far less likely to be attacked, since people who do that, at heart are cowards.