Cardio kickboxing routines

Cardio exercise presents a type of the workout that is excellent for those people who need to reduce weight, but also for those who want strengthening of the muscles and giving them lean shape. For bulked up effect, some weight should be used and if it is not anything big, it can still be considered a cardio workout, in spite of slight increase in muscle mass.

There has always been a tight connection between martial arts and intensive training sessions. Actually, the physical aspect of martial arts has been a matter of debates and discussions, but one thing is for certain; there cannot be good technique without good physical shape and vice versa. Unfortunately, many martial arts dojos emphasize only one of these two aspects, which is not good for the workout itself.

Workout

Martial arts generally use combined training sessions, which include mostly cardio exercises with increasing muscle mass, but only with body's weight. Additional weight can be used, but only individually if practitioner or instructor thinks it is necessary. Even though cardio is necessary for reducing fat tissue, explosive contractions are also needed, especially in martial arts that use kicks and punches, such as kickboxing. Fast contractions are needed for quickly performance of the moves. Basically, speed might be one of the most important aspects in martial arts, and that requires some resistance and plyometric training. Actually, it can be said that martial art practitioners generally achieve a mixture of all possible conditions.

Kickboxing

Kickboxing is a mixture of boxing and leg kicking techniques. It is important to emphasize that both strength and speed need to be developed, so a training session needs to include cardio kickboxing routines and some strength increasing. Cardio part, besides regular warm up, stretching and standard exercises, include performing kickboxing motion such as kicks, punches, blocks, dodges, evades etc. This can all be done one movement in one set, and then it can switch to a combination. An example of combination would include dodge, then punch, then kick, then block etc. These movements are excellent for the strength and endurance of the entire body.

As for the strength building exercises, there are push ups, pull ups, triceps dips, abdominal exercises etc. The important thing is to find a good balance between speed and mass. This is also regulated with the weight of the practitioner, since kickboxing competitors are divided into weight groups. This makes it easier for them to prepare better for a tournament, championship, competition etc. There are those who claim that weight categories have completely destroyed the spirit of true martial arts, but that is something that will always be a topic of many debates.