During the pandemic, I caved and gave in to dedicating precious square footage to a piece of exercise equipment. Luckily, FightCamp — an at-home connected boxing system — was space well used; it renewed my motivation and took my workouts to the next level.
But you don't need expensive equipment or even a lot of space to work up a sweat, torch calories and tone up with kickboxing. One of my favorite trainers on the app, Shanie "Smash" Rusth, says that an effective kickboxing routine can be done anywhere, no boxing bag or gloves required.
"Shadowboxing delivers a full-body cardiovascular workout. It improves your offense, defense, speed, form, technique, footwork, movement and visualization," Rusth, an undefeated professional mixed martial artist and FightCamp founding trainer, tells TODAY.com.
She designed this 30-minute workout to build strength and improve balance, coordination, agility and flexibility. Plus, it provides a great cardiovascular workout. "You’ll find that this workout relieves stress, will boost your confidence and self-esteem and will improve your mental fortitude," Rusth adds. (Before you get started, she shared some common mistakes to avoid when kickboxing at home here).
The moves
Punch Numbers
In kickboxing, each punch is assigned a number. Those numbers are then used to form different combinations. When you see numbers 1-6 during the workout, here is the punch you will be throwing:
1: Jab
2: Cross
3: Lead hook
4: Rear hook
5: Lead uppercut
6: Rear uppercut
Floor Exercises
Roll: Standing in a boxer’s stance, bend your knees as you transfer your weight to your back foot and rise up. Bend your knees and transfer your weight to your front foot.
Squat kick: Stand with your feet just wider than hip-width apart. Drive your hips back as you bend the knees and lower into the squat. As you rise up and straighten your legs, extend or “kick" one leg forward. Repeat the squat and kick with the alternate leg.
Skip knees: Skip in place by hopping on your right leg while bringing the left knee up toward your chest. Engage your abs as the knee comes up and thrust your hips forward. Repeat as you alternate legs.
Sit-up 1-2: Lie down with your feet flat on the floor, your knees bent, and your hands behind your head. As you lift to a sit-up position, throw a 1-2 punch (jab and cross) and then lower your body back to the starting position.
Mountain climber: Coming into a plank position, pull one knee into your chest. In one motion, switch your legs while keeping your hands in the same position. You can speed up the legs to build intensity.
Right kick/Left kick: From a standing position, extend or kick the right leg with the right hip slightly turned in. Replace the foot down and repeat on the left side.
Jump squat: Standing with your feet just wider than hip-width apart, lower down into a squat. As you rise up, explode to a jump. Land softly on your feet, and lower back down to the squat to repeat.
30-minute full-body kickboxing workout
This is a six-round workout. Each round is four minutes with a one-minute rest between each round. Warm up your body with two minutes of jumping jacks before you get started. Each round will alternate between a shadowboxing combination and a floor exercise. Watch Rusth demonstrate each combination in the videos below before trying it yourself! Get ready to sweat!
Round 1
1 minute: 1-2-3-4-Roll-Roll
30 seconds: Squat kick
1 minute: 1-2-3-4-Roll-Roll
30 seconds: Squat kick
1 minute: 1-2-3-4-Roll-Roll
Round 2
1 minute: 1-2-L Elbow-R Elbow
30 seconds: Skip knee
1 minute: 1-2-L Elbow-R Elbow
30 seconds: Skip knee
1 minute: 1-2-L Elbow-R Elbow
Round 3
1 minute: 5-6-5-6-U-U
30 seconds: Sit up 1-2
1 minute: 5-6-5-6-U-U
30 seconds: Sit up 1-2
1 minute: 5-6-5-6-U-U
Round 4
1 minute: 1-2-1-2-Slip right-Slip left
30 seconds: Mountain climber
1 minute: 1-2-1-2-Slip right-Slip left
30 seconds: Mountain climber
1 minute: 1-2-1-2-Slip right-Slip left
Round 5
1 minute: 1-2-3-2
30 seconds: 2 Right kicks/2 Left kicks
1 minute: 1-2-3-2
30 seconds: 2 Right kicks/2 Left kicks
1 minute: 1-2-3-2
Round 6
1 minute: 1-2-1-2-Sprawl
30 seconds: Jump squat
1 minute: 1-2-1-2-Sprawl
30 seconds: Jump squat
1 minute: 1-2-1-2-Sprawl
Grab some water and cool down with this 5-minute stretch routine.