I know that cardio kickboxing is a bit of a love or hate relationship for a lot of you in our audience. For those of you who love cardio kickboxing, you will without a doubt love this routine and how it makes you feel when you are done.

 For those of you who have not yet found a love for kickboxing, try to remember that this is just another form of exercise. It does not matter if you don’t like the punching or don’t feel coordinated when you do it or any other reason you don’t like it, this is a great way to really tire out your upper body and core. I am actually writing this description the day after filming this routine and the unique areas I feel soreness is one of the reasons I love this style of exercises, even if I myself feel a bit foolish while doing it. It is not about whether or not you like a specific style of training it is more about whether or not it is effective. I mean, I would do prancersizing if it were an effective form of exercise. Which is also why I don’t do long duration cardio; the effort does not justify the reward, but that is an entirely different article.

This is one of those great opportunities to remind everyone of our philosophy on fitness; that exercise is not about being cool, or trying to look good, it is about trying to train your body in such a way that no matter what or when you want or need to do something you know your body can handle it.

This workout uses a combination of a type of HIIT with strength training to maximize the effort you put in, to get the highest level of physical, cardiovascular and strength improvement. After a quick 5 minute, upper body focused warm up we move into the 8 minute cardio kickboxing HIIT routine to get the heart rate up and tire out the arms, shoulder, chest and upper back. Once done with the cardio portion we take a short break before moving on to a 12 minute interval timed strength training routine to really finish off the muscles in the upper body. Once those arms start feeling like noodles we then switch to a quick 5 minute cool down and stretch to finish off this 30 minute routine.

Everything from the warm up movements, the order of the exercises and the intervals, have all been strategically selected to give you the best workout in the shortest amount of time. Put more effort into the kickboxing section and go lighter on the weights you lift to focus more on endurance a basic strength, or go hard on the kickboxing but leave a little left so you can lift as heavily as you can with clean form for the strength section to build more strength and muscle size.

Workout Structure:
- 4 Sections, each timed

Equipment:
- Dumbbells

Warm Up / Cool Down:
- Both included

Warm Up: (5 Minutes) 30 Seconds Each
- Wrist Rolls
- Sidestep Arm Cross
- Ventral Raise with Lunge
- Push Pulls
- Overhead Push Pulls
- Torso Circles
- Arm Circles
- Torso Rotations w/ Knee
- Boxer Shuffle
- Jumping Jacks

Cardio Kickboxing: (8 Minutes) 20 seconds On; 10 Seconds Off
- Jab, Jab, Cross

- Uppercut x2, Hook x2

- Elbow, Elbow, Knee, Knee

- (Jab, Cross)x2, Uppercut x2

- Hook x2, Knee x2

- Jab, Cross, Rear Elbow x2

- Uppercut x3, Jab, Cross

- High (Jab, Cross)

---- Water Break ----

Upper Body Strength: (12 Minutes) 45 Seconds On; 15 Seconds Off
- Close Press
- Close Row

- Front Raise / Lateral Raise
- Pullovers

- Hammer Curl / Regular Curl
- Overhead Tricep Extension (palm down)

Cool Down: (5 Minutes)
- Free Form

Calories:
This routine includes weight training so the number of calories you burn can drastically change depending on the amount of weight you use. Also the number of calories you burn during the cardio kickboxing section can vary depending on how hard you push yourself. With that said most people will fall into the total calorie burn range of 135 to 378. Though some may be higher than this range few will be below this range. Also because this routine includes a type of HIIT and strength training the “afterburn” effect can elevate the number of calories your body burns during a day for the next 24-48 hours.