Kickboxing Workouts A Great Weight Loss Workout

What Kickboxing Workouts Can Do For You

Kickboxing comes in different forms.  In Thailand, it is called muay thai although most Asian cultures have a form of kickboxing as a type of street martial art.  It is not like Japanese karate because Japanese karate is an art form, a martial art as well as a spiritual discipline so it has rigid rules of engagement.

 It is not like Korean taekwondo which is purely a martial art.  Also, kickboxing was developed only in the 1960s. One similar martial art in the Philippines is called “yaw-yan” which corresponds to the last syllables of two words “saYAW” (meaning dance) and “kamataYAN” (meaning death).  Together the last syllables mean the “Dance of Death.”  Kickboxing is a kind of dance: the graceful yet powerful moves can be lethal.

Kickboxing’s Asian roots is as a form of sport.  It is almost gladiatorial.  For centuries, Asian monarchs kept kickboxers as sort of champions – instead of going out to an all-out war between kingdoms, they sent champions to fight with each other. 

The king whose champion wins the bout will be declared the winner and lands and other reparations and tribute will be paid to him by the losing monarch.  The kickboxers gain fame and an elevated status in society.

Kickboxing has been adapted in the West as a form of gladiatorial or spectator sport.  In places like Las Vegas, Nevada, kickboxing is a sport where placing bets is encouraged.  Kickboxers are sports celebrities in their own right and they have fans and a following.

Kickboxing is a full-contact sport.  Fighters can use their hands, their legs to either knock down their opponent or else hold them down so that they are unable to move or fight. 

It is kind of like a brawl, really, as, unlike boxing where there are moves that are considered foul (such as head butting, pushing or hitting below the belt), in kickboxing, these moves are par for the course.  Kickboxers often get their teeth knocked out, and their bones broken (even though they win).  It is a violent sport. 

The kickboxers wear protective gear such as gloves, mouth guards and groin guards but this is more for protection for the kickboxer than it is for the protection of the opponent.  It borrows a lot of the names of the punches from boxing such as jab, upper cut, cross and straight punch.  It also borrows from karate and taekwondo the names of the kicks such as front kick, back kick, side kick and roundhouse kick.

                                          

However, in the US, kickboxing is also a form of popular exercise.  Because all four limbs are involved in the exercise, it is a total body workout.  It also involves strength training because the punches thrown must have enough power in it to knock your opponent down. 

It also develops speed in order to throw punches and kicks in quick succession.  It develops agility: one must be flexible enough to dart in and out of reach of the opponent’s kicks and punches.  It is a good weight-bearing exercise because you have to be able to carry your own weight, dance around the ring and bounce on the balls of your feet.  Roundhouse kicks are difficult to execute because you balance on one leg while executing the kick.  So balance is required for kickboxing.

The most important part of training in kickboxing – be it for sport, for exercise or even for professional fights is mental discipline. 

A kickboxer needs to be able to anticipate the moves of his opponent, make many small decisions that might mean injury if they fail.  A kickboxer needs to develop strategy, for this, the kickboxer must be alert and he must be a good tactician and strategist.  He must also have, in his arsenal, a lot of moves that he has perfected.

© Jeff Davy 2014

Healthy Living: 8 Steps to Take Today

Healthy Living: 8 Steps to Take Today

Healthy living starts right now. Experts tell you how.

 By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

WebMD Archive

Healthy living is within your reach, starting today. Sure, healthy living is a long-term commitment, not a flash-in-the-pan fad. But there are steps you can take right now that will make today healthier than yesterday and pave the way for healthy living tomorrow, too.

Here's your checklist of practical healthy living tips that are ready to go. Let's get started.

Healthy Living Step No. 1: Take stock.

Your first step toward healthy living is to get a handle on your health status right now. Here's your to-do list:

Make appointments with your doctor and dentist. 

Catch up on your routine screening and immunizations, and take the opportunity to ask your doctor any questions you might have.

Gauge your girth. Measure your height and weight to check your BMI, and measure your waist circumference to see if you're overweight and if your waistline is putting your health at risk.

Assess your activity. How much physical activity do you get in a typical week? How intense is that activity? How much variety do you get in your activity, and how much do you enjoy it? The CDC recommends that adults get at least two and a half hours per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or one hour and 15 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, plus muscle-strengthening activities at least two days per week.

Keep a food diary. Write down everything you eat for a day -- and no fair skipping the items you're embarrassed about. "The idea is to write it down ... without judgment," says Kathianne Sellers Williams, MEd, RD, LD, a nutritionist, wellness coach, and personal trainer with Cafe Physique in Atlanta. "You can't change what you're not aware of or don't acknowledge."

Check your mood and energy. Healthy living includes emotional wellness and adequate rest. How has your mood been lately? Are you experiencing any symptoms of depression or anxiety? Do you usually sleep well for seven to eight hours a night?

Consider your social network. How strong are your connections with family and friends? Are you plugged in with social or spiritual groups that enrich your life? "People have a fundamental need for positive and lasting relationships," C. Nathan DeWall, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, tells WebMD

If you're not thrilled with the answers to some of those questions, remember that the point is to figure out where you are today so you can set your healthy living goals. It's not about being "good" or "bad," "right" or "wrong."

Healthy Living Step No. 2: Put out fires.

If you know that you have chronic health problems, whether it's heart disease, diabetes, depression, arthritis, or other conditions, treatment is an obvious priority for healthy living. The same goes for risky behaviors, such as smoking, and addictions of any kind.

Addressing these issues typically isn't a do-it-yourself task. Partner with your doctor. Make the phone call today to schedule that appointment.

Healthy Living Step No. 3 Move more.

Here are Williams' top tips for increasing physical activity:

Make it fun. Go on a hike, walk with friends, take a bellydancing or karate class, or whatever you enjoy. "There's no need to stick to cardio equipment in the gym if you're dreading it and you don't like it," Williams says. "Find something that's fun."

Keep track of it. Make a note of your physical activity in your date book or calendar. "Put big Xs on the days that you exercise," Williams says. "Keep a visual record that you look at frequently" as a reminder and motivator.

Set a weekly goal for activity. To build your confidence, "make the first goal so easy that you say, 'I know I can do that,'" Williams suggests. She recommends weekly goals because if you set a daily goal and miss a day, you might get discouraged; weekly goals give you more day-to-day flexibility. And at the end of the week, reward yourself with a visual reminder of your accomplishment, such as buying flowers for yourself.

Work activity into your day. "Ten percent of something is better than 100% of nothing. So even if you have 10 minutes, it's better than zero minutes," Williams says. She suggests taking a 10-minute walk before lunch or walking up and down the stairs when you're feeling drained and tired.

Other ideas include wearing a pedometer to track how many steps you take per day (health experts recommend shooting for 10,000 steps per day) and working with a personal trainer (double up with a friend to lower the cost) to create an exercise routine.

Healthy Living Step No. 4: Upgrade your diet.

Williams, a nutritionist for a dozen years, says her diet advice isn't about eating certain foods and avoiding others as much as it is about awareness and choices. Here are her pointers:

Replace "I should" with "I choose." So instead of "I should be eating more fruits and vegetables," it's "I choose to eat more fruits and vegetables" or "I choose not to," because it's more powerful language," Williams says. "It shows that you're in control, you're making the choice. So if you choose to or you choose not to, you make the choice and you move on."

Skip the guilt. "Usually, whenever someone feels guilty about something, it feeds right back to the behavior that they're trying to get rid of," Williams says. "So if someone is an emotional eater and they say, 'I know I shouldn't be doing this," it implies more guilt and judgment on themselves, they feel worse, and then they end up eating to comfort themselves."

Choose to plan. Stock your pantry with healthy fare and bring healthy snacks with you so you're prepared when you get hungry. "When we're really hungry, our physiology kicks in and that's when we're craving the hamburger and fries; we're not craving a salad," Williams says.

Slow down and savor your food. Don't watch TV, work, or drive while you're eating. "A lot of people tell me, 'My problem is that I really like food,' but I think that's a really good thing," Williams says. "If you really enjoy food, sit down and enjoy your meal. You're much more likely to feel psychologically satisfied if you don't multitask while you're eating."

Shoot for five to nine daily servings of varied fruits and vegetables. Cover the rainbow of fruit and vegetable colors to get a good mix of nutrients. "If you're not getting the rainbow, you're probably not getting all the nutrients that you need," Williams says.

Healthy Living Step No. 5: Manage stress.

As a wellness coach trained in stress management, Williams recommends making two different plans to handle stress.

Routine maintenance: Develop positive coping skills, such as meditation and visualization, and look for activities, such as yoga or exercise, to keep your baseline stress level in check.

Breakthrough stress: Find ways to handle stressful situations that flare up without warning. For instance, Williams says that after a stressful meeting at work, you might run up and down the stairs a few times to burn off anger, or retreat to a bathroom stall to take a few deep breaths and refocus.

Check your perspective. Ask yourself, "Will this matter to me a year from now?" If not, why are you getting so wound up?

Volunteer. Helping to meet other peoples' needs may make your own problems seem smaller.

Keep a gratitude journal. Write down the positive people, events, and things that you're thankful for. "It really switches the focus to, 'Wow, look how much I have," Williams says. "Most stress is caused by wishing things were different than they are now."

Breathe. One of the breathing exercises that Williams recommends is to count your breaths for a minute, and then try to cut that number of breaths in half for the next minute.

Healthy Living StepNo. 6: Sleep better.

If you have trouble sleeping, try these tips from sleep medicine specialist Lisa Shives, MD, medical director of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Ill.

No TV or computer two hours before bedtime. It's not just because the TV and computer are stimulating; it's also because of their light. "We're very sensitive to the cue that light gives you that it's time to be up and about," Shives says. She recommends light, calming reading lit by a lamp that doesn't shine directly into your eyes.

No heavy exercise close to bedtime. Light stretching is OK, but vigorous activity will heat up your body's core temperature, which makes it harder to sleep. "If you're working up a sweat, you're working too hard right before bed," Shives says.

Take a hot bath. That will heat up your core body temperature, but when you get out of the bath, your core temperature will fall, which may help you get to sleep. Plus, the bath "relaxes you mentally," Shives says. She adds that having a hot, noncaffeinated drink, such as chamomile tea, may also help.

Set a regular sleep schedule. When Shives treats insomnia patients, she tells them that although they can't make themselves fall asleep, they can make themselves get up at a certain time the next morning. And though they may be tired at first, if they don't nap, they may start sleeping better during the following nights. "We're going to get nowhere if they take big naps during the day and keep a very erratic sleep schedule; it's chaos then," Shives says.

Don't count on weekend catch-up sleep. If you have chronic sleep problems, you probably can't make up for that on the weekends. But if you generally sleep well and have a rough week, go ahead and sleep in on the weekend. "I actually think that's good for the body," Shives says.

Don't ignore chronic sleep problems. "Don't let sleep troubles linger for months or years. Get to a sleep specialist earlier rather than later, before bad habits set in," Shives says.

Prioritize good sleep. "This is as important as diet and exercise," Shives says. She says that in our society, "we disdain sleep, we admire energy and hard work and [have] this notion that sleep is just something that gets in the way."

Healthy Living Step No. 7: Improve your relationships.

Healthy living isn't just about your personal habits for, say, diet and activity. It's also about your connections with other people -- your social network.

DeWall, the University of Kentucky social psychologist, offers these tips for broadening your social network:

Look for people like you. The details of their lives don't have to match yours, but look for a similar level of openness. "What really is important in terms of promoting relationship well-being is that you share a similar level of comfort in getting close to people," DeWall says. For instance, he says that someone who needs a lot of reassurance might not find the best relationship with someone who's more standoffish. "Feel people out in terms of, 'Does this person seem like me in terms of wanting to be close to other people?'" DeWall suggests.

Spend time with people. "There's this emphasis in our culture that you need to be very independent -- an army of one, you can get along on your own," DeWall says. "Most people don't know their neighbors as much as they did 50 or 60 years ago."

Build both virtual and face-to-face relationships. DeWall isn't against having online connections to other people. "But I think long term, having all of your relationships online or virtual ... would probably be something that wouldn't be as beneficial as having a mix" of having virtual and in-person relationships.

If a close relationship is painful, get help. "Some of my work and some work that other people are doing suggest that ... when you feel rejected by someone, that your body actually registers it as pain. So if I'm in a relationship that's really causing me a lot of pain, then we need to do something, we need to go and seek help," DeWall says.

Healthy Living Step No. 8: Challenge your mind.

Participating in mentally stimulating activities, especially activities that involve other people, may be good for the brain.

There's no downside to including brain-challenging activities as part of your healthy living, unless "you spent $400 on some computer program that makes all sorts of wild claims about brain health," says David Knopman, MD, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Knopman explains that brain fitness is influenced by many factors, including education and opportunities for mentally stimulating activities starting in childhood, and also by the presence or absence of depression, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, and other risks.

Observational studies have shown that people who engage in mentally stimulating activities may be less likely to develop dementia. But Knopman notes that such studies don't prove cause and effect, so it's not clear if mentally stimulating activities protect against dementia or whether people with healthier brains are drawn to those activities in the first place.

That said, Knopman says, "I think that socially engaging activities are particularly important, and that's why I'm somewhat skeptical about the various commercial entities that seek to sell computer games to stimulate the brain. ... If that's done to the exclusion of socially engaging activity, it's probably counterproductive."

Source: http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/healthy-living-8-steps-to-take-today

Fitness Truths: fat-loss myths debunked

Forget endless cardio sessions; if you want to burn fat it's just as much about the food you eat and the weights you lift, says our fitness blogger Jean-Claude Vacassin

Photo: Rex

With promises of 15-minute fat loss workouts, two-minute routines and adverts for the latest workout trend or craze guaranteed to get you in shape in double-quick time, the world of women's fitness is a minefield. But how much of this stuff will actually hold up and how do we separate the good from the bad and the ugly fitness truths?

In truth, much of it is unlikely to work for most people most of the time. In fact, I'd stick my neck out and say that most of what is written about women's fitness is sensationalist stuff that falsely promotes the idea that fitness can be achieved on the quick, and that you need certain gadgets or systems to get into shape. Neither is true.

On the whole, a more positive and sustainable message is permeating mainstream female fitness, but there are still a few myths that we hear regularly that don't stack up, either in research or in practice. Here are three of the most common ones:

1. Lifting heavy weights gives you bulky muscles

It's true that there are exceptions to the rule, but most women who use resistance training as part of a general fitness programme can't and won't gain more than a couple of kilos of lean mass (muscle, bone, connective tissue... you know, all the good stuff), even if they wanted to. This is clear from both the extensive research that has been carried out, and the evidence from increasing practical application.

It is highly unlikely - almost a certainty, in fact - that doing a few sets of challenging weights a couple of times per week is going to see you pack on pounds of muscle, especially if you add some cardio to the mix. Adding muscle doesn't happen by accident, you have to actually want to do it. Lack of calories and poor sleep, together with an unfavorable hormonal environment for example, mean that many women find it very difficult to increase muscle size, even if they wanted to.

Anyway, adequate lean mass is hugely beneficial for women as they approach their thirties and beyond. You certainly don't need muscles in gorilla-like proportions, but you do need enough to maintain good posture, keep you strong and keep your joints stable.

2. Cardio is the best form of exercise for fat loss

Despite extensive research and growing opinion to the contrary, we're still being told that weight training makes you big and cardiovascular training makes you thin. And if you want to burn fat you need to do lots of steady cardio training, best done at a moderate intensity performed in the 'fat burning zone'.

In truth, successful fat loss will be largely down to your diet, not your cardio approach. Plenty of people get themselves in great shape without doing any traditional cardio - some with absolutely no form of cardio training whatsoever. It's one tool in your armoury, but it's not the only way, and it's certainly not the most efficient way.

What works for one person will not always work for another so it's impossible to say that one training method always trumps another for a specific goal. But, if I were going to do a simplistic hierarchy of fat loss it might be:

1. Nutrition 

2. Resistance training
3. Interval training
4. Steady cardio training.

You'll notice that nutrition comes first and traditional steady state cardiovascular training is last. It's not that it's not beneficial - of course it is - but in terms of effectiveness and efficiency we see better results when people combine nutrition and resistance training.

3. Core training burns belly fat

You cannot burn fat in a particular area by doing exercises that try to isolate that body part; doing crunches will not target fat that is stored around the abdominals, for example. A toned stomach will only show if your body fat is low.

It is simply not true that crunches, sit-ups, planks and other core exercises alone deliver great looking abs and that if you want a great looking midsection you need to perform these exercises regularly, focusing on high reps for toning. Whilst perhaps beneficial for reasons such as core strength and stability, isolation movements like crunches and planks do very little for fat burning around the stomach. They don't cause enough metabolic disturbance, which is key in forcing the body to change.

Sure, you need to condition the abdominals, the same as any other muscles, but you do not need to spend hours focusing on specific core exercises. If there is injury or weakness more focus might be needed, but a little is enough for most healthy people. Instead, prioritise big multi-joint exercises and don't overdo the isolation stuff, which in itself can lead to problems. Be sure also to balance abdominal exercises with lower back ones to maintain balance.

Source: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/news-features/TMG10858721/Fitness-Truths-fat-loss-myths-debunked.html