Saundra

Continuing my periodic journey with yoga, I did Sara Ivanhoe's Taste. Taste features 10 short yoga sequences that are between 3 & 1/2 minutes to around 6 minutes in length. If you do all 10 yoga sequences back to back, the workout is about 50 minutes. The different Yoga Routines are:   Wake Shed Burn Cleanse FIRM Core Work Tail Chill Sleep Each of the segments start from either the seated, kneeling or standing position.  Most of the segments followed a pattern where you will do the move on one side and then repeat the poses on the others side.  Sometimes, Sara will add an extra rep to each side adding variation to the pose the second time through - usually making the move more challenging. Shed, Burn Tail, and Core are the most challenging segments as they contain a lot of strength, balance and plank poses. The thing that annoyed me about the workout is there is no "play all"  option.  Unless you choose a premix, you have to keep yo...

Jazzercise Dance HiiT workout is lead by Shanna Misset Nelson. This workout has a rockin soundtrack with a lot of contemporary songs. The workout is called Dance HiiT, HiiT standing for High Interval Intensity Training. I did not think this was a "HiiT" workout in any shape or form.  This doesn't mean that I don't like the workout, I just think the title is misleading, but what's new. The DVD menu offers the following options: Dance HiiT Full Workout - Approximately 47 minutes in length Dance HiiT Pure Cardio - 30 minutes Dance HiiT Pure Strength - 19 minutes Dance HiiT Express -18 minutes What I like that Shanna does is she introduces each of the premixes as well as the main workout.  The Full Workout alternates cardio set with strength sets.  Some strength sets use the tubing.  One of the cast members uses weights to show that option. The Pure Strength and Express workouts do not have a warm up.  They both go right into using the tubing. The E...

Power Flow Vinyasa Yoga is definitely the toughest of the three Vinyasa Flow workouts by Jennifer Kries. It is also the longest - clocking in at 50 minutes. Jennifer focuses on various breathing techniques as you work through the poses. The poses are also more advanced.  Jennifer shows several advance poses that have a strength element to them where you are holding your own body weight. The workout starts with a series of Sun Salutation. Each time through the Sun Salutation, Jennifer increases the difficulty by adding slight variations to several of the postures. About half way through the workout, there is also a very intense balance pose segment. Jennifer throws the splits at you as well as show you a levitation pose. This was definitely a challenging workout; several of the moves I could not do.   The workout concludes with some deep breaths and the meditation posture. Jennifer likes to explain, and I usually do not mind this but at one point in the workou...

Cardio Kickboxing by Jeanette Jenkins is an 89 minute workout if you do it all.  It is mostly drill base workout with very few "combos". You do a series of kickboxing inspired moves on one side and then you repeat on the other. My main problem with the workout is that Jeannette can't count.  And she admits that or she admits to adding on.  The problem with that is she doesn't do the same amount of reps on both sides which I find irritating. Jeannette is not a chatter box - at least not in this workout.  There were times in the workout where it was just the music and not a lot of talk from her.  I found this refreshing. The workout is extremely welled chapter.  The DVD menu offers the following options: Play All with Music Play All with out Music (Jeannette's Instruction only) Introduction Warm Up - 10 min Power Punch - 7 min Side Kick City - 11 min Round House Power - 12 min Knockout Round - 11 min Ring The Bell Mat Work - 15 min Champion...

Yoga Max is a workout that is part of Cathe's Low Impact Series. It clocks in at 48 minutes. Cathe states that this is a "more invigorating workout that builds heat and power in the muscles".  I am assuming she is comparing it to Yoga Relax. There are definitely a lot more strength postures in this workout than in Yoga Relax.  And Cathe has you hold these poses for quite some time.  As you go through the poses, you will do a pose on one side and then repeat on the other.  I did think as I did the workout that Cathe had us hold the postures longer on the first side than we were holding on the second side. I also thought there were way too many downward facing dogs.  Cathe did tell us that if we needed a break to go into child pose. She would return to this pose from time to time. I was expecting that with Yoga Max the pace would be quicker than with Yoga Relax but really the tempo was about the same.  The DVD Menu offers the following options: I...

Zumba Max Beto's Maximum Calorie Burn is a 60 minute workout.  Beto states that this is his "most intense class". And I agree.  It contains super high energy throughout all the tracks and the only real break you got is when you moved from track to track.  The track switching transition felt shorter to me in this workout than in previous Zumba workouts. With the exception of track two, Beto leads the entire workout. The second track is lead by the Zumba Twins (Alicia and Tonya). The DVD comes with an English and Spanish option.  It also comes with verbal cuing on and off option.  The "on" option is voice-over. Throughout the workout, the class contracts and expands as members come in and out during the start of each track. The Tracks: I Wanna Jump Bounce (I Like It When You Do) Ta' Encedio Vamos Pa' La Pista La Cumbia Caliente DJ Dale Play Violint Marioneta Rock & Roll North America Empezo El Show Uno Sabe Bien Indian Moonshine...

Type O Kick Boxing workout is part of the Blood Type Workout System.  The workouts in these series are design for a specific Blood Type. According to the back of the cover,  Type O's "benefit tremendously from brisk regular exercises that taxes the cardiovascular and muscular skeletal systems". This is the only workout that I bought from the system.  And I only got it because I like kickboxing workouts.  The music is up tempo techno. So the workout.  It is lead by Patricia Moreno. She is the only cast member.  The set is this cool and clean looking loft apartment - lots of white with colorful accents. The workout clocks in at around 65 minutes.  There is a warm up, 4 kickboxing segments using sand weights, a stability ball core segment, and cool down. Patricia names each of the kickboxing segments but I only caught the name of Segment 2 which is called "Excellence" and Segment 4 which was control "Self Control." Segment 1 might have been ca...

Yoga Relax is part of Cathe's Low Impact Series.  It is a 52 minute Yoga workout that concentrates on stretching and flexibility. Cathe calls it a soothing workout.  It does move quite slow and you are holding poses or positions longer. Yoga Relax comes with the following Menu Options: Introduction Play Chapters Premixes Credits Audio Settings The Chapter Points on the DVD are: Warm Up Series Standing Torso Stretches Deep Stretches on Mat Balance Poses Standing Straddle Stretches Seated Upright Stretches Lying Supine (Facing Up Stretches) Final Resting Poses There are two premixes: YogaRelax Express #1 28:42 YogaRelax Express #2 32:41 Audio Option are: Normal Mix - contains Cathe voice and music Vocals Only Mix - Cathe voice only. This was a nice stretch but long workout. I did do the whole workout.  Next time I do the workout I will probably choose to do just a premix. 3 stars

 Zumba Gold Live It Up DVD 1 - Step By Step The Step By Step DVD has two main parts. There is the Step By Step section of the dances that will appear in the other two DVDs. There are dance breakdowns for: Merengue Salsa Cumbia Flamenco This section of the DVD is lead by Joy Prouty and Beto Perez and it is almost 40 minutes in length. The second part of the DVD is Healthy Living Tips. The segments in this section are: Happiness Factor Mind-Body Wellness Nutrition Brain Health Enhancing Longevity. These segments are hosted by Joy and she introduces various presenters to talk about the above topics The Healthy Living Tips segment is over an hour in length.  Live It Up Cardio is the second DVD in the Zumba Gold System. This workout is lead by Joy Prouty and Beto Perez and it is 46 minutes in length. This workouts starts with Safety Tips hosted by Joy. While the warm up starts with visual cuing, the rest of the workout has live cuing.  There are no v...

  Zumba Gold Live It Up Workout System is a three-DVD system that is targeted towards active older adults. The pace of the Zumba Gold workouts is quite a bit slower than the pace of a traditional Zumba Workout. Along with the three DVDs, the Zumba Gold Systems comes with a 32 page Healthy Living Guide and a pair of 1lb Toning Sticks. The DVDs are: DVD 1 -Step By Step DVD 2 - Cardio DVD 3 - Toning  I will review the DVDs in a separate post. The Healthy Living Guide offers tips and suggestions for feeling "Fit and Fabulous!" as well as "Best Foods" for various health concerns.

Aaahhhhh Spring. April 2014 Monthly Rotation Well this rotation is kind of all over the place. There is kickboxing, Zumba, Jazzercise, Cathe and Classic FIRM Parts, plus some Yoga on Saturday. Workouts I am planning to review are: Zumba Gold Cardio Zumba Gold Toning Cathe Yoga Relax Type O Kickboxing Zumba Max Cathe Yoga Max Jeannette Jenkins Cardio Kickboxing Jennifer Kries Power Flow Vinyasa Yoga Jazzercise HiiT Sara Ivanhoe's Taste