{"id":1764,"date":"2025-02-17T18:21:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T07:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/enhance-your-core-and-lower-body-with-switch-kicks.html"},"modified":"2025-02-17T18:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T07:21:07","slug":"enhance-your-core-and-lower-body-with-switch-kicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/enhance-your-core-and-lower-body-with-switch-kicks.html","title":{"rendered":"Enhance Your Core and Lower Body with Switch Kicks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An exercise with a name like \u201cswitch kicks\u201d probably makes you think that the focus is on the\u00a0legs\u00a0and\u00a0butt. And although the switch kick\u00a0will\u00a0fire up every muscle from your hips down to your toes, it also\u00a0strengthens your core, explains Rebekah Miller, MS, CSCS, NASM-CPT.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the switch kick movement, the lower body is being targeted, as well as the abdominals,\u201d she says. As you draw the kicking leg up toward your waistline, the abs fire up to flex your hip and stabilize your standing leg.<\/p>\n<p>So, if it feels like you\u2019ve already worked your way through every\u00a0crunch\u00a0and\u00a0plank variation, the switch kick may help bring new energy to your ab routine.<\/p>\n<h2>Switch Kicks Exercise: Step-by-Step Instructions<\/h2>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/players.brightcove.net\/1634697872\/default_default\/index.html?videoId=6086164121001\" width=\"600\" height=\"342\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and fists at shoulder height, drawing your elbows in toward your rib cage.<\/li>\n<li>Bracing your core, shift your weight to your left foot, lift your right knee to hip height, and\u00a0quickly kick your right leg forward. (Think about kicking an opponent\u2019s midsection with the ball of your foot.)<\/li>\n<li>Draw the right foot back toward your body and shift your weight, hopping onto the right foot.<\/li>\n<li>As you switch feet, lift the left knee to hip height and quickly extend the leg, snapping the left foot forward and drawing it back toward the body.<\/li>\n<li>Continue to hop and kick with alternating feet, keeping the chest up, the core tight, and the shoulders back.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How to Make the Switch Kick Easier<\/h2>\n<p>Are switch kicks too advanced for your current level of fitness or experience? You can dial back the difficulty of switch kicks (but still get a great workout) by taking out the kick, and instead just lifting your knees.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hop from foot to foot, only bringing the knee to hip height, without extending the leg.<\/li>\n<li>You can further modify switch kicks by dropping the hop and stepping from foot to foot, bringing your knee up each time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Crab Kicks: How to Make the Switch Kick Harder<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Believe it or not, switch kicks can be made even\u00a0more\u00a0difficult. You can either pick up the pace, or take the standing switch kicks exercise to the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe crab kick movement adds in shoulders and glutes, as you hold a reverse tabletop position,\u201d Miller says.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how to do crab kicks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Start off in a seated position with your knees bent and your feet on the floor.<\/li>\n<li>Place your palms on the floor about one foot behind your butt, with your fingers pointing toward your butt or slightly to the sides. Lift your butt off the ground and move into a reverse tabletop position.<\/li>\n<li>From this position, lift your left leg so that your knee is directly above your hip. Extend your left leg with a kick, then return it to the starting position.<\/li>\n<li>Repeat the movement on your right leg and alternate back and forth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Just note that if you have any joint pain or instability in your shoulders, elbows, or wrists, crab kicks may not be the best option for you. \u201cThis will apply quite a bit more pressure into the upper body to ensure stabilization,\u201d Miller explains.<\/p>\n<h2>Benefits of Switch Kicks<\/h2>\n<p>First off, switch kicks work a number of big muscle groups:<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, it\u2019s also a very adaptable exercise. \u201cYou have control over the intensity,\u201d explains Rachel Fiske, NC, NASM-certified personal trainer and advisory board member at Healing Daily.<\/p>\n<p>Fitness\u00a0rookies can easily modify the switch kick by omitting its hopping movement, or removing the kicks, and instead just doing\u00a0high knees. As you become more adept at switch kicks, you can amp up the intensity by increasing your speed, changing your position, or tacking on movements.<\/p>\n<p>It only takes a few seconds of switch kicks to get your heart pumping, making switch kicks an excellent option for HIIT or\u00a0at-home cardio\u00a0circuits. And because the switch kick requires you to hop from one foot to the other, it can also help improve your balance and coordination.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-163174\" src=\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/02151711\/Switch-Kicks-600-pin.png\" alt=\"Graphic of Example | Switch Kicks\" width=\"500\" height=\"750\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An exercise with a name like \u201cswitch kicks\u201d probably makes you think that the focus is on the\u00a0legs\u00a0and\u00a0butt. And although the switch kick\u00a0will\u00a0fire up every muscle from your hips down to your toes, it also\u00a0strengthens your core, explains Rebekah Miller, MS, CSCS, NASM-CPT. \u201cIn the switch kick movement, the lower body is being targeted, as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","tag-fitness"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions\/1766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}