Posts Tagged ‘kickboxing’

5 Benefits of Power Boxing Workouts – Unleash the Power!

Friday, May 12th, 2023
Power boxing workouts man hitting heavy bag

Power Boxing Workouts are a great way to build strength and develop quality striking and self-defense techniques. They’re also a great way to improve cardio, strengthen core muscles, and burn fat.

A power boxing workout will make you feel stronger and more confident when done correctly. Getting stronger, lifting heavier weights, and being able to throw harder can be hugely beneficial for your mental health. Let’s investigate all of the benefits of boxing.

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7 Muay Thai Drills and Strategies For Beginners

Thursday, July 21st, 2022
fighters practicing muay thai drills

I trained in Muay Thai kickboxing for several years in my 20s and 30s and it was nowhere near real Muay Thai fighting, but trust me, it still needed to be taken seriously. The conditioning demands, strength needs, and flexibility all require a few tried and trusted Muay Thai drills as well as solid equipment and a healthy lifestyle including proper nutrition, hydration, and sleep.

Muay Thai is a highly physical activity that is increasingly becoming popular. Regardless of whether you are interested in pursuing it for exercise or want to reach the level of a Muay Thai professional boxer, there are various tips you should beware of before committing.

Let’s take a slightly deeper dive into each of these strategies, which can be used for any sort of self-defense, sport-specific, or obstacle course training.

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How to Choose MMA Gloves

Wednesday, March 28th, 2018

MMA ChickMMA is one of the toughest contact sports and having the right gear is extremely important for both your safety and the people you train with. In mixed martial arts, the main piece of equipment is your gloves. The type of glove you want to buy is dependant on the type of training you want to do since there are many different aspects to mixed martial arts.

In this article we are going to cover some tips and information to pick the best mma gloves for the type of martial arts training you want to do.

#1 – Style

There are a few different types of mma gloves that serve different purposes.
Bag gloves – These gloves as the name suggests are meant for bag training. They are tough and lightweight and are primarily designed for training with the speed bag.

They have a thin knuckle padding and therefore are used with hand wraps. These gloves can be used for hitting either a speed bag or heavy bag.

Training gloves – As the name implies these gloves are used for training and they are quite similar to boxing gloves. Their designs is much like that used for boxing though slightly different. (more…)

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Fighting Fit – 6 Health Benefits of Martial Arts

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017

Martial arts are not just about kicking butt or defending yourself from would-be attackers. There are numerous ways that martial arts practice impacts your physical and mental health. Martial arts can help improve fitness, coordination, self-esteem, discipline, and of course self defense skills. If nothing else, a rigorous kickboxing class is a great cardiovascular addition to your weekly workout schedule.

fitness kickboxing

Here are six ways to improve your life by adding martial arts training to your routine. (more…)

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MMA Training Ideas

Monday, August 10th, 2009

I came across this video, which depicts the type of training I do in my thai kickboxing class and in the MMA class held right after my class. You can use these ideas to create your own conditioning program.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP8z0Ks-2S0

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No Pain No Gain is Still Sometimes True

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Weightlifting HamsterI totally live by the mantra, “No brain, no gain”, because, “No pain, no gain”, is essentially a counterproductive philosophy. It is one in which you could easily end up sick, injured, or worse. On recent occasion though, I have found it necessary to dig back into my, “No pain, no gain”, mindset in thai kickboxing class.

The reason I say this, is because there does indeed seem to be a problem with my lungs. I still think they might be damaged from some blood clots a couple years back. The thing is though, is if I push myself, how much bad can actually come of it?

My lungs could get stronger. They could be forced to repair damaged tissue. Maybe I really am just straight up out of shape. Well no matter, because when I feel like it’s time to throw in the towel and huddle in a corner gasping for breath, I just repeat to myself, “No pain, no gain”, because this is how I will make it through the workout… this is how I will force my body to adapt and get stronger.

Thai Kickboxing

In the last 4 days I have attended 2 kickboxing classes and I have completed 6 sets of 10 pull-ups. Today I am sore. Kickboxing seems to be getting better after my month layoff. I am feeling stronger and faster during each class. I do feel like my lungs are working better sometimes, but then other times I find myself gasping, taking 1/2 breaths. For now I’ll just keep pushing it.

Pull Ups

The 10 reps on pull-ups makes me feel OK. At least I’m not a complete sissy anymore. My general goal is to hit a set of pull-ups each morning and each evening, nearly every day of the week. On each set I will maintain strict form, and will always try to get one more rep than I did previously. Right now I’ve been stuck at 10 reps for a couple days, but I intend to hit an 11 rep set on Mother’s Day.

Soon it shall be time for me to start working towards my 10 week, 300 Workout Challenge goal. Once again, the 300 Workout isn’t something that we do every day. It is more of a training goal. You train your body for conditioning, endurance, and a small amount of strength, then at the end of your 10-12 week session, the 300 Workout is a test that you can use to gauge just how successful your training went.

That’s it for today… bring on Mother’s Day!

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Kickboxing and The 300 Workout

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Yesterday I went to my thai kickboxing class where my lungs were served to me on a silver platter. After taking about a month off from kickboxing, I have lost most of my endurance. Not all that surprisingly, my lungs still don’t really seem to be working properly, as I am able to take only half breaths when my heart rate starts to rise. This is one of the reasons (aside from family and job issues) I started to slack at kickboxing for the last month. I attribute this to one of three things:

  1. My lungs really are damaged from the incorrectly diagnosed blood clots (pulmonary embolisms) I had about 4 years ago. Thanks so much RIT Student Health center for diagnosing me with pneumonia for weeks on end resulting in me almost dying in my apartment, even after you had me get X-rays and an MRI. I wish I could sue them.
  2. I have developed some sort of asthma perhaps?
  3. I am in such horrific physical condition that my lung capacity has regressed to less than 2/3 of what it used to be.

The 300 Workout

My original blog about the 300 workout I will be starting is here: The 300 Workout for Total Body Conditioning. I have not really started this yet, but I am preparing myself.

Pull ups on a treeThis is the tree on which I have been practicing my pull-ups. A couple weeks ago I was only able to get about 5 pull ups in a row, something that I used to be able to do with a 45 lb plate hanging from my waist. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Anyway, I can see in this picture my lack of width and girth, and the decrease in the circumference of my arms. It will be good to get swole again.

Step up benchThis is the bench on which I will be doing step ups and any other exercises that might require a bench. Just to get back into the swing of pressing, I will probably bust out some high rep 45 lb Powerblock presses using this bench like I would an Olympic bench.

The ParkThis is the park in which I will be doing any sort of running or carrying exercises. Any exercise that doesn’t involve a stationary tool of some sort will be done in the park.

PR of the Day

As of today, I am back up to 9 consecutive pull ups without cheating. My goal is to hit 20, something I’ve never done before, but if I practice this all summer and keep my weight down through conditioning drills, I should be able to attain this before next winter.

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Back to Kickboxing and Back to Weights

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Whew, I have been in a major slump due to income worries, work hours, family problems, and basically being WAY too stressed out. Well today I am taking a step forward by getting back into kickboxing after about 2 weeks off. It should be great!

I plan to be very tight and very slow. My lungs will probably feel close to bursting. Lactic acid just might shut my body down, especially if Roger has us doing duck walks. Oh, and my wrist hurts a bit from lugging around a 200 lb air conditioner whilst cleaning out my garage this weekend, so hitting the pads should be sweet!

Basically though, I have to get back into it. Once I go tonight, I will be psyched, and I will look forward to going back on Wednesday too.

How to Get a Workout and a Clean Garage at the Same Time

Follow these five simple rules to turn garage clean-out into the best workout of the month.

  1. Stock your garage with 5 ft long boxes filled with books and clothes.
  2. Keep several 40+ inch TVs in your garage.
  3. Put a 200 lb air conditioner all the way in the back of the garage, knowing full well you will need to hook it up this summer.
  4. Decide to clean the garage out 100% then reorganize everything and put it back.
  5. Don’t ask for help lifting anything! Do it all yourself.

Just remember that no matter how heavy anything is, you must lift with your legs, not with your back. This is key to being able to move the next day. My garage clean-out took all of Saturday and half of Sunday, and when I was finished I still had enough energy to scratch up 3 inches of dirt and lay down seed and fertilizer in half of my back yard and half of my front yard. So how do I feel today? A little sore, but my back, legs, and abs are perfectly healthy.
Steve circa July 2006

Back to Weights?

I dug out my Powerblocks, my ez curl bar, and all my nasty plastic weights during the garage clean-out. The bar is a bit rusty, but the Powerblocks are still nice. I intend to use them, and the rusty free weights, to ease myself back into weightlifting since I am so busy that I can’t really make time for kickboxing and going to the gym. Every time I attempt I do pull-ups lately I am able to add 1 rep. This weekend I knocked off a set of 8, which is up from 6 two weeks ago.

Man, if I could just get serious about the lifting and the dieting, it I could end up looking like I did in summer of 2006. This type of mindset is what Project Swole is all about; if I could just start making more money than I spend on bills every month, I would have much more free time in the morning and the night… I’d be golden.

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