Fitness expert Kiran Sawhney recommends aero kickboxing to improve the heart rate

Are you looking for a powerful workout that will tone your body, strengthen your muscles and ensure that you are fighting fit? Then the perfect way to go about it would be to club aerobics with kickboxing in one complete workout which also promises faster weight loss.

Aero kickboxing, a new workout that’s doing the rounds of gyms, is gaining ground with fitness buffs. And what they love about is that they can give in to the rhythms of aerobic exercises — complete with stretching and strength training routines — and blend all this with the jumping, kicking and punching moves of kickboxing.

At a typical aero kickboxing session at Gold’s Gym in Calcutta you’ll see the class hurling jabs (a straight punch), hooks (punches targeted towards an imaginary opponent’s temple and cheek), upper cuts (punches targeted towards an imaginary opponent’s chin from the downside) and more.

The punches are complemented by kicks like the back kick (that’s directed backwards), roundhouse kick (in which the leg swings sideways in a circular motion), side kick (delivered sideways) and the front kick (delivered by raising the knee and foot of the striking leg to the desired point-of-impact and extending the leg to hit out). “As the classes progress, the intensity and pace of the workout is stepped up,’’ says Anuj Sharma, owner and instructor, Aerobics and Cardio Kickboxing Centre, in Delhi.

Fitness expert Kiran Sawhney says that while the jabs, hooks, crosses and upper cuts tone the upper body, the jumps and kicks work on the lower body. “Apart from toning the body, the workout tends to increase your heart rate and breathing capacity,” says Sawhney.

At Calcutta’s Gold’s Gym, martial art moves are incorporated into the kickboxing routine

For Sawhney, aero kickboxing is something which gives best results when done for 45 minutes to an hour every alternate day.

“Since this is a full-power workout, it helps burn more calories and results in quicker weight-loss,” says Sawhney. So, while you are bobbing and weaving (ducking out of the way of intended hits, and then moving into a position for attack) and jumping amidst the kicks and punches of the kick-boxing routines, your heart rate will go up for the entire session. “And by including intensive aerobic moves in the kickboxing routines, you can burn as many as 500-800 calories per hour,” says Sawhney.

Divya Himatsingka, director, Gold’s Gym adds: “In addition to kickboxing and aerobics, sometimes the moves of the martial arts are also introduced into this programme.”

At the Aerobics and Cardio Kickboxing Centre, fitness instructor Poonam Sharma makes the class interesting and entertaining by playing upbeat Bollywood music. She adds some variations into the workout with the additional use of the stepper and the Swiss ball. “The session is sometimes begun with aerobics and at times with kickboxing. As the class progresses, the steps of both the regimens are combined,” she says.

The session begins with a five to seven-minute warm up followed by stretching exercises. In-between the aerobics and kickboxing steps that are executed in combination, you might be hurling kicks and punches even when on a stepper. The session concludes with a Swiss ball workout for the abs.

Aero kickboxing sessions are interspersed with stepper and Swiss ball workouts at the Aerobics and Cardio Kickboxing Centre

“This workout keeps the sessions from getting monotonous,” says Himatsingka of Gold’s Gym.

“The workout serves yet another important purpose. It can boost your confidence to defend yourself during a real life combat situation,” says Sharma.

If you want to make the workout more challenging, you can perform more exercises in-between sets of strikes and kicks. You can jump rope for one minute, perform 10 push-ups and 20 tricep dips (with your back to a bench or chair, place your palms on its edge and in a low-sitting stance lower yourself up and down).

You can also add strength-training movements such as bicep curls (a number of weight-training exercises which target the biceps located on the upper arm) and squats with an overhead press (that’s a standard weight-lifting exercise with many variations done with dumbbells) with five-pound weights.

You could also lie on your back and perform bicycle crunches for 30 seconds. For this you will have to curl your body upwards and bring your right elbow to touch your left knee and the other way around.

Aero kickboxing routines may come handy in real world combat situations but before that, they will ensure you are well-toned and in great shape.