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Boxing has become a very popular sport for many, and not surprisingly, because it provides the best workout and challenges to many of our senses and capacities. Boxing not only helps to build and tone your muscular stature, but also helps you to gain mental strength. It is a great workout to stimulate your mind, body and soul. Not to mention, it helps to burn tons of calories!
Let’s take a look at the top 7 benefits of boxing:
1. Develop self-defense skills
Boxing can teach you countless combinations of kicks and punches. This can be used as self-defense if you ever end up in a dangerous situation.
2. Help with weight loss
Boxing can burn as high as 500-1000 calories in a single hour work out depending on the intensity. Hence, boxing can greatly assist with your weight loss efforts.
3. Build a stronger heart
Regular boxing sessions help to maintain a balanced heart rate. It also helps to improve the strength of heart muscles, building a stronger heart.
4. Build strong bones and muscles
Boxing improves the strength and flexibility of all muscle groups in the body. It also helps to develop joints and overall skeletal system.
5. Strengthen the entire body
Because boxing involves sparring, bouncing, ducking, pivoting, punching (and even kicking), it requires repetitive motions of your entire body. These repeated movements provide strength and power especially to your arms, legs and core area.
6. Help to relieve stress
Boxing helps to relieve physical and mental stress. Research shows that people who box regularly are more cheerful, getting rid of stress and tension with every punch!
7. Act as an outlet for frustration
Boxing provides a good opportunity to release pent up frustration. When you kick and punch during boxing, you can let go of anger without blowing up at someone. This can help you relax.
A non-traditional form of exercise recently applied for Parkinson’s patients is boxing training. This is a very specific therapy program for challenging the patient’s emotion, cognition, strength and coordination. One of the focal points of this program is to encourage the body to work as a whole again. Boxing benefits all conditions, however since Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremors, postural rigidity, slow and reduced movement as well as postural instability, these motor symptoms can have detrimental effects on balance, mobility and quality of life for PD patients. There is increasing evidence that traditional forms of exercise such as stretching and aerobic and resistance training provide positive health benefits and improve quality of life for patients with PD. Alternative, non-traditional exercise programs integrate traditional exercise concepts but apply them in an alternative manner; examples include dance, tai chi and boxing. These programs have all been found to increase balance, mobility, and gait endurance as well as to improve physical, psychological and social abilities.
In combination with other fitness activities, boxing training incorporates whole-body movements with upper extremity punching motions and lower extremity footwork in multiple directions. The punching actions combine high-speed arm motions with trunk rotation and anticipatory postural adjustments. By utilizing these techniques, postural rigidity is reduced, and the footwork actions encourage cognition and balance. As such, boxing training is an excellent therapeutic alternative for Parkinson’s patients. In case studies despite the progressive nature of PD, patients showed short-term and long-term improvements in balance, gait, activities of daily living and quality of life after participating in boxing training.
In addition to providing benefits to Parkinson’s disease patients, boxing training offers benefits to everyone. At Florida Movement Therapy Centers we offer non-contact boxing training classes taught by certified therapists that focus on overall fitness, strength training, reaction time and balance. Workouts include focus mitts, heavy bags, core work and weight training. No prior boxing experience is necessary, and people of all ages are invited to participate. Come visit and join in on the fun!
BOYNTON BEACH
561.733.5083
12040 South Jog Rd. 33437
BOCA RATON
561.883.7800
21065 Powerline Road 33433
