Saundra

Warrior 1 Upper Body Blow Out is a 25 minute workout.  It is lead by Dan Cohen.  Along with Dan, there are 5 other cast members. One cast member does show modification moves. The workout contains the following : Track 1 - Warm up - 6:34 (bear crawls, pushups) Track 2 - 4:24 (alt shoulder press with squats) Track 3 - 6:24 (burpees, ski abs,  Single arm shoulder press) Track 4 - 3:28 (Core, crunches, leg extensions, mountain climbers) Track 5 - Cool down 3:20 (stretch) There is quite a lot of lower body work in this upper body workout.  As far as the upper body muscle groups, it is the shoulders that get the most work. Equipment - set of dumbbells This workout was okay.  3 & 1/4 stars Warrior 2 Lower Body Lean Out is a 30 minute workout. It is lead by Rachel.  There are 5 other cast members and one cast member shows modifications.    Workout Breakdown Track 1 - Warm Up - 3:40 (jog/run) Track 2 - 6:54 (kicks, tae kwon doe, kung fu, karate) Track 3 - Agility 2:3

Progressive Strength with Kimberly Spreen is a 32 minute workout that focuses on endurance strength training. The workout packs in a lot in a short time.  It is constantly moving from one exercise to the next and therefore has a bit of a cardio effect. A push ups sequence, planks, modify burpees, squats, rows, rear delt flys, bicep curl, shoulder front raise, lateral raise, french press, alternating lunges, core rotations, and v-sits are all exercises that are packed into this workout. Kimberly is a great lead.  I think she cues very well. A platform step with a set of risers and a set of dumbbells are used in this workout. I like this workout. The only problem that I had is that Kimberly moved very quickly from one exercise to the next and she never changed the weight she was using. So some exercises I found the weight too light and on some exercises, I found the weight too heavy. There was not really a chance to change out the weight. When I tried, I would lose reps. 4 st

Disc 10 in the Les Mills Pump System is Combat .   Combat is a 44 minute martial arts inspired workout. It is lead by Dan and Rachael Cohen.  They each take turns in teaching the different segments of the workout. There is a modifier that is showing low impact version of certain moves. The set is the "live" class format segment.  There are five cast members on stage and about 25 or so in the audience. The Breakdown (43:39) Warm up - 7:10 Combat Track 1 -  4:27 Boxing Track - 7:05 Muay Thai Track - 7:10 Combat Track 2 - 4:12 Power Track - 7:04 Cool Down -  4:47 This workout has one of the best soundtracks of the whole series.  I really did like this workout, although I felt some of the tracks a bit long or rather the 7 minute plus tracks could have used a bit more variety.  Also there was quite a bit of stopping and explaining. I found this odd because there is an Intro to Combat section on the DVD and I thought they could have cover all of that type of infor

The FIRM - FIRM Basics 12 Minute Time Crunch Cardio contains 4 cardio focused workouts.  And like the "Weights" each of the workouts are longer than 12 minutes; more like 13 to 15 minutes. In the four cardio workouts, the cardio sets vary from 4-limb movement to floor aerobics to box aerobics.  There is a little bit of impact but most of the cardio is basic and low impact.  This is traditional FIRM cardio.  It is not "straight" cardio in that, dumbbells and toning moves appear throughout the segments.  So you are getting quite a bit of toning in as well. The workout is taught in "live" class format.  The set is the Mansion set with the Greek Statues. The music is familiar as it is music that was used in the "Classic" FIRM workouts.  However,  there were two tunes (one is Robyn Johnson's segment and another in Allie's second segment) that I didn't recognize.  I couldn't recall hearing the tunes in previous workouts. The

The FIRM - FIRM Basics 12 Minute Time Crunch Weight s contain 4 separate toning workouts; 2 of which are lower body focus and two are upper body focus.  Each workouts has its own warm up and cool down. While the DVD states that each workout was 12 minutes long, I think each of the segments were more in the 13 to 14 minute range. The DVD allows you to select the following : Total Workout Lower Body with Libby Cowart Upper Body with Janet Brooks Lower Body with Nancy Tucker Upper Body with Summer Sparkman If you select the Total Workout option this will include all the warm ups and cool downs of each workout.  There is not an option of saying doing the warm up of the first workout and the cool down of the last workout. This is a very basic workout.  It is design for beginners.  Because it is a toning workout, you can make it more difficult by adding weights to the exercise or increasing your weight poundage.  Several of the exercises use light weight or no weights or the

Clocking in at approximately 30 minutes, Sports Attack is Disc 9 in the Les Mills Pump System of workouts. There are four instructors.  One instructors does show modifications. The workout breaks down into the following section s: Warm up Track - 5:48 Mixed Impact Track - 4:48 Interval Track - 4:20 Plyometric Track - 3:38 Peak Cardio Track - 5:10 Lower Body Track - 4:41 I did enjoy this workout.  My favorite track was the Interval Track.  My only criticism is that the Drop Squat kept showing up in track after track or that is the way it felt. With the workout being a short workout, I would have like to see different moves used in the different tracks.  Also the last track is more toning than cardio.  I didn't think that this was needed as most of the Pump workouts are toning/strength workouts.   Love the soundtrack.  The set is the live format set.  The instructors are on a stage teaching to a group. 3 &3/4 stars

The FIRM's Ballroom Aerobic s is part of the FIRM Parts series of workouts. FIRM Parts workouts are compilations workouts that include segments from other previously released workouts. Ballroom Aerobics is hosted by Tracie Long.  The workout contain segments from The Tortoise and The Hare workout both of which feature Tracie as the lead instructor. The DVD allows you to select the following segments: Warm up Stretch Dance 4-Limb Cardio Dance 4-Limb Cardio Dance Cool-Down Stretch This workout uses a step and light dumbbells.  The step segments are mini ballroom dance routines.  The rhythms of ballroom featured are tango, cha cha, pose doble, swing, charleston, and the waltz.  This is a workout I have had for a long time, even before it was release on DVD, and I couldn't remember having done it before.   So I found that when I did this workout the other day that  it was very lite, with very little intensity.  As I was dong the workout, I thought this is a workout

The FIRM Aerobic Butt Busters is approximate 32 minutes in length.  This is a compilations workout with segments originating from the "Classic" FIRM workouts.  The featured instructors are LaReine Chabut, Kai Soremekum, Jayne Poteet, Sandahl Bergman, and Susan Harris. The DVD allows you to select the following segments: Total Workout Warm-Up/Stretch Short Box Aerobics Tall Box/Leg Presses Short Box/Floor Aerobics Tall Box/Leg Presses Stretch Most of the aerobics segments selected were low impact.  I felt during these segments that I had to create my own intensity for more of a cardio workout.  However, the leg press segments did get my heart rate up. This is mostly a lower body focus workout,  but there are some four limb segments in which you are performing shoulder and bicep exercises.  There also is a heavy set of triceps work, plus heavy weight work for the lower body (squats and leg presses). Overall, I thought this was a decent workout. 3 & 1/2 star

Disc 7 in the Les Mills Pump workout systems is Hard Core Abs .  There are five instructors and two of the instructors teach this workout.  One instructor does show beginner modifications. This workout clocks in at 14:38 and it is broken down into the following tracks: Track 1 - 3:42 Track 2 - 5:12 Track 3 - 5:28 This workout started easy but by the end of the workout I was definitely feeling it.  You work all parts of the abs - lower, upper, and obliques. Exercises featured in this workout are crunches, leg extensions, plank work, side crunches, & the hundred Nice soundtrack.  This workout was decent.  3 & 1/2 stars

Les Mills Pump Step Workout is disc 8 in the Beachbody workout systems.  This disc is part of the add-ons and does not come with the basic set. The workout is thirty minutes and it uses a step and an optional weighted plate. The workout breaks down into the following tracks: warm up - 4:25 Basic Stepping - 4:05 Interval Training - 5:51 Circuit Training - 6:15 Peak Circuit - 4:55 Lower Body/Balance Work - 4:15 There are five instructors/cast members.  The instructors swap in and out each teaching a segment or part of a segment.  There is an instructor showing modification moves. The step is used in both the horizontal and in the vertical positions.   There is lots of drill base leg work some of which contain power or plyometric moves The interval training track does contain a series of burpees.  The optional weight is used in the Circuit Training segment. The workout is very basic in that all the moves are easy to follow.  It does not contain any complicated choreograp

April 2013 Happy April everyone!! This month it is favorite kickboxing workouts and stragglers. By stagglers, I mean workouts that I have had for awhile but hadn't gotten  around to doing them. Sunday - Strength Monday - kickboxing Tuesday - Les Mills Wednesday - kickboxing Thursday - The FIRM/FitPrime Friday - The FIRM/FitPrime/TurboFire Saturday - Rest