You almost had me...

[Cynthia828]

in Cardio Kicks. I thought I was doing great until you got to the drills. Then, I just about died. You know, just when I think that I am finally getting fit, something else comes along to challenge me. Thanks for that. Anyway, I have a question (or two) but I just wanted to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed Cardio Kicks. It was lots of fun and I loved knowing that "sweat was flying" in the studio as it was at my home at 5:30 this morning. My first question is this. Did you train for an extensive period of time? I did some Tae Bo (basic and intermediate) and still found your form to be great. How long did it take you to master your form. Second is this. I have posted a couple of questions about ab work to you, of which you have graciously answered and I thank you. I hear very mixed reviews about how often to do ab work. I have been doing them with every workout and I have seen nice results. However, some people have said that 6 ab workouts per week is too much. Is that true? What would you recommend to someone? I currently do 5 cardio workouts, 3 weight workouts, and 6 ab workouts per week. Any information is of course greatly appreciated. Thanks again,
Cynthia

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Cynthia!

I'm glad that Cardio Kicks is kickin' your butt---HA!

How nice of you to find my form "mastered" but in all reality kickboxing is not a movement style that comes super natural to me. It requires intense focus with every class I do. I got certified to teach it when I was five months pregnant and therefore could not work on my form or technique until after the baby was born. It has taken me some time to develop the flexibility for it. But from what I have been told from a couple of martial arts experts, as far as technique is concerned, its not unheard of for a person to take even a year to perfect one kick or punch. That is why I have chosen to incorporate a bit of hi/lo in with my kickbox workouts so that those who are not all out kickbox "techies" can still enjoy a good workout. But thank you for your kind words.

As for abs, I don't think it is overly necessary to train the abs more than 3 to 4 times per week. I find the benefits to be minimal(if any) and that the individual's focus begins to plummet when these workouts become too excessive and repetitious. Now if you were going to vary your 6 ab workouts such as 3 times traditional crunch work, 2 times core stabilization work, and once through a tough kickbox workout, that would be different. The reason being that this would provide variety to your ab muscles and keep them stimulated. It would be considered a "cross training ab workout" in my opinion.

But if you have been doing them and still feel that you are getting nice results, then its fine to continue if you enjoy it. But again, who knows, you may get those same results if you cut back to 4 workouts, OR get better results if you converted some ab workouts to another form of ab training(that is assuming that you are currently only doing traditional ab crunch type workouts).

Hope this helps!

 

[Cynthia828]

Thanks for your reply

It did help. It is good to know that while I look like a dancing elephant, it may take some time to master the techniques.

Also, your info on abs was VERY helpful.
Thanks again, Cynthia