I was pretty excited when I saw this on Heather Robertson‘s July workout calendar. What could be more fun than kickboxing tabata-style? Killer Kickboxing Tabata Workout was a super fun cardio workout done using the tabata protocol. Tabata is a type of HIIT (high intensity interval training): 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of recovery; repeat this 20/10 interval 8 times for a 4 minute tabata circuit. There are 5 tabata circuits in this workout.
I loved this workout but I have to be honest–it wasn’t really “high intensity.” I did get a short but great cardio workout. According to my FitBit I burned 175 calories. I was in my cardio heart rate zone the entire workout. I never spiked into my peak heart rate zone–not even once. In a true HIIT workout I should have been spiking. I’m just giving the facts based on the title. Personally? I don’t care. I loved it just the way it is. I loved all of the moves–especially the curtsy & kick. It is the perfect length to add on to the end of another workout for a cardio burst or I can use it like I did today–as a doubles workout.
Killer Kickboxing Tabata Workout is 25:52 minutes; 2:40 minute warm up and 2:20 minute stretch. Equipment: light dumbbells or weighted gloved and fitness mat. Heather is using 2 pound hand weights. I also used 2 pound hand weights. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down your recoveries and intervals. During the first recoveries in each tabata Heather previews the next exercise. After that Heather recovers with you while a graphic keeps track of which round you are about to do. This is not a low impact workout.
Tabata 1:
- Squat + one front kick, alternate legs
- Boxer jacks (jumping jacks with alternating front punches in time with legs)
- Repeat #1 & 2 three more times
Tabata 2:
- Alternating cross punches
- Curtsy & kick (curtsy lunge into a diagonal kick, alternate sides)
- Repeat #1 & 2 three more times
Tabata 3:
- Ghost rope (hop w/ jump rope arms)
- Duck & weave (holding DBs together in front of you, standing with wide legs, shift side to side, lowering into deep squat while ducking down upper body when shifting to other side)
- Repeat #1 & 2 three more times
Tabata 4:
- Jab & knee drive (2 alternating front punches (one each arm) + one knee raise, alternate sides with knee raise)
- Fast feet (arms do bicep curls into tricep kickbacks)
- Repeat #1 & 2 three more times
Tabata 5:
- Crunch & punch (full sit up with one punch at top of sit up, alternate arms)
- Elbow & jump (lower into squat and hold isometrically while doing 2 hook punches (one each arm) + one squat jump)
- Repeat #1 & 2 three more times
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
I’m going to cram this one in tomorrow because it looks like so much fun! I’ve got 3 workouts I’m doing so it’s going to be a long session but that’s ok because it’s the weekend. ☺️🥰
I wanted to mention that I did another workout from nobadaddiction today. It was her 50 min kickboxing HIIT. Wow, it was SO fun! The time flew by! She did one move, though, that involved a back bend and kind of jumping up into a standing position. I could not do that one because of my back so I subbed jump squats. But besides that, it was a total blast. I know you aren’t up for new trainers right now, but if you like kickboxing I’d go for this one. Hubs says her form is really good (he’s a black belt in TKD) so she must have some kind of background or good training in it.
I followed that up with a 20 min inner/outer thigh with ankle weights from Caroline. It was more outer than inner. I forgot how tough ankle weights can be!
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I think you will enjoy it. It wasn’t super intense but it was tons of fun. One day I may check out that trainer but right now I have too much on my To Do list!
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I did enjoy it! I was a little unsteady coming into it because I had just done one of Caroline’s quad/calves workouts but once I got my legs going it was a lot of fun!
The quad/calf workout (ironclad calves/quads epic heat to be specific) was much more quads than calves. I wasn’t completely wasted at the end. I was expecting a calf burn but didn’t get it, even after doing extra reps. I wanted to do this one because I’ve only seen 2 of her workouts that specifically mentioned calves and she doesn’t do more than a casual nod to them otherwise. But without the burn it isn’t interesting to me so I’ll likely skip the other one.
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A quad/calf workout does not sound like fun to me though I would be interested for the same reason–calf work. But I do not like quad heavy workouts. I obviously like working my backside more than my front!
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