The Benefits of Kickboxing
Since I’ve been back in Bali I have been indulging in one of my favourite hobbies - kickboxing. As fate would have it, one evening I came across a training session at my gym in Canggu headed by Nikolay Golovko, a Ukrainian professional kick boxer and coach to the likes of supermodel Yuliana Dementyeva and socialite influencer Sasha Kiperman. Nik and I bonded over a quick session where he showed me how to do things “properly”. “If you punch like that they’ll break your arm”, “If you don’t guard your jaw with your other hand like this, they’ll smash it to pieces” .. clearly no-nonsense MY kind of guy.
Over the next few weeks Nik and I would meet at the gym and on the beach and he would train me in that hardcore Ukrainian ‘just do it’, kind of style, which I loved. We became fast friends, sharing acai bowls over breakfast at Vida Cafe and doing fun shoots of our progress in the early hours of the morning at Berawa beach. Just before the lockdown he left to go back to Kiev to continue training his athletes and models.
And I went back to beating the bag at the gym with a head full of epic memories of our Million Dollar Baby days.
I highly recommend kickboxing to anyone who wishes to learn a really physical, empowering combat sport and/or just tone up their physique, because it does absolute wonders for the body.
The benefits of Kickboxing include:
rapid calorie burn (kickboxing has been known to burn 700-900 calories an hour)
whole body toning (kickboxing engages all the muscle groups in your body)
improves your core power (trims your waist and strengthens back muscles)
valuable self defence training (for those late night walks down dark alleys)
a great outlet for aggression and stress (kickboxing makes for great physical therapy)
fantastic confidence builder (makes you stronger, faster and more agile)
increases flexibility and balance (you’ll be impressed how high and precise your kicks will land with a little training)
it’s great cardiovascular exercise (this workout has your whole system pumping)
teaches respect and discipline (in martial arts and kickboxing you answer to the master of the class without questions asked)
increases focus and concentration (like any combat sport, kickboxing sharpens your senses and forces you to be on guard)
increases endurance (it’s a whole body workout, and the more you push yourself, the longer and stronger you will last)