Everybody Fitness: Kickbox Challenge

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

I read raves about this DVD and wanted to try it. I'm not majorly into kickboxing, but enjoy a good workout in this genre once in awhile. Plus, I like a long cardio workout sometimes and this seemed to fit that bill.

The DVD begins with a tutorial on the moves that will be used in the workout. They did put a chapter point in between the tutorial and the workout, so you can skip over it (which I did). The warm up was okay - there were too many stretches in it and they were awkward for me. Then, she begins the workout itself with a section in which you hold light weights (no more than 3 pounds)while doing a slower segment of punches. I enjoyed this section. Then, you go into the rest of the workout which is comprised of non-stop kickboxing drills. She does a long series of moves on one side. It's long enough that I forgot/didn't realize it was a series of moves until she indicated that we were going back to the top. Then, you do the segment again on the other side. One of the good things is that the two parts seem a little different and I didn't feel the boredom I often do when doing a series of moves twice. Then, she does a short cardio burst. Then, she moves into another series of moves and repeats it. Again, it's a fairly long series and I didn't mind the repeating of it.

Some of the things I noticed about this workout were:

> This workout has a LOT of high-impact moves. She stresses over and over that you should do moves at your level. She will begin with a lower-impact move and then take it higher impact (and you have the option of staying with the first move). Once in awhile, she shows a lower impact and/or lower intensity move of an intense move already shown. Most of the time, however, she doesn't. There wasn't much modification being done by the background exercisers. If there was though, it would be hard to see because a lot of time people weren't on the screen. They would show only the people right behind Dana on the screen much of the time. I think it would help in future workouts, if there was more leadership on modifications shown. I think you need to be an experienced modifier to make this work.

> She does not mirror cue. That makes it hard to translate which side to be on, especially at the fast pace of the workout.

> She is so very motivating. I really like her as an instructor. She's real and her background exercisers are real. She is motivating and she kept me with her for a long cardio workout.

> The DVD is NOT CHAPTERED. How do you make a workout DVD in this day and age and not chapter it? That makes this DVD not useable by those that like to do segments of workouts or those that want to skip over a specific part of the workout. I have read that she has already been given this feedback and has said her next workouts will be chapters. That is good.

> The pace of the workout is fast. You move quickly, so you need to be familiar with the form of kickboxing moves.

> The music is standard techno-beat music. However, it fit the workout well. I found it motivating. It was loud, but I had no problem hearing Dana over the music. Overall, it's a loud workout.

I am really glad that Dana decided to make workout DVDs. She is a fresh new presence in the workout DVD market and brings motivation and good workouts to those who enjoy workout out at home. Overall, I like this workout. But, I wonder how often I will do it. Most of the time, I do shorter workouts because of time constraints before work.

Dana leads this 65 minute kickboxing workout in a gym with a group of background exercisers. You will need a set of light dumbbells for this workout. Dana provides modifications for the exercises.

After a warmup & stretch Dana gives you a quick summary of punches and then moves into a slower paced weighted kickboxing segment. Then you move into a nonstop kickboxing routine: scissor jacks, knee hops, punches, kicks, knee pulls, shuffles, fast feet, speed bag, blocks, heel click jacks, & floor touches. Lots of low impact but high energy moves are interspersed with high impact exercises.

This is a hi intermediate workout that I felt in my upper back the next day! Nonstop cardio kickboxing, easy to follow fun routines, and an awesome live class energy make this an absolute favorite kickboxing dvd! Dana provides great cuing & form pointers and has such a great instruction style. I look forward to more workouts from her! I received this dvd to review.

I received this workout as a free copy to review. I was really looking forward to it, and I was not disappointed! This was my first workout with Dana Pieper, and she begins with an introduction to the punches. I am familiar with kickboxing, so I skipped this section. The workout is set in an indoor gym; the camera angles were good and the music was very energetic. I also like seeing the variety of skill level among her class participants -- I like to see others huffing and puffing as much as I am!

The warm-up begins with a jump-rope move, then step-punches, followed by a quick stretch. Then comes the upper body work: Dana grabs her weights (3-pounders, I think) and we punch away: jabs, crosses, and blocks (great for my triceps!) About 16 minutes into the workout and a note flashes on the screen that we are 25% complete. The time has flown! More skipping and punching, then we put the weights down at about the 22-minute mark. Next up is "hi-lo" punches, then downward punches (hi, then down to floor), hooks, high knees, and kicks. We do a lot of fun punch-combinations including speedbag arms, fast feet, fast jabs, side punches, and side kicks. She also throws in some shuffles, jacks, squats, back kicks, high knees, side kicks, blocks, roundhouses, reverse lunges, heel digs, and ... WHEW! ... we're done at 1:05!