Saundra

Well earlier this month, I got in the Michelle Dozois's Peak Fit Challenge system. So I stopped my 6 week rotation in favor of doing those workouts. When I do the workouts again, I will review them individually for the blog. Overall, I like the workouts. I just did not care for that band thing that came with them. So I am starting this month with a new rotation that consist of kickboxing for cardio and total body sculpting workouts. The Breakdown: Sunday - Kickboxing (Cathe & CIA) Monday - Cathe Total Body Sculpting Tuesday - Ilaria Kickboxing Wednesday - Kelly Coffey Meyer Total Body Sculpting Thursday - Kickboxing (Kelly, Janis, & Tracey) Friday - Cathe Lower Body Sculpting Saturday - Rest

Fun Fun Fun. Rush is the express workout in the Zumba Exhilarate system. The description of this workout is "a 20 minute workout to amp you up." I think it is more like 23 minutes. The workout is led by Kass Martin and Loretta Bates. Like a couple of the other Zumba workouts in this system, Rush uses a voice over. While I am not a fan of the voice over, I think Rush does a better job in syncing the voice over with the steps in the workout. The breakdown is as follows: Echa PA' Un Lado - Warm Up - Techno/Mambo/Charleston Enciendemala - Cumbia/Rumba/Flamenco Estas Perdida - Calypso La Bruja De La Cosquilla - Merengue Lo Que Quieras Te Dare - Samba Zumba Rush is high energy from the start. The pauses in between the segments do not seem as long as in some of the other Zumba workouts. The workout also ends with a lot of energy. There is not the normal Zumba workout cool down (slow tempo or rather slow rhythm). In fact, on the DVD it states "for stretch/cool down moves, pl...

Loved It. Zumba Mix is about 55 minutes maybe a little less. It is 55 mintues if you do the workout without the breakdown. I am not sure how long the workout is with the breakdown. I actually did the breaking down the moves chapter and then went back and did the workout (Zumba Mix) without the breakdown. The workout sections are : Zumba Mix Zumba Mix (with move breakdowns) Breaking Down the Moves So Zumba Mix is a "rhythmic journey around the world". Mix showcases different types of dances and influence on dance from many parts of the globe. The sections are: Bollywood Fusion Quebradita Hip Hop Sino Fusion French Reggaeton Flamenco Belly Dance Axe African Salsa In the Breaking Down the Moves sections, Beto and an instructor that specializes in that particular dance explain three of the more complex steps. You are able to go through the moves slowly and then at tempo without music. During the workout portion, Tanya and Beto start you off with a disco warm up. Then either Tany...

The total Zumba Ripped workout is 60 minutes, but the workout is divided into two 30 minute parts. The first part Zumba Toning is led by Jani Roberts, Beto Perez and Pamela Soccoro. They take turns teaching certain parts of the workout. I like the new instructors and thought they did a good job with their cuing and their energy. This part of the workout uses the Zumba Toning sticks. The toning sticks that come with the workouts are 1 1/2lbs. You can purchase the 2 1/2 lbs at the Zumba website. The 2 1/2lbs sticks are $24.95. I thought about getting them but then shipping and handling would have been $8.50. So I passed. I didn't really care for the sticks as a toning tool but they do add a bit of pizazz to the routine. They rattle. The breakdown for Zumba Toning : Nunca Me Viste - Warm Up - Latin Disco Get Your Sticks - House (Biceps and Abs) La Luz Del Flow - Merengue/Hip Hop (Legs, Shoulders, and Back) Te Estoy Amando - Cumbia Salsa (Back) Con Movimiento - Reggaeton (Abs, Chest...

Like the other Target Zones workouts, Zumba Cardio & Glutes is led by Tanya Beardsley. This workout is 22 minutes long and features the following sections: Zamba Zamba - Belly Dance/Salsa (5:07) Zu Bailaito - Quebradita (4:25) C'mon and Dance - Merengue/Hip-Hop (5:46) Muevete Pa'ca Musevet Pa'lla - Salaa/Reggaeton (4:19) Arabian Myth - Cool Down (2:54) I thought this one was fun. The dances had a lot of flair with good music backing them up. I will say because the moves are tightly choreograph with what the music is doing sometimes you are waiting for certain parts of the music to occur and some of the moves appear to be filler moves. The only song I could really tell I was really doing glute/toning work was Zu Bailaito - Quebradita. Quite a bit of that song is dance but you are also doing lunges and leg lifts. I think this is my favorite of the Zumba Target Z0ne workouts, but just slightly over Arms & Obliques. 4 stars

Zumba Exhilarate is about 60 minutes in length and it is led by Beto Perez. There is a lady (Melissa Chiz) who is dancing up front with Beto but you really don't "hear" her. Like Activate, Exhilarate has a Learn It and Feel It section. Also like Activate, you have all the camera angles and lighting going all wild on you in certain parts of the workout. The workout breaks down a follows : Bring It On - Warm Up Latin House Funkezinho - Funk Fuzion El Vacilon - Meregue Mueve La Cadera - Batucada/Merengue Hala - Reggaeton Que Quiere La Nina - Salsa Sigue La Cumbia - Cumbia Anda Y Diime - Tango Don't Let Me Down - Swing Pa' La Discoteka A bailar - Merengue Hip Hop Caiirinha - Brazilian Dance Salorien - Rumba Flamenco I'm Going On - Cool Down Ballad Each segment is about 5 minutes in length. As this is my first time doing the workouts, I did the Learn It version of the workout. What I like about the workout : The music. The vibe. The energy. I had fun. What I didn...

Zumba Target Zones Arms & Obliques is 23 minutes in length and it is led by Tanya Beardsley. There are five segments and they break down as follows: Hava Nagila - Israeli Sahara Oasis - Belly Dance La Fietsta - Flamenco El Marciano - Merengue Aromuzak - Cool Down I really had fun with this workout. While you are doing a lot with your arms (more with your arms than your obliques), I felt for the most part that all the toning moves blended well into the dance. The music selected for each segment made the workout fun. I was able to lose myself in the music and just go with the moves even though a couple of the moves may have seemed on the silly side. In the Merengue segment, Tanya brought back the windmill circle arms. I remember doing those in junior high school many years ago. The cool down is really just an upper body stretch. 4 stars

Zumba Exhilarate Activate The description of this workout states that it is “A 45-minute, easy to follow class to get you started.” And I have to admit, I found it extremely easy to follow. The description goes on to say this workout is “designed to activate your body and awaken your senses”. I felt the workout kind of started out ho-hum, but by the end of the workout, I was definitely feeling the Zumba energy. The workout is led by Tanya Beardsley and Gina Grant. They alternate teaching the various segments. Tanya and Gina interact a lot with each other and the cast members. They do tend to ham it up for the camera, but each does a very good job in leading the segments. What can throw you off are the camera angles and the lighting. In certain parts of the workouts, it appears that they turn on a strobe light because there is a lot of flashing lights and the camera angles becomes frantic as the cameras moves from image to image. Most of the time when this is occurring is when you are f...

Zumba Target Zones is a three disk series that focuses on target areas. In Zumba Abs & Legs , Tanya Beardsley leads you in a 26 minute workout that uses moves that predominately focuses on the Abs and Legs. Some of the moves are static side taps, squats (lots), courtesy dips, standing crunches, knee lifts, side bends. The rhythms used in this workout are: Calypso, Tango, Reggaeton, Salsa and a Rhumba Cooldown. The Tango rhythms requires a lot of room. Tanya has you doing an 8 count tango walk forward. You can cross in place and therefore stay in place but I found that to be tricky. You really do want to have some movement forward when executing this move. The other dances didn't require as much room. There is quite a bit of repetition. You are starting and stopping as the rhythm changes, but I have come to find this is typical of the Zumba workouts and even other dance workouts. I like the dancing in this workout much more so than I like doing the toning moves (i.e. squats). 3 ...

Zumba's Step by Step workout is approximately 60 minutes in length and it is led by Gina Grant and Tanya Beardsley. While this DVD is quite a bit instructional as Gina and Tanya take you slowly through the different rhythms (breaking down each move), when the tempo picks up you do feel as if you are getting a workout. However, there is a lot of stopping and starting. Within each rhythm, different variations of the rhythms are taught for a well rounded program. The rhythms taught are: 1. Merengue (March, 2 Step, 6 count, Zumba Shuffle) 2. Salsa (Sidestep, Forward & Back, Travel, Back) 3. Reggaeton (Stomp, Knee Lift, Destroza, Bounce) 4. Calypso (Basic, Tobago, Cross, Curacao) 5. Cumbia (2 step, Forward & Back, Sleepy Leg, Sugar Cane) 6. Bellydance (stance, tap, figure 8, shimmy) Love the music. If the music in Step by Step, is a showcase of what will be in the rest of the Exhilarate DVDs, I am going to love this series. Irritating - Gina and Tanya constantly referring to ea...

This is a gripe!!!! While I think the colors gives a real cool and exciting vibe, the actual packaging does nothing to hold the DVDs securely. The DVDs are "secured" by a small round black tab that is held together by cheap glue. The tab can easily be pulled a part and often falls apart by itself. As a result you have empty DVD slots. I have often had to go in search of the DVDs. The actual packaging folds together like a long bill fold. The two pictures shown here are the front and back of the DVD containers. I give this packaging a 1 star. 1 star because I do like the imagery used.

Clocking in at 43 minutes is Dance Off the Inches Cardio Hip Hop . This workout features Jennifer Gilardi. Like most if not all Dance Off the Inches workouts this DVD contains a Step Guide that breaks down the most complicated moves. The Step Guide is about 18 minute long. I didn't use the Step Guide, but on a couple of the moves I thought I should have. The Step Guide is not chaptered and I didn't feel like searching for the one or two moves that I wanted to watch a breakdown for. So the workout consist of a warm up, three dances, and a cool down. The dances are: Hit Em Hard, Work It Out, and Smooth It Out. Hit Em Hard and Work It out really work the legs. Smooth It Out works the core and ab region. My favorite dances are Hit Em Hard and Smooth It out. Although I like the music better in Work It Out , then Hit Em Hard and last the music in Smooth It Out. All the moves are doable. Jennifer repeats the moves several times so after awhile you are able to pick them up without a pr...

My next monthly rotation is 6 weeks long and it features both Morning and Evening workouts. I am doing a modified STS program in the morning and the evening rotation will feature my mostly new Zumba workouts. For the morning : Sunday: Cardio Coach Workouts Monday: STS Upper Body Tuesday: STS Lower Body Wednesday: Cathe Cardio Step Thursday: STS Upper Body Friday: 1st 4 weeks - STS Plyo Legs, last two weeks will be other Cathe Lower Body Workouts Saturday: Rest Evening : Sunday: not really evening but following Cardio Coach will be STS Ab Circuit workouts Monday: Dance Tuesday: Zumba Exhilarate System Wednesday: Evening Off Thursday: Treadmill Friday: Zumba Toning workouts Saturday: Rest

Dance a GoGo Sexy Nightclub Workout Series is a collection of three dance featuring Andrea Lin. I don't know Andrea's fitness background. The DVD states she is an "Expert Dancer Choreographer". The dances in this workout are: Music Video Dance Workout Latin Groove Dance Workout Nightclub Dance Workout Each workout is on its on DVD which is my biggest complaint about the series. For each, Andrea and a cast member breaks down each dance in a series of sections. Each section might feature anywhere from two to six moves. Each move has a name and you can repeat the section as many times as you need. Music is not used during the break down, Andrea is counting out the dance move in 8 counts. In Music Video Dance there are 6 sections. In Latin Groove Dance there are 5 sections. In NightClub Fun there are 5 sections. Once you learn the moves, you can proceed to doing the workout to music. The Music Video Workout and the Latin Groove Workouts give you the option of using title...

Okay. I am going to brag a bit here. Last year, Kelly ask for ideas for her next group of workouts and I came up with the idea that she used for Split Sessions . Here was my idea: " 30 Minutes To Fitness - Split Workout 1 - warm up, heavy weight work for the upper body that includes all 5 muscle groups and a cool down. Workout 2 - warmup, heavy weight workout for the lower body to include calf work and a cooldown. Bonus workout - 10 to 15 minute stretch workout This workout would be more strength base than endurance" So I was really looking forward to this workout and how it would turn out with Kelly's interpretation. I have to say I am very happy. 30 Minutes To Fitness Split Sessions menu options are: Introduction Warm-up Workout # 1 (Upper Body) Workout # 2 (Lower Body) Bonus Floor Work Premixes - There are seven. Credits and Music on/off option I did both Workout 1 and Workout 2 as independent workouts across two days. Of the two, my favorite is Session 1 Upper Body. ...