Monday 30 May 2016

Best Fat Burning Cardio Boxing Workouts

Do you want to burn fat or build your stamina? If your answer is yes, then choosing a good cardio workout is perfect for you. There are various activities such as running, cycling etc. but cardio boxing workout is perhaps more helpful than all other options. In fact, it can help you lose weight quickly. Want to know how you can do cardio boxing exercise for losing weight? Read on to know some best cardio boxing workouts.

How to start?
Before starting proper workout, you need to warm up. Jump rope is a perfect tool to warm up your body. Skipping is a good cardio exercise. It is an excellent way to boost your heart rate and is perfect activity to develop your cardiovascular system. Besides skipping, you can also do other stretching exercises such as pushups to warm up your body.


Best cardio boxing workouts
Here are three best boxing exercises that will help you boost your stamina, strengthen your muscles and burn calories.

Heavy bags: Practicing with heavy bags is an amazing way to strengthen your body muscles and burn extra calories. Punching bag or heavy bag is simply a killer workout routine. Using a heavy bag, you can do more efficient cardio exercise at your home. However, you need to know about the punching techniques to throw punches correctly before starting. These include:
·         Jab – first two punches thrown together
·         Uppercut – a punch that travels along the vertical line at the opponent’s chin
·         Cross – a powerful punch thrown with dominant hand
·         Hook – punch thrown with a full swing turning core muscles and back with either dominant hand or rear hand

Speed bags: Speed bag is another effective tool that can help you in cardio exercise. Unlike heavy bag, speed bag is effective for speed training. But before increasing pace, you need to gain rhythm. This workout increases your heart rate and burns calories to promote weight loss. Best way to benefit from speed bag workout is limiting your breaks between the rounds to only 20 seconds or so.

Sparring: This workout may not be as essential as other boxing workouts are but it is a good cardio workout that helps improve your strength and lose weight. The only thing you need to do is work with a trusted partner and get supervision from an experienced trainer.

Shadow boxing: Shadow boxing is often performed as a warm-up exercise before heavy bag punching. However, shadow boxing itself is an efficient cardio exercise. This workout is done by punching in the air using your reflection in the mirror as opponent. Its purpose is preparing muscles before engaging in any training exercise.

Bottom line
Boxing is very helpful as cardio and is a perfect way to lose weight. It helps burn calories fast and tone and strengthen various body muscles. It also helps develop stamina and is a good way to lower stress as well. Start cardio boxing workout and note the difference.

Friday 27 May 2016

How to strengthen your neck using head harness?

Neck strength is vital to all fighting sports. Whether it’s for taking a punch, resisting a throw or ground fighting, your neck strength is essential to your fight game. You might have seen Anthony Joshua, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather and many more lifting weight using neck or head harness. There are various workouts in which head harness is used and are a great way to strengthen neck muscles. Are you also interested in knowing how you can strengthen your neck using head harness? Keep on reading.


Listed below are some neck strengthening exercises that can be done using head harness.

  • Lying face side head harness neck resistance
It is an effective exercise to strengthen all lateral muscles of the neck – scalene, splenius, clavisternomastoid and semispinal muscles. Here are the steps included in this workout:
·         Begin with lying on your side on a flat bench with shoulder on its edge. Head strap should be fixed on head with chain and weight hanging down. Look straight ahead. Your neck should be parallel to the floor.
·         Slowly incline your head to the shoulder as low as possible.
·         Lift your head up to the same angle and exhale.
·         Repeat the steps several times.

  • Lying face up head harness neck resistance
This exercise will help you strengthen the muscles in the front of your neck. Have a look on the steps for this exercise.
·         Begin with lying on a flat bench with your face up and harness strap fixed on your head. The starting position of your head for this exercise is parallel to the floor.
·         Lift your head to the highest position.
·         Bring your head back to the starting position.
·         Repeat the aforementioned steps for required amount of time.

  • Seated head harness neck resistance
This is perhaps the most intense neck strengthening workout. Have a look on its steps.
·         Sit at the end of the flat bench with your feet opened wider than your shoulder width and toes pointed out.
·         Slowly move your torso forward until it is almost parallel to the floor. Securely position the head harness strap around your head using your hands and place them on your knees. This is the starting position.
·         Slowly move your neck downwards until your chin touches your chest’s upper part while inhaling.
·         Bring your neck to starting position while exhaling.
·         Repeat the steps several times.
There are several neck strengthening exercises and aforementioned were the ideal ones that can be done using head harness.

Thursday 26 May 2016

Everything You Need To Know Before Buying Weightlifting Gloves

Weightlifting gloves are used for protection
Weightlifting gloves is a crucial element when it comes to weight training and lifting heavy weights. These serve special purpose of protecting and giving support to your hands and wrists. You can easily order your weightlifting gloves online, which are available in wide range of designs, sizes, and colors. 


Choosing the right fitness and weightlifting gloves
Lifting weights occasionally is not a problem and you don’t need weightlifting gloves for that. However, if you are a professional or armature athlete or just looking to keep fitness you must carry a pair of weightlifting gloves whenever you are going to gym for exercise. If you ask a fitness coach, he/she will tell you how you must exercise with weightlifting gloves. Without them you will tear up your hands. So choosing a right pair of fitness and weightlifting gloves is extremely important.
Check you exact size of your hands and knuckles. Choose what kind of protection you need. Whether you want gel padding or form padding, leather gloves or vinyl gloves. All these gloves have different features and advantages.

Getting the perfect fit
Your gloves should fit comfortably. Normally new gloves are little bit on the stiff side but with time and usage the gloves with loosen up and will become more comfortable to wear. Make sure when you wear your gloves, there should be no pain or discomfort while wearing them. For this, what you need to do is measure your hands and match measurement with the weightlifting gloves you are going to buy. They should match exactly. 

Fitness and weightlifting gloves features to consider
There are many aspects of weightlifting gloves to consider before buying one. Most important of them are the material used, the design and how they protect and serve the user. Let’s find out what other features you should look for.

Durability, Grip, Flexibility, Breathability, Cushioning and Support
It means how long your gloves going to work for you or keep their shape during training and weightlifting sessions. When it comes to material, weightlifting gloves usually come in three durable materials, which are leather, nylon, and neoprene. Nylon is the best material in terms of durability. They are able to withstand extreme workouts. Durability also depends on factors such as glove maintenance.  You should keep the gloves clean by washing them from time to time.
When buying weightlifting gloves you should also look for a grip. Check if it offers adequate grip as it prevents injury to your hands.

If your weightlifting glove is flexible, it will allow your hands to move freely. The more breathable your glove will keep the gloves fresh and without sweat.
The last thing you want to check for in a weightlifting glove is the cushioning and support for hands and wrists. Look for those gloves that have gel cushioning. Advantage of gloves with heavier cushioning will have better protection but they lack flexibility.