FitPrime Steamin' Cardio

This is the fifth video I've tried from the old FitPrime series. I've found the FitPrime workouts to be quite quirky, but I think that's what I like about them. In particular, I appreciate the variety of unique moves, particularly those using the tall box/high step combined with basic choreography and providing an overall great workout. Lately, I’ve really been enjoying Tracie Long’s Fast Cheetah, and I was hoping that Steamin"Cardio would provide another fun, cardio-focused workout. I’m happy to report that this video is exactly what I had hoped it would be–I love it!

The Steamin"Cardio DVD is very well-chaptered as listed below. I've added my own brief descriptions of each segment as well as approximate times. The only equipment used for this workout is the tall box and a set of light dumbbells.

1. Credits

2. Intro

3. Warm Up, 3 minutes. Basic steps and simple moving stretches provide a good full-body warm up.

4. Tree Stretch, 4 minutes. Includes a few nice hip opening moves.

5. Sashay, 3:45 minutes. A side-to-side sashay combined with repeater knees and kicks.

6. Steppy Squats, 2 minutes. Squats combined with bicep curls and rear leg extensions.

7. Press Punch, 2 minutes. Tall step presses with a punch combination.

8. Hippy Curls, 3:40 minutes. A more dancey segment with lots of swaying hip moves; the choreography was a bit more complicated here, as it included turns/pivots.

9. Handstands, 2:40 minutes. Handstands from a seated on box position–you place your hands on the floor and jump up lifting your hips. These were combined with tricep dips/jacks and “springs” (sit, hover, jump to stand), making this a tough segment.

10. Lunge Row, 2 minutes. Side lunges plus side leg extensions; also curtsy dips with overhead presses.

11. Bootcamp, 3 minutes. Challenging series of lunges to plank and full push-ups.

12. Jab Kick, 3 minutes. More kickboxing, this time on the floor with a jab-cross/back kick combo. This was fun, but the order of the moves felt a bit awkward.

13. Spider, 3 minutes. Not sure where the name “spider” comes from; these were sports cardio drills including jumprope, football drills, jumps, and side hops/skates.

14. Dip Jumps, 3 minutes. The last tough cardio segment: tall box climbs combined with a rear dip/jump combo.

15. Mambo Pivots, 3 minutes. Another more dancey cardio segment, this one includes mambos, pivots, side steps, and hops forward/back to finish the cardio work.

16. Bell Crunches, 3 minutes. A short, effective crunch segment: lying toe touches holding the weights, single leg lowers, reverse crunches/rolls with weights behind the knees, and oblique knee drops.

17. V-Sits, 2:40 minutes. Teaser variation combined with “goddess” move (on all 4s, open up one leg and arm to the side, then the other) and planks.

18. Clams, 2:20 minutes. This final abs move involves lying on side and pulling knees into the chest; leg stretches are performed on both sides as well.

19. V’s & T’s, 3:20 minutes. This final stretch segment includes lying hamstring and low back stretches plus additional standing moves.

I clocked this workout right around 51 minutes, and according to my heart rate monitor, I was in my target zone for about 30 minutes of this workout–good, and I expect that it will be even better once I get all of the moves down. I used 5-lb. dumbbells for all of the weight work, but the second time I did the workout, I also added my 1-lb. weighted gloves. I can’t imagine going much higher than this with the weights, but that’s fine since I definitely felt the burn! Also, although the abs work is short, I could feel it a bit in my core the next day. As mentioned above, I really loved this workout overall, especially the kickboxing moves, the tall box work, and all of the great stretches thrown in. Steamin"Cardio is a fun, intermediate level workout, and I definitely recommend it!

Of all the FitPrime videos, I expected to like this one the least, since I don’t like the Firm-style cardio. What a major surprise! This is actually my favorite so far of the FitPrimes. I still have a few I haven’t done yet, but this beats out the 4 or 5 that I have tried. Kelsie Daniels is also my absolute favorite Firm/FitPrime instructor ever. She is so much more natural in front of the camera than the other instructors. She also has a dancy flair - she does some major hip-rolling during the mambos that most people could only dream about. As for the workout itself, it is a typical Firm/FitPrime cardio/weights workout. The cardio is good and interesting. Although it’s not something I would choose for a full cardio workout, in this format it’s good. It has more variety than previous Firm/FitPrime cardio segments, and it’s well-cued and easy to follow without being boring. The toning work is mostly lower body (squats, lunges, box climbs), but there are upper body exercises as well (biceps, triceps, shoulders). The ab work at the end is really good. It is mostly Pilates-style. Overall, I would call this an intermediate/lower-advanced workout. It clocks in at around 50 minutes. Grade A.

This is a GREAT workout! It's a really tough aerobic and anaerobic workout, with lots of variety and it's fun. The time seems to fly by, as you work up a major sweat and burn a million calories. It's obvious that Kelsie is a trained athlete and kickboxer, and she does a whole bunch of tough kickboxing segments and plyo that definitely earn the title of "Steamin' Cardio". The music is very good in this workout, which adds to the fun. There are various exercises such as lunges, leg dips and triceps dips, tall box climbs incorporating some plyo, and some dancy cardio, too. There's a good abdominal section at the end, although I would have liked it to be longer. I give this workout an A+.

I don't love this workout, but I really really like Kelsie. She seems so fun and enthusiastic. This workout though is a bit ill conceived. I don't think its completely safe to do handstand type moves during cardio, alternating them with jumps. In fact, in the redo of this workout, heidi tanner and most of the class seem to be overwhelmed during this segment.

Parts of this workout are really fun but overall I can just never motivate to do it. I don't know if its because I just don't feel like I do that well (I hate the football runs and the hops with handstand combos) or because it feels really segmented and I never feel like I get my exercise groove going. I do, however, have fun watching Kelsie get her groove on- she makes the workout look like a lot of fun! Kelsie makes this workout seem fun and possible, in the redo- the workout feels like an unsafe struggle that is impossible to do well. Watching Kelsie do this workout is a blast, doing the workout is another matter.