WORKOUT

Focus & Ben­e­fits: This car­dio-strength com­bo rou­tine is a great way to test the lim­its of your low­er body mus­cles while endur­ing a con­tin­u­ous­ly ele­vat­ed heart rate. Con­di­tion­ing style work­outs help pre­pare the body (and mind) for both strength-for­ward and endurance-based train­ing goals by forc­ing us to adapt to accu­mu­lat­ing phys­i­cal stres­sors and car­diac drift with improved ener­gy pro­duc­tion and uti­liza­tion. Addi­tion­al­ly, the coor­di­na­tion and bal­ance required to piece togeth­er the kick­box­ing com­bos is great for men­tal engage­ment as well as improv­ing mul­ti­pla­nar move­ment proficiency.

Equip­ment: You’ll be work­ing with one mod­er­ate­ly heavy weight at a time dur­ing the two low­er body strength cir­cuits. This weight should feel chal­leng­ing but man­age­able, mean­ing you can hold onto the weight for the major­i­ty of each cir­cuit as you tran­si­tion from one exer­cise to the next. Bring along at least two options for your sin­gle weight!

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: Try to keep it mov­ing dur­ing the kick­box­ing seg­ments! Remem­ber, we’re not aim­ing for per­fec­tion. If you for­get some of the moves in a com­bo or any of the move­ment pat­terns feel unnat­ur­al to you, don’t wor­ry about it. Insert what­ev­er punch­es, kicks, and/​or shuf­fles work best for you! Stay light on your feet (boxer’s shuf­fle) and shift your weight towards the balls of your feet for any piv­ot­ing moves to avoid putting extra stress on your knee and hip joints.

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: The coor­di­na­tion required for kick­box­ing com­bos and the increased mus­cle time under ten­sion dur­ing the strength seg­ment give this work­out a lev­el 4 rat­ing. For any weight­ed exer­cis­es, decrease your range of motion or just omit the weights alto­geth­er if you find that you’re par­tic­u­lar­ly fatigued/​struggling to main­tain prop­er form while switch­ing between the kick­box­ing and car­dio segments.

Clos­ing Notes: Have fun! If you enjoy this work­out, you’ll prob­a­bly enjoy its cousin, Car­dio Kick­box­ing with Low­er Body Strength: With Uni­lat­er­al Strength and Car­dio Moves.

Work­out
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exer­cise, no rest between exer­cis­es (4:00)
‑Jab-Cross – R
‑Hook-Upper­cut – R
‑Front Kick + Side Kick – R
‑Jump Rope + Feet Shuffles
‑Jab-Cross – L
‑Hook-Upper­cut – L
‑Front Kick + Side Kick – L
‑Jump­ing Jacks

***30 sec off***

Kick­box­ing For­mat: 45 sec on / 15 sec off / 2x = Com­bo #1 alter­nat­ed with Com­bo #2 (each com­plet­ed twice, round #1 = R lead and round #2 = L lead); Fin­ish with 90 sec com­bi­na­tion of Com­bo 1 & 2.
Strength For­mat: 30 sec on / 10 sec off / 2x; Fin­ish with 60 sec of Burnout Exercise.

My Weights – 1 mod­er­ate­ly heavy weight per cir­cuit (not a rec­om­men­da­tion, just a reference):
‑25 lbs. (11.3 kg)

Kick­box­ing Com­bos #1: (5:30)
‑Com­bo 1: Jab-Cross-Hook-Upper + 2 Squats
‑Com­bo 2: Cross and Piv­ot For­ward + (back leg) Knee Dri­ve-Front Kick + Fast Feet (reset)
***15 sec off***
‑90-Sec­ond Fin­ish­er Round: Com­bine Com­bo 1 & Com­bo 2 (alter­nate between R and L lead)

***30 sec off***

Low­er Body Strength Cir­cuit #1: (6:30)
‑Reverse Lunge + Split Squat (Sta­t­ic Lunge) Com­bo – R
‑Reverse Lunge – R
‑Reverse Lunge + Split Squat (Sta­t­ic Lunge) Com­bo – L
‑Reverse Lunge – L
***10 sec off***
‑Burnout: Triple-Pulse Sumo Squat (weight center)

***Water Break***

Kick­box­ing Com­bos #2: (5:30)
‑Com­bo 1: (horse stance) 4 Quick Jabs + 2 Piv­ot­ing Lunges with Floor Strikes
‑Com­bo 2: (horse stance) 2 Side Kicks (high/​low – both legs) + 4 Cross­es (total – alternate)
***15 sec off***
‑90-Sec­ond Fin­ish­er Round: Com­bine Com­bo 1 & Com­bo 2

***30 sec off***

Low­er Body Strength Cir­cuit #2: (6:30)
-(racked) 1/​2‑Pulse SL Kick­stand Front Squat – R
-(gob­let) Lat­er­al Step-Out Squat – R
-(racked) 1/​2‑Pulse SL Kick­stand Front Squat – L
-(gob­let) Lat­er­al Step-Out Squat – L
***10 sec off***
‑Burnout: Slow Tem­po Mon­ster Walk Squat (weight cen­ter, for­ward and back)

Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 5:00)
‑Quads/​Hip Flex­ors Stretch – R
‑Hamstrings/​Hip Hinge Stretch – R
‑Fig­ure 4 Stretch – R
‑Quads/​Hip Flex­ors Stretch – L
‑Hamstrings/​Hip Hinge Stretch – L
‑Fig­ure 4 Stretch – L
‑Cross­body Shoul­der Stretch + Wrist Rota­tions – R
‑Over­head Triceps/​Lats Stretch – R
‑Cross­body Shoul­der Stretch + Wrist Rota­tions – L
‑Over­head Triceps/​Lats Stretch – L