Cathe Live Review: Hardstrikes Low Impact Boxing (#7)
Hardstrikes Low Impact Boxing is a cardio boxing and metabolic conditioning workout. This is a really good low impact workout that works the whole body nicely.
This is another slightly deceptive workout that starts out a little slower but then builds up the intensity nicely. It is never all out but I was pretty drenched by the end and felt pleasantly worked. The routine starts with a fairly low key boxing warm-up before moving into more cardio boxing and low impact cardio blasts. Now obviously you could easily make this workout higher impact, if you prefer, but I actually really love that it is low impact. Cathe doesn’t have that many Live workouts that are low impact and also with the boxing format I find this is a great workout to do when I don’t want to jump around but still want some good cardio.
Cathe and class wore boxing gloves (I wore wrist weights) for the first part of the workout. I think these are pretty essential, for this workout, as they add to the intensity of the punches nicely. This section is a mix of punching combos and blasts. The low impact blasts are all very straightforward and familiar moves, such as, squat digs and rope climbs. The punch combos are also pretty simple – just a few moves strung together. As usual, Cathe builds up the combos in layers so you have a chance to practice the punches before adding them together. The only kicks in the routine are squat lunge / squat kick but as Cathe says these are more for the heart rate than for kicks.
The second part of the workout is using the Heavy Bag. As always, I just shadow boxed with Cathe, as I don’t have a bag, and with the wrist weights on this worked well. This section consists of eight ‘tabata’ drills. Cathe calls them tabatas but they are a fairly loose interpretation of the term as her timing varies. The tabata are just fast punches, for example, fast jabs or back fists. These get the heart rate up nicely and my arms were definitely starting to feel the work here.
After a quick water break, you then move into the metabolic conditioning. Cathe uses 10 pound dumbbells for all of the moves in this section. This seemed a little light so I increased my weights on a few – shown below. However, the moves are done at a reasonable pace so it may be difficult to go too much heavier. This was a short but very effective group of exercises that kept my heart rate up and with the right weights you will start to feel it. The exercises are all familiar compound metabolic moves that work multiple muscle groups at one time. Cathe’s counting was a little off here though, as she often did uneven reps, so didn’t work each side exactly the same. I have noted the reps below so if you like symmetry then you may wish to add one or more reps on, depending on what was missed (usually it’s one rep but for the clean & press it’s 6 reps! Btw if you are reasonably focused you can get the extra 6 reps done before Cathe moves onto the second side).
The workout ends with a short core section. This is mainly plank work, on the elbows, and leg thrusters. For the leg thrusters, Cathe asks the class to count down the last 10 reps but she doesn’t think they were loud enough so makes them do it again. She still doesn’t think it is loud enough so for the last 10 reps the class are practically shouting the numbers! This was very funny but painful too, as by the end you have done 70 reps of these!
(One thing to note is that the camera work in this class is not that great and there is some odd zooming in and slightly shaky pictures. Also the camera is not always focused on Cathe, when it should be, particularly when she is changing moves. In addition, during the metabolic conditioning, some of the class put their weights down early, during the overhead tricep extensions, but then you can hear Cathe continuing to count so this is slightly frustrating).
Overall, this is an excellent cardio boxing and metabolic conditioning workout that provides a nice low impact challenge. Definitely one I will return to often.
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The Workout
Hardstrikes Low Impact Boxing is a low impact cardio boxing workout that ends with metabolic conditioning and a short core section. Cathe used boxing gloves (I used wrist weights), an optional Heavy Bag (I shadow boxed) and 10 pound dumbbells for this routine.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Hardstrikes Low Impact Boxing is 58 minutes long and originally aired on 19th June 2014 (#7). The workout starts with a 5 minute warm-up before continuing into more cardio boxing. Cathe and class already have their boxing gloves on at the start of the routine. The main cardio boxing moves are shown below but Cathe is often marching or shuffling in between. The combos are also built up in layers but just the final combos are shown and these are usually then repeated on other side of the body. Cardio blasts are shown in bold italics below.
Cardio Boxing
Squat digs
Walk forward & back with punches / hooks / upper cuts
Air squats
Jab, cross – walking forward & back x4
Squat kick, squat lunge
Jab, cross, hook, upper cut / uppercut, hook / uppercut, hook (other side)
Tap outs punching (in 8’s, 4’s, 2’s & singles)
Shuffle & back fists (slow then faster)
Hammer punch lunges & knee pull
1 Arm jabs (fast)
Jabs to front (slower then as fast as you can)
3 Rope climbs & attack
Quick water break at 18:40 minutes
Jab, cross
2 Jabs & 1 cross x2 / slip, uppercut
Squat digs
2 Jab (high) & 2 cross (low) / triple punch (jab, cross, jab – fast) & cross punch
Hammer punches (both arms & 1 arm)
Upper cuts (slower then as fast as you can)
Jab, cross
3 Jabs & cross
Quick water break at 29:50 minutes
Heavy Bag at 30:25 minutes (Tabatas – they all start slower then you go as fast as you can)
Jabs
Repeat on other side
Jabs (both arms front)
Back fist
Repeat on other side
Jabs (both arms close to the body)
Air squats
Jab, cross
Repeat on other side
Quick water break at 37:30 minutes. Take off gloves, get out mat & dumbbells.
Metabolic Conditioning Drills at 38:30 minutes
Bear crawl walk / push-ups / shoulder press – mat – 2x push-up & 1x shoulder press / 4x push-ups & 2x press / 6x push-ups & 1x press / 6x push-ups & 1x press / 4x push-ups & 2x press / 2x push-up & 1x shoulder press
Explosive side to side lunges – one 10# dumbbell (held horizontally between hands) – 19 reps
Alternating 1 arm hammer curls – two 10# dumbbells (I used 12’s) – 10 reps
Lunge down & overhead press combo (lunge down to side then stand & overhead press, lunge down to other side) – two 10# dumbbells – 15 reps
Straight arm plank & bring alternating foot to outside of hand – mat – 20 reps
Inch worms (walk hands out to plank, do one 2/2 count push up, walk hands back to feet & stand) – mat – 6 sets
Sumo squats & upright rows – two 10# dumbbells (I used 12’s) – 20 reps
1 Arm clean & press (squat w db at shoulder, pivot & stand w 1 arm O/H press) – one 10# dumbbell (I used 1x 12) - 10 reps (1st side) & 16 reps (2nd side)
Lateral walks with pulses / alternating sumo squats w 3x partials - two 10# dumbbells (held under chin) – 2 sets (3 pulses), 2 sets (partials) & 4 sets (alt sumo squats)
Elbow to knee in straight arm plank (in plank twist bent knee underneath you towards opposite elbow) – mat – 19 reps
Overhead tricep extensions – two 10# dumbbells – 8 sets (4 sets of 2/2 & 2x singles plus 4 sets of 2x singles & 2/2)
Rear delt flys (drop set) – two 10# dumbbells – 16 reps, 12 reps & 10 reps
Quick water break at 51:30 minutes
Core on mat at 51:45 minutes
Marching elbow planks - mat
Elbow plank - jog knees (tapping knees to floor, first slow then fast) - mat
Elbow plank with hip dips (rotate hips side to side) - mat
Leg thrusters – straight & angled (leaning back with hands on floor behind you, thrust feet in & out) – mat – 7 sets of 10 reps (continuously)
The workout ends with a 2 minute cool down and stretch.
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