What is non-contact boxing and why is it beneficial for your health?

For a few years, the boxing has re-entered Spanish gyms conquering a very wide audience. Men and women of all ages unleash their fists seeking benefits for their health, ranging from reduce stress and anxiety to burn calories through high-intensity training in which arm and leg movements are combined.

In recent years, it has become popular non contact boxinga form in which you do not have to face an opponent and, therefore, do not receive blows and there is no risk of head injury.

Unlike traditional boxing, in this hits a sack generally following the instructions of a teacher who will be the one to mark the series of boxing movements and choreographed with music in a similar way to an aerobics class. The moves include a combination of punches, smaller punches; squats and short, quick steps back and forth. The other type of exercise class involves strength training, stretching, and hitting the bag.

Linda Arslaniandirector of rehabilitation services at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, says: “This type of boxing has many health benefits, because it constantly requires you to think, change positions and change postures,” she says.

As published Harvard Health Publishing, “Aerobic exercise gets the heart pumping and helps reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It can strengthen bones and muscles, burn more calories, and improve mood. Aerobics can also increase endurance, which helps to climb a flight of stairs or walk longer.”

Benefits for Parkinson’s

A team from the Perron Institute and Edith Cowan University developed a high-intensity exercise program using non-contact boxing for people with Parkinson’s disease.

The study was the first to use continuous heart rate monitoring and ratified effort scales used by sports scientists. Training included quantifiable balance and movement exercises, high-intensity aerobic bursts, and striking sequences using a Fightmaster training machine.

Clinical Professor David Blacker, medical director and consultant neurologist at the Perron Institute, who led the study, said: “The boxing movesfootwork and balance are excellent for Parkinson’s, because the postures and movements required are almost exactly the opposite of what occurs in this disease,’ said Professor Blacker.