When you look at experienced kickboxers, you see strong, fit athletes with low body fat and muscular physiques. Clearly, their training is effective when it comes to keeping them in excellent shape, but is it a realistic form of weight loss for the average person?
First and foremost, maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is essential to any weight loss plan. You need to achieve a caloric deficit (more calories burned than consumed) on a regular basis while still ensuring you get enough vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in your everyday diet. Given kickboxing’s propensity to burn calories, it appears to be a good choice for calorie burning, so we delve into the matter further below.
How Does Kickboxing Help Me to Lose Weight?
You can lose weight through kickboxing classes in two specific ways. First of all, it burns a lot of calories in a relatively short space of time, which makes it an efficient form of exercise for fat loss. Secondly, there is an element of resistance training involved via the calisthenics aspects of kickboxing, and this helps to build muscle.
The more muscle your body has, the more energy it uses when performing daily activities, which means you burn more calories even when sleeping! Since kickboxing builds your muscle mass, it boosts your metabolism, which helps your body lose fat faster.
How Many Calories Will I Burn in Kickboxing Class?
According to Harvard Health, a 125-pound individual will burn 300 calories in a 30-minute session while a 185-pound person will burn 444 calories in a 30-minute kickboxing session. This compares favorably with other forms of exercise. For example, while it is possible to burn slightly more calories running, you will need to be near your physical limit, and this is simply not desirable for most people.
How Much Weight Will I Lose Doing Kickboxing?
As mentioned above, the body has to be placed in a consistent caloric deficit in order to lose weight. While it is possible to lose weight by performing no physical exercise, it is not a particularly pleasant or efficient method. With few calories being burned, you would need to consume very few calories, and as a result, it is likely you would not be consuming the requisite level of nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.
Health experts state that 3,500 calories is approximately one pound of weight, so a caloric deficit of 500 calories a day is needed in order to lose one pound of weight a week. Not only does kickboxing help you achieve this steady and sensible level of weight loss, it strengthens your body and heart while also improving your body composition.
Will Kickboxing Work for My Weight Loss Goals?
As you can burn almost 900 calories for every hour of kickboxing you perform (assuming you weigh 185 pounds), there is no doubt it is an effective way to lose weight. Those who participate in kickboxing classes are more likely to be consistent when it comes to attending classes and maintaining a healthy diet. The real secret to weight loss is to adapt a lifestyle you can maintain year in and year out, and kickboxing certainly fits neatly into this plan.