CIA 2202 All-Out Hi/Low - Thoughts

CIA 2202 All-Out Hi/Low & Step features Franny Benedetto as the lead. It is an older CIA Video workout that is part of the 2200 Series of Workouts. The actual DVD contains three 2200 workouts that were once only on VHS.
I have had the DVD forever but up until today, I had only done CIA 2203 Cardio Strikezone which is a kickboxing workout.
So I decided to explore the other workouts on the DVD.

2202 All-Out Hi/Low & Step is actually two separate 55 minute plus workouts. Workout one is Hi/Low and Workout Two is Step. I only did the Hi/Low workout.

The Hi Low workout features an 8 minute warm up, 7 mini combos, and about a 5 minute cool down. Franny teaches the combos in a rapid layer approach. Once you get pass the warm up, there is not a lot of marching. You are always doing a move that is part of the combo. She teaches it, does it about 4 times and then she is like "let's move on". I mentioned this because a couple of times, I was trying to figure out where I could sneak in a drink of water, but the only real break comes after the third combo when you do a heart rate check. Otherwise, it is constant movement.

I didn't think the combos were particularly difficult to learn. What makes them tricky is the pace at which Franny moves through the combos and the fact that she teaches the moves at normal speed, so no real breakdown for most of the moves. She calls it out and then does it.

A little more about the combos.
They are taught in two parts. Part one is the first three combos. After you learn them, you run through them a couple of times and then Franny splices the combos. You run through the splice version a couple of times before moving on.
Part two contains the last four combos. Once you get into Part Two, you never do the combos in the first part again. Franny doesn't splice the combos as she did in part one, but once you have learned all the combos in part two, you do run through them all several times.

I like this workout and thought it had a lot of energy. The music is really up tempo and each tune has a definite driving beat. I thought Franny did a good job cuing the workout. You do have to listen to what she is saying because the workout does move.
This is the type of good old-fashion cardio that I love. I am irritated with myself that I am just now doing this workout.
4 stars

FitPrime Just Right Cardio - Thoughts

Just Right Cardio is Volume 11 of the FitPrime original series of workouts. It stars Anna Benson and it's a little over 30 minutes in length.
The sections of the workout are
Warm Up
Stretch
Cardio
Floor Work
Stretch
Cool Down
The cardio portion is about 20 minutes and consist of short sequences of mostly walking, marching, tap outs and some squat work. There is one cardio tune where you are doing a lot of knee lifts and I felt it in the hip flexors. So great endurance work for that part of the body.
Anna used the arms quite a bit in the cardio sets - overhead press, biceps, press downs, swing arms are some of the variation arm moves.
Anna included a lot of breath work and I like that part of the workout. This is a really easy, basic simple workout, not much complexity.
The floor work contains push ups, bridge, and core work.
There are several glitches in the editing. At least twice in the workout, it appeared that a section came to an end, only to have the workout jump back in to the sequence for more work before ending a second time.
During the floor work, some of the camera work contain close up shots when the camera angle should have been a wide shot to show the full body because there were a couple of moves you couldn't tell what Anna was doing.
Depending on your level of fitness, this workout might even be too easy as an Active Recovery workout.
I thought it was an okay workout.
3 stars

Kelly Coffey-Meyer Your Best Body - Thoughts

30 Minutes To Fitness Your Best Body is a muscle
endurance sculpting workout. The Main Menu of the DVD looks like this:
Introduction
Warm-Up
Workout One
Workout Two
Yoga/Stretch
Premixes
Chapters
Credits
The reason I tend to post what the DVD menu looks like with Kelly's workouts is because vary rarely can you just push play. There is no "Play All". You need to select the warm up and after the warm up the DVD takes you back to the menu where you can select Workout One or Two. So there is a bit of choppiness with it.
When you combine the warm up, one of the workouts and the yoga/stretch segment which serves as the cool down, the workouts are each over 40 minutes on their own
An extra 10 minutes is too long for a workout that is suppose to be 30-Minutes. I have gripe about this before so I won't do it here.

The Workouts:
Both workouts are very similar to each other. There are five rounds. In each of the five rounds you work an upper body muscle group, the legs, and the core. Roughly I would say each round is about 6 minutes - 3 minutes of upper body, 2 minutes of legs and 1 minute of core. I know some of the upper body segments felt like they were going on forever. We did upwards of 5 sets of 8 reps during the upper body portion of the workout.
For the lower body section, depending on the exercise, you might do 1 minute on one leg and then another minute on the other leg or Kelly would switch up the exercise after a minute and do another variation of the exercise.
The core work is mostly standing with a couple of plank exercises thrown in.

The Premixes:
Workout One with Cardio Rests
Workout Two with Cardio Rests
Workout One with No Rests
Workout Two with No Rest
Workout One No Legs
Workout Two No Legs
All Legs & Core
Cardio & Legs
Cardio & Upper Body
Core & Yoga

All Premixes include a warm up and cool down.

I was a bit annoyed that one of the premixes didn't include both Workout 1 and Workout 2. So I made my own. Luckily, the way Kelly chapters the workout, it was really easy to combine the two without really missing a beat. So, when I did the workout this morning. I did the warm up, workout 1 and workout 2 and 1/2 of the yoga/stretch. So my workout time was about 67 minutes. Doing it this way, I hit each upper body muscle group twice.

While it might sound like a didn't care for the workout, I actually did like it. There were only a couple of times I was cursing Kelly and that was when we went into a fifth set on some of the upper body exercises.
3 3/4 stars

Kelly Coffey-Meyer Step Boxing - Thoughts

30 Minutes To Fitness Step Boxing is a Kelly Coffey Meyer workout. The main part contains two Step Boxing workouts. Workout One is about 32 minutes and Workout Two is about 33 minutes.
The main menu on the DVD contains the following sections:
Introduction
Workout One
Workout Two
Stretch
Premixes
Chapters
Quick Fix Tutorial
Credits
This DVD also has a ton of premixes giving you lots of options.
The premixes are:
Workout One Plus Extra Drills
Workout Two Plus Extra Drills
Workout One Plus Extra Dumbbell Drills
Workout Two Plus Extra Dumbbell Drills
Kickboxing Drills Only (No Step)
Dumbbell Drills Only (no Step)
Kickboxing and Dumbbell Drills
Kelly's Favorite Compilation
Workout One & Two

I have done both workout one and workout two each of which has its own warm up. Today, I completed the Premix that combine both workouts (Workout One & Two Premix). The only difference between this premix and doing the workouts separately is the premix did not include the warm up for Workout Two.

In 30MTF Step Boxing, Kelly delivers unique kickboxing combos that are done at a much slower pace than her previous Step Boxing workouts. The combos in this workout are almost done at half time (half the speed). I kept getting ahead of Kelly in the combos and had to remind myself to take a pause or slow down my pace.
The slower pace does not mean I did not get a good workout. I burned over 480 calories with this premix which clocks in at 56 1/2 minutes.
One thing about the slower pace, it really lets you execute the moves. Also, the moves are basic, mostly simple kickboxing and athletic in nature. There is one series of mambo cha chas.

The workouts do use a step but there is a modifier who does the workout on the floor.

The music is so so. You are working to the beat of the music. For the most part it fits the workout.
I think this is another winner from Kelly and all the premixes gives you tons of options. All the premixes contain a warm up and cool down. I previewed the Dumbbells Drills Only (No Step) Premix and I think this will be a nice total body quick (23:18) workout.

4 1/4 stars

FitPrime Just Right Weights +Cardio +Yoga - Thoughts

Just Right Weights +Cardio +Yoga is lead by Anna Benson. It is Volume 10 in the FitPrime original series of workout and it is about 40 minutes in length.
The back of the DVD cover states "The Just Right series is not too hard, but beautifully effective." I agree with that statement. I didn't think this workout hard but I certainly felt I got a good workout.

This workout is a Non-Dominant Trainer workout. Not only does this Just Right workout work your non-dominant (weak) side first, Anna also gives you more reps to do on the weak side than she does on the strong side.
For instance, you will do a single arm shoulder raise. You might do three reps on the weak side and one rep on the strong side. This is by design. So for those of you who have to do the same amount reps per side, this may not be the workout for you.

The cardio is very simple and much of it lacks intensity. There is this bunny hop section that alternates with calf work (releve). I found this section challenging because I certainly felt it in my calves.
The weight sections can be as intense as you want depending on how heavy you go. Anna's dumbbells ranged from 5 lbs to 12lbs.
Along with dumbbells, a stick (dowel), high step, and pillow are also used.
Most of the music was very familiar to me. If you have done any of the Classic FIRM workouts, you will be familiar with several of the tunes.
The set is a small area that has a full length mirror in the back. At one point, Anna states, "I will teach this move in the mirror".
I did think some of the camera work a bit funky as the transitions were noticeable.

Anna did a fabulous job in leading the workout - great cuing and instruction.

For where I am at now in my fitness journey, this is a great Active Recovery workout. I can also see myself using this workout well into the future - say 20 to 30 years from now.
4 1/2 stars

March 2012 Monthly Rotation

March 2012. Wow, this year is already moving super fast.
There is no real order to March's rotation. I mostly filled the schedule with workouts I love to do. I have Hi Lo, Athletic Step, CardioTone, and pure strength workouts on tap.
Saturday will be a bit of an Active Recovery Day.

There are nine new workouts to review:

• Three FitPrime
• One CIA
• Two Tracie Long
• Two Kelly Coffey Meyer
• One FIRM

I am looking forward to this rotation. I think I am going to have a lot of fun.

February Wrap Up

Two Systems I did this month. Insanity and Cardio Karate.
I didn't really care for the Insanity System but I liked Cardio Karate a lot. I can really see several of the Cardio Karate workouts showing up in my rotation.

My favorite Insanity workouts were:
Max Cardio Conditioning
Pure Cardio
Fast and Furious

My favorite Cardio Karate workouts were:
Martial Arts Intervals (Disc 12)
Cardio Plyo Intervals (Disc 9)
Cardio Metabolic Intervals (Disc 10)
Extreme Cardio Intervals (Disc 3)
Cardio Intense (Disc 5)