Outside of my pregnancy years, when my workout schedule was sadly sporadic, I have been pretty consistent in staying active. I was a casual jogger in my college years, took Tae Kwon Do classes and mixed in aerobics whenever possible. Like everyone else, I eventually joined a gym and worked out as regularly as I could. My husband and I also used to play tennis as often as we could in the summer until we had our first child. I started running again about three years ago, this time more intentionally, keeping a pretty consistent running schedule. This is the problem though…I got bored. I know many people would disagree with me, but I personally find running a little boring. Not that I’ll be giving up running completely but I needed to mix things up. I had heard about kickboxing thru some friends and decided to give it a try towards the end of last summer. It’s been about 8 months now and I still love it! Let me tell you the reasons why kickboxing is my workout of the moment.

#1 – It provides great cardio conditioning.
Every kickboxing class starts with a 15-minute high-impact cardio warm-up. Seriously, at least in the beginning, I was about ready to go home after those 15 minutes. They keep your heart pumping throughout the one-hour session. In between rounds of punching and kicking, they add in jumping jacks, jump squats, lunges, jumproping, etc. There is actually no downtime unless you choose to take a break. The best part is that they claim that kickboxing can burn up to 900 calories per hour.

#2 – It works out your entire body.
The 15-minute cardio is followed by 8 rounds of boxing and/or kickboxing against a punching bag while the last 15 minutes are dedicated to working your core. This combination works for me. I feel like I’m getting a well-rounded workout in the one hour session.

#3 – It provides muscle toning and strength building.
If done right, kickboxing engages all muscle groups in your body, starting with the arms and shoulders, to your core and down to your legs. You’re not only toning your arms and legs with the punches and kicks but also strengthening your core by rotating, bending, twisting, pivoting and balancing.

#4 – It relieves stress.
Punching that bag as hard as you can be extremely therapeutical. You can vent all your frustrations on that poor punching bag, that’s what it’s for! My friend, who comes to kickboxing with her husband, calls it marriage therapy.

#5 – It’s challenging.
There is always something you can work on or improve on in kickboxing, especially if you opt to have one-on-one training sessions. You can always work on technique, speed, agility, balance, endurance, etc. You’ll never get bored.

#6 – It’s fun.
Kickboxing can be a lot of fun, especially if you have a good trainer. You have music pumping in the background with the trainer constantly motivating you. You have others around you motivating you and challenging you to do better. There is constant stimulation throughout the one-hour session.

The one thing I’ve noticed at the end of every kickboxing session is that every single person in the class is drenched in sweat. I’m not exaggerating. And when you sweat that much, you really need to find ways to keep hydrated. I know water is important, believe me, I’ve gotten many lectures about that from my doctor and family. But I gotta be honest, I just don’t like water. I need a little flavor in my drink. Sports drinks have been my beverage of choice after a workout. So when BODYARMOR approached me about trying their product, which they described as a healthy alternative to traditional sports drinks, I was totally game.

BODYARMOR SuperDrink™ comes in 7 different flavors and is currently available at major retail stores like Meijer, Kroger and Target. The thing that impressed me the most about BODYARMOR was the fact that it’s all natural. It uses sugar cane as its sweetener and contains coconut water. It’s high in potassium, low in sodium and provides many other vitamins. I know what you’re thinking, with all that good stuff in there, it just can’t taste good. Well, you’d be wrong. I tried several of the flavors along with my daughters and let me just say, my daughters were fighting over them. Because of its health benefits, BODYARMOR is the perfect drink for both adults and children.

And guess what? You have a chance to try these yummy drinks for yourself! We are offering you a chance to win two cases of BODYARMOR all-natural premium sports drinks. All you have to do is enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter below.

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The drinks were provided by BODYARMOR for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

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