Losing 20 pounds via kickboxing means completing enough kickboxing workouts to burn the 70,000 calories that make up 20 pounds of fat. On the surface, this may seem like a simple exercise of math. However, counting calories is not an exact science. It's an art of estimation, and losing those 20 pounds on schedule will require you to keep a close eye on your progress. This will allow you to make necessary adjustments to your efforts.
Step 1
Weigh yourself. Many kickboxing schools, because of the weight classes in kickboxing competition, keep a medical scale on site. It doesn't matter if you use your bathroom scale or the medical scale, as long as you weigh in on the same scale every time you do so.
Step 2
Use your bodyweight to look up how many calories you will burn in an hour of kickboxing. For example, health resource website NutriStrategy notes that a 155-pound person will burn about 700 calories in an hour of kickboxing. A 205-pound person will burn about 930.
Step 3
Divide 70,000 by the number of calories you burn in an hour of kickboxing. Round the result up to the nearest whole number. This is the number of hours of kickboxing workouts you will have to do in order to burn 20 pounds worth of calories.
Step 4
Set a goal for how quickly you want to lose the 20 pounds. According to Melinda Smith, M.A., and her colleagues, writing for HelpGuide.org, one to two pounds per week is the fastest rate for safe and sustainable weight loss. This sets your optimum time frame at 10 to 20 weeks.
Step 5
Divide the number of kickboxing sessions you need by the number of weeks you've given yourself to lose the weight. Schedule classes at a local kickboxing school, or workouts on your own equipment, accordingly.
Step 6
Focus on endurance exercises and skills training during your kickboxing workouts. Competitive practice and limb conditioning drills are good for combative applications and getting ready for a bout, but they risk injury without burning more calories than other activities. They can derail your weight-loss progress with no extra value.
Step 7
Weigh yourself every week, preferably on the same day and at the same time of day. Compare your weight-loss progress to your plan. Adjust how often -- or how intensely -- you conduct your kickboxing workouts accordingly.
Posted in: Lose Pounds