Like I revealed in a previous post, I started my journey with cardio kickboxing at the age of 18 when Billy Blanks and I were acquainted via VHS via my first college roommate, Angela. The love affair with CKB and BB began, and will forever be a part of my exercise soul.
This January, I renewed my love for CKB by making a visit to class at New York Sports Club a once per week recurrence that I just can't shake. NYSC offers many different times in which you can take a CKB class, but there is only one hour per week that works with my schedule. After getting hooked on taking class again, I needed a more-than-once-a-week CKB fix. Even though I'm a Billy Blanks lover, I've been exercising to his DVD's for way too many years to count, and I needed another option. That's when I discovered that Jillian Michaels has a brand new kickboxing DVD on the market, and it was mine for the taking.
Jillian Michaels is my new personal trainer lady crush. I have become a follower of her podcast (that you can download for free on itunes) and through listening to it, I have learned what an awesome fitness guru she is. Girl knows her stuff. I love how she melds wellness with fitness and stresses the importance of ass-kicking workouts with moderation and balance. Through exercising to her DVD's and listening to her philosophy on working out, I have learned that she trains just how I as a personal trainer work and give advice, and that's something I can get on board with.
Even though Billy will forever be my first CKB love, Jillian took CKB to the next level with her new DVD, Kickbox Fastfix. This disc is comprised of 3 separate 20-minute workouts that are intense enough to do if you've only got a short amount of time to workout. It can also be done in a 60-minute series, one workout after the other, by fast-forwarding through the cool-down at the end of each 20-minute session.The first of the three workouts focuses on upper-body, the second lower-body, and the last on abs. However, in all three, you will still get a total body workout in, no matter what body part the 20-minutes is supposed to be targeted towards.
I have done the DVD about 5 times now and I have only done it as a 60 minute workout. It leaves me sweaty, tired (yet energized), and super glad that I got a great workout in. The cast of women who are working out with JM are inspiring to watch and get me pumped up to do each exercise better than the last, even when I'm fatigued. Jillian starts the DVD with a tutorial that will help you learn what kinds of moves will be performed throughout the workout if you've never been in a kickboxing class before, but some of her combos (not performed in the tutorial) are taught so quickly that it takes you a while to really catch on. This might leave you standing there for a bit, trying to figure out what it is that you're doing next, which diminishes the intensity of your workout. The great thing about a DVD, however, is that you can always pause, rewind, and start again. By the 5th time I did the workout, I remembered the combos, and I was good to go. Thus, the workout was even harder because I could really get into the movement without wondering if I was doing it correctly or not.
Another negative is that Jillian never tells you to switch to work the opposite side of your body, and if you don't notice that, you'll only be working the same arm and leg for most of the workout since she does 2 sets of almost all of her exercises. Take note and make sure to perform the exercises on the opposite side for the second time around.
To conclude, kickboxing rocks and it rocks even more that I've got two of my favorite trainers in my corner when I can't get to class (thanks, Billy and Jillian). If you can't get to the gym, workout at home for a fraction of the price and kick your own ass! No excuses!
Be Well!
No comments:
Post a Comment