Saundra

30 Minutes To Fitness Body Shop consist of two 30 minute compound sculpting workouts.  The only equipment needed are a set of light and heavy dumbbells; and a mat. The DVD menu gives you the following options: Introduction Body Shop Workout #1 Body Shop Workout #2 Premixes Credits Music On/Off option There are nine premixes ranging in time from 16 minutes up to 62 minutes. For the most part, both workouts follow the same pattern.  Kelly does one compound  exercise for the upper body.  She follows this with one compound exercise for the lower body.   She then combines elements of both exercises into a super compound move working both the lower and upper body.  Usually you are doing several sets for the individual compound work but only one set for the super compound exercise.  It all adds up to lots of reps. Throughout both workouts, Kelly throws in dynamic body weight exercises that have a cardio element in between all the multi-joint e...

Total Body Kickbox contains two 30 minute workouts.  Each workout is self contain in that they each have their own warm up and cool down.  Sometimes Kelly reuses or shares the warm up and cool down material  between the two workouts, but this is not the case with these workouts. The DVD Breakdown is as follows : Introduction Workout # 1 - Cardio Kickboxing Workout #2 - Kickbox Sculpting Combos Premixes Credits Music on/off option. Workout 1 is a fast pace, up tempo workout.  It is heavy on the punches but light on the kicking. During the warm up, Kelly previews several of the moves that appear in the combos.   There are seven combos but the combos are short.  Most of the combos are done on the left for a set of reps and then the right side or vice versa.  In a couple of the combos, Kelly alternates the sides.  I like this workout.  I just wished it had more kicking. Workout 2 is done at a slower pace and Kelly uses a set...

TransFIRM Your Body Workou t is approximately a 40 minute workout led by FIRM Master Instructor  Allie Del Rio.  Along with Allie, there are four other cast members and one cast member does show beginner modification. This workout is mostly a cardio workout with some light (4-limb) sculpting sets thrown it.   It uses the FIRM's Fanny Lifter (also known as the TransFIRMer also known as The Body Trainer) in all segments. The Breakdown: Allie gets you warm by introducing a mini combo routine using the 6 inch box.  You do this mini combination leading right and then you repeat the whole thing leading left. The next segment is all leg press.   Beginners use the 8 inch portion of the box, while all others used the box at its full height (14 inches).  The next segment is a step routine done using either the 6 inch or 8 inch portions of the box. This is followed by a 4 limb (using light weights) segment and you keep the same box height as the p...

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, ...

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 rep...

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 co...