Weight loss is a numbers game, and the math is pretty simple: burn more calories than you consume each day, and little by little, you will achieve weight loss. This process is called a caloric deficit and it forces your body to tap into its fat reserves for energy.
Eating less is one way to achieve a calorie deficit, but it’s not easy. Most people are unable to sustain a strict diet long enough to get to their ideal weight, let alone maintain it for a lifetime.
Weight loss is much easier to achieve when you add regular exercise to your day. The trick is to find an exercise that you enjoy doing. When you look forward to an activity, it makes it a lot easier to commit to it and keep going, even after you achieve your weight loss goals.
Life keeps us busy, so what you want is an activity that will burn through the most calories in the short time you have available for exercise.
Different exercises burn off calories at different rates, so when you are looking for an intense workout that burns calories fast, a boxing workout should be high on your list. Each one-hour session of boxing will shred through around 800 calories, which is more than you can achieve lifting weights, running, or swimming.
Boxing can deliver many other health and fitness advantages, so here are seven more reasons why you should consider boxing for weight loss.
How Can Boxing Help You Lose Weight?
Now that you know you need a regular exercise routine to improve your weight loss efforts, here’s why we think boxing is a great choice.
1. It Helps you Achieve a Caloric Deficit
Getting your body into a calorie deficit through diet alone is difficult, and you are likely to give up before seeing results. Add in a few rounds of boxing each week, and you will find you can achieve your weight goals in less time without starving yourself.
For example, let’s say you want to keep your calories to less than 2,000 a day. On the day you do an hour of boxing, you can eat up to 2,800 calories and still maintain a slight deficit.
In short, restrictive diets that have you eating foods you don’t like or that keep you hungry are not necessary when you box for weight loss.
2. You Engage All of Your Muscle Groups
The muscles are made up of two different types of fibres: fast-twitch and slow-twitch. Fast-twitch muscles activate when you make rapid, powerful movements. They consume a lot of energy fast but quickly tire and need regular breaks.
Many forms of exercise focus more on the slow-twitch muscles which use energy evenly but slowly. Boxing relies a lot on carbohydrate-burning fast-twitch muscles. However, some parts of your training will activate the slow-twitch muscles to achieve a more well-rounded exercise routine that will keep your body burning energy long after your session has ended.
As you already know, different exercises burn calories at different rates. The heavy punching bag is a particularly vigorous routine that can burn off almost 1,000 calories in just 20 minutes.
Intense activity supercharges your metabolism, which stays elevated long after training. A fast metabolism means you are burning off even more of your fat stores while doing regular things.
3. Increase Your Endurance
Repeatedly working your fast-twitch muscles increases your lactic acid threshold. As you gain more boxing experience you will find you are able to work out for longer periods without tiring as quickly.
The metabolic function of the cells is significantly improved so they can more efficiently convert glycogen into energy. A more efficient metabolism combined with a healthy diet reduces fat production in your body.
4. Reduced Risk of Disease
Carrying excess weight around your belly increases the risk of obesity-related diseases. Excess belly fat is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer. The high-intensity nature of boxing will quickly reduce belly fat volume and the risks associated with it.
5. Boxing Builds Lean Muscle
Boxing is excellent for increasing cardiovascular health because it increases your heart rate for an extended period of time, which strengthens this most important muscle.
Not only is it a vigorous workout, but it also builds muscle and tones your body. You won’t get a bodybuilder’s physique with boxing unless you train for it but adding some muscle mass is helpful for weight loss because it speeds up your metabolism.
When your metabolism is at full throttle, you will burn more calories even when resting. Considering the body uses almost 70% of its energy while stationary, a boosted resting metabolism is a significant advantage to weight loss.
6. You Get a Full Body Workout
Boxing well takes strength and endurance, so it’s not just about learning to throw punches. The nature of a boxing workout means vigorous footwork, weaving, ducking, bobbing, and many more different combinations, giving your entire body a thorough workout.
You will also use a wide variety of routines to build strength and endurance such as rope skipping, running, and strength-building bodyweight exercises. These are all excellent activities to get the heart pumping and turn your body into a fat-burning furnace.
7. It’s a lot of Fun
One of the biggest reasons people fail at losing weight is their ability to maintain healthy new habits. Very few people look forward to pounding the pavement on a cold morning or churning out 50 laps in the pool day after day.
Boxing mixes up your routines to keep it interesting. Boxing for fitness is usually a group effort, so there is also a valuable social component that keeps you looking forward to your sessions rather than dreading them. In short, boxing is a fun activity you can enjoy with friends or make new ones along the way to a fitter, healthier you.
Are you tired of bouncing from one diet to the next with nothing to show for your efforts? If you’d like to learn more about why boxing is good for weight loss and how it can put your beer belly down for the count, call today or stop by for a chat.