Blood Type Workout, Type O Kickboxing

I enjoy kickboxing, so I was drawn to this workout despite not being a "O" blood type. (I'm an actually a "B", but the Blood Type Workout, Type B Low Impact Cardio Strength with Ellen Barrett didn't look as appealing to me, even though I do like Ellen Barrett.) In her Introduction to this workout, instructor Patricia Moreno explains that Type Os "thrive" on intense exercise, and so that is the aim of this workout, which apparently the first of the series in several others that will be released for Type Os, including a strength workout from Gay Gasper.

Moreno, who is exercising in a all-white room with large windows looking out onto a city street, begins this workout with a 6-minute warm-up. She starts with a breath focus to center, then moves into plies with a squat. Next, she comes into a plank position, adding lunges and then lunge with a twist. Moreno finishes the warm-up by "running" the legs into plank (she actually moves into this move without cuing it first).

For the kickboxing, Moreno holds small sandbags weighing 1-3 lbs; light dumbbells work just as well. She cues the kickboxing moves in segments. There are a total of four segments, with a short sequence of moves in each one. Moreno first teaches you the moves in that segment, has you practice those moves, and then adds those moves to the previous segment, taking everything from the top (i.e., first you'll just do Segment 1, then 1 & 2, then 1, 2, & 3, and finally, 1 through 4). I have provided brief breakdowns for each segment below.

SEGMENT 1

Moreno starts here with a single-single-double punch. She adds on two uppercuts and two hooks. After running through this sequence several times, she introduces two high and two low punches. This is followed by a side jab with a dip into warrior lunge. The second part is repeated several times, and then the whole segment is performed together.

SEGMENT 2

This segment begins with alternating lunges with a jab to either side. Moreno then adds on three jogs with an overhead press--she calls this sequence "33," which doesn't really make sense, but that's how she cues it. Next comes a side lunge with a side arm range combined with what Moreno calls a "beauty" lunge (sort of a curtsey lunge with bicep curl). She adds a side kick to the lunges (this seems to be a cross between a side push kick and a roundhouse kick; Moreno doesn't specifically cue it either way). After practicing the lunges and the kick together, Moreno does the entire segment of the "33" plus lunge/kick series, and then she performs Segments 1 & 2 several times.

SEGMENT 3

For this section, Moreno starts with a front push kick, adding in a floor touch and then pulsing kicks. She repeats on the other side, eventually settling on a sequence of one front push plus two small kicks. This is followed by a bow and arrow step to the back/push overhead; the kicks and bow and arrow are then combined. The next move is a squat/jump combination with a push overhead and a warrior jump. After practicing these final two moves in isolation, Moreno adds them to kicks/bow and arrow. She finishes this section with several repetitions of Segments 1 through 3.

SEGMENT 4

In this final kickboxing segment, Moreno begins in a plie stance. She performs a sort of back hand punch, first directly to the side, and then diagonally down with a lunge. She then goes down to the floor for warrior push-ups and jump ins/outs (burpees). After running through all of the moves in this segment several times, Moreno "takes it from the top" by repeating the entire kickboxing sequence of Segments 1 through 4.

This is about the 45 minute mark in the workout. Moreno then moves into a cool-down (7 minutes) where she does yoga-ish moves (still wearing sneakers--one of my pet peeves!) such as warrior 2, triangle, side angle pose, and reverse warrior; she performs these moves in a more modified, more dynamic manner than traditional yoga.

So, after 52 minutes, you might think the workout would be over...but wait, there is more! Moreno pulls out a stability ball for about 6 minutes of core moves, including side plank, upward-facing bird-dog, crunch variations, and seated twists. And yet there is still more...she then grabs tubing (which she keeps referring to as a "band") for an additional 8 minutes of lower body work and stretching. This segment includes outer thigh pulses, quad and hamstring stretches, and seated shoulder stretches. This brings the entire workout time in at about 66 minutes.

As you might be able able to tell from some of my comments, I did NOT enjoy this workout. First, it felt like it was a mis-mash of different styles/types of exercise. Rather than offering a simple kickboxing workout as the title would suggest (and even the back cover describes the workout as "powerful combinations of kicking, punching, compound movement exercises, and balance exercises with the sand weights"--there is no mention of strength work or other equipment), Moreno seems to want to include a little bit of everything here. I also found Moreno's cuing to be quite poor. Although she talks NON-STOP, rarely does she actually prompt the viewer on upcoming movement on provide tips on form. Rather, her comments focus almost exclusively on blood type. Given the title of this DVD, I definitely did expect SOME discussion of blood type, but Moreno's commentary is completely relentless! Be prepared to hear the EXACT same statements over and over: "Type Os are WIRED for intensity!" and "We are the FIRST blood type--we are HUNTERS!" are just a FEW of the MANY examples.

This DVD does have good production values, and there are a few moves here and there during the workout that are interesting and enjoyable. But in the end, I just do not think that I can recommend this workout. :(