Cardio is a Kick With Kickboxing

Kickboxing. Once the word connoted bad Oriental kung-fu movies, early Jean Claude Van Damme, lots of testosterone and a loyal audience of 14-year-old boys. In the cultural pantheon it was right up there with comic books and bowling. Kickboxing had about as much association with "women" and "fitness" as Bill Gates had with Gregorian chants.

Not any more.

More women than ever are enrolling in self defense courses. Women's boxing has never been more popular, Christy Martin is a superstar, Zena has a cult following, and nearly every urban area has experienced an increase in the number of available martial arts classes. Kickboxing has come to be seen as the incredibly difficult, artful, intense form of combat that it is, and has gained a huge measure of public respect and acceptance.

Martial arts have invaded the gym. No longer relegated to remote outposts or musty, converted boxing gyms, kickboxing has moved into the mainstream.

If you're thinking of taking up kickboxing, let me be the first to congratulate and encourage you. But let me also be the first to warn you that you've got some rigorous training ahead of you.

First let's talk about the endurance component. Although basic aerobic training (i.e. 20 minutes and up at a consistent clip on a treadmill, stationary bike, etc.) is always a good idea for the heart and for general health and conditioning, it's not the way to train for this sport.

Kickboxing, like regular boxing, uses primarily what's called the lactic acid energy system. What this means in English is intense exercise for relatively short periods of time, followed by even shorter periods of rest. This is the hardest "energy system" to train because it's the most grueling and the burn is intense.

Kickboxing consists of "rounds" (similar to regular boxing); when you're starting out the rounds last two minutes, at more advanced levels, they last three minutes. As anyone who's kickboxed knows, two or three minutes of all out intense exercise can easily feel like an hour.

The best way to train for the endurance component of this sport, according to Jimmy Fusaro, master trainer for boxing and kickboxing at the Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York City, is to mimic the round system on your aerobic apparatus. Get on the UBE (that's the "upper body ergometer" machine), or the stationary bike, or any other aerobic apparatus, and pump hard for two minutes. Then do a "one minute easy" interval. This is called a work: rest ratio of 2:1; you're working hard for two minutes, "resting" for one.

For example, you might run hard for two minutes and then walk (at cool-down levels) for one. (The walking is called "active rest" since you're not actually resting). Keep repeating the sequence until you can do it three or four times without taking a break. This is the best way to build endurance for the round system of kickboxing.

Next week, I'll discuss specific exercises that will help you train more efficiently for this exciting sport, and in part three we'll cover specific punches and kicks, flexibility training and safety issues. For now, hop on the stationary bike, or jump on the stepper and start building your endurance!