Dr. Lisa's Yoga Blast

This DVD contains three 20 minute workouts. Elise & Dr. Lisa work out in a gorgeous outdoor setting. You wont need any equipment for these workouts. You can play all or select a workout from the menu.

Cardio: After a warm up exercises include strut up & back, side step, knee lifts, hip pop, booty shake, pliet side steps, a few vinyassa flows, squat - curtsy - knee up, mt. climbers, and a yoga cool down & stretch.

Strength: After a warm up exercises include chair pose, pliet hip shifts, standing leg raises & glute work, vinyassa, hip circles, warrior 1, warrior 2, warrior 3 adding glute work, plank hip drops, cat cow, chair prayer series, and a quick stretch.

Power Stretch: After a warm up exercises include sun salutation A, B, & C, hip openers, chair, pigeon, double pigeon, modified bicycle, V ups, single leg stretch and a seated stretch. This routine contains more yoga poses than the previous 2 routines.

I rate these low intermediate workouts. Dr. Lisa provides motivation and health tips while Elise instructs. Each workout contains a few yoga vinyassas interspersed in the routines giving them a unique feel, though containing less yoga than the title indicates. The variety on this dvd makes it a great addition to anyones exercise library. The cardio is a bit dancy but easy to follow and the strength & stretch routines are straight forward. Elise shows the exercise first at a slower pace and then picks up the tempo. I received this dvd to review.

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

OK. I wasn't sure what to expect from this workout, so I kept an open mind. However, even with that, I was surprised and disappointed by this DVD. This workout is labeled a "yoga based workout". Really? Given all that, I think that someone will enjoy this DVD - just not me.

The DVD offers three different workouts that are each around 20 minutes long, and the menu options let you do them individually or all at once. Dr. Lisa Masterson of the TV show The Doctors (a show I have never seen) is the "name" and Elise Joan is the chief instructor in all three segments. They both try to make the workout fun while adding helpful commentary about the benefits of the various exercises. Boy do they try! I lost count of the number of times they listed the benefits of working out in general or of specific moves and somehow "having fun" was alway on the list - or tacked on after the list. Dr. Lisa's commentary seemed painfully stilted to me as she cited the seemingly same list of benefits over and over. When she wasn't citing those benefits, she was exclaiming how great and fun the moves were.

Despite all this, the DVD does give a variety of workout options. Those include:

Cardio

The cardio section combines "dance steps". They usually started with what looked like walking moves to me and just added some twists. They would go through a set of moves several times in slow motion - more times than even me, the total dance klutz, needed. Then, they would speed it up. There were some strength-based moves including some yoga after two or three combinations. My reaction was, "You want me to do WHAT now?"

Strength

The strength section incorporates a lot of ballet-inspired exercises, along with yoga poses. This workout doesn't require any equipment other than a chair for balance. I'm not into barre workouts, but for those who are, this might be a good strength option in a mainstream DVD with multiple workout options.

Power Stretch

The stretching section is a blend of stretching, yoga poses, and Pilates exercises to help promote balance, flexibility and strength. This is probably my favorite section of the DVD. They did offer some modifications for some of the exercises. I enjoyed it up to the point that the moves couldn't be done my painful arthritic knee. I just can't do the pigeon and double pigeon (is that the right name?) these days. But, it seemed like a good stretch if you could do it.

Conclusion

The moves on this DVD really are low impact and they do give some modifications along the way. The workouts are set outside in a pretty garden setting. Overall though, I really didn't enjoy this DVD. My hope is that it is the perfect workout for SOMEONE out there.