Taekwondo is one of the most popular martial arts in the whole world. Many people take up this martial art to teach discipline, focus, and self-defense, but it’s good to learn for many other reasons.
One of the great benefits of Taekwondo is it’s great for fitness and exercise. Because it’s such an active martial, if it’s practiced regularly, you will start to see positive changes in your body in no time at all.
In this article, we’ll be going over some ways that Taekwondo can benefit your fitness. Read on to find out all you need to know.
Aids In Weight Loss
If you’re looking for a way to lose weight while also keeping fit, Taekwondo is a great way you can achieve losing weight.
To lose weight, you need to be burning more calories than you are consuming, so you need to do high-energy exercise and this is why Taekwondo is a great choice for weight loss .
If you choose Taekwondo as your main form of exercise to lose weight, it’s important that you adopt a healthy and balanced diet as this is a beneficial step in losing weight.
Taekwondo is a martial art that involves a lot of jumping, kicking, running, and punching.
When you’re constantly moving, your metabolism is boosted and as you train more, your metabolism will improve further, making it easier for you to lose weight. You have to be consistent in your training to see results, though.
Muscle And Body Flexibility
Another great fitness benefit of Taekwondo is it greatly improves and increases your muscle and body flexibility.
If you’re really interested in sports, the flexibility you gain from Taekwondo can be transferred to them.
There are lots of sports that require a huge amount of muscle and body flexibility and without them, you can’t really perform these sports effectively.
In Taekwondo, one of the most important parts of the session is stretching. In a class, your trainer will usually get you to stretch before and after, and this is how your flexibility improves.
Stretching also helps you in the long term to avoid injuries and setbacks, allowing you to train harder and longer.
Improves Heart Health
You might be surprised to learn that Taekwondo is great for your heart. Though it’s not typically considered a form of cardio exercise, it has a lot of benefits for cardiovascular health.
The training and practice that comes with Taekwondo are where the benefits come from. Some of the cardio exercises you’ll do if you’re training in Taekwondo are running laps, circuit training, drills, and jump rope.
It is important to keep your heart as healthy as you possibly can. Working on your heart health can increase your life span and just generally keep you in a healthier position overall.
Bone Mass Density
This is one of the fitness benefits you may overlook, but healthy bone mass density is very beneficial.
It helps build up a variety of things including storing calcium, providing protection for your organs, providing structure, and creating anchored muscles.
For successful bone building, you need to do weight-bearing exercises. Luckily, Taekwondo provides you with a lot of them.
Some of the weight-bearing exercises you’ll do in Taekwondo include kicking, landing, pushing off with your arms, jumping, and punching.
Strengthens Muscles
If the type of fitness you’re looking to work on is strengthening and toning your muscles, then Taekwondo is extremely good for this.
In a standard Taekwondo class, there will be a lot of muscle and strength-building exercises you have to do. You will do exercises like circuit training, grappling, high-energy kicking, and punching.
The great thing about Taekwondo is that you will have the opportunity to work on lots of different parts of your body, so if you want to work on certain muscles, there are certain exercises that will be best for them.
Though it isn’t a standard with all Taekwondo trainers, some will add extra training exercises to their class to help you build and strengthen your muscles.
Below are some exercises that may be implemented in your Taekwondo training.
Chest dips, pull-ups, bench presses, dumbbell flies, and bicep curls are all great for strengthening and toning your back and arm muscles.
Sit-ups, leg raises, bicycle crunches, and planks are all great for a stronger and more toned core.
Leg lifts, squats, lunges, calf raises, and lateral jumps are all great for strengthening and toning your leg muscles.
Great For Mental Health
Although it’s not physical fitness, you should know that Taekwondo is absolutely beneficial to your mental health too.
Taekwondo (see also? Can I Teach Myself Taekwondo? [Basic Moves]?) is all about discipline and it teaches you how to set goals, focus and manage your stress.
The beauty of these skills is they are transferable to everyday life, not just when you’re training. If you can learn how to use these skills in your training, you can easily transfer them to real-life, everyday situations.
Taekwondo is also great for your mental health because it boosts your serotonin and puts you in an overall better mindset.
If you suffer from anxiety or depression or any other mental illness that affects your serotonin levels, you may want to give Taekwondo a go.
Exercise, in general, is great for boosting mental health and putting you in a positive mindset.
With Taekwondo, you can work on your mental health while also vastly improving your physical health too. If you’re working on both your mental and physical well-being, you will keep yourself in an overall positive place.
Conclusion
So with all that has been said here, yes, Taekwondo is good for fitness. It is beneficial in so many ways, and can help you get yourself in a better place, not just physically, but mentally too.
If you’re considering taking up Taekwondo to improve your fitness but you’ve been a bit on the fence about it, this is your sign to do it! Think of how beneficial it will be just a few months down the road and how much better you will feel!
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