You may think that you’ve tried everything you can to lose weight – increased your fitness, followed a low fat diet and so on, and whilst these things may have benefitted your wellness and wellbeing, they haven’t actually helped you to shed the pounds.
Have you considered taking up a martial art, though? You’ve probably seen someone participate in martial arts and not really thought about the exercise benefits that this type of activity offers. Not only can something like this help you shed weight, it can also improve your mood, help you lose weight and benefit your overall health.
First of all, one of the best benefits associated with martial arts is the boost that it can give to your cardiovascular health. This means, in layman’s terms, that doing a martial art makes your heart healthier. Your cardiovascular system consists of your heart, veins and arteries, and if your cardiovascular system is weak, you can find yourself suffering from shortness of breath, fatigue, weakness and, in severe cases, a heart attack. Research has shown that a martial art is one of the best ways to help improve the health of your cardiovascular system, and should be carried out for around 30 minutes several days a week.
The benefit that you may be most interested in, however, is the weight loss associated with taking part in a martial art. Doing around an hour of moderate intensity martial art can make you burn around 500 calories. A deficit of 500 calories a day leads to you losing a pound a week (at least) and so if you participate in a martial art, you are streets ahead of the game even before you start considering a healthy diet. When combined with a healthy diet, you can be leaner, slimmer and stronger all in one go, within a relatively short space of time.