At some point in everyone’s fitness and weight loss journey they’re likely to hit a plateau. That unfortunate sticking point at which what has been successful for you thus far is no longer successful. Maybe the scale refuses to budge, or you just aren’t burning as many calories for the same amount of work you’ve been putting in or the same activity you’ve been doing which has been so beneficial to you for so long.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make at this point is to dial down your efforts, or simply, give up. The best solution for burning more fat in the gym and effectively crushing a plateau is to try something new. One of the most effective ways to burn fat is to try your hands (and feet, legs, etc.) at some boxing workouts for beginners.
Boxing as a workout is one of the most effective fat burning activities in which you can engage in a gym setting. Considered a high intensity interval training (“HIIT”) workout, boxing for fitness incorporates short, quick periods of hard, intense cardiovascular work, followed by brief periods of recovery. In addition to this HIIT work, you’ll also engage in weight training, core stability, and body weight movements, to help you build muscle and gain a tight and toned core.
If the thought of boxing to burn fat seems intimidating to you, we’ve got three reasons why you should consider it for the best fat burn you’ll ever experience.
Boxing Engages the Total Body
Sure your spin class has a brief “arms” break as you cycle, and you can always run with hand weights on the treadmill, but those activities hardly compare to the total body workout provided by boxing. Leaving no muscle group unworked, boxing utilizes body weight movement and awareness to build muscle and strengthen the core and limbs. From the push and pull movement of delivered and retracted punches that work the chest and back, to the continual twisting and turning demanded of your midsection, you’ll likely leave your first class aware of muscles you didn’t know you had.
And if it’s a perfect Instagram booty you’re searching for, boxing can give you that also. Through kicking, lunging, and squatting, you’ll develop not just your quadriceps, but your glutes and hamstrings, making your posterior chain picture perfect.
When you engage the entire body in your workout, your caloric burn is higher. When your caloric burn is higher, you burn fat more quickly and more effectively than activities that engage only one muscle group, like running or cycling. In fact, you would need to run or cycle longer to burn the same amount of calories as you do by completing a total body workout like boxing.
Boxing Burns Fat Through Aerobic Activity
You know you need to hit that cardio for a healthy heart, but why not kill two birds with one stone and burn fat at the same time? Did you know that simply running or walking for your cardiovascular exercise keeps your heart rate at a continuous, steady rate? While this is great for building endurance, you won’t burn fat as quickly as doing an activity that keeps your heart rate moving up and down like high intensity interval training. When you engage in this type of activity, your body burns fat at a faster rate than it does with static cardio.
Boxing is an excellent way to engage in this type of high intensity training. In a boxing workout for beginners, you’ll engage in short, intense periods of hard work like punching and kicking, followed by brief periods of recovery (where you are still performing exercises, but performing them slower and more steadily) which keeps your heart in a targeted fat burning zone.
Boxing Builds Muscle
It’s no secret that the more muscle we build, the more calories our bodies burn. When we burn fat and build muscle, our bodies become calorie burning machines. In fact, your body is much more efficient at caloric burn when you gain muscle mass than it is when you weigh the exact same amount of weight but have less muscle. This is why two people can weigh the same but have very different caloric intake needs.
Boxing will give you toned and defined muscles that help you burn calories quicker and more efficiently than you ever dreamed possible. Through body weight movement you will build and develop every muscle group in an effective and safe manner, without overtraining the muscles.
Boxing is one of the best ways to burn more fat in the gym and take your workouts to the next level. Fun, engaging, and never dull, boxing can be the catalyst to overcoming a weight loss plateau or simply developing new motivation to push harder in your fitness routine. Boxing is an excellent way to develop muscle tone, strengthen your core, and engage in cardiovascular activity.
