The original cardio kickboxing program was called Tae Bo, and popularized by martial artist Billy Blanks. Tae Bo combines aerobic dance routines with short, sharp punches and kicks pulled from tae kwon do and boxing to create a high energy, high performance workout. Tae Bo itself has been trademarked, so the generic term 'cardio kickboxing' has been used instead for similar workouts and similar styles of exercise. …show more content…
It's also a great way to build on flexibility, because it requires that your body move in ways that are challenging to it. A typical workout of one hour is good for about 500 calories burned off in a session, about twice what a step aerobics class will do.
One thing you should be aware of is that kickboxing is not low impact in any way, shape or form. If you've got back stiffness or bad knees, this is not the right workout for you. It's also not the right workout for a couch potato; get into step aerobics first, while maintaining a targeted heart rate, then get into cardio kickboxing. Muscle strains and sprains are fairly common at first.
Cardio kickboxing is also a great 'alternate day' program to do when doing weight training; it's a great overall body workout that helps reinforce the muscle building you're doing, while maintaining flexibility and building up an aerobic