Power 90 Fat Burning Express

I just found this DVD at a used book sale. I actually read some reviews while I was at the sale that described it as fun light cardio, which sounded up my alley--I'm an experienced exerciser (I work out daily), but cardio is my least-favorite activity, so I tend to go easy in that area. I was already familiar with the instructor, Tony Horton, and I knew that I didn't mind his somewhat goofy personality, so I decided to take a chance and purchase this DVD.

This workout was filmed live in Hawaii in 2005, and the entire group of background exercisers are "success stories" in the Power 90 program. Five of these participants have brief vignettes featured on the Main Menu. Like most BeachBody workouts, Fat Burning Express features a countdown clock on the lower right-hand corner. Additionally, there is a right-side frame that shows what round you are on/what is upcoming, and the frame across the bottom of the screen provides information on the names of each move as well as ongoing tips from Tony throughout the workout. These features are nice, but they do take up a lot of room on-screen! Viewing this workout on a small device would likely be rather difficult.

The workout itself is 36 minutes long. It consists of a warm-up, a "power yoga" segment, five rounds, and a cool-down/stretch. The warm-up is mostly stretching, which I question; the current wisdom is that cardio workouts require an aerobic warm-up. I was questioning the wisdom of purchasing this DVD further with the "power yoga" segment that followed. First, there was nothing "power" about this (as an aside, I should mention that I am a certified yoga instructor), and second, it simply seemed out of place at this point in the workout. The moves were okay--right angle, twisting right angle, and what Tony called a prayer-squat salutation--but they would have worked much better as a stretch at the end of the workout.

So at about 7 minutes in, the actual cardio segments begin, and finally, I started enjoying the workout! The moves were fun and easy to modify up or down in intensity; several of the background exercisers display lower or higher impact, and Tony himself shows modifications as well. An optional medicine ball is used for some of the moves as noted below. Each of the five rounds is repeated once, and each round lasts just over two minutes total.

ROUND ONE

*Jab-Cross

*Locomotion

*Tires on Fire

*Crescent Switch >optional medicine ball

ROUND TWO

*Front Kick

*Twister >optional medicine ball

*Four Corners

*One-Legged Speed Squat

ROUND THREE

*Hook-Uppercut

*Side Hop

*Lateral Touch

*Calf Raise Prayer Squat >optional medicine ball

ROUND FOUR

*Side Kicks

*Crazy Horse

*Run Stance Squat Switch

*Frog Hops >optional medicine ball

ROUND FIVE

*High Knee Kicks

*Groucho Pivet >optional medicine ball

*Wide-Lunge Press >optional medicine ball

*Chair to Prayer >optional medicine ball

At the end of the rounds, there is a 30-second "bonus" of body blocks. This is followed by a 1-minute cool-down to allow the heart rate to slow and then 2 minutes of stretches focused mainly on the lower body.

In the end, I enjoyed this workout quite a bit! I especially liked the addition of a medicine ball for greater intensity--mine is 4 pounds, and it definitely made a difference. In the future I plan to simply skip the warm-up/yoga segments and jump straight into the cardio routine for a nice 29-minute workout.