Fit Boxing is a fitness training method designed to improve general fitness, developed in the kickboxing style. It is often accompanied by a piece of music with the intention of being motivational or setting the pace for a shot.
Proper boxing is not a martial art, and there are no opponents. Shots may only be taken in a special bag or, with restrictions, in a training partner’s glove at the coach’s discretion.
The health benefits that come from the practice of fit boxing are numerous. We get to know the public and the private, among various things. The most important of them:
How a fit boxing session is organized and managed
From a technical point of view, fit boxing has little to do with kickboxing and boxing. To tell the truth, this depends a lot on the level of preparation of the coach and on the importance that he wants to attribute to these details. Generally speaking, a boxer, as much as a kickboxer, would shudder at the sight of a fit boxing session; it doesn’t matter since punches and kicks are only a means of training, and the goal is not to combat but fitness.
Before starting the session, it is necessary to apply a bandage; wrists and hands must be stabilized with special taping to avoid injuries. The lower limbs, on the other hand, remain free.
Training begins with muscle warm-up, performed on movements with a wide range of articular excursions, followed by an initial phase called activation or approach to effort; the latter, on the other hand, is specific and serves both to consolidate muscle warm-up – activating aerobic metabolism at the same time – and to start up the cardio, circulatory and respiratory systems; it has a progressive intensity. Warm-up and activation have a highly preventive purpose on injuries and optimize performance.
The real effort begins when you put on the gloves – they are not boxing gloves; they are thinner and lighter. The basic position is that of a guard, with clenched fists in contact with the face and elbows closed on the chest; the body is slightly in profile – not totally frontal – with the right foot half a step ahead of the left (if the guard is for a right-handed, vice versa for a left-handed). The following movements are mainly used:
- Punches with both arms: straight, hook, uppercut
- Kicks with both legs: “would be” front, side, semi-circular and circular
- Guard exchange, dodging, forward, backward and lateral movements
- Blocking the bag to allow the partner to strike with energy.
The trainer manages the session by announcing the movements – for example, 6 direct left-right strikes, then dodging left and right and 4 roundhouse kicks with the right – and correcting technical errors or emphasizing attention to certain details.
The session concludes with a cool-down and muscular stretching – static or with dynamic movements, with a wide range of articular excursions.
Benefits of fit boxing
As anticipated, the practice of fit boxing can help improve the quality of life in several ways. Let it be clear; the same objectives could be pursued with other methods – fitness activities or real sports – even if, from a psychological point of view, perhaps fit boxing has “something more.” This means that some benefits we will discuss are not highly specific, while others are.
Especially regarding sedentary people, it is undeniable that by seriously respecting this training system, one can improve one’s general psycho-physical condition. Let’s go into detail.
Fit box and reduction of psychological nervous stress
this activity can significantly help reduce psychological nervous stress. This is primarily due, as with other motor activities, to a basic physiological mechanism; we are talking about the release of endorphins, the same hormones released by eating chocolate or engaging in fulfilling sexual activity.
Secondly, fit boxing also has a purely psychological and rather complex aspect; trying to summarize it briefly:
Fit boxing allows you to physically vent or, more correctly, manifest aggression. It may seem like convoluted reasoning, but absolutely true. In contemporary society, physical violence is gradually becoming taboo. Instead of learning to manage it as an essential component of the psyche and behavior, people tend to repress it, with devastating consequences for their mental and behavioral balance. Fit boxing allows you to maintain a good relationship with your aggression without directing it toward other people.
Taking place in a group, fit boxing has a highly developed social component; this gives a sense of belonging, which is crucial for loyalty and the consolidation of the participation routine.
Fit box and improvement of cardio-vascular and respiratory fitness
From a strictly metabolic standpoint, boxing fitness is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic training. More specifically, this aerobic exercise uses important cardiovascular and respiratory components, where the intensity is increased above the anaerobic threshold, triggering the production of lactic acid. You could say that
Depending on metabolic commitment, lactate production can be modest or significant. Experts in the field define this type of training as “continuous and with variations of pace.”
To further increase the importance of anaerobic effort, the trainer can apply the concept of “Interval Training” (IT), more precisely of “High-Intensity Interval Training ” ( HIIT ), to fit box training. This can be easily achieved by alternating the series with the bag between the partners or by dividing the session into rounds – for example, 3′ each – alternating with passive recovery – for example, 1′. We’ll find out more about what it is later on.
Improvement of specific muscle fitness
Fit boxing improves a large part of muscle fitness, with interest in:
- Shoulders ( deltoids )
- Chest ( pecs )
- Core (set of rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse, paraspinal muscles, quadratuslumborum, pelvic floor muscles, glutes, and hip flexors
- Triceps brachii
- Brachial biceps
- Lower limbs (hamstrings, adductors, abductors, calves, etc.
A sedentary subject which begins to practice fit boxing can immediately notice an increase in general muscle tone (toning), then a slight increase in strength – which, however, does not increase progressively – and finally, an increase in speed of movement and specific resistance – also at speed.
Improved coordination
Fit boxing allows you to train the communication between mind and body, therefore decreasing the time needed to think about a movement, process it, and transmit the impulse. In a sedentary, this translates into an improvement in global coordination skills.
Optimization of weight loss
To avoid spreading easily misunderstanding concepts, we specify that: “the practice of fit boxing allows you to increase caloric expenditure but, in itself, it is not sufficient to lose weight.” Let’s try to be clearer.
Weight loss is given by a higher energy consumption than that introduced with food. The practice of fit boxing contributes to weight loss only if it results in a negative caloric balance [Caloric balance = IN energy – OUT energy]. Unfortunately, this does not happen in all cases because (as it should be) physical movement requires nutrients and consequently increases appetite; in order to lose weight, it is, therefore, necessary to look for the right compromise between training load and appetite satisfaction.
To be honest, if used well, fit boxing is an excellent tool for “rebalancing” body composition – increasing the percentage of lean mass at the expense of fat. Muscles burn calories during movement and, if properly activated, they continue to “use” even during recovery, fueling the basal metabolic rate. This allows you to eat more freely than in a sedentary condition, without too many restrictions, however affecting the excess adipose tissue. Obviously, as we have pointed out, it all depends on the number, duration, and intensity of the workouts, but above all, on what happens during meals.
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