Ready for a fast moving low impact cardio move that gives your legs a break? Punching is exactly what you need! Punching gets you moving with intensity and strength, builds your heart rate, but keeps everything low impact and upper-body focused. Taken straight from the files of cardio kickboxing, punching is a power move that gets you feeling strong and confident as your heart rate goes up. It might not appear obvious, buy if you learn how to do Punching you are also building great core strength and stability. You will know you are achieving this once you are able to punch hard an fast without your hips wiggling or moving.
A few tips that are important when you practice this move. First, soften your knees a little bit. In order to punch hard and fast you need to be in an athletic stance. And stay light on your feet. Second, keep your shoulders down away from your ears. If you scrunch up you will end up with the possibility of a tight neck or a pinched nerve in your neck. Finally, pull your abs in tight and feel the punch originating from your upper back muscles not from your arms. Your arms are simply following through, but the strength is from the back.
Incorporate this Punching move into your other cardio exercises for a well-rounded program. Start with jumping jacks, do some lunges, then add the punching. Check out our workout Ultimate Upper Body Hiit Workout.
Here are the steps to performing Punching:
A) Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder distance apart and bend knees slightly. Tighten the core to keep your center still.
B) Punch out one arm at a time at a steady pace.
Targets: shoulders, core