A New Year’s Resolution with a Kick
The new year is here! With is come new beginnings, new opportunities, and—of course—new year’s resolutions. According to Forbes, the most common of these is to lose weight; with other leading resolutions including getting healthier and more fit, quitting unhealthy addictions and taking care of oneself, it’s pretty clear that people are extremely conscientious of their physical wellbeing at the beginning of the new year.
However, as many already know, one out of every three resolutions fails before February. The detailed reasons for this are various and sundry, but all come back to one thing: old habits really do die hard.
It’s easier to keep a resolution that’s set on a schedule, not to mention one that takes you in a new direction. If you spend the whole year dieting and exercising to shed just a few more pounds, and gaining it all back within a month, then setting this kind of resolution is just setting yourself up for failure. You’ve done this song and dance a dozen times before, and if you want to succeed this time you need to take it from a new angle.
Thankfully, there are plenty of angles from which to strive for health, fitness and weight loss in a new way. One of the most effective is to skip on joining a gym and instead join a competitive sport or martial art. Kickboxing in particular is picking up speed, with people from all walks of life getting into the art. And why not? Kickboxing is a powerful cardio workout, reported by both LiveStrong.com and Athleta to burn anywhere from around 400 to 800 calories in a single training or workout session. Contrary to popular belief, kickboxing provides a full body workout, resulting in both upper-body and lower-body strength training, improvement of balance and overall coordination, and an excellent boost to cardiovascular strength in the process.
This sport is an excellent choice for a new year’s resolution because classes run on a set schedule, making it easier to get into the habit and stick with it from week to week, as well as providing real-world benefits beyond just physical appearances. Kickboxing is notably popular among women today thanks to the “full service” aspect of the martial style, which provides self-defense training along with a hardcore workout. This can provide a life-changing boost to confidence and a distinct drop in stress—and that isn’t limited to female participants, of course.
If you’re looking for a new year’s resolution that will get results in weight loss and fitness, allow you to learn something new and exciting, build your self-confidence and bring down your stress levels, kickboxing may be just what the doctor ordered. Depending on your preference and current physical ability, you can look into either traditional or aerobic kickboxing courses; you can also often upgrade to a traditional course after you get fully up to speed with the aerobic version, which will really help you take advantage of everything this fantastic fighting style has to offer. Get the confidence, capability and body that you want this year by making a resolution that doesn’t just stick, it kicks.