Weights with cardio boxing? (noob exerciser)

gillismaxiumus

So I've found something I love doing. I'm doing cardio boxing using my xbox with kinect. Typically I go pretty hard and use weights on my hands (1.5lbs) and ankles (3#lbs), anywhere from 45 min to an hour. My BM armband reads 400-500 calories burned during these workouts. I'm thinking about getting 3lbs gloves. Just wondering if there is any merit to the weights, and if going heavier is a good idea?

Oh, and is this a good workout?

gillismaxiumus

Bump

Fullsterkur_woman

I think any exercise you enjoy that gets you motivated to move is a good exercise if you don't hurt yourself! Me, I cannot stand boxing/kickboxing, but that leaves just about every other activity in the world that I do enjoy, at least sometimes.

In one of my step and sculpt classes, there's a man that likes to do the aerobic segment (25-30 minutes) with 8 or 10# dumbbells in his hands. He even does the warm-up with them, which doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. But I know he walks for about 10 minutes to get to work from the gym, so he's warming up a little from that. So I think you can probably work up to doing a little bit heavier, but maybe not if you're doing it for longer duration like 45 minutes to an hour.

If it was me, I'd recommend doing the cardio workout without weights, and then doing weights separately. Are you doing any kind of strength training already?