Beginner Kickboxing Classes: A Comprehensive Guide
Kickboxing classes are intense cardio workouts that combine elements of martial arts to help participants build strength, elevate endurance, boost their metabolism and improve overall heart health. By participating in high-energy group kickboxing classes, you’ll build confidence, make friends, and lose weight faster than more traditional aerobic workouts.
What Are Kickboxing Classes?
X3 Kickboxing includes high intensity interval training, or HIIT techniques. These action-packed 60-minute sessions are full of rapid stop-and-go movements, with pivots, kicks and punches dispersed among intentional periods of brief rest. HIIT workouts maximize cardiovascular impact by causing your body to dip into its fat stores in order to amass the energy it needs to accelerate through the next burst.
This method of training makes kickboxing one of the most effective anaerobic activities by helping participants burn more calories than even running during the same amount of time.
Kickboxing classes are among the fastest-growing workouts in Atlanta because they’re designed for people of all fitness and experience levels. YOU control the intensity of your workouts since you control the power that you inflict on your opponent: a 125lb heavy bag.
Kickboxers build strength and confidence while learning foundational self-defense techniques.
What is the difference between Kickboxing and Boxing classes?
Kickboxing and boxing are both considered martial art sports. Both leverage the industry standard heavy bag and practice martial arts techniques. But kickboxing and boxing have a number of key differences.
Kickboxing classes, for example, are intended to be full-body cardio workouts, incorporating kicks, knee and elbow strikes, while boxing focuses mostly on the upper body through mitt drills and shadow boxing. Kickboxing classes are full of group energy and aerobic intensity, whereas boxing focuses on technique and strength to fight effectively.
In boxing classes, you can also compete against an opponent, whereas your primary opponents during kickboxing classes are yourself and an inanimate sandbag. Boxers duck and dodge punches, using their hands and arms to block incoming moves. If you were to compete against someone else in kickboxing, you would need to be prepared for moves coming from both above (punches) and below (legs).
Kickboxing health benefits
- Kickboxing is packed with physical and mental health benefits. During kickboxing classes, you’ll be drenched with sweat as you push past your comfort zone and your heart rate accelerates. Kickboxing combines aspects of both anaerobic and aerobic exercise, lowering your chance of heart disease while building strength and endurance.
- Kickboxing improves lung function and heart health, with research indicating that people who practice kickboxing three times a week for one hour at a time increase their maximum oxygen uptake (also known as VO2max). VO2max measures the amount of oxygen a person can use during physical activity. The higher it is, the more efficiently the body uses oxygen. That means that kickboxing helps athletes feel more at ease in all other activities as their natural heart rate lowers.
- Kickboxing classes are among the fastest-growing workouts in Atlanta because they’re designed for people of all fitness and experience levels. YOU control the intensity of your workouts since you control the power that you inflict on your opponent: a 125lb heavy bag.
- Kickboxers build strength and confidence while learning foundational self-defense techniques.
- Kickboxing naturally improves balance and coordination. With rapid movements requiring carefully placed jabs on heavy bags, you’ll be surprised to see your coordination improve in everyday life. As you pivot around heavy bags and switch your balance from one foot to the other while simultaneously outstretching your arms, you’ll find your overall balance and equilibrium will get better.
- Kickboxing classes are adept at building strength. As your metabolism is put into overdrive and you start to lose weight, your arms, legs and core will all tighten. Your hard work will be rewarded with more toned abs, deltoids, shoulders, gluteals, hamstrings and quadriceps.
Kickboxing for Weight Loss
Kickboxing is a fantastic tool for weight loss, especially when practiced with a regular cadence, whether that be weekly, semi-weekly or every few days.
During HIIT workouts, your body dips into its fat reserves to battle through the workout, elevating your metabolism for hours. When supplemented with well-rounded nutrition, you will burn through excess fat as the calories drip off your body like beads of sweat.
At X3 Sports, we’ve had some first-timers lose as many as 15 pounds in their first month after going all-in on our kickboxing classes. Men and women alike have reported feeling lighter and more toned.
It’s hard to find an exercise that works as many muscles as kickboxing, that raises your heart rate as much as kickboxing, and helps you reach your fitness goals faster. It’s the ideal all-in-one workout to get fit and toned as efficiently as possible, without spending hours per day in the weight room.
Kickboxing To Relieve stress
The health benefits don’t stop there. Kickboxing offers an effective way to relieve stress and boost your overall mental health. Whether you’ve had a bad day or are just feeling sluggish, kickboxing classes will flood your brain with endorphins and you’ll leave class feeling elated. You’ll quite literally shake off the anxiety that has clouded your mind all day.
As an added bonus, all of the exertion will help you fall into a deeper sleep at night, giving your body needed time for regeneration and keeping your mental health in check.
Kickboxing classes are also a great way to make friends with people who similarly enjoy health and fitness. When you build a fitness community, you are far more likely to stay inspired and motivated, to feel a sense of accountability and commitment to your fitness journey, and to feel a sense of belonging, which will help to stave off anxiety.
How to get the most out of your kickboxing workout
To get the most out of your kickboxing classes, we recommend a number of effective strategies. For one, it’s important to fuel your body with the right nutrition before and after workouts. Ahead of the workout, eat complex carbohydrates and high-quality protein. To support muscle repair and help you recover faster, fill your post-workout plate with more carbs, proteins and amino acids that help to restore your body’s depleted glycogen stores.
It’s imperative that you spend ample time stretching before and after class, and that you dedicate time to both warm up and cool down. Each kickboxing class at X3 Sports offers components of that, but you’ll recover faster if you’re doing more of each on your own time. Stretching increases flexibility and muscle elasticity, which will enhance your performance during class and lower your chance of injury.
Whether you’re brand new to kickboxing or have practiced before, we highly encourage you to be open to new experiences, socialize with your classmates, and feel comfortable asking questions.
Arrive to class early to become familiar with the gym and kickboxing equipment. Ask for tips on using the correct form so that you can maximize your effort and practice safely.
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What to look for in a kickboxing gym
The best kickboxing gyms welcome all fitness and experience levels. If you’ve never practiced kickboxing before, make sure you find a gym with beginner classes so that you can learn proper technique and receive entry-level guidance. At X3 Sports, our trainers take time to provide one-on-one instruction and feedback so beginners never feel lost or overwhelmed.
Another great feature of a kickboxing gym is free space to stretch for warm-ups and cool-downs. The most sought-after gyms provide cardio machines and free weights to complement your workout before and after class. Speaking of equipment, X3 Sports certainly doesn’t expect you to show up on Day 1 with all of your own kickboxing equipment. Look for a gym that has a store on-site so that you can buy or rent critical equipment, such as gloves and handwraps, and a world-class staff willing to guide you through the process. At X3 Sports, our industry-standard heavy bags are all hung on racks and ready to go – all you have to do is show up!
By finding kickboxing classes in comfortable, clean and safe gyms, located conveniently to where you live and work, you’ll be more incentivized to keep a regular practice and follow through on your fitness goals.
The best kickboxing classes in Atlanta
With five convenient locations, including two in Atlanta, two in Marietta and one in Athens, X3 Sports offers convenient access to kickboxing in world-class facilities throughout the Metro Atlanta area. X3 Sports was rated the best place for kickboxing in Atlanta because of our high-energy group classes and experienced trainers who build engaging classes.
At X3 Sports, you’ll be welcomed into a community of X3 warriors who are all collaborating to reach their respective health and fitness goals. Now is the time to supercharge your workout routine and to start looking and feeling better. Book your free class today!
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Additional classes to keep you at the top of your game:
BEGINNING BOXING
Burn calories, improve footwork, and increase hand-eye coordination learning "The Sweet Science" from our skilled trainers. Whether your goal is to earn a world championship belt or simply lose few inches off your waist, our boxing class will give you the highest confidence both inside and outside of the ring.
FAST TRACK℠
Fast Track is a unique mixture of cardio and resistance training that utilizes sports training exercises to help you lose weight, tone muscle and improve your coordination. As an alternative to outdoor boot camp classes, Fast TrackSM gets results, whether you have fitness goals or want to increase your sports performance.
WEIGHT TRAINING
Power TrackSM is an instructor-led, weight-training group class developed by X3 Sports. Using a variety of exercises derived from three basic lifts—bench press, squat, and deadlift—certified strength conditioning instructors closely supervise you to ensure correct form and technique. This class promotes muscle confusion and cognition, which aids in losing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass.
ADVANCED BOXING
When you're ready to up your game, our advanced boxing classes help you boost speed, eye-hand coordination, endurance, and more. Our experienced trainers have the skills to take you to the next level.
BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU
Whether you're looking for the best system of self-defense, wanting a challenging way to stay active, or hold aspirations of competition, our world-class professors welcome all beginners through black belts onto the mats.
MMA
X3 Sports MMA classes will teach you MMA fundamentals and combined techniques. If you're a beginner, you'll learn the basics of striking, submissions, and wrestling—and how to blend them all together. When you're ready for more advanced moves, our world-class trainers will help you improve your skills. They can even train you to become a professional fighter.
YOGA
Yoga is a great way to balance your workout routine. X3 Sports Yoga classes will help you increase flexibility, tone muscles, reduce stress, increase core strength and stability, and develop better focus.
Youth Martial Arts
Kids and Teens in our X3 Sports youth programs learn discipline and fundamental techniques from experienced coaches. Our class-based training provides a positive outlet and increases focus, discipline, and school performance.
PERSONAL TRAINING
Personal training sessions can be one-on-one, or within a small group. You are able to specify your training based on your goals, or focus on progressing in any of our classes offered.
Servicing Areas: Atlanta, Buckhead, Brookhaven, Inman Park, Old Fourth Ward, Grant Park, Piedmont Park, Decatur, Midtown, West Midtown, Marietta, Kennesaw, Acworth, Smyrna, Mableton, East Cobb, Vinings, and surrounding Atlanta.
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