Perhaps as a 19 year old, I was too worried about engaging in sports that are famously played by men. A little shy perhaps to serve that punch or even raise my leg for a kick.
But everything has changed now, especially with the way i view sports for men and for women. I have realized that sports has no gender and anybody, even that shy lass in your class can be a badass kicker in that boxing ring!
So, while doing aerobics for almost a year at Jessica's gym in San Ildefonso Bulacan, last May 4, 2013 I finally decided to give myself a new kind of training for health, self-defense and personality development. I thought "I'm ready to kick some butt:)"
Kidding aside, I was really into this because I wanted to bring back my weight :) But more than that, I wanted to train because I wanted to be really fit--by "fit" i mean, not just achieve an ideal weight, but achieve right endurance, strength, flexibility and body and mind coordination through self-defense/ exercise.
Kickboxing
Muay thai is a combat sports from the muay martial arts of Thailand (wikipedia). It combines a physical and mental discipline as it includes combat on foot referred to as "the art of eight limbs": use of fists, elbows, knees, shins and feet (wikipedia).
The site besthealthmag.ca, gave five core benefits of kickboxing or muay thai for women. So, consider the following:
First: Burn fats, fast and right.
What can be the best way t melt those fats than to really work it out. Muay thai provides an opportunity to use your whole body particularly the core muscles. It has a cardio-element that makes it ideal exercise for women who have lazy fats particularly flabby arms and spoiled bellies!
It’s an incredibly efficient workout. Kickboxing alone burns about 750 calories in an hour,” says Sammie Kennedy, CEO and creator of Femme Fitale, Ontario’s newest women’s-only kickboxing and mixed martial arts program (MMA). “Add in jump rope and conditioning drills, and you could burn anywhere from 750 to 900 calories in an hour (besthealthmag.ca).”
Second: Whole body toning
Kickboxing would need your upper and lower body hence, there is no way you do it right without making use of your group muscles. Hence, toning it naturally as you execute it.
more than just a form of exercise, kickboxing lets you acquire additional valuable knowledge of self-defense. This is particularly ideal for women and even little girls, pre-teens, and teens.
Fourth: get rid of stress and aggression, consider anger management therapy
Kickboxing lets you release tension, energies that may be negatively disturbing your mind and your focus that somehow affects the way you move. As you train, you would eventually feel a good sense of relief. It lets you focus or concentrate on what you should do and gives you time to think about what you feel:)
Fifth: Confidence from Within.
You know you can.
With kickboxing, you get to give yourself another level of experience and knowledge that adds up to that confidence not just in facing a dangerous situation, but with the things that you fear or situations that you think you are actually scared of.
Plus, it makes you feel good about yourself, your body---knowing that your muscles are not lazy and that you are sexy and beautiful from within:)
You can actually enroll as a group (with your friends) or one on one. Since I went there by myself and decided to pursue it even without a friend to accompany me, I get to focus more with the training as the personal trainer assigned for me really gave his time to see my lapses.
The warming up jumping rope exercise is really challenging. I have been attending the training for the 3rd time now (June 8, 2013) and yet I still can't seem to get the rhythm of the jump and the rope I supposed to skip.
"Nagwawala na siya oh" they jokingly tell me as I tried my best to jump---as a result, the jump was too high that easily tires me. Plus the rope was making too noisy taps on the rubber mat. It was supposed to be done smoothly and with less sound. Anyway, this is one of the things that inspires me to continue kickboxing.
Try it. If you are looking for a new sports to engage yourself in with the purpose of burning those calories, consider kickboxing! You'll even learn valuable self-defense.
After all, you are a woman, you owe it to yourself that you can protect yourself while being fit:)
you are not just lovely, you are tough:)