PeakFit Challenge: Cardio Interval Burn

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

Just to let you know a little about me, I'm a 48 year old intermediate and long term exerciser who has bad hands, wrists, and feet (psoriatic arthritis) and bad knees (osteo arthritis). Consequently, I look for low-impact workouts - or workouts that I can modify easily - that don't require body weight to be supported on my hands/wrists.

This workout falls under the category of easily modifiable because it is NOT low impact at all. Yet, I found it to be a totally fun workout and was dripping sweat by the end, even with my modifications throughout it to make it easier. I really enjoyed it.

Michelle is in a big, open room with multiple modifiers behind her. I think it's the same set as Kari Anderson's recent workouts as well as others. Throughout the workout, there was a lot of energy with both Michelle and the

exercisers. For those who hone in on whooping, there is some. I didn't think it's a lot, but if you hate it, it could bother you some.

This workout is comprised of 5 sets of intervals and you do each interval twice, once on each side. Each interval is comprised of the following sections:

> Ascent - Moderate exercise

> Climb - Increasing intensity

> Peak intensity - The highest intensity

> Basecamp - Recovery

Then, you start all over again. Most of the moves are kickboxing oriented. There is no instruction on doing these moves and I would not call it a true kickboxing workout. They are simply the moves designed to get your heartrate

going. The entire workout was really easy to follow and the learning curve is very short - you can do it out of the box basically. There are a fair number of moves that require impact. I was able to easily modify them usually by just walking through them instead of adding the jumps.

I would rate this workout as advanced for anyone who is low advanced or lower. If you are hardcore advanced, you would probably consider this workout intermediate.

This is a 65 minute mostly kickboxing cardio workout. Michelle leads in a spacious white/ hardwood room with a group of background exercisers. You wont need any equipment for this workout. Some modifications are shown.

The workout is structured that you start with a basecamp move, move into ascent and then climb and finish with almost 30 seconds of peak intensity. You perform five 10 minute intervals for two rounds each (a total of 10 peaks). The majority of the exercises are kickboxing inspired and Michelle does a great job of blending high and low impact into this heart pumping workout.

Exercises include: lots of good punch & kick combos (nothing complicated though), hi tuck jumps, triple run, shuffle, hitch kcks, torso twist, double step touch to floor touch, hi knee fence hoppers, skaters, jacks, scissors, bob & weave, bang the drum w/ a hop, hi knee run, sprints, and pendulum jacks.

I rate this a low advanced or very high intermediate cardio workout. The sequencing of the exercises building in intensity allows you to keep going for the duration in this workout. My heart rate stayed high the entire time but I didnt get what I would consider anaerobic at any point. A great challenging but do-able cardio workout. Not for beginners, thats for sure! Michelle does a fantastic job in this one- and all the exercises were easy to catch onto but not boring at all.