Practice Tae Bo to Combine Martial Arts and Boxing

4 minutes

Tae Bo is a discipline that combines Taekwondo kicks and postures with boxing punches. If you want to practice Tae Bo, you'll add music and choreography to create a fun cardio workout!

Practice Tae Bo to Combine Martial Arts and Boxing

Last update: 24 April, 2020

Tae Bo is a discipline with three decades of history and wildly popular thanks to its multiple benefits. Basically, it combines boxing with Taekwondo and the classes are quite intense. Keep reading to find out more about this exercise and decide if you’d like to practice Tae Bo too.

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What is Tae Bo?

As its name implies, Tae Bo is a combination of two well-known contact sports: Taekwondo and boxing. It was developed by former karate champion Billy Blanks in the 1990s, and it uses music and choreography to develop techniques from both disciplines.

The class consists of hitting with the closed fist in the air and kicking as in martial arts, always following the rhythm of the music and the choreography indicated by the instructor.

The Tae Bo isn’t a sport to teach you how to fight since it only emulates the punches and kicks of both sports.

When you practice Tae Bo, you don’t practice throws, pinning opponents on the ground or holds, because you practice Tae Bo in front of a mirror and all the participants look in the same direction. In fact, you’ll not have physical contact with opponents when you practice Tae Bo as you would if you practiced boxing or taekwondo.

Why you should practice Tae Bo

Tae Bo sessions last approximately 50 minutes and, to enjoy all its benefits, it’s recommended to attend at least two classes per week. The main advantages of this discipline are:

1. Tae Bo tones the body

If you know that boxing is one of the most complete sports and that taekwondo allows you to tone your arms and legs, the reasons to practice Tae Bo are plain to see. You can tone all your muscles with three one-hour sessions per week.

Boxing punches and taekwondo kicks to the rhythm of the music make for an extremely demanding exercise practice tae bo

In addition, the good thing about Tae Bo is that you can exercise both your lower and upper body. In fact, you’ll mainly tone and strengthen your arms, abs, glutes, and legs.

2. Burns calories

Tae Bo is one of the best ways to lose weight since it’s a cardio exercise rather than a strength-training one. A one-hour class is estimated to burn around 500 calories.

Therefore, it’s an ideal workout if you’re looking to lose weight. Keep in mind that you must combine it with a balanced diet to achieve the results you want.

3. It’s fun

Hitting and kicking to the beat of the music and surrounded by colleagues can be the activity you needed to say goodbye to stress and temporarily forget about problems. Many use Tae Bo classes to ‘discharge’ stress built up from work. Therefore, it’s recommended as an anti-stress technique.

4. Tae Bo can help you improve your posture

In order to throw punches (even in the air), you have to keep your back straight and your arms stretched out straight. If you practice Tae Bo several times a week, your spine will “straighten out,” not only during class but also in other daily activities.

In turn, Tae Bo has the ability to improve your flexibility, elasticity, coordination, and balance. This is because it requires movements such as lifting one of your legs in the air while you keep your body tilted to the side.

5. Tae Bo is good for the mind

As a first step, you need a lot of concentration in order to practice Tae Bo. Otherwise, you won’t be able to follow the steps or comply with the appropriate techniques.

In addition, Tae Bo is also good for your mind, as with all martial arts in general. Why? For many reasons, including the fact that it helps you to focus on your body. Ultimately, your body is your only opponent and for this reason, you must rely on yourself to improve.

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6. Tae Bo strengthens the immune system

One of the benefits of exercise in general and Tae Bo, in particular, is that it serves to strengthen the immune system. If you’re getting sick often (especially when winter comes), it’s a good idea to practice this type of cardiovascular exercise.

Tae bo is an exercise that can be done by people of all fitness levels practice tae bo

7. Increased physical resistance

When you practice Tae Bo, you improve your breathing and also strengthen your cardiovascular system, so you’ll improve your endurance or physical resistance. Therefore, if you have to run to catch the bus, climb the stairs, or even play with your children, Tae Bo will help you to achieve these things more easily.

Don’t hesitate to try out this sport! So, enjoy a Tae Bo class without feeling embarrassed or afraid. You can go at your own pace so don’t worry about anything else. There are so many benefits to this sport that you shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it!