Fitness

By Kayla Roberts, green belt, CTI BBC Member

Most of us have heard about the obesity epidemic in America and other western countries such as Canada and Britain. It's hard to miss health related headlines linking the rise of overweight and obesity with increased rates of heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other respiratory illness, cancers, and many more horrible afflictions. We see tons of information about the effectiveness of diets and exercise and the disastrous effects of increased sugar, fat, and caffeine consumption.

The average American lifestyle is generally unhealthy and getting worse. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average American ate 20% more calories in 2000 than they did in 1983 with these calories mainly coming from increased consumption of meats and added fats. At the same time, America experienced the fast food boom that ultimately resulted in fast food taking up 11% of our diets. This is before you add in the more recent effect of increased soda and energy drink consumption.

Health organizations and doctors will recommend a healthy diet and exercise to combat overweight and obesity. For exercise, one of the best high calorie, high fat burning exercises is Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo. In a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, researchers found that a 160 pound person will burn an average 730 calories per hour in a Taekwondo class. That's at least 200 more calories burned than the average hour-long run. It’s also a full body workout meaning you’ll burn fat in every part of your body, including problem areas, not just the stomach.

Taekwondo can help people maintain their diets. Classes don't just focus on physical exercise, they also teach self-discipline and self-confidence. These three areas build on each other to teach students the skills they need to make healthy changes and build good habits. Habit building is where most people fail when trying to lose weight and to keep that weight off. This why fad diets will fail every time. Fad diet programs target very fast weight loss but never allow for a well-rounded, nutritional lifestyle that will result in weight maintenance. Learning self-discipline is critical to keeping weight at a healthy level and MSK Taekwondo does a far better job at teaching the skills needed to meet long term, healthy goals.

The community in a Colorado Taekwondo Institute class is incredibly supportive which makes this whole journey that much easier. Between the amazing community and new, lasting skills, maintaining a healthy weight will be far more attainable for most than with the classic magazine diet and gym membership. Students will also have the bonus of learning valuable self-defense skills not available through other courses.