Eight exercises to get a kick ass beach body

health,sports,fitness kick boxing

You don\'t have to be a pro fighter to get inspired by the some of the exercise routines kickboxers use to get their ultra toned bodies. High Intensity Interval Training, functional training methods and incorporating active recovery into your own gym regime can rev up your training time and take your body shape and fitness to the next level. Marco Mastrorocco, master trainer at Epic Gym and a Thai Kickboxing Champion has identified eight exercises that will really make a difference....fast!

Repetitions/Sets
All exercises: For the first 4/6 sessions work them one at the time, 3 sets each, starting from 20 reps and increasing by 4 reps each time you practice. Rest in between sets no longer than 30/45 sec, in between exercises rest for 60/90 sec.

When you are well familiar with them, you can put them in a circuit to add some variety and increase your HR (heart rate); so you will end up working three big sets (basically no rest in between exercises, or as little as you can) with at least 40/50 reps each! Do you want to add more fun? Start skipping in the active recovery.

1 Punching

health,sports,fitness punching Kickboxers need to have fast, not bulky, arms for attack and defence. Throwing punches in the air will do you little good. Proper training involves striking a target so your muscles contract in a way that results in toning. 

The bonus is that when done properly, a punch is the last ring in a long chain of motion that\'s working your whole body. Having the right stance, you start your punching from your toes.  The same foot of the punch you are throwing will rotate inward to help your heel, therefore your hip and consequently your shoulder to twist forward in the direction of the target - working your whole body.

When you impact your hand with the target your knuckles must hit first and your hand will be squeezed to avoid hurting your wrist. If the punch is correctly shot, you will also feel the abs contracting each time you strike. 

2 Skipping

health,sports,fitness skipping A great way to improve our cardio fitness and burn calories (up to 20 calories per minute...) Once you get into the motion, avoid tensing the whole body... you feel light and quick on your toes... as you move around with your rope. You can try to "sprint skip" at regular intervals to increase intensity or use skipping have active breaks during your circuit training.
Should your knees suffer the bouncing, better to use well cushioned shoes and/or trying on soft surfaces (gym matt or grass).

3 Squats

health,sports,fitness Squats These are fantastic for firming up your glutes and bum. Position your legs wider than shoulder width, lower your body as you push your bum back, to avoid stress on front of your knee. Go as deep as you can thinking that the more you go down the more your glutes and hamstrings get fully stretched and work more to push you up. As you descend keep chest up to have a straight back.

To improve stabilising muscles in the ankle and core, and add some variety to your routine, try it on one leg as well (Stork squat) extending the arms forward as you, descending on one leg, kick back the other one (arms and leg will counterbalance each other) - very important if you run or kickbox, because those are "one leg sports"... alternating each time from one leg to another.

4 Sprinting

health,sports,fitness Sprinting Sprint work is what anyone should aim to do (after the right conditioning), because of the unbelievable results they make you achieve and the time you spare. Use sprints on the hills, on the treadmills... or if you fancy some fun, on the boxing bags, using kickboxing drills, worked with different time frames...always short or acyclic or explosive... or all those ones together... it helps as stress relief and gives your body the shape you want in less time!

Just choose realistic targets (speed, gradient, type of hill and/or duration) for your sprints, to avoid feeling disappointed which will only decrease your motivation levels. 

5 Dynamic Plank

health,sports,fitness Dynamic Plank Position your body on one side completely straight - one line through head, hips, knees and ankles with your weight supported by your feet and the elbow. The support arm is bent 90 degrees vertically between shoulder and elbow...forearm leans on the floor. Lift the entire body focusing on the hip movement, which has to be vertical and as wide as we can, keeping the body off the floor.

6 V- sit ups

health,sports,fitness V- sit ups

Lay down on the floor straightening your arms behind you. Pull the arms in front of you, raising your chest and at the same time - lifting your legs up...so yor body forms a V shape with fingers and toes pointing up to the ceiling. Try to reach your toes.

This movement will engage the whole core. The abs will have a great deal of work and tone up in no time at all. Then return to the flat position slowly and controlling the body, again this is working the core, try not crash your back on the floor.

7 Swiss Ball Hip Extension

health,sports,fitness Swiss Ball Hip Extension

This is a very good exercise for your core and bum. Sit down on the ball, slowly roll down/forward, having just your upper shoulder and neck (head nicely relaxed) onto the ball. Your legs bent 90 degrees (flat feet) to support your body in balance (on the same straight line -parallel to the floor- knees, thighs, stomach and chest). To help the balance (the ball doesn\'t have to move anymore) you can open your arms sideways.

Then lower the hips and bum (without moving the ball - that\'s when the core has to be active to keep the position) as close as we can to the floor (Glutes stretch) and then push the hips upwards, squeezing the buttocks, until we are back in the original position. After few of them, well executed your bum will start to burn! This exercise is great, not only for the toning of the bum, but for a healthy strong back as well.

8 Side Abs on the Swiss Ball

health,sports,fitness swiss ball

Another nice use of the Swiss ball which will help build up those abs we want to firm so badly. This exercise works on the obliques.

Kneel down having one side of your body facing the wall. The ball on the other side. Placing the hand on the ball (almost to hug it with one arm) We roll with our side onto that, until our hip only leans against the ball. As we do so, we extend our legs, whose feet are placed against the bottom of the wall and wider than the ball. Once we are in a balanced position, we lower the body - not touching with hands the floor - and we return it up. Those two movements ensure the core a good work - to keep ball in place - and your side abs feel the effort having to lower under control and lift your entire upper body.