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Showing posts from May, 2017

Anne Fletcher Stretch & Joint Mobility Therapy - Thoughts

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Stretch & Joint Mobility Therapy is a workout let by Anne Fletcher.  If you do the entire DVD, the workout clocks in at 55 minutes. There is a DVD menu that allows you to choose a particular segment.  The segment range from about 14 to 22 minutes. The segments are: Welcome! Joint Mobility: Head to Toe Dynamic Stretch Static Active Stretch Joint Mobility is really just about moving each body part. Starting with head rolls, and moving on to shoulder rotation, hand, fingers, ribcage and knee circle movements; Anne continues moving each body part down to the ankles and toes.  The majority of this workout is perform standing.  When Anne works the toes and feet, she does this from a supine position. Dynamic Stretches uses big movements and these movements are performed at a quicker tempo.  Side bends, torso circles, hamstring flat back reach pulls, side lunges, squats, downward dog, lunges, airplane are some of the moves that appear in the segment.   The majority of this

Sasha Price & Gina Harney Solibeat - Thoughts

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Solibeat is a high intensity 55-minute dance workout.  The instructors for this workout are Sasha Price and Gina Harvey.  The dance workout  is set to live drum beats that really support the energy and intensity of the workout. The DVD offers the following menu options: Dance Learn How Play All  Each of the Dance and Learn How segments are broken down into 8 segments. The segments are: Warm Up Samba Reggae Bhangra Djole Samba Dromme Merengue Kuku Belly Dance Cool Down Sasha and Gina alternate teaching each of the Learn How segments.   The Learn How segments are between 2 and 4 minutes.  During the dance segments, Gina and Sasha alternate leading a segment. In the dance segments, three other cast member join Gina and Sasha and they are also joined by the drummers. During the dance segments, you really cannot hear either Gina or Sasha cue because the drums drowned them out, so you are mostly relying on their visual cuing.  I did not do the Learn How segment.  The

Jessica Smith Strength & Balance - Review

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Strength & Balance is a Jessica Smith Walk On DVD that contains two 30-minute workouts.  There are two other cast members working out with Jessica.  One cast member shows beginner modifications. The DVD Menu: Stride & Strength Barefoot Fusion  Walk Play All   Stride & Strength is the first workout. This workout uses a set of hand weights.  Jessica combines strength exercises with higher intensity walking that Jessica calls your cardio push.  So you will do three strength compounds type moves and then a series of cardio moves design to get your heart rate up.  There are three rounds total. Please see the attach sheet for a list of the strength exercises. Barefoot Fusion Walk is a workout where Jessica combines various type movements from dance, to Pilates, ballet and kickboxing into the workout.  This is more of your active recovery type of workout.  It is is just about getting the body moving.   I thought Jessica included lots of hamstring work. Other moves t

Jessica Smith Dance Walk - Review

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Jessica Smith Dance Walk DVD contain two 30-minute dance inspired workouts.  Along with Jessica, there is one other cast member and this cast members show less intense versions of the moves. The DVD Menu  Latin Dance Walk Dance Walk Play All  The play all workout options clocks in at under 63 minutes.  These workouts are filmed outside  with a pool and a pier as the back drop. These workouts are aerobic base and they are a good way to get your steps in. If you have done any of Jessica Smith walking workouts, some of the music tunes and dance moves will  be familiar to you. Jessica introduces you to each move. Sometimes she will have you watch her first and then join in when you are ready.  After performing each move, you return back to the standard walk.  Jessica repeats various moves as she takes you through the workout. Latin Dance Walk - 3 & 1/2 stars Dance Walk - 3 & 1/4 stars

Jessica Smith Tone Your Trouble Zones - Review

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Tone Your Trouble Zones contains two thirty minute workouts.  Jessica combines walking with targeted toning exercises for the buns, thighs, and abs. The DVD has the following menu options: Buns and Thighs Walk Flat Abs Walk Play All Play All clocks in at just under 64 minutes. There are two other cast members along with Jessica. One cast member does show beginner modification.  Jessica does include impact in the form of butt kickers and jacks. These workout were filmed outdoors near a boating pier. I have done several of Jessica's walking workouts.  The music and exercises chosen have appeared in other workouts. Thus, I felt a real familiarity with workouts.  I have included a list of the exercises Jessica performs in this workout. While I only listed the exercise once, some of the exercises Jessica repeats as she moves through the workout. Buns and Thighs Walk - 3 & 3/4 stars Flat Abs Walk - 3 stars  

Cathe Greatest Hits Vol 1 Step - Thoughts

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Cathe Greatest Hits Vol 1 Step is another compilation workout.   The DVD contains a lot of material and if you do the whole thing, the run time is one hour and 38 minutes.  This workout is made of up segments from Step, Jump & Pump, Body Max 2, Drill Max, Imax 2, and Athletic Step.  There are segments from Cardio & Weights and XTrain Super Cuts  that are included as Bonus Chapters. Specifically, the warm up and the four step combos of of SJP are included, Body Max 2 step combo #2 and Drill Max cardio #4 are included, Imax 2 intervals 7-10, the finished combos in Athletic step and the stretch segment in Body Max 2 round out the DVD. DVD Menu:    PLAY    CHAPTERS    PREMIXES Premixes are:     Bonus Circuit Workout 44:50     Timesaver 1 (No Athetic Step) 54:40     Timesaver 2 (No Imax 2) 50:17     Timesaver 3 (No Step Combo Body Max 2) 59:23     Timesaver 4 (No cardio #4 Drill Max) 61:08     Circuit and Intervals 60:23 I did the Timesaver 1 premix. I think w

Cathe Cardio Fusion - Thoughts

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Cathe Cardio Fusion is a compilation workout compose of cardio segments from the following DVDs:  Body Max 2, Low Impact Circuit and Drill Max. The DVD offers these menu options: Play Program Chapters Mix & Match Premixes Credits In Cardio Fusion, Cathe uses the warm up in Body Max 2 (9:24), the finish step combo in Body Max 2 (5:51), the bonus step segment in Low Impact Circuit (10:56), the power circuit segments (sans weight) from Body Max 2, cardio drills from drill max (25:26) and stretch segment from Body Max 2 (6:32). The entire workout clocks in at around an hour and 15 minutes. There are three premixes:      All Step Cardio (48 min)      Mix Cardio (41.5 min)      Mix & Max (80 min) Equipment used is a step and stability ball in drill max segments. I have had this workout for sometime but never did it. It has been quite sometime since I did the original workouts that this compilation was based on . I was surprised that I was able to pick up the step

Marc Santa Maria Rhythmica - Thoughts

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Rhythmica features Marc Santa Maria as your trainer.  Marc takes you through three 20 minutes dances. The dance are: Hip Hop Fat Burn Latin Dance Mix Get Fit House Party Each dance contains two mini dance routines. There are four moves to each dance.  Marc teaches a move at half pace. You get two run thrus before he has you perform the step at tempo.  (However, I didn't think tempo was really all that fast). After performing the move at tempo, you add on the next move. You repeat this pattern until you have all four moves of the mini combo. Marc then runs through all four moves from beginning to end four times before moving on the either the next mini combo or the next dance. All the dances follow this pattern.  All of the dances also had a based move that you would go back to as you were learning what was coming next. Along with Marc, there are two other cast members. This workout was okay.  I liked most of the moves that were in each of the dances. I felt at times th

Jessica Smith Total Body Balance - Thoughts

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Total Body Balance is a workout DVD by Jessica Smith that features four 20-minute workouts. The DVD menu offers the following options:     Introduction     Play All     Cardio Flow - 20:57     Sole Sculpt - 22:07     Core Stretch - 23:32     Cardio Dance Sculpt - 20:43 All the workouts are performed barefoot.  Cardio Flow is set out doors.  This is a fusion workout that includes ballet, a bit of modern dance, and big movements. Along with Jessica, there is one other cast member that shows advanced progressions. Sole Sculpt   is your sculpting workout.  It also has an outdoor sets.  Jessica uses a set of 3lb weights. The other cast member (Asha) uses a pair of 5lb weights.  After a 4 minute warm up, Jessica takes you through a series of sculpting moves that include a lot of 4-limb movement. For almost every exercises you are using both the upper and lower body. Expect lots of squats pulses and plies.  There is standing work as well as floor work.  I really like this work

Jessica Smith 6 Mile Mix - Thoughts

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6 Mile Mix is a Jessica Smith Walk ON workout that contains six 15 minute workouts, a warm up , cool down and bonus stretch. The DVD offers the following options:     Introduction     PLAY ALL     Customize Workout     Bonus Stretch     Credits If you click customize workouts, you can choose any of the six segments, the warm up and/or the cool down.  You can choose up to 8 tracks to create a customize workouts. Warm up -  6:12 Mile 1: Steady Burn - 15:37 Mile 2: Upper Body Sculpt - 15:15 Mile 3:  Lower Body Toner - 15:22 Mile 4: Cardio Interval Abs - 15:12 Mile 5: Total Body Tune Up - 15:55 Mile 6 - Speed Walk - 11:56 Cool Down - 5:05 Bonus Stretch - 5:58 Overall, I thought this was a good set of mini workouts.. When I did the workouts, I did three of the segments one day, and three of the segments the next day. Doing it this way and adding in the warm up and cool down, it was about a 50 minute plus workout. I also did do the Bonus Stretch workout. The stretch wor

May 2017 Monthly Rotation

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May 2017 This month will be anchored by Jessica Smith and Cathe workouts.  I am adding in a couple of dance workouts, stretch workouts, Red Hot Fitness workouts, and Les Mills On Demand workouts. I am also bumping up my mileage on the treadmill from three to four miles.