Piloxing is the latest entrant on the fitness scene, and it has all the ingredients of being a hit with the crowd – a fun group activity, an intense workout and full of strong basics. This creative and revolutionary workout is a combination of Pilates, boxing, and dance.

Created in 2009 by Viveca Jensen, a Swedish Fitness Expert, this exercise form has taken the world by storm. Offering the benefits of Pilates, boxing, and dance, all in just one class, it has proved to be popular among women. The Piloxing class is a group workout with pulsating music led by a trained instructor. The official Piloxing class has three variations – Piloxing for beginners, Piloxing Knockout for advanced performance, and Piloxing Barre. The company licenses the program to clubs across the world, and you can attend a Piloxing workout in over 92 countries!

The Basics – Pilates and Boxing

Pilates is a popular workout that works on both the body and the mind. The Pilates workouts are done with a mat and specialized apparatus. There are many benefits of Pilates:

• Develops core strength
• Helps gain muscle strength and flexibility
• Enhances breathing awareness and control
• It’s a low impact exercise that can help in rehabilitating from injuries
• Promotes weight loss
• Improves posture

Boxing, of course, is as old as time! With just a pair of boxing gloves, you are all set to practice the sport. Boxing helps in many ways:

• Increases muscle strength
• Increases fat loss due to after burn
• Improves core strength
• Enhances coordination and body awareness
• Relieves from stress due to physical expression

Any form of exercising is good for the body. There are many benefits to regular exercises, like better weight management, improved cardiovascular health, and increased immunity. Pilates and boxing both impact the muscular strength of the body. While Pilates focuses on stretching and improving the flexibility of the muscles, boxing focuses on building muscle endurance and makes your muscles strong.

Both Pilates and boxing involve the conditioning of the mind. You need to have a high awareness of your body and need to know what it is capable of. Pilates often calms the mind through breathing exercises and slow movements.

Boxing also relieves stress through the act of punching and hitting, which in itself has a therapeutic value! The major difference between the two is in terms of impact. Pilates is exclusively a low impact exercise and focuses on slow and purposeful movements to create a high awareness of the body. This is why it is often used as a part of rehabilitation and recovery processes. Boxing is the exact opposite of Pilates and is an extremely high impact exercise. In fact, it is the high impact of boxing that works towards increasing the endurance levels of the body.

The major difference between the two is in terms of impact. Pilates is exclusively a low impact exercise and focuses on slow and purposeful movements to create a high awareness of the body. This is why it is often used as a part of rehabilitation and recovery processes. Boxing is the exact opposite of Pilates and is an extremely high impact exercise. In fact, it is the high impact of boxing that works towards increasing the endurance levels of the body.

The Innovation – Piloxing

Piloxing has a few characteristics which define its workouts –

• Weighted Gloves – Each of the gloves weigh about 0.5 Pounds and they are meant to increase the intensity of the exercise.
• Group Exercise – The Piloxing class is founded on the concept of community. Several people find motivation and interest in participating in group fitness classes.
• High adrenaline music – Music is strongly integrated into Piloxing and all the exercises are based on the beat.

Piloxing exercises are meant to be high-intensity exercises and have several benefits like:

• High-Calorie Burn – With the high-intensity workout, practitioners are expected to burn about 1200 calories per hour !
• Improvement in cardiovascular health – Piloxing is an aerobic exercise and demands the maximum use of lungs and heart, leading to high endurance and improved health in the long term.
• Increased muscle strength – The mix of Pilates and boxing leads to the strengthening of muscles as well as better flexibility.
• Improvement in Posture and Balance – The movements involved in Piloxing help with balance, posture and flexibility.

Piloxing has gained acceptance from all quarters and is becoming a preferred exercise for women across the world. It’s present in 92 countries and 1.5 million people do Piloxing every day! So, next time you’re looking at a fun way to get fit, give Piloxing a try.

Have you practiced Piloxing? Share your experience with us!