#4: Taekwondo: Scientifically Proven To Kick Obesity’s Ass
The knowledge that regular exercise is good for you is not exactly big news. But Taekwondo (TKD), a study found, has been shown to go the extra mile.
Exercise alleviates the ‘oxidative stress’ that causes inflammation and weight gain. And while the available science has given us a plethora of training styles, not many research papers have paid much attention to TKD.
Come 2020, a group of researchers randomly assigned 20 overweight adolescents to one of two groups:
a control group (these guys did nothing)
a TKD group (these guys trained TKD five times per week for 16 weeks).
What Were The Findings?
After a 4 month period, the authors recorded the following results in all adolescents within the TKD group:
Reductions in weight and Body Mass Index (BMI; that is the weight in relation to one’s height).
Greater muscular strength in the legs.
Greater sit-and-reach flexibility.
Greater explosive power.
Massive reductions in inflammatory markers.
But What Was The Training Like?
Training TKD five-times-per-week may sound like arduous. But in truth, the training wasn’t as grueling as you may think.
Subjects in the TKD-training group performed the following in a 1-hour session:
warm-up stretching (5 minutes)
basic fitness stretching; such as push ups, shuttle runs, sit-ups, burpees and jumps (10 minutes)
TKD basics; basic punches and stances (15 minutes)
poomsae training; the kids were taught the ‘patterns’ of taekwondo (10 minutes)
TKD kicking; kicking on pads (10 minutes)
TKD gymnastics; taekwondo motion to music (10 minutes)
cool-down stretch (5 minutes).
Weight-Loss Came Without Any Changes In Diet
Kids in the TKD group went from an average of 58.3kg to 55.9kg.
It’s also worth noting that the participants of this study increased their muscle mass too, which means that the weight loss on the scale may not even reflect the true extent of fat loss within these young martial artists.
Weight loss aside, leg strength, sit-and-reach flexibility, and the ‘Sargent jump’ (a test of muscular power) measurements all improved.
Train Taekwondo Under The Watchful Eye Of ITL Coaches
TKD is the perfect example of the activity a human being was destined to perform. Short-duration, sprint-based activity with a need for power (just like what you need to chase-down and kill an animal in the wild).
It is not only effective for improving physical health but also for emotional and social well being, cognitive function and even serves as social-emotional conditioning to kids and adults alike.
Structured neatly, and in a graded format, the sport has all the key ingredients you need to draw out some serious health gains that don’t just stop with weight management.
But if weight-management is your goal, then waste no time and get in touch with the Iron Taekwondo League now. Why? Well because the ITL boasts the highest-achieving and best-qualified coaches to help you meet your goals.
