Alison Davis, 2010 ***** (5 of 5 stars)
This cardio dvd is divided up into four 11- 13 minute segments with seperate 4 min w/u and c/d. The dvd is programable but automatically adds the w/u & c/d to the beginning and end of your workout. Alison leads w/ Rebekah, and Emily as backgrounders. Emily shows some beginner modifications. The set is new- hardwood floors with nice blueish walls. I liked it :) You will need light dumbbells for all but the kickboxing segments.
This has got to be the toughest Firm Ive done in a long time! Definately more challenging than most/ all the Pinks. The segments are: athletic drills, explosive power moves, kickboxing, and high intensity moves. They are all challenging and she adds a lot of intensity to each segment. All the segments have little routines that build on each other and include power bursts or intense intervals. While there are plenty of plyos and impact-there are also quite a few lower impact but high intensity moves.
Some of the moves include: a spider plank twist (new to me), flying jacks, flying lunges with a bicep curl, some kettlebell inspired moves, picking up & putting down your dumbbells with a jump, flying heel taps, tuck jumps, jump roping, high intensity punches & kicks, and more! She does include recovery time but not enough so that you are wasting any time. This is a very efficient workout and Alison gets right down to business in each segment!
She does A LOT of new, fun, unique, and challenging moves in this one. I think this would be a great fit in just about any w/o collection because of its versatility-combine the segments for a kickbutt cardio w/o! Or use them for a day when you are time crunched but still want to burn some calories, or add it on to other w/o's. The moves are all athletic and easy to catch on to, not repetitive or boring at all.
I am really impressed with this one and hope this means the Firm will be amping up the intensity of their future releases! I will go ahead and say that this is an advanced w/o- I'm sure its no Insanity. Not a great fit for beginners but intermediates would be fine following Emily or just breaking when they need to. Alison does a stellar job of cueing and introducing new fun CHALLENGING moves in this one.
Thanks for the review of calorie explosion! I just bought this yesterday! Can't wait to try it out later this week!
ReplyDeleteGreat review of Calorie Explosion Lindsey, pity we don't have Target here in Ireland or I'd pick up a copy of it straight away. Do you think it's the hardest pink Firm dvd? Jessica Smith's 10 minute belly butt blasters arrived today, I did the two ab sections, I liked the workout, the mat workout was tough because my abs are soo weak. Just wondered also, are you tempted to buy Michelle Dozois's Peak 10? Love Michelle's workouts.
ReplyDeleteBG, I look forward to your thoughts on CE :)
ReplyDeleteSusan, is it available on amazon yet? I havent checked :) I do think its the hardest pink! I think Get Chisld and 500 Cal were tough for Pinks-but this one was way tougher for me! Ok Belly Butt Blasters is now on my wishlist LOL!
I really like Rebekah's Get Chiseled workout, that was tough so I think I'll like the challenge of Calorie Explosion. The only thing I would say about Belly butt blasters is that maybe it could be easy for you if you do a lot of ab work already. I always skip the ab workout so I found it tough. I'm going to try either Exercise tv slim down fast or ultrafit by Cindy Whitmarsh tomorrow. Thanks for recommending them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you like them! Cant wait to hear your thoughts :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Lindsey! I want this one!!! I have it on preorder from amazon.ca but it's not available until September. Patience is usually not my strong point, but I'm planning a Firm rotation beginning in September so the timing will work out. I've been avoiding my Firms for months in anticipation of this rotation.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your p.m. workouts are working out well for you. And I love all your awesome new Hello Kitty stuff!
Karen
Thanks for the shout out about Freebies and Much More. Loyal visitors such as yourself are a blessing to have!
ReplyDeleteBest, Chris
I did Cindy's ultrafit dvd this morning. It was super tough, I found the cardio sections hard especially the one with the burpee push out type move. I couldn't get a handle of the fitball section and found that I was falling off the ball so I gave up on this section. All in all, I liked this dvd and think it would give me a good cardio workout.
ReplyDeleteIm glad you enjoyed UltraFit Susan. I agree-some of the cardio move are tough! I end up using that one as cardio and just using light weights or on days where Im a bit sore from a strength w/o and cant handle another fullon strength w/o....sometimes AWT type w/o's are hard to fit into a routine.
ReplyDeleteCalorie explosion was sooooooo awesome!!!!! I loved it!!!!! What a great workout! Definitely high intensity but it's sequenced so well that it totally goes fast! When Alison got to the cool down, I was thinking, "What? Already?" LOL!
ReplyDeleteLoved it! According to my HRM it burned 555 calories too! Whoo hoo! Thanks for the review!
thanks for the cal burn info! I knew it would be high! I agree, the time flys by :)
ReplyDelete