CIA 2K02: Slammin Sports Cardio

This workout had great potential but left me disappointed. Some of the moves were great,particularly toward the beginning of the routine, but it took several rewinds for me to get them as her cueing is practically non-existent in this workout. I was left scratching my head several times and it was really frustrating. After a pretty good beginning, the choreography took a turn for the worse. Rather than choreographed step combos, she starts doing sports agility movements that remind me a lot of what you'd see a football team doing in practice, such as shuffles side to side as fast as you can, running back and forth as fast as you can, etc. During these drills, she and the background exercisers are not in synch and this to me was very distracting. These sections I didn't find particularly challenging either.

I'd give it a C.

Do you like Interval Training???

Do you mind doing some High Impact??

Do you want your Heartrate to soar from the beginning???

Do you like Intensity????

Do you like Intense Moves by Gin Miller????(OK, you don't have the 3 levels to choose from, BUT... It has the Intervals where your heartrate soars!)

if so... then you will looooovee this tape!!!

Total Length: At 57.2 min. of total cardio incl. warmup (if you want to call it a warm up..) 24 min of Upper Body work and a 6 min. Stretch.

The Cast: The four people doing this tape are all Aerobic Instructors, and health professionals..

Equipment: Requires a long step with risers!! I recommend you do NOT use more than one riser if you are doing this tape for the first time!!! you WILL get intensity!!

The Students: 3 very fit and complementary... during the warmup the students have t-shirts on, which they take off after 17min.

The Set: wood floor, the background has nice colors and paintings all around.. very soothing pastels.. (pretty background, one of their nicest !!! IMO!)

Fitness level: Anyone can do this tape... of course if you are a beginner you may want to take it easy in the beginning and possibly use NO risers...

Intermediate and Advanced will be challenged!!

Warmup??? yes, but the warmup is so energetic you wouldn't think that's what it is!!! and there is NO stretch in between the warm up and the Intensity segments... not that you'll care since it will all feel rather Intense!

The Music: very appropriate, very good!! (IMO) made me want to dance to it...

disclaimer: I love techno and its variations!!

Presentation: This tape is not boring in the least, it keeps you motivated, time flies!!!

The cueing: is very good!!! she shows you new moves before you do them..

The Intervals: She has you do the moves then she has you speed up, and tells you to go as fast as you can, "don't worry about the beat" although it is possible to do them more slowly this tape draws you in... and makes you want to move faster and faster... its funny because at times each person is going at different speeds..

Even the rest segments are a run in place!!!

Warm up: 17 min. (although the video cover says 10 min. and it feels more like a workout and not a warmup!)

Begins with a few repetitions of V-steps, jump up, corner knees, then scissors on floor, gives you option to walk it. Step tap, jump rope 4 then leg extension w/ turn...

all easy moves. combines moves,

at 6min. L-step w/ knee lift. repeaters.

switch feet on and off box with hop move.

at 12 min. begins Lunge back off the step, then squat with one leg on and one leg off,

then lifts same leg forward, side, and back..

then goes onto then goes onto squats, then squat one leg on box, then both legs on box, then other side then double time!!

14min. lunge sequence other leg

finishes with double toe taps...

Intensity Interval Training 1: Cardio Phase begins..7 min.

double toe lifts

1. alternate with double knee lifts.

quick run in place.

2. then hops to one side then other.

pick up speed!!... you are NOT working out to music!

you are going as fast as you can !! to this whole phase.

3. ski one foot behind other, alternate..(long leaps!!)

shuffle to one side then shuffle to other..

pick up speed!!

4. double hops, scoot accross, then double hops forward and back..

pick up speed!! (as fast as possible!)

5. Run forward then straddle along step back..

pick up speed !! (as fast as possible!)

6. Run forward then straddle hop 3 times back..

pick up speed !! (as fast as possible!)

Section 2: Kickbox - 11 min.

1. squats then kick side with one foot on box.

2. step up to box other foot knee then kick forward then kick back (this move takes balance!!)

back to 1st move..

then other side

alternate moves 1 and 2.

3. straddle box and punches

4. Lunge hops alternate on box w/ punches...

this is more fun than it sounds !!!! she is a very motivating instructor and the music is perfect!!

do moves 1,2, and 4 then boxer shuffles

then alternate kicks forward and back...(like dancing to music!)

Section 3: Football - 10 min.

1. 4 straddles step then side to side...

then pick up speed !! (think of running through tires!)

skip all around step!!

2. then one basic and two fast runs onto step

3. then up v-step on step then down

faster and faster !!

then fast between 2 and 3

as a rest she runs in place!!!

4. jump squats, legs open and close ...

toe lifts..

then does 1 thru 4

Intense Agility # 2 : 4 min.

places risers on floor and long step parallel to them.

1. she runs in figure 8 around risers and step.

as fast as possible...

2. she leaps over risers and runs back..

as fast as possible...

3. double foot hop over each riser then run back.. (whew!!!!)

each person is going as fast as possible so each person is going at a different speed!!!

4. double foot hop on step then double foot hop to one side then double foot hop to other side !!!

Intensity Intervals: 10 min.

Step is horizontal to TV..

1. straddle step, then knee ups wide..

heart rate soars up again!!

then ham lifts

2. She stands on one side of step and goes to other side of step.

as fast as possible!!

Toe taps.

3. squat jumps with one foot on step, alternate! approx 30 times. (tough!! tough!!)

walk in place...

#3 - 30 times again !!

back to over the top jump, then ponies from one side to other of step..

one girl hops with both feet from one side to other side of step !!!???

4. straddle tap foot on step alternate then faster..

to the beat..

ham lifts.

Sports Strength Training: 24min of Upper Body work..

Different students use a variety of tools in this section, at times the Dynaband, the Body bar, the large ball for pushups and abs, or the step or hand weights

Bent rows (she uses Dynaband)

Bench press

pushups... a lot!!!

4 x this combo: 2x militaries then 2x bent arm delts then 2x long lever or straight arm side delts.

biceps

Triceps

Abs

6 min final stretch.. (thorough!!)

Total Rating: On a 1 to 10 rating with 10 being best (for its type of video!!) I give this one a 10!!!

I can't even discount her 1 or 2 "booms", since I only heard them after listening to the tape the fourth time around... not distracting enough!! The tape had me so mesmerized I couldn't see any drawbacks!!! I was planning to do 30 min of it and ended up doing all 90 minutes or so..

Lucy

I received this video in a trade and did it my second time tonight. It is the only tape I own with an agility training section, and it is so much fun! Mindy starts out with a fast-moving warm-up on the step. She went through two short patterns, one after the next, and you need to be light on your feet and contracting your abs to keep your core steady, because in the 2nd pattern she’s already asking for fast feet moves.

It caught me by surprise the first time, but now I look forward to all the fast feet sections. In this, I’d suggest you make sure your shoes are secure around your heels before you start, because you need you feet to do exactly what you want or the step is going to leap up and trip you. Mindy has only one riser on her step, and that’s all you would want, either, or you won’t be able to go as fast as her.

It’s not all agility drills, there’s a lot in this tape. It’s a full hour of cardio, and Mindy only repeats her pattern/drill once before she changes things up. I really love that aspect. Okay, so once you’re done with the warm-up, she has you do quite a few lateral jumping moves on the floor behind your step. If you don’t already have very strong knees from strength training, you might blow them out on this workout, be careful. In between these lateral jumping drills, she has you do a holding pattern where you jog as fast as you can in place, it’s really funny. The speed-jogging cracks me up. Actually doing the drills makes me laugh too. You learn the pattern and then ramp it up to warp speed. Mindy doesn’t use her arms much, but I don’t mind. It’s fun to hop around with her.

The next section is kickbox. It starts off with squats and lunges on and off the step, side, up & over to other side. I had problems with this section. You need quite a bit of side to side space to do it. And the kicking while using the step was awkward. My heart rate dropped, so I modified and did it without the step and it worked better for my space. Mindy practically blurted out "good riddance"when this section was over. Maybe because she was looking forward to the next section, which was football drills.

The football drills were a good time, especially watching Mindy pretend to run away with the football. The drills were challenging without totally wiping me out. Mindy goes on to pull the risers out from under the step and use them as an obstacle course. This is okay, but I had to be creative to make the choreography a little more interesting here. Too many run/jump forward, jog backwards patterns. With this tape, because she’s always encouraging you to do more than what she’s done (seriously, she keeps suggesting that you pause the tape and do that part over), I feel pretty creative and can depart from her choreography to make up my own goofy stuff.

Somewhere along here there is a pretty tough fast-feet drill where you walk onto your step, then run up twice, walk up again, then do fast-feet out-out, in-in pattern, finishing off with two plyo squats. It’s misleading to describe it as running up twice, because you’re actually stepping as fast as you can to get up and down TWICE in the time you would normally have to step up and down one time. I imagine if you lost your place, this is the spot where the step would leap up and bang into you.

The last section is fairly intense intervals, with the step turned vertical. This is all lateral jumping patterns again, and I think my favourite section. The drills are short, but very numerous. There’s lots of big power leaping moves, and other moves that give you lots of air time.

Okay, for the cool-down, you transition into the strength section. Starts of with uneven squats, one foot on the step, then changes to lunges, back foot on the step. Holding a weight is optional. I think I prefer no weight, so I can concentrate on my balance. Mindy changes up the lunges halfway through by straightening the back leg as if you were doing a calf stretch, and leaning her torso forward. This really targets the upper hamstring of the front leg. After this, I stop the tape, at 65 minutes. I did the entire strength section the first time and it was not balanced. Back rows with tubing (not enough resistance), then killer endless push-up variations. I think some pedestrian biceps and triceps moves. I patiently worked through it to see the ab work. Mindy suggested that 15 reps was really all you should be doing to fatigue your abs. Fine, if I were doing a tough ab exercise. But 15 reps of crunches? But I don’t care about the strength section. I really love the “Slammin"Sports Cardio”, and I can see using this tape a lot. It’s so much fun, I feel really relaxed and happy when I finish this workout.

This video is TOUGH. I say that as a warning to anyone who is not familiar with lots of anerobic muscle toning nor interval training. that being said it's a tough tough video. I'm an intermediate/advanced exerciser and I got really really breathless by the end of the video (to the point where I was kinda weezing). I attribute this to the fact that there was a lot of muscle conditioning from the very begining of the video. But the good thing about all this hard work is that you'll have something to work up to (if you can EVER get to mastering this video) and you know you're ALWAYS getting a sweaty and great work out. The cool thing about the video is that you can either go really light and still sweat bullets or go so hardcore it hurts. But there's so many things to work on you'll never get tired. I recommend it to anyone who thinks they need something to aspire to.

Although this isn’t a new tape, I just recently acquired it in a trade. This is Mindy at her best! It has the energy and fun of Jump & Jab but MUCH better production quality. Not only does Mindy’s great personality shine through, but she also highlights each of her background instructors and you feel like you’re working out with a bunch of buddies. I previewed this tape the day before doing it and couldn’t wait to try the workout. It is tough…I consider myself advanced but I had a hard time getting my heartrate to come down sufficiently during the breaks. And I have to confess that I skipped that last section of intense moves with the vertical step. Thankfully, there are many opportunities to modify the moves. Although I like Extreme Intervals and Action Packed, I think I will do this one more often. Although there is a lot of high impact, a lot of it comes from small, fast steps and my knees did not hurt like they do after some other Mindy or Cathe high impact. Also, this kind of sports conditioning is a perfect match for Mindy’s teaching style. Once you have learned a pattern, the challenge comes from keeping up the speed and agility. Now that I no longer go to the gym I miss the intensity of spinning classes, but this tape gives me the same feeling of going all out. I am terrible at all sports, but Mindy made me feel like an athlete during this workout. Definitely an A!

Even though this video is from 2000, it is new for me now in 2001. This is the first video I have done of Mindy's. All I can say is that this woman has found her calling in life. She exudes her own joy and excitement about every physical movement, whether it be challenging anaerobic intervals, strength work or stretching. You can feel her love for fitness and exercise. I felt like she was in the room with me, and we were having a great time together.

I am currently at the low end of advanced, and find this workout challenging. It's funny at the end of the warm-up when Mindy says it's time for the cardio section and then says, "you thought that was the cardio section," because that is just what I was thinking.

I wanted to use this tape to condition me for tennis and improve my fast footwork, agility and ability to work anaerobically. This is definitely the workout for that. I believe that over time, this tape will help tremendously to take the lead out of the feet. It is great for sports conditioning.

I liked the last section which is strength training. I used all the props; the ball, the tubing and the BodyBar. What I really like is that all the muscles are worked to fatigue in a short time, using a variety of exercises, and not a lot of weight. I started each exercise with a weight that was relatively light, and at first thought that it was too light, but by the end, the muscles were totally fatigued.

My only criticism is that there is no stretching till the very end, and I would have liked to take a brief moment to stretch out the fatigued muscles. Her stretch routine at the end is not special, but she is so enthusiastic about the sensation of stretching that I couldn't help but enjoy it.

After doing this tape, I want to buy more of Mindy's tapes. She is a superstar instructor who can get you to give your all (and then some) and have a great time as the sweat is flying. There is a good amount of plyometrics. I highly recommend the tape to high intermediate to advanced exercisers.

I just can't let this one go without submitting a review. What a great workout! I have a large video collection, and I am almost getting to a point where I like all of the videos I buy to be new and different from what I already have. This one definitely meets that criteria. This is an interval workout, but it's very different than other interval workouts out there. It isn't a fixed length anaerobic interval workout like Interval Max and Intense Moves (which are also great), but it has agility, speed, and anaerobic intervals. Don't expect that you'll go anaerobic for a minute and then recover for a number of cycles, because that's not how the workout is structured. It's an awesome cardio workout, with lots and lots of variety.

I have just a couple of comments about how I do the workout. Usually I'm not a fan of modifying much; I like to do the workout as the instructor does. However, with this one I do tailor it a little. As has been mentioned, there is no stretching during the warm-up. I do the bulk of my stretching after the workout is over, and that is how this video is structured, but I do pause the video after the very thorough warm-up and do some stretches on my own. Those of you who are prone to Achilles tendon flare-ups may want to take special care to do this as well. There are several moves that to me have the potential of being hard on the achilles (but I'm no expert), such as a couple of variations on a shuffle repeater and a very fast running basic step. Personally I'm not prone to Achilles problems (YET, knock on wood!), but I take care to really stretch out the calf and especially the soleus after the workout. People with achilles problems might also want to modify these moves.

What a great workout! The time will fly! The cardio section is just fabulous, and the strength section is solid (I mostly use this on cardio days, skip the toning and go straight to the abs and the stretch, though). Mindy really makes the workout. She is amazing! If you're looking for intensity and variety in your cardio workouts, GET THIS VIDEO!!!

I am one of the few out there who has never, ever found a CIA workout that I enjoy. Well, the streak has been broken, because Slamming Sports Cardio is the ONLY CIA video I own and one of the BEST videos I own. I am an advanced exerciser and this workout is tough. Mindy starts with a warm-up, but I would not call this a "warm-up". It is a very fun step section with some specific leg/cardio work. The warm-up itself is worth buying the video for. Mindy then moves into an agility training section. At first I was thrown off by everyone going at their own pace, but I pick one of her "posse" and follow them. As you grow with the video, you will challenge yourself by trying to "go as fast at you can". Following this segment is a kickboxing section. It has a more "choreographed" feel to it and kept my heart rate up there. Then my favorite....FOOTBALL! This is a kick-butt segment. It is hard to explain but includes lots of very fast moves over the step (sort of like you are running through tires), blocking moves, and very fast steps up and down on the step. Like I said - hard to explain, but your heart rate will be soaring. This segment is followed by a second agility section and then an interval section. The intervals are not as long as Cathes in Interval Max, but they still get the heart rate WAY up there. There is no cool down after the aerobic part of the video, so I pause the tape and march in place. The video ends with a good strength segment - I use weights instead of the bands. All in all - this is a keeper. Y2K02 is a totally different kind of workout from anything that I own. This is part of the reason I love it...and also because Mindy just makes it so stinking FUN! Two thumbs UP!

Brilliant! Brava! Encore!

The writeup on this video didn't interest me at first. I heard it used body balls and tubing and I don't use or own those pieces of equipment so I kind of brushed this video off. I read a few reviews of it on VF and decided to give it another look. Well, let me tell you, I am glad I did!

First of all, the tubing and ball are only used at the end of the video and used rather minimally. Dumbells can be substited for any exercise anyway. The video is really unique. I don't own any video similar to it. It uses some step and some floor. It is not dancey at all. Mindy uses sports based moves to achieve the cardio portion of this video. It starts with a warmup, a cardio phase, a muscle toning segment and a stretch. The warm up is long. It is also kind of intense as far as warm ups go. Mindy uses the step and floor to get the heart rate up. She jumps quite a bit in the warm up, but you can modify any of these jumps by marching if you don't feel ready to jump this early. The warm up really doesn't include any stretching, but for some reason, I don't miss it. By the end of the warm up, I have already broken a good sweat.

The cardio portion is broken down in 3 parts. Agility training I, Agility training II and intense interval training. The agility training is really fun and different. Mindy throws sports related drills at you. Consisting of kickboxing, step and football. She does things like bunny hops side to side on the floor jumping the length of the step, ski jumps and fast runs. The step is used as a marker. The nice thing about this is she and her other exercisers go at different paces. She tells you to pick one of them and follow them. It looks strange, but you can challenge yourself by following the really fast ones. She does an extremely basic kickbox portion and moves on to football drills. She simulates "running through tires" by straddling the step and running super fast for four counts. She does football blocks around the step and various drills involving fast runs on a around the step. This part is really fun and gets pretty intense.

She gives you a few seconds to recover before starting agility training II. This part consists of placing risers behing the step and running in and out of them fast, backwards and in all directions. She does leaps and jumps back and forth and around and figure eights. Sound complex, but it is not. The steps are easy, the intensity is tough though. It is again used for cardio, but it also works on agility, balance and direction. The last cardio phase is the intensity drills. It is similar to Intense Moves. Mindy does basic footwork like high knees straddling the step and basketball jumps and ups the intensity for about 30 seconds so you get in your anaerobic zone. This part as well is intense and challenging. This is supposed to end the 40 or so minutes of the cardio portion but she does a series of lunges and squats right after that keeps my heart rate up. My legs were hurting the next day.

The next part is light toning. Mindy works the basic muscle groups with bands, light weights and the ball. It is good for someone who just wants some strength work. If you were looking for more definition and strength Cathe F's strength tapes are geared more towards that. The toughest part is the pushup series she does, she has some nice variations. The end is a nice long stretch. I really like this tape, The cardio portion is intense the way I like it and is such a nice change for anyone who wants something different and FUN.

This is a great workout that can probably be appreciated by people of varying fitness levels (not beginners though) and by choreography lovers and choreography haters alike. I think this tape is one of the most advanced workouts out there, but there are opportunities for modification, and in many sections you are encouraged to go at your own pace. It reminded me in a some ways of Interval Max and Boot Camp (but it is very different than both of them.) Perhaps the intensity is slightly less in parts, but it is longer. The cardio section is 57 minutes. That includes the 16 minute warm-up. This warm up is pretty intense. If you need to ease into a workout, you might want to warm up a bit on your own. This warm-up is a combination, but it is not dancy or complex at all. At the same time it was still fun. It includes scissors and many variations of the shuffle repeater. After 10 minutes of the stepping Mindy has you doing squats and lunges with one leg on and one leg off of the step. You do many variations on one side before going to other, which really warms up your legs (as if they were not already warm) and keeps the heart-rate up. There is no stretching after the warm-up.

The body of the workout consists of 5 sections:

• 7 minutes of intensity and agility drills
• 10 minutes of kickboxing
• 10 minutes of football inspired drills
• 5 minutes of more intense agility drills
• 8 minutes of pure intensity drills

Each of these sections is intense. The kickboxing is probably the least intense, but I did not find my heart rate dropping too much. There are 2 moves in this section that I love. One is where you step up onto the step and you lift your other knee then straighten your leg, then go back into a knee up than kick back without touching the floor, slowly to work on your balance. The other is where you step up onto the step from one end, straddle down (or shuffle down 2 times) punch twice, and repeat to get to the other side of the step.

The first time I did the tape, the football drill section was hard for me to do on a 6" step. There is a part where you do one regular basic followed by two double time basics, another regular basic followed by a double time basic up in-out-in-down. I found that I just could not keep up with the fast footwork. Also, my calves were extremely sore the next day and I guessed that it was this section that did it to me. So the next time I did the tape, I lowered the step to 4" for this section and it helped a lot and I didn't really sacrifice much intensity because the intensity comes from the speed.

In both the kickboxing and football sections Mindy teaches various drills and then you put them all together at the end. So this workout is partially choreographed, but in a simple way. Although I am a real choreography lover, I still liked this workout a lot. You are still changing what you are doing very frequently and will not get bored.

In many of the intensity and agility drills Mindy tells everyone to go at their own pace. It is actually nice because you can pick a person to follow and don't have to keep up with the fastest person. The agility drills were mostly done on the floor and often included variations of running around your step in different directions. These were a lot of fun. Many of the drills in the last section of pure intervals were reminiscent of moves in the Boot Camp video. There were some that were really fun and different also, like the squatting section at the very end, in which you squat and flip yourself around to face the back wall - back and forth.

The cardio is followed by a toning section and the people working out with her show different ways to do the moves (with a band, dumbbells, or nothing.) There is no cool down so I use the leg work she does (at the beginning of the toning) as a chance to cool down. She has a very short ab section with a FitBall. I have not done the upper body toning section because I am currently doing PS. I will try it later for an endurance type workout. There is a pretty nice stretch at the end - a little longer than most CIAs. When doing the quad stretch balancing on one leg, she has you close your eyes, which makes it really hard. I have good balance and could stand that way forever with my eyes open, but with them closed, it becomes a lot tougher.

I previewed this tape yesterday and was really psyched up to try it. So, today I did the routine all the way through and this is one of the best “fun-blast” workouts I’ve done. I’m an intermediate/advanced exerciser and this was a tough tape that I can certainly grow with.

The cardio section uses a step, but don’t be fooled, this isn’t a stepping tape. The step is used as a tool to move around, to gage your lateral moves, and to increase intensity by allowing vertical movement.

A brief breakdown of the tape: The warm-up, which has some hi-impact moves woven in, blends right into the cardio section. The first cardio section is intensity drills done on the floor doing quick lateral footwork. You start slowly then pick up the speed as fast as you can go for like 30 seconds at a time.

Then comes a section of cardio on the step incorporating kickboxing moves. This section has really nice choreography to it. You get to incorporate front, side and back kicks as well as some basic jabs and crosses. You transition from one side of the step to the other doing quick side to side lunges with punches in-between.

The next section is football moves. You do a series of wide runs behind and then straddling the bench. You also do a number of other lateral quick moves behind the bench. Then you add another section where you do a basic step and down then a series of quick switches up and down. I don’t know what the technical term for this is but you look like you jogging with your knees high but tapping the step with foot.

After this another intensity drill takes place. The step top is taken off and placed about a foot in front of the risers. The next series of moves you again do slowly then as fast as you can. You do a series of figure 8 runs around the two risers. Another drill has you jump over the risers and run backwards to the beginning and start again. There are a number of other moves but this is just to give you an idea.

The next section of cardio has the step facing the camera vertically and you do a series of over the top moves. These are very similar to the bootcamp moves I’ve seen, doing lateral hops across the top and then quick hop squats from side to side. There is also a section of squat jumps that are derived from basketball training.

Then after this there is a toning section. Every major muscle group is hit. Legs are covered with a variety of squats that use some hoping moves and the step to intensify them. There are high and low rows done with tubing while sitting on the step. You pre-fatigue your chest doing bench presses and chest flies with weights. Then there are a series of push-ups, which are really hard to do. I think there are 4 different types you do in a row. One where you lower your body and shift yourself forward and then push up, lower your body and then slide back and push up is really hard. Shoulder work is done with weights doing military presses then bent arm lateral raises then longer arm lateral raises. Ab work is done on the bench or using the resistaball. Then some lower back work is done lying on the bench or using the “ball.” After all the conditioning there is a nice stretch at the end.

One of the things I like the most about this is the amount of variety that the Mindy has come up with both in the sections as well as having variety of intensity shown by her back-up exercisers. It really is one of the best cardio workouts that I have done in a long while that is so varied but not so difficult to do so that you can’t just dive on it. I really can’t think of any drawbacks to this tape at all, and that to me is amazing. I liked her Jump and Jab video a lot, but not the quality of the production. Here her routine is even more polished and the production quality is thousands of times better. A GREAT VIDEO.

There I’ve said. Thank you.