Health Benefits of Karate

Even though you might get a slightly comical and over-the-top idea of karate from movies, karate is actually a great exercise and a very strictly regulated martial art.

What’s more, engaging in vigorous exercise such as karate can have a lot of health benefits for you.

Martial arts masters at We Train Here share some of the most important ways karate can improve your overall health.

Full Body Exercise

Unlike weight lifting or running which only target certain muscle groups and body parts, karate and other similar martial arts are a full-body exercise.

What this means in practical terms is that the workout will engage all of your muscles and body parts throughout the training session.

You can expect your stamina and flexibility to increase significantly as you get better at karate. However, that’s not all. Your muscle tone and strength will also be greatly improved over time.

Weight Loss

Martial arts training sessions are considered highly aerobic exercises. This means that they are ideal for people looking to lose some weight.

However, unlike a diet, martial arts training actually replaces all that fat you will burn with something useful, i.e. muscles.

Even if you are just a beginner, you will start burning a lot of calories. It is estimated that you can burn as much as 500 calories at a regular, intermediate level per an hour-long session.

Self Confidence

At the core of all karate classes is not the physical force and the ability to fight people. Rather, it is a journey to connect the spiritual and physical, to find peace.

That’s why the karate masters are often both philosophers and instructors at the same time. They instill important lessons into their students along with the martial arts.

Most students of martial arts end up claiming that their martial arts training has done more for their self-confidence and mental health than anything, no matter why they originally decided to take up martial arts.

Improved Reflexes

As mentioned before, karate and similar martial arts require your whole body.  In order to act as a cohesive unit, you need to train yourself to be aware of your body and its position in the space around you.

When you master this skill, you will have a lot better reflexes and it will actually transfer into the rest of your life and everyday skills, like driving or keeping balance.

Cardiovascular Health

A lot of people put unnecessary stress on their cardiovascular system by not exercising and eating too much fatty and sugary foods.

However, there is a good way to offset these negative effects, and that is to exercise. However, gyms are not everyone’s idea of fun, so you can always try an alternative, such as martial arts.

With the full body exercise that the martial arts entail, there are few things that are better for your heart and blood vessels.

Mood Improvement

There has been a lot of research linking good exercise and improvement of mood. Simply put, regular exercise has a superbly positive impact on your mood, helping you get rid of everyday frustrations and stress.

Martial arts, on the other hand, not only offer these benefits but have another important advantage. With the mental aspect incorporated in the martial arts training at the base level, you will be able to manage all of your negative emotions much better and more rationally.

Even though martial arts are primarily a fighting technique people use for self-defense, they offer a wide variety of other benefits, including health improvement and stress management.