BIGGEST LOSER "18" -- WEEK TEN

I do a lot of kickboxing and other forms of martial arts training like Brazilian JiuJitsu and mixed martial arts, so as you might imagine, I also like to work them into my regular workouts.

One of my favorite workouts is to do ten 5 min rounds on the heavy bag with a 30 second break between rounds. Since it’s a lot of rounds, with little rest, it’s a pretty good workout.

Sometimes, if I don’t feel like doing so many rounds, I’ll alternate rounds on the bag with either 500 meters on the rower, or with quarter mile sprints on the treadmill. If I’m doing that, I’ll usually just do five 5 min rounds.

Once in awhile, if I’ve had trouble finding time to get my weight workout in, I’ll actually work it into a kickboxing routine, or a Brazilian JiuJitsu workout on the mat with a partner. I tend to do this more when I can roll with a partner on the mat, but hitting the bag works fine too.

The most recent example is where we did 5 minutes on the mat, and then a biceps and triceps exercise. Then we returned to the mat for another round, another set for arms, and so on. I’ve also done it with chest & back routines, and also with legs & abs, usually for 10 rounds.

Regardless what body parts you’re working on, it’ll be a tough workout, because you tend to also use the same parts kickboxing or rolling on the mat. It makes for high intensity, especially in the later rounds, and it also gives you a huge calorie burn. Trust me, your workout clothes will be totally soaked when you finish, if you’ve been pushing hard.

For this week’s Monday night group workout, we used the same idea to expand on the basic kickboxing workout we did two weeks ago. This time they learned some new combinations, and also included workout intervals. Each round lasted five minutes.

The group working their kickboxing did Jab-Cross-Low Round Kick (both sides), and then Front Kick-Jab-Cross-Low Round Kick (both sides). They worked on hand held targets for the first two rounds, and then on the heavy bag for the last two rounds.

While they were doing kickboxing, the other group did Pushups, Pull-ups, & Sit-ups or Kettlebell swings, Pull-ups & Crunches. After five minutes, each group rotated, so they all ended up with four rounds of kickboxing, and four rounds of exercises.

This week’s Biggest Loser was Steve Johnson III, who lost 2.9% of his body weight and 6.2 lbs. Debbie Eveland finished second, losing 1.2% and 1.6 lbs. Sondra Martin was third, losing 0.8% and 2.0 lbs, and Jeremy Whitaker placed fourth, losing 0.7% and 1.2 lbs.

For more information, you can reach me at the gym, email at tomdolanfitness@gmail.com, or through Facebook at www.facebook/tomdolanfitness!