7 Benefits of Kickboxing (Explained)

Discover the awesome benefits of kickboxing. From fitness & stress relief to self-defense and confidence building, unleash your potential!

Gaz Davies
Gaz Davies
5
 min read
October 22, 2024
Discover the awesome benefits of kickboxing. From fitness & stress relief to self-defense and confidence building, unleash your potential!

Like most people, you've probably caught a kickboxing match on TV. You might have even seen one live. What did you think? 

Kickboxing certainly looks fun, and you might have even thought about signing up for a few sessions. If that's the case, don't hesitate because kickboxing training is safe and offers numerous fantastic benefits for trainees.

The best part is you don't have to fight in competitions to reap benefits from kickboxing. Training sessions alone are more than enough for most people to elevate their health, well-being, and mindset. 

Without further ado, let's discuss the seven profound benefits of kickboxing. 

Kickboxing Promotes Effective Weight Loss

Contrary to many people's beliefs, weight loss is more than finding the perfect diet, fat burner, or workout program. What matters is that you establish and maintain a calorie deficit. So long as you do that, your body won't have a choice but to break down fat and muscle to get the energy it needs to function.

Kickboxing is fantastic for weight loss on two fronts. First, kickboxing is a dynamic full-body activity that burns tons of calories, allowing us to put ourselves in an energy deficit for weight loss easily. It's not uncommon for trainees to burn up to 600 to 700 calories per session. 

Second, kickboxing provides a solid stimulus for all the major muscles in the body. As a result, we can more easily hold onto our muscle mass while dieting, shed fat more effectively, and achieve a lean and athletic look.

Kickboxing Improves Your Cardiovascular Fitness

Cardiovascular health is essential for our well-being and athletic performance. For one, good heart health means longer life and a lower risk of chronic disease. Second, good cardiovascular fitness means better endurance and quicker recovery. 

Activities like jogging are great for boosting our cardiovascular health. But the good news is dynamic and engaging disciplines like kickboxing are also great in that regard. Kickboxing trains the entire body and pushes our aerobic system to its limits, making us healthier and more resilient.

Kickboxing Improves Your Flexibility & Mobility

Flexibility and mobility measure how freely we can move our bodies through space. Mobility refers to our overall ability to move and maintain our balance. It depends on our muscles' ability to lengthen (flexibility), joint range of motion, muscle strength, and more. 

For example, mobility refers to our ability to assume various positions, transition between them, and maintain balance. 

Kickboxing is an excellent discipline for improving mobility because it forces us to assume many stances, get out of awkward positions, and maintain our balance while sparring or having a match against someone. 

Kickboxing Improves Your Strength & Conditioning

Strength and conditioning refer to various exercises to improve athletes' overall performance and fitness. Strength and conditioning practices have become more widespread these days, and many everyday people take advantage of them to improve their health, well-being, and physical capacity.

The great news is that kickboxing is a fantastic way to improve your overall fitness. The full-body dynamic way of training builds muscle, makes us stronger, improves our reflexes, and helps us generate more power. Plus, kickboxing taxes our aerobic system, making us much more resilient.

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Improve Your Mental Health Kickboxing

Sports are a fantastic way for everyone to improve their mental health. But despite that, many people are oblivious to the many positives of sports.

Kickboxing pushes us to work hard, which floods the body with endorphins. These hormones primarily suppress pain but also improve our mood and bring a feeling of euphoria. That alone is enough to make us feel great for hours after training.

Practising kickboxing is also profoundly fulfilling because it pushes us to work hard and brings fantastic improvements in our fitness abilities and fighting skills. 

Plus, kickboxing is a social sport that allows us to meet all sorts of great individuals and like-minded athletes. Spending time around positive and energetic people is a great way to feel better and maintain a positive outlook.

Kickboxing Teaches You Self-Defense Skills

Everyone can agree that it's best never to need self-defence skills. Avoiding a potential conflict or never having to be in one is the best way to live. But everyone might end up in a situation where they would have to use self-defence. Having the necessary skill can allow you to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Kickboxing teaches us how to take better care of ourselves because it shows us how to punch, kick, and defend ourselves effectively. It also teaches you when to go on the back foot and when to press forward. Plus, kickboxing is excellent for teaching you how to gauge distance and best approach each unique situation.

Kickboxing Enhances Your Problem-Solving Skills

While it may not seem so, kickboxing and many other fighting disciplines make us problem-solving experts. This is because fighting disciplines present us with a never-ending stream of problems we must recognize, adapt to, and solve. 

Is your opponent far more skilled than you thought? Problem. They soak up your kicks and punches like it's nothing? Another problem. The opponent sees through your tactic and knows what you're about to do every time. You guessed it: problem.

You're forced to solve these problems immediately, improving your ability to tackle issues inside the ring and your daily life.

Benefits of Kickboxing

Let's do a quick recap of the benefits of kickboxing:

  • Kickboxing is a full-body dynamic activity that burns tons of calories, making it easier to lose weight.
  • Kickboxing pushes you to your limits, strengthening your heart, improving your lung capacity, and making you more resilient.
  • Kickboxing improves your flexibility and mobility thanks to the numerous athletic movements you must repeatedly perform.
  • Kickboxing is a great all-in-one activity for working on your strength and conditioning.
  • Kickboxing offers numerous fantastic benefits that lead to improved mental health.
  • Kickboxing provides you with all the tools necessary to defend yourself and your loved ones, should you need it.
  • Kickboxing forces you to spot, fix, and adapt to problems, making you an expert problem solver capable of overcoming challenges gracefully.

If you want to improve your performance in the ring, explore our strength and conditioning program for kickboxing.

Gaz Davies

I'm a conditioning coach current travelling the world training martial arts and exploring new cultures.