Kickboxing fitness with stretching

Later on we will show some videos for kickboxing fitness with stretching but I just want to expalin a little bit about it. Stertching is vitally important in any sport, exercise or fitness regime. A lot of people think that in kickboxing you have to stretch so that you can perform the high kicks as seen in most action films involving martial arts. However that is only part of the picture. In our kickboxing fitness with stretching programme, we sometimes spend a whole class of forty five minutes purely on stretching. When the sessions are finished the participants are still worn out, just as if they had been working out with punches and kicks to our strike shields and bags. On the calorie burner estimator they have vigorous stretching burning about 180 calories. Again I believe during our stretching sessions we probably burn more calories due to the different types and methods we use to stretch.
The most basic reason that we stretch in our sessions is not just to burn calories, neither is it to ensure you have a chance to get on a movie because you can kick high. The reason we stretch is to strengthen and lengthen the muscles that we are actually stretching. Then as your muscles get longer and stronger, yes you may be able to kick someone in the head (in a friendly competitive way :-) I mean), but you can also deliver a low range or mid range kick with strength, accuracy and your own safety.
When I say "Your own safety" I mean that you can perform the said technique without injuring yourself with pulled orstrained muscles/joints or losing your balance to put yourself in a dangerous situation. When we run our stretching sessions we use static stretching, dynamic stretching and isometric stretching. I wil cover these three different types of stretching later on when we cover a bit more on kickboxing fitness with stretching.

Fitness kickboxing

Have you ever heard the term "Fighting Fit". Yes of course you have. Fitness kickboxing is the workout that will definitely get you there.The thing is though that it is not just an off the cuff remark (fighting fit), it is a truth. To really get yourself fit, get yourself involved in a regular kickboxing workout. A great kickboxing workout will give you an all over body toning exercise programme.

When you workout in kickboxing you use every muscle group in your body, that is why it is such an effective system to get fit. Literally from head to foot, you are exercising. The obvious impact thing you can see is you are going to be punching and kicking on specially designed bags and pads. But when it is done correctly with the correct supervision, you will be using stomach, back and leg muscles just to deliver a good punch. Remember this, when thinking about getting fit, losing weight, cardio fitness and muscle strength think of fitness kickboxing.

Burn calories with Kickboxing Workouts

If weight loss in your concern then take a look at how to burn calories with kickboxing workouts. I have worked this comparison out by using a very accurate online calories burned calculator. I used the weight of a person weighing 130 lbs just as an example. I used the same amount of time that we use when we run our kickboxing sessions, that is forty five minutes. Please check these figures for yourselves but here they are.
Yoga 123 calories burned.
Aerobic type dancing 263 calories burned.
Jogging 310 calories burned.
High impact aerobics 310 calories burned.
Martial arts/Kickboxing 444 calories burned.

There it is the proof you needed. The thing is I believe that the calorie burned calculator is probably being a bit shy with the martial arts workout. I bet a real kickboxing workout would be even higher than that. If you want all over body conditioning and weight control go and find a good kickboxing instructor to help you, you can not find a better way to control weight than to burn calories with kickboxing.

Once you have started using kickboxing as a workout for weight loss, you will never look back. Real Kickboxing workouts using professional strike targets to kick and punch can not be matched for body conditioning and weight control. Also anyone can start kickboxing training, at any age. A lot of people say to me that they are too old because they are in their thirties or forties or even their fifties. Hey as long as you can get a clean bill of health from your own doctor then you can start kickboxing workouts. We have a lot of students in that age range and they love their kickboxing workouts.

A Kickboxing History

A Kickboxing History

I have been practicing, teaching and competing in kickboxing for over 26 years. I believe that the physical efforts of practicing kickboxing are probably one of the best forms of physical fitness training that someone can do.

Now I am talking about western kickboxing here with the use of modern kick and punch bags and strike shields for kicking and punching techniques. The thing I am getting at here is that I am not talking about an aerobic dance session that has some kind of kicking and punching routine built into it. I am only talking about real kickboxing training here.

So what is kickboxing and where does it come from. We can look back over many years to see the development of what you could call modern western kickboxing as it is today. There are many different ancient styles of kickboxing and martial arts from all over the world. These styles vary greatly with some even having throwing, take down and wrestling techniques within the style. A lot of styles you may never even have heard of before. I will go over a select few ancient styles from different parts of the world.

Bando Kickboxing is a style that derives from Burma. The ancient style was called Lethwei and included strikes with hand, feet, elbows and even headbutts. There are now Bando Kickboxing associations all over the world and they hold major competitions.

 Muay Boran is a kickboxing art that comes from Thailand and is quite similar to Lethwei as in it permits the use of strikes with hand, feet, elbows and headbutts. Muay Boran is believed to be the predecessor of the modern day Muay Thai Boxing.

Muay Thai Boxing is the modern art of Thailand and is in fact their national sport. It still allows the use of full contact knee and elbow strikes but head butting is no longer allowed.

Indian Muki Boxing is also known as Southern Kalaripayattu. This Indian system is probably the oldest fighting system known to man. There were other similar styles for Norther and Central Kalaripayattu. But the southern style was practiced by the Nairs who were a Indian martial cast people of Kerala in India. This style included strikes with feet, hands, knees, elbows and forehead. The system was also devised into dance routines.

Savate Is a style of kickboxing normally associated with France. However there are links with the same style developing in North West Italy and North East Spain all around the same time. This style (in modern days) only allows strikes with the hands and the feet. In modern Savate practitioners still wear their shoes, in fact the word Savate is taken from the French word for “Old Shoe” or “Old Boot”.

Full Contact Karate is more likened to a set of rules than a fighting style, but basically hand and foot strikes are allowed and a win by knockout is allowed.

Sanshou or Sanda is a Chinese style (Kung Fu/Wushu) of kickboxing which allows striking with hands, feet, elbows and knees. Throws and takedowns are also allowed but not wrestling or ground fighting.

Shoot Boxing is a fighting sport from Japan founded in 1985 by Caesar Takeshi. The sport has weight categories and an established set of rules. This is extremely popular in Japan. Rules allow strikes with feet, hands, elbows and knees. Combatants are also allowed to use throws and takedowns. They are also allowed submission techniques while standing but not on the ground as in wrestling.

Freestyle Kickboxing (sometimes known as Oriental rules Kickboxing) is a modern style of kickboxing that allows strikes with the hands and feet. You are not allowed to use elbows or knees but you are allowed to strike with kicks below the waist. The combatants strike to their opponents thighs and calves with their shin bone. This is purely a standing fighting style.

Full Contact Kickboxing is another modern style of kickboxing. This style also allows strikes with the hands and feet but not with the elbows or the knees. Combatants are also only allowed to kick above the waist, similar to western boxing where punches are only allowed above the waist. Competitions in this style of kickboxing usually have a minimum kick rule per round. This is most commonly between six to eight kicks per round with points deducted for not reaching that target.

K1 Kickboxing is not actually a style of kickboxing or martial art, but many people think it is, so that is why I have mentioned it here. K1 is actually a Promotion Company. It was founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii in 1980 in Japan. The rules have changed many times over the years to suit a changing audience and now K1 is famous around the globe. Right now strikes are allowed with hands, feet and knees. No elbow strikes are allowed. Originally K1 stayed in Japan and you could only compete by invitation. Today (July 2011) K1 faces an uncertain future as a promotion company due to financial difficulties.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the most modern version of kickboxing as a sport. This combines western boxing and  Muay Thai boxing stand up fighting techniques with the ground fighting techniques of Brazilian Ju Jitsu. MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in the world right now.

When most people talk about kickboxing though, they are talking about either Muay Thai Boxing, Freestyle Kickboxing or Full Contact Kickboxing. When I train my students I use a combination of all three styles. This gives my students a fantastic workout. I will talk about the workout side of kickboxing in further articles.

ps. You will probably find more fighting styles from around the world if you look hard enough, however it was not my intention here to list EVERY single style known to man that has a link to kickboxing. It is only an overview to give you an idea as to where the modern term and style of kickboxing came from. (so sorry if you practice a style I left off the list).