Cardio kickboxing is an amazing alternative to traditional weight loss methods. The workouts are short, can be constantly changed to keep it exciting, paired with all types of other exercise and yes even fun. This article will outline five cardio kickboxing and abs workouts.
Kickboxing is a High Intensity Interval Workout (HIIT). I won’t go into all the benefits of HIIT training here but they are numerous and if you want to know more, check out my article on HIIT Training Workouts.
Core strength and aesthetics is another major component of a lot of peoples daily workout routines. So why not combine the two? That is the beauty of HIIT training. You can combine multiple different types of movements to create a workout that burns calories and targets the muscle groups that you want. This article will outline five cardio kickboxing and abs focused workouts.
These workouts can be done at home and require no equipment. If you want to, use a yoga mat for the core work and add some boxing gloves for some extra resistance training for your arms. If you have a punching bag, even better.
This article does not dive into the kickboxing moves and how to do them. If you are new to kickboxing please check out my Beginners Guide to Kickboxing. It outlines all of the movements used here with a demonstration and description.
Circuit #1: Upper Ab Kickboxing Circuit
The movements in this circuit will focus on targeting the upper abdominal muscles. Below is a description of each ab exercise used in this circuit.
Crunches: Lay on your back with your feet on the ground and knees up. Put your hands behind your head and curl your upper body towards your knees. Stop when you feel the contraction of your abs. Keep your core tight the whole time and do not move your head, keep your neck still and curl your body up.
Boxing-Sit Ups: Lay on your back with your feet flat on the floor. Curl your upper body up so that you are in a seated position. At the top of the sit up throw a jab and a cross rotating your body with the punch.
Bicycle Crunches: Lay flat on the floor with your feet slightly eleveated and your hands behind your head. Curl your body up similar to the crunch. Bring on knee in towards your body and crunch and rotate the opposite elbow towards that knee until they touch or almost touch. Repeat with the other side and alternate for the given amount of reps.
Toe Touch Sit Ups: Lay flat in the crunch position. Lift one leg up so it is vertical and leave it stationary. Spread the arm on that side straight out to the side for balance and raise the opposite arm. Crunch up and touch the fingers of the raised hand to the raised leg. Do one side for the complete amount of given reps and then the other.
Round 1
- 20 Boxing sit ups
- Jab-cross-front hook 20 reps
- 15 Boxing sit ups
- Jab-cross-front hook 15 reps
- 10 Boxing sit ups
- jab-cross -front hook 10 reps
- Rest 1 minute
Round 2
- Front hook-back hook-front uppercut 10 reps
- 10 Toe touch sit ups with right arm
- Front hook-back knee-front elbow 10 reps
- 10 Toe touch sit ups with left arm
- Back elbow-front knee-back push kick 10 reps
- 10 Toe touch sit ups with right arm
- Back knee-front uppercut-back hook 10 reps
- 10 Toe touch sit ups with left arm
- Rest 1 minute
Round 3
- 50 Bicycle crunches
- Jab-roundhouse kick-back knee 10 reps
- 20 Crunches
- Jab-cross-roundhouse kick-front push kick 10 reps
- 20 crunches
- Jab-cross-hook-back push kick 10 reps
- 50 Bicycle Crunches
- Rest 1 minute
After you complete round 3 rest one minute specified and repeat circuit for a total of three complete times through all three rounds.
Circuit #2: Lower Ab Focused Kickboxing Circuit
This circuit will focus on combining kickboxing moves with ab movements designed to target your lower abdominals. The ab movements used in this circuit will be the following:
Reverse Crunches: Lay flat on your back with your hands straight to your side. Legs should be up with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Curl your butt off the ground so your knees move to your chest. Keep your shoulder blades flat on the ground, only your lower back and butt should leave the ground.
Leg Lifts: Lay flat with your hands under your butt and your feet slightly off the ground. Lift your legs straight up and then back down without letting them touch the ground. Keep your core tight the whole time.
Butt Lifts: Lay flat with your hands under your butt and your legs straight in the air with the toes pointed. Push your toes up towards the ceiling so that your butt leaves the ground. Your legs should stay straight and shoulder blades stay on the ground.
Windshield Wipers: Get in a seated position and put your hands behind you, lean back. You can widen your hands if you need more balance. Your legs should be straight out in front of you. Start with your legs positioned to the left. Lift them straight up, keeping them straight with the toes pointed and move them over to the right side and back down, never touching the floor. Lift them up and over to the left side and keep repeating alternating sides. Your legs should make a half circle in the air.
- 50 Leg lifts
- 1 minute freestyle shadow box
- 50 Butt lifts
- 2 minutes freestyle shadow box
- 50 reverse crunches
- 3 minutes freestyle shadow box
- 50 windshield wipers
After you complete the whole circuit, rest two minutes and repeat for a total of two times through the whole group of exercises.
Circuit #3: Oblique Focused Kickboxing Workout
You guessed it, this workout focuses on combining cardio kickboxing with oblique focused exercises. The ab/oblique exercises are below.
Russian Twists: Get in a sitting position and lean back while lifting your feet off the floor and slightly bending your legs, this will require some balance as your butt will be the only thing touching the ground. Clasp your hands together in front of you and twist your body to touch the ground on the left side and then rotate over and touch them on the right side. Repeat this movement for the given amount of reps.
Side Crunches: Lay on your side with your body propped up on your elbow. Crunch your body up and bring your knee up and towards your head so that the elbow not on the ground touches that knee. Complete all reps on one side and then move to the other.
Side Hip Bridge: Lay on the ground and roll to one side. Prop yourself up on one elbow and support yourself on your feet. Your elbow and feet will be the only things touching the ground so that you are in a side bridge position. Lower your hip and touch it to the ground and then raise it back up. Do all reps on one side and then switch to the other.
Round 1
- Jab 10 reps
- 10 side crunches on left side
- Jab-cross 10 reps
- 10 side crunches on right side
- jab -cross-front hook 10 reps
- 10 side crunches on left side
- Jab-cross-front hook-back hook 10 reps
- 10 side crunches on right side
- Rest one minute
Round 2
- Jab-cross-roundhouse kick 10 reps
- 30 Russian twists
- Jab-cross-back knee 10 reps
- 20 russian twists
- Jab-cross-front push kick 10 reps
- 10 Russian twists
- Rest 45 seconds
Round 3
- Jab-cross-front uppercut 10 reps
- 10 left side bridges
- Jab-cross-front elbow 10 reps
- 10 right side bridges
- Jab-cross-front hook-back elbow 10 reps
- 10 left side bridges
- Jab-cross-back uppercut-front elbow 10 reps
- 10 right side bridges
- Rest 30 seconds
Round 3
- Front push kick-back knee 10 reps
- 30 Russian twists
- Jab-roundhouse kick-front knee 10 reps
- 10 side bridges on each side
- Jab-cross-roundhouse kick-front knee 10 reps
- 10 side crunches on each side
After you complete all three rounds rest two minutes and repeat for a total of three complete circuits.
Circuit #4: Kickboxing/Abs Split Workout
This circuit will combine core exercises from all three of the previous workouts (upper abdominals, lower abdominals and obliques)
Round 1
- Boxing Sit Ups 25 reps
- Reverse Crunches 25 reps
- Russian Twists 25 reps
- Rest one minute
Round 2
- Jab-cross-hook 10 reps
- Roundhouse kick-back knee-front hook 10 reps
- Jab-back push kick-jab-cross 10 reps
- Back knee- front elbow-back hook 10 reps
- Rest one minute
Round 3
- 25 Crunches
- 25 Butt lifts
- 10 side bridges on each side
- Rest one minute
Round 4
- Front hook-back hook-front uppercut 10 reps
- Back elbow-front uppercut-back hook 10 reps
- Back uppercut-front elbow-back hook 10 reps
- Front hook-back knee-back elbow 10 reps
- Rest one minute
Round 5
- 50 bicycle crunches
- 25 leg lifts
- 10 side crunches on each side
- 50 bicycle crunches
One you complete the whole circuit rest one minute and repeat the entire circuit of five rounds for a total of three times completely through.
Circuit #5: Cardio Kickboxing and Core Burn Out
This circuit will alternate between time based and rep based rounds. This is the toughest of the core circuits and is designed to bring you to complete fatigue. Perform All four rounds to completion, rest for two minutes and repeat one additional time. If you are looking for a better calorie burn add one round of this burn out workout to the end of one of the other listed workouts.
Round 1
- Russian twists 45 seconds , 15 seconds rest
- Jab-cross-hook 45 seconds , 15 seconds rest
- Bicycle crunches 45 seconds , 15 seconds rest
- Jab-cross-roundhouse kick-front hook 45 seconds , 15 seconds rest
- Reverse crunches 45 seconds
- Rest one minute
Round 2
- 3 minutes freestyle shadow box focusing on continued movement
- Rest one minute
Round 3
- 50 bicycle crunches
- 40 russian twists
- 30 butt lifts
- 20 side crunches (alternate 10 on each side)
- 10 boxing sit ups
- Rest one minute
Round 4
- 20 seconds jab-cross as fast as possible
- Rest 40 seconds
- 20 seconds jab-cross as fast as possible
- Rest 30 seconds
- 20 seconds jab-cross as fast as possible
- Rest 20 seconds
- 20 seconds jab-cross as fast as possible
- Rest 10 seconds
- 20 seconds jab-cross as fast as possible
- Rest one minute
Round 5
- Jab-roundhouse kick-jab-cross 10 reps
- 20 boxing sit ups
- Jab-back push kick-front elbow 10 reps
- 20 boxing sit ups
- Jab-cross-back knee-front hook 10 reps
- 20 boxing sit ups
- Jab-cross-front push kick 10 reps
- 20 boxing sit ups
- 50 jab-cross as fast as possible
Wrap Up
Give these amazing cardio circuits a try. The combination of cardio and ab movements is great to maximize calorie burn and help tone your mid section. As always please comment and share your experiences!
Thanks for reading!