I have to be honest that I often forget about cardio kickboxing workouts as I tend to lean towards traditional strength and/or HIIT in my personal workouts. However, I am always pleasantly reminded of how challenging and how much fun cardio kickboxing can be.  Not only is it a nice mental exercise of trying to remember the movement combinations (especially as you get tired) but it targets your muscles in such a unique way, that traditional cardio and strength training just don’t quite match.

This is always a good reminder of why it is important to train in a multitude of different styles. By constantly challenging yourself with different movements, pace, intervals, and intensity you not only make sure that your body can handle whatever life throws at it but it can also help you to avoid injury, and even burn more calories during your exercise sessions. It is doubly important to not shy away from a style of exercise just because you don’t like it especially if you don’t like it because, it makes you feel like you are struggling, uncoordinated, weak or silly.  I can not tell you the number of times that I have had clients over the years fight me on trying new exercises because they are too focused on thinking they look weird doing it or they don’t think they are good at it. Those are the exact styles of training you need to do not only for the mental benefit of learning something new but for the physical benefit of filling in holes that your current training might be lacking. Did you know that some NFL teams have their players do ballet and pilates training to improve their agility and control? Long story short if it improves your health, physical ability, or mind body connection don’t shy away from it, challenge yourself with it, learn from it, take the parts that help you improve and ignore the parts that don’t.

In this particular workout we will be using cardio kickboxing to challenge your muscle endurance, speed and control, especially focusing on the upper body and core but also taxing the lower body’s supporting-muscles ability to maintain balance with your constantly changing center of gravity.  This on top of adding in specific core sections to really exhaust those trunk muscles, builds a routine that is sure to please both in calorie burn and in improving your physical fitness.

In this workout we will do a quick warm up followed by 4 groups; 2 cardio kickboxing and two abs sections, with different combinations and exercises in each group. We will alternate between cardio and core groups until we have them all done and finish up with a cooldown stretch. This routine can easily be the only workout you do today but if you want to add in some more work then just be sure not to go over 30 minutes for an additional workout as anything over an hour total requires additional calorie fueling to get the most of the trainings long term benefits.

Workout Structure:
 2 Groups of Cardio Kickboxing
- 2 Groups of Abs
- Intervals of 20 Seconds On and 10 Seconds Rest
- Alternating Groups

Equipment:
- None Needed
- Exercise Mat (Optional)

Warm Up / Cooldown:
- Both Included

Workout:

Warm Up: 5:30 Min:Sec (30 Seconds Each)
- Side Step Arm Cross
- High Knee March
- Arm Circles
- Toe Touch Sweeps
- Squat Push Pull
- Torso Twists with Knee
- Side Bend and Reach L
- Side Bend and Reach R
- Boxer Shuffle
- Up and Outs
- Jumping Jack

Workout: 16 Min (Intervals of 20 Seconds On, 10 Seconds Off)
Group 1: Kickboxing (4 MInutes)
- (Jab, Cross) x2, Uppercut 
- Hook x2, Uppercut x2
- (Jab, Cross) x2, Hook x2
- Jab, Cross (burn out)

Group 2: Core (4 Minutes)
- Alternating Toe Touch Cross
- Alternating Back Bow Rotation
- Windshield Wipers
- Crunch

---- Water Break ----

Group 3: Kickboxing (4 Minutes)
- Hook x2, Knee x2
- Knee x2, Jab, Cross
- Duck x2, Jab, Cross, Jab
- Knee (burnout)

Group 4: Core (4 Minutes)
- Jackknife Crunch
- Plank Side Hip Raise L
- Plank Side Hip Raise R
- Back Bow

Cool Down: 5 Min (30 Seconds Each)
- Toe Touch
- Over Head Wall Chest Stretch
- Arm Cross Stretch L
- Arm Cross Stretch R
- Wall Chest Stretch L
- Wall Chest Stretch R
- Torso Stretch L
- Torso Stretch R
- Child Pose
- Cobra