Saundra

Gloved Up and Sweaty is one of Cathe's latest (2023) workouts.  It is a kickboxing inspired workout that clocks in at just over 39 minutes.  The workout includes four cardio kickboxing segments, four kickboxing combo segments and one kick combo.    The cardio segments include high intensity blast such as ice breakers, burpees, and jump knees. Equipment list includes Boxing Gloves. There is a new set for the 2023 workouts. I like it. I like the music selection as well.  You are really not working out to the music but it does have an energetic beat. There is a bonus jump rope workout. I have not done that yet. DVD Menu Equipment Needed Play Workout Play Jump Rope Bonus Chapters Premixes Audio Settings   4 stars

Cardio Party is part of Cathe's LITE series. LITE stands for Low Impact Training Extreme. This workout clocks in at 39:04. Cardio Party features different cardio disciplines splice together for one high energy workout. Different types of cardio include - boxing, hi/lo, and blasts.  The blast were mostly drill based. For each segment, Cathe teaches the segment and you repeat the moves for a series of reps and/or your repeat the segment with the opposite lead. I like this work out. I liked it more than I thought I would because from the clip, I did not think I would like it a quite as much as I did. The DVD Menu Getting Started Play Chapters Basic Premixes (There are 6) Timesaver Premixes (There are 13) Scrambled Premixes (There are 7) Bonuses (Calorie Crush, 6 Pack ABS #1, Pyramid Pump Chest, Extended Stretch #1) Audio Setting (Normal Mix, Vocal Only Mix) Chapters breakdown as follows: warm up Boxing 1 Hi /Lo 1 Blast 1 Boxing 2 Hi /Lo 2 Blast 2 Boxing 3 ...

Jessica Smith's Feel Good Fusion is a combination of cardio, strength, Pilates, barre and yoga fitness styles.  This DVD contains two workouts. The first workout is Fusion Strength and it is 47 minutes in length. Fusion Strength is a high rep workout that uses a light set of dumbbells. Jessica states the goal is to build strength without force.  Most of the moves in this workout requires big movements - reaching movements that aid in building endurance. For most of the workout it seems as if  you were doing some type or form of a squat whether single leg or double leg.  After the weight work, Jessica takes you through a standing abs, balance and coordination segment. The workout concludes with a stretch. The second workout is Flow Cardio . This workout clocks in at 35 minutes and does not use weights.  Flow Cardio is a lower intensity steady state cardio workout. Jessica uses big range-of-motion leg-based movement in this workout. The moves flow from one ...

Jillian Michaels Killer Cardio contains two 25-minute workouts.  The focus is on cardio and no equipment is required.  There is not a warm-up or rather Jillian uses the first circuit as the warm-up.  There are four circuits and four exercises per circuit. There is a stretch at the end. In this workout, you are doing 20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest.  Jillian explains the next exercise or offers tips during the rest. You repeat each circuit twice. The exercises vary. There are several floor-based exercises and some functional type exercises.  These workouts were not my favorite. Workout 1 - 3 stars Workout 2 -  2 & 3/4 stars

Disc 1 of Build & Burn features two workouts. They are Cardio Core and Upper Body Superset. Cardio Core clocks in at 27:39 and it features an optional step.  Kelly alternates  cardio moves with core based moves. All the core moves are functional and/or body weight exercises.  The cardio moves are athletic in nature. With each move you doing two sets of 30 seconds on and 10 seconds off. There are two other participants. The participants show various modifications throughout. Upper Body Supersets   contains two exercises per body part.  You are performing each move for three sets and you are doing 8 rep per set.  The workout starts with shoulders and then moves on to biceps, triceps, chest and back.  After back, Kelly takes you through 4 rounds of a 30-second burnout.  This workout clocks in at 26:20. The workout uses a bench and variety of dumbbell. There are 8 premixes on this DVD that range in time from 14:38 to 30:13. Cardio Co...

Disc 1 of Jessica Smith's Walk Strong: The 6 Week Total Transformation System includes a Welcome to the Program and two cardio workouts. Workout 1 is Cardio Party and along with Jessica there are six cast members.   Jessica states that some of the cast members are community members.  Cardio Party is a steady state cardio workouts with more of a dance flair.  There is a variety of musical rhythms and genres.  Jessica does quite a bit of clapping in this workout. Jessica always takes you back to the base move of walking in place. She then tells you what you are going to do and then you do it. This workout does not really have a warm up but it does have a cool down stretch. Interval Mix is a high energy walking and functional strength (in the form of planks) workout.  In Interval Mix, Jessica takes you through four interval rounds.  Within each round, Jessica increases the intensity as she progresses through the round. Starting with a power walk,...

Trampoline Cardio clocks in at 29:30.  This is  a follow along the best you can type of workout.  The workout starts as soon as you hit play.  Tracy is already into the workout. There is about a 3 minute introduction where the music is turn down so that you can hear Tracy's voice over narrative. After she is done talking about the trampoline workout, the music gets louder. The set is greyed out so that all you see is Tracy jumping on the trampoline. It is hard to tell where the wall and floor intersect. This is not a big deal, just details for those of you who like those type of details. There is NO cuing at all.  I did not try to keep up with Tracy. What I did is follow a move behind. So if she starts with criss cross jacks, when she moved on to high knees, that is when I would do the criss cross jack and so on. That of course left me with one move I didn't get too because the workout just abruptly ends, but now that I  know the ending. I can plan f...

Cardio Slam clocks in at under 51 minutes.  There are three rounds of cardio . The first round is called floor cardio, the second round is called mat cardio and the third round is step cardio. In all the cardio segments Cathe intermixes high impact moves with low impact moves. Usually for the high impact moves, you are doing those moves twice through changing leads the second time through. The low impact exercises are only performed one time through. Some of the cardio exercises use light weights (3 or 5 lbs).  Cathe offers modifications on some of the higher intensity moves as she moves you through the workout. The mat cardio uses a standard yoga mat and mostly you are using the mat as a marker; working around it or across it. You will use the mat in the vertical and horizontal position. The step cardio segment uses just the platform of the standard step which is 4 inches.  All the exercises performed are drill base in that you are doing a particular exercise ...

Cardio Interval Burn Studio V.1 is a 55-minute high-intensity interval workout. In this CIB version, Michelle takes you through a warm up, 4 cardio blocks, and a cool down. Except for the last cardio block, CIB Studio V1 is set up similarly to the other CIB workouts in that you have a base camp, ascent, climb, and peak.  There are bell sounds that indicate when you are about to transition to the next phase. The base camps are very brief. The peaks are longer than in the Cardio Strength workouts. Block 1 contains floor work and the peak move is a hitch kick back kick. Block 2 contains floor work and the peak move is a power squat power jump. Block 3 contains floor work and the peak move is a figure 8 squat. Block 4 contains floor work, 2 climbs, and 2 peaks. The peak moves are front kick hops and planks to frog jump.  The pattern for block 4 is base camp (very brief), ascent, climb 1, peak 1, climb2, peak 2.  So this setup is different than in other CIB workout...

Sweat & Burn is one of the workouts in Michelle Dozois's Peak 10 Fit Body Challenge program. The actual program is 8 weeks and this iteration of the program came with 7 new workouts. A host of supplemental material such a goal setting worksheets, menu options, rotation schedule, and detox guide were also included and available to download. This is not a DVD collection. You only have the option to stream and/or download the workouts. Sweat & Burn clocks in at just under 40 minutes and it is a cardio intense based workout that alters between low and high impact moves.  After a 5 minute workout, Michelle take you through a series of cardio combinations that she breaks down into blocks and repeats 4 times through. The pattern is you do the move leading right, then leading left for twice through. Then Michelle,cuts the reps in a half and you repeat the pattern leading right and then again left for a total of four times. For the most part you are doing 2, 4, or 8 reps ...

Super Fit Bod! is a 60 minute interval workout that alternates total body sculpting sets with cardio intervals. The workout uses a step and a pair of dumbbells. In the total body sculpting segments, Amy uses isolation and compound exercises to work the entire body.  She will start with a single move and then add to the  move making it multi-component.  In many of the exercises, there was a lot going on. In the cardio segments, Amy started off  with a low impact move and quickly ramps up the intensity with high impact moves. There is a modifier in all the segments. The DVD menu offers the following options: Play All Warm Up Total Body Chisel Fat Burning Interval Total Body Sculpt Calorie Torching Interval Total Body Firmer Fat Blasting Interval Cool Down & Stretch Bonus:  Tight & Toned Core While the DVD lets you select individual segments, the segments themselves are really part of one continuous workout and thus are not self-contai...

Amy Dixon Give Me 10! features six 10 minute workouts each dedicated to a specific purpose. Fat Blasting Cardio was probably my favorite of the bunch. It contains two cardio series that feature basic athletic moves set to  fast tempo high energy music. You do each series twice through changing the lead side the second time through. The second 10 minutes is dedicated to Upper Body Sculpt . Amy does throw in some lower body isolation moves with some of the upper body moves. The exercises are: 1.  Bicep Curl with Plie hold 2.  Triceps dip into table top 3.  Cobra 4.  Lateral raise with rotation 5. Single Arm Shoulder Press 6.  Plank with front raise 7.  Push ups Workout 3 is Lower Body Firmer and this was a favorite workout as well.   Exercises in this segment include: 1. Standing Squat Hip Thrust 2.  Lunge Series 3.  Reverse Lunge Series 4.  Wide Dead Lifts 5.   Single Leg Squat 6.  Plie Series...

Disc 1 of the 22 Minute Hard Corps system contain the cardio and core workouts.  The Main Menu of the DVD gives you the following options: Program Intro Cold Start Cardio 1 Cardio 2 Cardio 3 Core 1 Core 2 Once you select a workout, you are then given music audio options which are: Normal Off Music and cues Cues Only After you select your audio option, Tony Gives a brief introduction to the workout telling you what equipment you need and he gives you a daily directive. The daily directive is your goal for the workout. There is not a warm up for any of the workouts. Tony will tell you if you need a warm up to do the Cold Start . Cold Start clocks in at just under 10 and 1/2 minutes.  In Cold Start, Tony and cast take you through several rounds of running in place followed by some type of dynamic stretching. All the cardio workouts follow essentially the same pattern. There are seven exercises that you do for three rounds. The first round, Tony has one of t...

Sleek Essentials by Karen Voight focuses on the three essentials of fitness: cardio, strength, and flexibility to deliver a “fit, firm, and flexible” body.  Karen calls it her triple effect training system.  It is a 3 in 1 program. In this system you have three main workouts, Sweat Effect, Strength Effect, and Sleek Effect.  All workouts are around 22 minutes. Sweat Effect is the cardio workout. Karen uses a fitness roller to warm up the body. She then takes you through a series of athletic, kickboxing inspired moves. The majority of the cardio workout is low impact.  Karen does include some high impact modifications.  However you can always follow the modifier who keeps the moves low impact.  The workout contains minimum choreography and it is easy to follow. It is not drill base. Karen teaches the move on one side and then have you repeat on the other side.  This workout is about getting your heart rate up.  The music was very uninspiring...

Cardio Dance Express contains six 10- minute mini dance routines led by Tracy Anderson.   You can choose to Play All or you can choose any of the individual dances. The segments are: Basic Steps Dance Vitality Cardio Party Sweat Fest Calorie Blast Dance Intensity Each of the dances follow a similar pattern. Tracy starts off with an arm warm up and some briefing stretching. This might take the first two minutes of each segment. Then Tracy teaches a mini combo that last for about 5 to 6 minutes. Next, she free styles for a minute or two before taking you into the cool down stretch. As you go into each interval, Tracy takes a moment or two to briefly tell you what interval you are on. Just some notes .  The mini combos contain around six moves that you learn in a layered pattern and then repeat for the 5 to 6 six minutes.  Sweat Fest includes moves you learned in Basic Steps, Dance Vitality and Cardio Party. There is quite a bit of impact in all of the d...

Chiseled Lower Body Blast is one of two lower body focus workouts that is in the ICE series.  Where as To The Mat was a floor based mat workout, Chiseled Lower Body Blast is all standing. This workout combines strength moves with cardio moves. It does this by alternating the two to increase the metabolic conditioning effect.  The strength moves are composed of either body weight exercises or weighted dumbbell exercises. For the cardio exercises, expect to jump, bounce, hop and jack your way throughout the workout.  The cardio moves can be done either low impact or high impact. As with the other ICE workouts, Cathe gives you a bit more rest between the exercises.  At least if felt that way to me. Also it seem in this workout she pointed out what Amanda the modifier was doing more so than in the other workouts. Chiseled Lower Body Blast has seven basic premixes, six timesaver premixes and five mishmosh premixes. The bonuses are ICY Core 2, Muscle Meltdown Shoulders,...

Dance + Cardio is part of the Tracy Anderson Method. This DVD has two workouts: Dance + Cardio 1 & Dance + Cardio 2. These two workouts contains absolutely no cuing.  None.  Not even a breakdown segment. Now, I will admit you don't really need a breakdown segment because the routines are very repetitive. In Tracy's introduction, she tells you that "you are repeating stuff over an over" or something in that respect. So after awhile you can sort of guess  what is coming next. Really you are just following along as best you can.  You can count on missing the first few reps of any new sequence. I am sure a couple of times I came up with my own moves. There is impact:  jumping, jacking, hopping, & skipping. I actually enjoyed workout 1. I felt workout 2 had too much toning and there was less dance. I also like the music in workout 1 more. Workout 1 clocks in at 30:22.  Part of that is the introduction. Workout 2 clocks in at 25:47. Dance...

Cardio Dance For Beginners Mmmm - where to start, Well this DVD contains four 15 minute cardio routines. The DVD gives you the following options: Play All Dance 1:  The Basics Dance 2: Get Moving Dance 3:  Cardio Connection Dance 4:  Cardio Blast From a choreography standpoint I do not want to say the dances are progressively harder, however I will say that as you move from Dance 1 to Dance 4 there is more impact and more jumping.  Tracy introduces each dance segment prior to the segment starting. So there is about 45 seconds of chatter before each dance. Essentially each dance is one long combinations and you are really just following along.What you typically do on the left you do on the right however this is not always the case. Tracy tries to cue but doesn't really do a good job. To make matters worse there is no real or consistent pattern so it is hard to say what it is coming next. And sometimes what is coming next is a move you had not seen before...

I have long seen Stephanie as a background exerciser in several other videos that I owned and I was always impressed with her form. So when I saw that her two workouts were included in a 4 DVD Workout Set that was at a reduce price, I quickly picked up the set. The Ultimate Body Shaper clocks in at 70 minutes and it is a combo workout.  Combo meaning it combines cardio (in the form of Intensity Boost)  with strength training. Along with Stephanie there are two other cast members but there is not a beginner modifier. The DVD offers the following selections: Introduction Warm-up High Step Shaper Mat Shaper Full Workout Cool-Down V8 Bonus Abs What I like about the workout is the count down clock that appeared in each segment.  The warm up and cool down are 5 minutes each and the High Step Shaper and Mat Shaper are 30 minute segments. The High Step Shaper uses a high step.  During this portion you are performing moves standing and seated on the step. You ...

Cardio X is a 43 minute workout. This workout is a combo workout. It includes moves that are in the other programs (i.e.  Yoga X, Kenpo, Core Synergistics, and Plyometrics).  It starts with an aerobic warm up of in place runs, jump ropes, jumping jacks before moving into static stretching. Then there is a yoga segment. This is followed by a kenpo segment. Next is a plyo segment and last the core segment. The workout concludes with a cool down and stretch. Equipment use: Yoga block This workout was okay. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I didn't think there was enough cardio. Considering that most of the other workouts in the system are weight based and stretch/flexibility based, I thought this workout would of been more focuses on getting and keeping the heart rate up. 3 stars