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PIYO Strength DVD.  This DVD is part of the deluxe package. Along with the DVD you get a set of discs. The DVD contains two workouts: - Full Body Blast - Strong Legs Full Body Blast clocks in at 29:13 and it has the following segments: warm up dynamic & static legs core & more supine arms & abs hamstrings & cool down Working with the discs was challenging.  It definitely took the workouts up a notch for me.  These were the workouts that could have been called "Sweat" and/or "Drench".  Even though I didn't feel as if I were doing a cardio workout, I definitely felt a cardio effect from the workout. Strong Legs clocks in at 25:09.  I did this workout right after the Full Body Blast workout and I probably  should not have done that because I got annoyed that many of the moves/exercises in Strong Legs, I had just done in Full Body Blast. I wanted more variety or something different for the Strong Leg workouts. Plus this wor...

PIYO Hardcore on the Floor , came as a "free bonus" workout when you order the PIYO system from a Beach Body Coach. Clocking in at 33:30 you start out with a series of body rolls and then you hit the floor where you will spend the rest of the workout. So the segments are: warm up primal to traditional primal plank to elbow plank back extensions & cool down Featured moves in primal to traditional are beast, kick thrus, on arm body lifts into crunch, v-sits, upper body crunch, scissors crunches, oblique extension crunches, Primal moves are rolling like a ball, PIYO pedal, side planks crunches, kneeling kicks, beast alternating hand taps and roman twist. In plank to elbow plank segment, the exercises are knee pulls and leg extension in plank position, hip taps, down dog splits with ankle taps, and plank walks,. Back extension segment contain various iterations of the super man. Chalene calls one of the moves a sea turtle. I like the flow of this workout an...

PIYO Disc 3 comes with the following workouts: Drench Sculpt Bonus: TurboFire Low HiiT 20 Drench clocks in at 48:08 and it contains the following segments: warm up Heat Legs Plank & Core Power Beast & Kick Thrus Flow Stretch & Strength The best way for me to describe Drench is so say that it is a combination of all the workouts on disc 1 combined into a single workout.  Chalene is barefoot in this workout and as in the other workouts there is a beginner modifier and from time to time someone is showing more advanced moves.  The workout is okay.  I will say that Chalene is excellent in this series.  Her motivation tips and cuing have been spot on.   Sculpt clocks in at 26:40.  Chalene has shoes on in this workout and she also uses a chair in the Triceps and Buns segments. In this segment she is doing triceps dips and bridge work. You can do these off the floor as well. The sections are: warm up Lunges, Bowlers, and S...

PIYO Disc 2 contains the following workouts: Core Buns Strength Intervals In the first group of workouts, Chalene worked barefoot.  In these three workout, she works with shoes but she tells you that you have the option to do either.  Along with Chalene, there are three cast members one of which offers beginner modifications. Also with these DVDs, there is advertisement for various Beach body, PIYO, or Turbo wear services or products. Core is 30 minutes and 18 seconds in length. It starts with a cat cow warm up. Then moves into Standing Core. The exercises featured in the Standing Core section are standing crunches and standing oblique crunches done first on the right side of the body and then moving to the left. The next segment features prone exercises. Down Dog Split and ankle taps, along with planks are some of the exercises in this segment. Supine and side planks is the next segment.  Exercises are criss-cross crunches, knee switch holds, and roll u...

PIYO Disc 1 contains the following workouts: Align:  The Fundamentals Define:  Lower Body Define:  Upper Body Sweat Align:  The Fundamentals is not so much a workout as it is an introduction to the PIYO program. Chalene and cast (3 members) take you through a series of moves that you will be doing throughout the PIYO program.   Much of Align is Chalene talking and demonstrating various moves and telling you why you are doing what you are doing. Expect to spend quite a bit of time standing around. Topics in Align are: Neutral Posture Best Posture Spinal Flexion Extended Spine Forward Fold Lower Body (High Lunge, Low Lunge, Runner's Lunge) Yoga Poses (Plank, Child's Pose, Tricep Push-Up, Chaturanga & Up Dog, Down Dog, Down Dog Split, Open Hip Down Dog, Warrior 1, Warrior 2, Right Angle, Triangle, Flow, Warrior 3, Half Moon) PIYO Moves (PIYO Push-up, 3 Point Balance, Crouching Push Up, Side Plank, PIYO Pike, PIYO Flip, Beast, Kick Thr...

 PiYo .  Chalene Johnson and Beachbody's newest workout system. Yep. Another system. If you get the deluxe set, you get a total of 12 workouts. The system comes packaged quad fold DVD cardboard case that is quite colorful. Picture three is the front cover.  The workouts come on three DVDs that slide into the first three slots in the quad fold. The last slot is reserved for the extras. The extras are the quick start guide (quad folding 8 page guide), the eating plan (26 pages, last 6 pages Beach Body advertising. There is also a wall calendar than you unfold and pin up on the wall as well as a tape measure. If you get the deluxe system the slot is big enough to slide those workouts in as well. That's about it. I will post reviews of the workout as I do them. Front Cover

July 2014 For July, I will start off with doing PIYO by Chalene Johnson. Then I will add workouts from Cathe's Xtrain and 2013 series. Sprinkled in I have a couple of Anna Benson Live workouts and Figure 8 Fitness featuring Jaana Kunitz. CRT 2014 is Cathe's Road Trip.

Turbo Fire Low HiiT Workouts .   Turbo Fire Low HiiT Classes are part of the Turbo Fire Starter Package.  There are two Low HiiT Classes.  They are:  Low HiiT 20 Class and Low HiiT 25 Class. Low HiiT 20 Class actually clocks in at 18:59.  In this class, Chalene Johnson takes you through three Low HiiT Drills and you do each drill twice.  The low stands for low impact.  HiiT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  So in this workout, Chalene is doing a high intensity workout with low impact moves.   If you do not want to do high intensity, there is a modifier showing a low intensity version of the move. There is also a modifier showing super high, (high impact) version of the move. Each of the drills are about 64 seconds in length. Then you get about a 60 second break. During the break, Chalene teaches or reviews the next upcoming drill. The cast is huge. Including Chalene and the modifiers there are about 15 other...

Fire Starter Class is the prequel to the Turbo Fire workouts. It is a 37 minute workout taught by Turbo Fire creator Chalene Johnson. Chalene slows down the pace (slow compared to Turbo Fire) and breaks down the move as she teaches you the basics of Turbo Fire workouts. Fire Starter Class contains 3 long combos. Each of the three combos are made up of 2 mini combos where you go through the moves on the right and then the left. So expect some repetition. The workout is set to mostly up to date (current) music that really keeps the workout moving. Along with Chalene, there are several cast members including a low impact (beginner) modifier and there is also a person that is doing extremely advance high impact moves for those who want to go that route. Throughout the workout, Chalene offers tips and encouragement in how to get the most out of the workout. I like the workout. I think it is a great compliment to the Turbo Fire workouts. 4 stars

Oh, of course I had to buy this as I really like Chalene's HiiT workouts. So Turbo Fire Greatest HiiTs total workout time is 20:42. The workout contains a warm up, 4 HiiT drills, and a cool down. The warm up and first drill is from HiiT 15. The second drill is from HiiT 20. The third drill and cool down is from HiiT 25. The fourth drill is from HiiT 30. Drill 1 is 34 seconds. Drill 2 is 46 seconds Drill 3 is 55 seconds Drill 4 is 61 seconds Each drill is repeated twice. The Turbo Fire logo flashes and is used to transition the workout from drill to drill. Other than that, Greatest HiiTs is pretty much the same as the other HiiT workouts. Chalene marks the drill and then she does it. I don't mind the compilation and I like having another HiiT workout. I just wish they would have combine all the HiiT drills from all 4 workouts for a super duper HiiT workout - maybe doing each drill once to keep the workout shorter. Although as they already have a 15, 20, 25 & 30 minute worko...

November is coming to an end and so is my Turbo Fire rotation. The last of the workouts are Fire Class 30 and Stretch 40 Class. Fire 30 Class clocks in at 30:57. It features one drill done twice but the drill is not done back to back. Chalene does the drill once at about the 20 minute mark or so and again at about the 12 minute mark. This is a fun workout. I thought the combinations flowed really well. This is probably my second favorite behind the Fire 45 EZ class. You get in, work real hard and then get out. Stretch 40 Class is basically a yoga class or a stretch class done with yoga poses. It was just okay. I actually thought it was a bit long and boring. Chalene coaches throughout - constantly providing motivational tips. I like listening to Chalene but Stretch 40 is probably my least favorite out of all the Turbo Fire workouts. Fire 30 Class - 4 1/2 stars Stretch 40 Class - 2 1/2 stars Summary of series: I really like the series especially the cardio. At the same ...

Turbo Fire 45 EZ Class is my favorite Turbo Fire Workout. I just really like how the combos and music come together in this one. The workout clock in at 43:40. It has one finale but no drills. A drill wasn't necessary. I burnt almost as many calories in the 45 EZ Class as I did in the 45 Class. Just super high energy and motivating fun from Chalene. Tone 30 Class clock in at 30:17 and it features a standing and floor section. The standing sections contains compound upper body and lower body moves that are followed by upper body only moves. The floor section are all compound exercise type moves that work multiple body parts. The workout uses both the band (tube style) and a lower body band. I did use the bands for the whole workout, although I am sure you can substitute dumbbells. A solid toning workout. HiiT 25 Class length is 24:32. It features 4 drills that are repeated twice. The first drill is 69 seconds, the second - 67 seconds, the third - 69 seconds and the ...

This week's Turbo Fire workouts started off with Turbo Fire 45 Class . Fire 45 Class clocks in at 44:39. It contains 2 drills. The first drill is only done once and it is 70 seconds in length. I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't repeated twice. The second drill is also 70 seconds in length but it is performed twice. There is one finale. I like the individual moves in this workout but I didn't think the moves flowed well together. Sculpt 30 Class clock in at 28:18. I like this workout much better than the first time I did it. That could be because I used dumbbells for most of the exercises. Chalene does use a band - the tube style. The exercises in Sculpt 30 are mostly compound in nature. You are working both the upper and lower body at the same time. A few of the exercises just work the upper body. It is an okay sculpting workout. HiiT 30 Class contains 5 drills and clocks in at 30:35. Each drill is repeated twice except for the last drill which is repeated three ...

So this week's Turbo Fire workouts started off with Fire 55 EZ Class. Fire 55 EZ clocks in at 53:05. It contains one drill repeated twice. The drill is 72 seconds long. It also contains two finales. I kind of question the reason of having two finales. Having two seems to take away the impact of having a finale. 55 EZ seems more repetitive than Chalene's other workouts. Chalene keeps up the energy but even so the workout feels long to me. Chalene coaches throughout and the music is energetic. The second Turbo Fire workout I did this week was Upper 20 Class. Upper 20 clocks in at 19:50. Chalene uses a band - the tube style. I chose to use dumbbells. The exercises included are traditional upper body exercises , as well as core based exercises. You are performing anywhere from 8 to 16 reps per exercise; and depending on the exercise -anywhere from 2 to 3 sets. Upper 20 is a nice get in and get out upper body workout. HiiT 20 clocks in at 19:05. It consist of 3 drills. Drill 1 i...

Since I am doing several Turbo Fire workouts within a week, I will do a combine review of that week's workouts. First a little about the set up, the Turbo Fire system is broken down into a series of Fire (aerobics) workouts, HiiT workouts, and toning workouts. The number in the title is a rough estimate of how long the class (workout) is. Each workout features a modifier and each workout is led by Chalene Johnson. The Fire workouts feature a combination breakdown option (called new to class) that you can select to learn the moves more slowly. This does make the workout longer. I started my Turbo Fire workouts on Tuesday with Fire 60 Class . The Fire 60 Class actually clocks in at 56:58. It features several kickboxing dance based combinations and it has two drills repeated two times each and it has 2 finales at the end. Each of the drills are approximately 68 seconds. I like this workout. I did not get bored even though some of the combinations are slightly on the repetitive side...

2010 is flying by. I have one more workout schedule for this month (Kelly Coffey Meyer's Circuit Burn) which I will do tomorrow. Then, I will be off to Denver for the weekend. I built November's rotation around Turbo Fire and Cathe newest four workouts. Now, I know I am going out on a limb to schedule the Cathe workouts in before I have them. In fact, I moved the workouts as close down towards the end of the month as I could. Hopefully this delay won't be long and I will get the workouts in as scheduled. I am also having to work around having family come in for the holidays. So the break down is: Sunday: Cathe Interval Training. It has been ages since I have done any of the IMAX workouts. Monday : New sculpting workouts. Every workout listed for Monday will be my first time doing that workout. I have had Kettlebell Boot Camp for quite sometime and I am just now getting it in, but that is mostly because I am not a huge Kettlebell fan. Tuesday : Turbo Fire Fire workouts. Thi...

Okay. I have jump on the Turbo Fire bandwagon. My system arrive last week and I have previewed all of the workouts. I revise my July rotation to include the Turbo Fire workouts. Most of the Turbo Fire workouts I will be doing as evening workouts but I might changed them to morning workouts. I am still trying to decide when I will have the most energy to give the workouts my all. My July rotation starts Sunday June 27. My first Turbo workout will be an evening workout Tuesday June 29. Let the Fire Begin........