A kickboxing club will give you more than just sparring

Kickboxing is a popular activity that offers a wide range of benefits. The right kickboxing club will – of course – teach you the punches, kicks, blocks and movement characteristic of this martial art, but much else besides. There is the sparring – otherwise known as fighting in controlled circumstances, set by strict rules – by which participants prove their skill. But even this is optional, and there are many other reasons why you might decide to train in kickboxing. London is a particularly good city in which to learn, as it has so much variety.

Some of kickboxing’s benefits are easy to see. There is the fitness side of things, to begin with. Kickboxing is a style that has all-round fitness implications, since it requires both explosive, anaerobic fitness (developed by punching and kicking) and the aerobic stamina that is required in sparring. Since fights might go to several rounds, each of two or three minutes, this sort of fitness is a major asset. It doesn’t matter how good your technique is if you are not fit enough to perform it; many fights are lost not through improper technique but simply tiredness. Then there is speed, and flexibility. In all kickboxing should bring a variety of fitness benefits, in a combination seen in few other disciplines.

Self-defence and its associated confidence are other great benefits. Many people choose kickboxing so as to be able to look after themselves if the situation requires it. And yet, kickboxing alone may not be the best way to go about this. Some attacks are best dealt with in other ways (body grabs, strangles and so on). However, depending on your instructor’s approach, you may learn handy techniques that lie outside the strict remit of kickboxing. In a self-defence situation, you are likely to need and use techniques that are banned in the ring.

In all, kickboxing is a top sport, but you need to know what you’re hoping to gain from it when you choose a kickboxing club. If that’s simply fun and exercise, fine – plenty of people go along with the same intentions. Others are more interested in sparring and self-defence. The good news is that for kickboxing London has a vast range of clubs, and other martial arts to have a go at. If you don’t find what you’re looking for in one, another will certainly cater to your needs. A few minutes of web-searching is all it takes to find the right club.

Please visit http://www.zendokickboxing.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.zendokickboxing.com/

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The bonuses of being part of kickboxing London?

Having recently relocated to London, I was spending so much of my time at work I had become really stressed, and needed to start doing some regular exercise.  A friend suggested kickboxing as a great way to work out and to alleviate stress, so I started asking around and looking for a nearby kickboxing club.  The kickboxing London scene was more thriving than I expected, and I managed to find a club that was close to my house and held sessions four nights a week.  I found a brilliant teacher who was really committed to helping beginners learn the ropes, and fairly quickly  I found myself really looking forward to my evenings at the club.

I was surprised to find out that kickboxing as a Western leisure activity is a fairly recent phenomenon – it started in the United States in the 1970s, when karate experts organised competitions which incorporated the full-contact kicks and punches that had been banned in karate.  Health and safety concerns led to the introduction of padding and safety rules to the sport, giving us the type of kickboxing that is commonly practised today. It is a brilliantly adaptable activity, with different forms that vary according to the techniques used and the amount of physical contact between competitors.

One of the types of the sport I particularly like is aerobic kickboxing, also called kickboxercise, which combines elements of boxing, martial arts and aerobics to give the entire body a full-on workout.  In these classes, we generally do a fifteen minute warm up, which involves regular exercises such as push ups and squat thrusts, and then move onto a more skills based half hour that focuses on kicks and punches.  After one of these classes I often feel absolutely shattered, but I’m sure it does my body a lot of good.  Apparently, an hour of the sport burns from 350 to 450 calories, so I would guess that kickboxercise could dispense with twice as many!

I know for sure that my upper leg strength and muscle definition in my arms have greatly improved since I started at the kickboxing club.  And that’s just the physical changes.  Being part of kickboxing London has changed my life in so many ways, it’s hard to remember what I was like before.  Fitter, healthier, less stressed, able to defend myself in an emergency – and I have kickboxing to thank!

Please visit http://www.zendokickboxing.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.zendokickboxing.com/

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