Boxing: 6 reasons why more women need to follow Zarika’s footsteps

Photo [Courtesy]

Boxing for women is really taking off on Kenya. We have seen some young women pick up gloves after the former champion Conjestina Achieng lit the way sometime back.

She was followed closely by the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) World Super Bantamweight champion Fatuma Zarika who is now the keeper of the Kenyan boxing flame after Conjestina’s health issues which prompted her to step back from the spotlight.

Zarika retained her title on Saturday after beating Catherine Phiri of Zambia in a super fight that was decided by unanimous points decision at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).

Despite Zarika’s success, some of our women are still intimidated by the idea of boxing. This is probably because of the emergence of the ‘slay queen’ idea in most of our young women.

The ladies tend to go for beauty and tenderness rather than strength. The idea of bulky arms, muscular body and facial bruises isn’t a thing for our girls.

But hey! Why not just practice some boxing even if you are not interested in taking to the ring?

Boxing training is something every woman should consider here in Kenya. This is because, apart from toning your body, the punching exercise has a lot of benefits that could benefit our women especially those struggling with tummy fats.

Below are some boxing practice benefits as researched by Game Yetu.

1)Makes you a super fit Woman

A boxing workout makes a fit woman. But serious exercising takes more than just running around and hoping for great fitness levels.

The endurance of a 10 round fight shown by Zarika doesn’t just find you sited at home or on a dinner date somewhere in town. It needs much practice to keep your muscles strong and oxygenated.

2)A healthy heart

Every sport needs a strong heart to sufficiently pump blood to every corner of the body.

For those who witnessed Saturday’s fight, there was sweat and toil in the 10 round battle.

That requires oxygen which is carried by the blood that is run by the heart.

While we all exercise to look physically fit, we need to stop looking in the mirror and focus on the real benefit of exercise, ‘a strong Heart’.

3)Fat burning

Visceral fat is of particular concern for our women. Most of them struggle with tummy fats and are embarrassed about them but they just don’t know what to do to get rid of them. Follow Zarika to the gym and you will find out how they go away.

4)A strong woman

Speed and endurance, that’s what our Champion showed on Saturday night. Boxing is the perfect exercise for achieving those two things.

5)Stress reliever

The SportPesa video that was meant to promote the fight, we could see how Zarika used Boxing to beat all the odds and rise to world championship. For the women who already have a stable income, you can use boxing exercise just to take your mind off day to day stress but for those trying to make it in life, you could be the next Zarika.

6)It is an incredible way to tone up

The netizens lit up social media prior to the Saturday night fight thanks to Zarika’s ‘Sixpack’ on display during the weighing exercise. But ladies, that doesn’t come easy.

Boxing being a repetitive workout, it does a lot of toning rather than building bulky muscles that are hated by most of our ladies.