Just Wondering: Does Kickboxing ‘Count’ as Strength Training or Cardio?

Picking up the sport can change your life—but it might not get you off the hook for hitting the weight room.

Don’t let your desk job be a pain in your backside! When you’re sitting all day, both your glutes and hamstrings become inactive, leading to tightness, reduced flexibility, and even lower back pain. But a quick glutes and hamstrings workout is just the thing to get you moving and feeling stronger.

“Glutes and hamstrings are such a powerful workout combo, because they work together to power some of your biggest movements—like deadlifts, hip thrusts, and leg curls,” says Kelsey Wells, personal trainer for the Sweat app. “Your hamstrings help with hip extension, and when they’re strong and balanced with your glutes, you get better strength, power, and stability in your lower body.”

This workout was designed by Wells to reactivate and strengthen these key muscles, helping you restore mobility and alleviate stiffness so you can move more freely and powerfully.

“This combo helps build strength and reduces the risk of injury, especially in your knees and lower back,” she says.

Join the movement

If you’re following along with our Movement of the Month Club, these are the moves for week 2. You’ll do one exercise each day, Monday through Sunday, for 60 seconds (or 30 seconds on each side). Repeat for 3 total rounds.

As a bonus, you can follow along with Wells and the full-length workout below. This workout closely follows Wells’s signature training style, which includes an activation, followed by two supersets and a 60-second burnout to finish.

Here’s your glutes and hamstrings workout

1. Good morning

Like the name implies, this move says, “good morning” to your glutes and hamstrings! This exercise strengthens your posterior chain (the muscles along the back of your body), improves the hip-hinge movement, and supports lower-back strength, Wells says.

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Place your hands behind your head and pull your shoulder blades down and back, opening up your chest slightly. This is your starting position.
3. Inhale and bend your knees slightly, then hinge forward from your hips, keeping your chest lifted and your spine aligned with your head.
4. As you hinge forward, engage your core and maintain a straight back. You should feel tension in your hamstrings.
5. Exhale and push through your heels, using the strength of your glutes and hamstrings to straighten your hips and return to the starting position.
6. Repeat the movement for 30 seconds, focusing on form and controlled motion.

2. Standing glute kickback

Though compound moves (those involving more than one muscle) give you more bang for your buck, isolation exercises like this one give your glutes a little extra kick. By zeroing in on the gluteus muscles, this exercise helps improve hip stability, promote better posture, and fire up your lower body for the workout to come.

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Step your left foot slightly behind you.
2. Exhale and lift your left foot off the mat, squeezing your glute as you kick your heel straight back behind you while keeping your leg extended and foot flexed, toes facing forward.
3. Inhale as you lower your right foot back to the starting position, maintaining control.
4. Repeat the movement on the same side for 15 seconds.
5. Switch sides and perform on your left leg for 15 seconds.

3. Romanian deadlift

Similar to the good morning exercise, this classic weight-lifting move is highly effective for targeting the hamstrings and glutes.

1. Hold one dumbbell by gripping the top bell with both hands. Hold it in front of your legs, and plant your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Pull your shoulder blades down and back, lifting your chest slightly, and gently engage your core.
3. Inhale and bend your knees slightly, then hinge forward from your hips, letting the dumbbell slide down the front of your thighs and halfway down your shins.
4. Keep your chest lifted and ensure that your head stays aligned with your spine. You should feel tension in your hamstrings.
5. Once you reach halfway down your shins, push through your heels and engage your glutes and hamstrings to extend your knees and hips, returning to standing.
6. Repeat for 12 reps.

4. Weighted glute bridge

This exercise strengthens the glutes and lower back while helping to build core stability and reduce lower-body imbalances.

1. Lie on your back, bend your knees, and place your feet hip-width apart.
2. Carefully place a dumbbell on your hip bones, holding it securely.
3. Exhale and press your heels into the mat while activating your glutes, lifting your pelvis off the floor until your body forms a straight line from your chin to your knees, resting on your shoulders.
4. Inhale and lower your pelvis back to the starting position with control.
5. Repeat for 30 seconds or 12 reps, whichever comes first.

5. Goblet sumo squat

The goblet sumo squat promotes better hip mobility through a wider stand and strengthens the lower body, emphasizing the inner thighs more than other squat variations.

1. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell with both hands directly in front of your chest, and plant your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, toes pointing slightly outward.
2. Inhale and bend at your hips and knees, making sure your knees track over your toes.
3. Continue bending your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor, maintaining a back angle of 45 to 90 degrees to your hips.
4. Exhale and push through your heels, extending your knees to stand back up and return to standing.
5. Repeat for 30 seconds or 12 reps, whichever comes first.

6. Alternating reverse lunge

Looking for a knee-friendly lower-body exercise? This lunge variation improves balance, coordination, and lower-body strength while reducing stress on the knees.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and engage your core.
2. Inhale and take a large step back with your right foot. As you place your right foot on the floor, bend both knees to about 90 degrees, distributing your weight evenly between both legs. Ensure your front knee is aligned over your ankle and your back knee hovers just above the floor.
3. Exhale as you extend both knees, shifting your weight back onto your left foot, and step your right foot forward to return to the starting position.
4. Inhale and take a large step back with your left foot, repeating the same motion.
5. Continue alternating between your right and left legs for 16 reps total (8 on each leg).

7. Fire hydrant

Though it has an odd name and you may feel a bit awkward performing it, the fire hydrant exercise is a great way to target the glute medius, helping stabilize the hips and improve overall leg strength and mobility.

1. Begin on all fours, knees below your hips and your hands below your shoulders.
2. Keeping your knee bent, lift your left leg out to the side while ensuring your hips and shoulders stay square and parallel to the floor.
3. Inhale and lower your left leg back to the starting position, but keep your knee hovering just above the mat.
4. Repeat for 30 seconds on each side.