Alain Bissainthe
Okay...here is a review for Kickbox Circuit. First of all the instructor in this workout is
Alain Bissainthe and it features both Keli Roberts and Sherry Catlin. Greg Twombly is
the producer and the set looks to be the CIA set...maybe with some different props.
The workout is about 1 hour long and has a decent warmup/stretch and stretch at the
end. The ending stretch incorporates a little bit of Tai Chi. The music is alot of Cathe
and CIA music...but I recognized most of it from Cathe videos. BTW, both Keli and
Sherry looks really good in this video.
This video is not a high impact or intense cardio
workout. It is comparable to Janis's new CIA kickboxing video with her drills and
conditioning segment minus the choreography section. He focuses on power and fast
tempo but very simple athletic combinations during the cardio segments and the
muscle conditioning segments are mostly slow and controlled with faster tempos
towards the end of each segment. This workout is divided into 5 muscle conditioning
segments and 5 cardio segments each segment averaging about 5 minutes each. He
uses the bodybar for the conditioning segments...not the cardio except for the last
cardio segment. The instructor is a very serious and no nonsense guy, but he seems
to cue pretty good but that's just guessing since I havent' done the workout. They all
show really great form!!! The cardio segments are based on (2) 16 count combos. He
builds each combo up slowly, then at tempo and adds on...like a CIA video. Only each
cardio segment has new combos in it and there is no repetition from the prior combos.
It starts with Muscle conditioning segment 1 and he does knee lifts, front kicks,
squats, front shoulder presses, squats with front kicks. The bodybar is used throughout
all the muscle conditioning segments focusing on either strength or balancing. The 1st
cardio segment incorporates squats, kicks, boxer shuffles, punches with various
combinations.
The 2nd muscle conditioning segment focuses on side and roundhouse kicks with
various tempos and variations. The cardio segment has jabs, squats (a stick and move
combo), side kicks and roundhouse kicks.
The 3rd muscle conditioning segment focuses on shoulders with one arm lat rows with
BB at various tempos, front raises and upright rows and also alternates overhead
shoulder presses and upright rows. The cardio segment looks to be the funnest with
good music and he does jabs, boxer shuffles, knee raises, front kicks, shoeshines and
fast foot fumbles in place.
The 4th muscle segment focuses on hamstrings and inner thighs by resting BB on heel
and inner foot when doing the exercises and does back kicks and inner thigh lifts with
various tempos, more power etc. The cardio has jabs, hooks, knee lifts, cross
punches, front kicks, back kicks, roundhouse kicks.
The last muscle segment focuses on bicep curls and he does one arm at a time by
resting the opposite fingers on the end of the BB to balance it. He does different
tempos of Crazy Eights. Then he does this 'Imitation Stick Fighting' drill with the BB.
The cardio incorporates this stick fighting drill at faster tempo, you do side knee lifts,
side kicks, punches, shoeshines, front kicks with a squat and jump and back kicks.
It looks fun and would be good for a drills/conditioning workout maybe added on to
some extra cardio if one wanted more cardio. But it's nice to have more intermediate
type videos to mix in with our advanced videos and this looks to be a good video to
practice your kicks since you get to use the Bodybar for balance alot and focus more
on form!
Debbie R.
8/28/99
A very good intermediate circuit workout with five segments each of toning and kickboxing. Alain really cues perfectly and breaks down the kickboxing so precisely, you can't make a mistake. It's not an intense workout like Total Energy or Power Kicks, therefore it is better utilized in a combo (I did Keli's Body Bar workout after it, but Step and Stones II would be a better choice). He does all the standard moves - roundhouse, front and back kicks, jabs, punches, and one of my favorites: the fast-speed feet and arms move that Franny does in 9704. The workout without the warm-up and cool-down is 46 minutes. Keli Roberts and Sherry Catlin are the background exercisers. Again, a very good intermediate tape and a great way to learn kickboxing.
maryann parker
maryann.parker@citicorp.com
9/16/99
This tape is so much better than Tae Bo. Alain's cuing is great, and the combinations are easy to follow, fun, and will get your heart rate up if you're an intermediate exerciser, like me. The toning segments are efficient, with creative uses of the body bar. The only body bar exercise I had trouble with was the inner thigh and hamstring (it kept rolling off my foot) but I'm sure I'll adapt. I liked the stick fight drill at the end, and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed doing kickboxing with an instructor that can COUNT, does things evenly on the right and left, and tells you right and left and is CORRECT. Everyone uses great form, especially Keli Roberts. I recommended this tape to my husband who uses Tae Bo (since we spent the darn $60 on it) and I think he, too, will like this much better.
Kelly Burns
Instructor comments:
Kelly Burns
kellyburns@logicalcommunications.com
March 17, 2000
I recommend this tape. I've come to it after about a year with other
kick-cardio tapes. What I found is that while Bissanthe is teaching or
building a kick or punch move, you can go ahead and insert it into the
routine.
Instructor comments: I've come around to really liking this tape. I
like the instructor and I like his style of instruction. Bissanthe,
Caitlin and Roberts each have a different style of movement and a
different body type, so sometimes I'll try to match Keli R, and the next
time I use the tape, I'll try to match Alain B. I don't have a body bar,
and mix using my 15lb bar which is really too long to use efficiently,
with hand wts. I'm going to get a body bar. I wouldn't mind having one
more cardio and one more conditioning segment, but the length the tape
is now gives me an excellent efficient w/o when I'm short on time or
when it is late. The conditioning is good. Of course, I'll do any
workout with Keli Roberts!
Beth Lee Simon
simon@ipfw.edu
4-29-2000
This is a very under-rated little kickbox tape! I generally find body
bar
tapes boring, but this one is very different from what they've done
before,
and I really enjoyed Alain Bissainthe. He has Keli Roberts and Sherry
Catlin
with him, but they don't really say anything--- this is his tape. Don't
let
the body bar title fool you: with one exception, all the strength work
can
be done with hand weights, and the cardio sections, if they use the bar
at
all, do so only for balance. Kickboxers looking for a slow and focused
drill
tape need not worry if they don't want to get more equipment.
Following a brief T'ai Chi-style warm-up that includes lots of rotation
and
"opener" style work, Alain alternates cardio and strength sections. His
form
reminders are infrequent, but useful: maintain a triangle stance, keep
elbows tight, etc. All of the moves are done at a much slower pace than
something like tae bo, so it's easier to maintain form without
excessive
reminders. The fastest Alain ever gets is maybe three quarters speed of
regular tae bo. This really seems to be intended as a slow drill-style
tape
to allow you to focus on your form, refine technique, and build up
muscle
endurance in the specific, focused areas you use in kickboxing.
The first cardio combo introduces various kicks and knee
lifts/rotations,
including balancing the bar on your knee for resistance. I easily
modified
this with hand weights. In the conditioning segment, he does some
squats
using the bar as resistance (again, easily modified) in combo with
shoulder
and back presses, as well as some lifts and kicks at a very slow speed,
using the bar for balance.
The second cardio segment does not use the bar at all. It involves side
punches, starting slow then getting faster and adding kicks. There was
great
music in this section. The strength work involved pulls and rows for
the
upper back and shoulders. They were fairly standard, and again, easily
done
with regular weights.
The next cardio section focused on footwork coordination and punching
drills. He does some speedbag-type work here which he calls
"shoeshine." The
strength section that follows has the only move that really needs the
body
bar, and it was a great one. It involved hooking the bar behind the
ankle
and using it in a rear lift. It was such a great and interesting
exercise
that it gets repeated in a front lift, following some balance work in
between.
Following this, we get jab/hook/cross combos with more knee lifts.
Alain
seems to really like knee lifts :-) The strength section in this bit
was a
really long bicep curl routine with various speed/range of motion
variations. He also does a knee raise with a sort of unusual
tricep/torso
twist that is very unusual, and a bit hard to explain. It's like a
torso
twist but with triceps rotation, using the bar to increase range of
motion.
The final section has what he calls more "complex" choreography, which
basically means that he mixes up front and back kicks in the same combo
instead of segregating them. This is followed by a fairly standard T'ai
Chi-style cool-down.
Overall, I found this tape really enjoyable. The combos were simple
enough
to be do-able, even for the klutzes. But he throws in enough variety to
prevent it from being boring. He'll introduce a move, then do three or
four
variations on it in a combo. The moves all are done in a slower, very
focused way so you can really feel them. People who find tae bo too
fast
will love this tape. If you love kickboxing, and simply want an excuse to
play
with a rarely used body bar, this is your tape. Similarly, if you love
kickboxing and want a slower drill-style tape to work on form and
muscle
endurance, this would be a good choice regardless of whether you have a
bar
or not. In any case, it's a fun cardio workout that should be much more
popular than it is.
Joanna C
1/05/01
Students: Sherry Catlin and Keli Roberts
Attire: All black- tank tops, Alain and Keli wear shorts, and Sherry pants.
Set: Plant on one side, large vase about 4 ft. back walls are light brown.
Music: Club music, very very good! (even DH liked it!)
Instructor: Alain is very conscious of form and reminds you throughout, he carefully illustrates what HE is doing as he does it. Anyone can follow him because he is so exact in his movements and clear in his explanations, You have no problems following his cueing.
Presentation: The music and all the different changes kept me entertained.. I didn't realise the time flew by...
Fitness Level: Beginners will have no problems following, Intermediate and Advanced will be challenged according to how much weight they use...
Effectiveness: Does this tape deliver? It says it is Bodybar kickbox Circuit training,... it is definitely all that!!
Workout type: It is Circuit training with kickbox as the Cardio....
Personal comments and observations: You do not hear any counting, (a big plus) and the kickbox sections are slow enough to be safe and move quickly enough to keep your attention... (It is not fast like Tae Bo and Billy Blanks) and my HR was in zone for 33 min. which makes it effective too.
Warm up: 4.20 min
jabs, hooks, upper cuts, then knee ups, long leg stretches, and knee rotations.
Stretches: 1.30 min
At 6 min. 1st. Muscle Segment with Bar or Barbell w/o weights.
Knee Lifts - 8 alternating w/ bar weight on thigh then 8 one knee 4 extend, then 8 (repeat other leg)
6 extend and front kick w/o bar
4 squats then extend bar forward 4x, then 2 ea. 2ea then 4 alternate 4 squats, 4 squats knee forward.
14 squats then kick.
at 11min. 1st Cardio Segment
squats, knees, kicks, boxer shuffles slow then pick up tempo, then alternate with punches
1st combo - squat and kick, then shuffle with 3 punches does one side then other
2nd combo - shuffles with taps, later adds jabs, later adds knee to combo
combines combo 1 with combo 2 ...
This tape is easy to follow for someone who hasn't done the tape...
Goes slowly with attention to form.
At 16min. 2nd Weight Segment (Using body bar like dowel to balance)
side knee lifts later becomes kicks
Later add resistance with hand then introduces roundhouse (explains form here, careful instruction)
leg extends side slowly - sets of 12
at 21min. 2nd Cardio Segment:
4 jabs per side then pick it up then 2's then adds leg movements (stick it move)
add on rotate hips , add on side kicks
16 jabs then taps with knees then roundhouse then combines hooks with roundhouse.
then stick it move combined with kicks.
Movements are not very fast even when combined.
At 26 min. 3rd Muscle Segment:
In position of one leg extended forward and the other leg back
Bent Rows using bar as weight (you can use a dumbbell or barbell for this)
8 single count. 4 2-count then 4 4-count 16 small lifts ( repeat other arm)
Alternate 2 2-count frontal 2 upright rows then 2 ea more then 1 ea 4x
Upright rows 4 2-count 8 singles
at 30 min 3rd Cardio Segment: Explains form before beginning
begins toe taps, adds punches, adds knee ups
combo: punch side, punch forward knee lift then 2 kicks
introduces shoe shine (circle both hands in fist fast)
alternate combo with shoe shine then adds feet shuffles.
at 35min. 4th Muscle Segment:
With bar positioned on top of heel of one foot behind...
lift heel 8x then push up and lift back 4x then 8x back only other leg
at 41min. 4th Cardio Segment:
combo: jab, cross, hook and 2 knee ups (slowwwwwly)
combo: knee ups w/ 2 hook
then tap front and back becomes kicks
combines combos.
at 46min. 5th Muscle Segment: - curl bar with one arm
6 2-count, 8 bottom half, 4 2-count bottom half, 8 top half, 4 slow top, 8 full single
repeat other arm
then imitation stick fighting:
combo: 2 knee ups, a front kick a rear kick then extend one leg back and bar horizontal front.
at 51 min. 5th. Cardio Segment:
combo: 2 knee ups, front kick and back kick 8x
combo 2 knee ups hold then side punch (option: 3 knee ups)
combines both these combos.
at 55 min Stretch:
thorough , includes hand rotations runners' lunge etc.
Total Length - I counted 59 min
Total rating: - It is what it advertises itself to be ! ... as that, it is an excellent tape! : I give it 10 out of 10.
I loved Keli Roberts Circuit tape so much that when I saw her name for this one I thought she was teaching it and got it... my mistake ... but a good one! I'm glad I got this one, It's one of my favorite Kickbox tapes.... as I said before, I, personally like that it doesn't go killer fast like Billy's tapes... I also like that you don't hear someone counting, and I like Alain's composure and style!!!
Lucy aka Sunshine
1/15/01
I am not sure about this one. It is not a bad workout, but I
had some problems with it.
The strength sections were interesting. A real test of
balance when practicing slow kicks while leaning on the
bar. I couldn't find just the right spot to place the bar so I
was falling over pretty often. I did like that the drills
were done more slowly (than say, Tae Bo) so I could focus
on form and safety.
I had trouble with the cardio sections. He doesn't cue very
well and is off the beat of the music. I ended up doing my
own thing during these sections. Even Keli Roberts
seemed to have trouble following him.
I will try it again as I like the body bar/circuit idea. But
I am not sure if this is a keepe
Instructor comments:
Alain has a calm and assured demeanor. He has a nice
smile and should use it more often.
Alta
7/6/02
Body Bar Master your Body Kickbox circuit w/ Alain Bissainthe
Students: Sherry Catlin and Keli Roberts
Attire: All black- tank tops, Alain and Keli wear shorts, and Sherry pants.
Set: Plant on one side, large vase about 4 ft. back walls are light brown.
Music: Club music, very very good! (even DH liked it!)
Presentation: The music and all the different changes kept me entertained.. I didn't realise the time flew by...
Fitness Level: Beginners will have no problems following, Intermediate and Advanced will be challenged according to how much weight they use...
Effectiveness: Does this tape deliver? It says it is Bodybar kickbox Circuit training,... it is definitely all that!!
Workout type: It is circuit training with kickbox as the cardio....
Total Length: I counted 59min.
Personal comments and observations: You do not hear any counting, (a big plus) and the kickbox sections are slow enough to be safe and move quickly enough to keep your attention... (It is not fast like Tae Bo and Billy Blanks) and my HR was in zone for 33 min., which makes it effective too.
Warm up: 4.20 min
jabs, hooks, upper cuts, then knee ups, long leg stretches, and knee rotations.
Stretches: 1.30 min
.
At 6 min.1st. Muscle Segment with Bar or Barbell w/o weights.
Knee Lifts - 8 alternating w/ bar weight on thigh then 8 one knee 4 extend, then 8 (repeat other leg)
6 extend and front kick w/o bar
4 squats then extend bar forward 4x, then 2 ea. 2ea then 4 alternate 4 squats, 4squats knee forward.
14 squats then kick.
at 11min. 1st Cardio Segment
squats, knees, kicks, boxer shuffles slow then pick up tempo, then alternate with punches
1st combo - squat and kick, then shuffle with 3 punches does one side then other
2nd combo - shuffles with taps, later adds jabs, later adds knee to combo
combines combo 1 with combo 2 ...
This tape is easy to follow for someone who hasn't done the tape...
Goes slowly with attention to form.
At 16min. 2nd Weight Segment (Using body bar like dowel to balance)
side knee lifts later becomes kicks
Later add resistance with hand then introduces roundhouse (explains form here, careful instruction)
leg extends side slowly - sets of 12
at 21min. 2nd Cardio Segment:
4 jabs per side then pick it up then 2's then adds leg movements (stick it move)
add on rotate hips , add on side kicks
16 jabs then taps with knees then roundhouse then combines hooks with roundhouse.
then stick it move combined with kicks.
Movements are not very fast even when combined.
At 26 min. 3rd Muscle Segment:
In position of one leg extended forward and the other leg back
Bent Rows using bar as weight (you can use a dumbbell or barbell for this)
8 single count. 4 2-count then 4 4-count 16 small lifts ( repeat other arm)
Alternate 2 2-count frontal 2 upright rows then 2 ea more then 1 ea 4x
Upright rows 4 2-count 8 singles
at 30.30 min 3rd Cardio Segment: Explains form before beginning
begins toe taps, adds punches, adds knee ups
combo: punch side, punch forward knee lift then 2 kicks
introduces shoe shine (circle both hands in fist fast)
alternate combo with shoe shine then adds feet shuffles.
at 35min. 4th Muscle Segment:
With bar positioned on top of heel of one foot behind...
lift heel 8x then push up and lift back 4x then 8x back only other leg
at 41min. 4th Cardio Segment:
combo: jab, cross, hook and 2 knee ups (slowwwwwly)
combo: knee ups w/ 2 hook
then tap front and back becomes kicks
combines combos.
at 46min.5th Muscle Segment: - curl bar with one arm
6 2-count, 8 bottom half, 4 2-count bottom half, 8 top half, 4 slow top, 8 full single
repeat other arm
then imitation stick fighting:
combo: 2 knee ups, a front kick a rear kick then extend one leg back and bar horizontal front.
at 51 min. 5th. Cardio Segment:
combo: 2 knee ups, front kick and back kick 8x
combo 2 knee ups hold then side punch (option: 3 knee ups)
combines both these combos.
at 55 min Stretch:
thorough , includes hand rotations runners' lunge etc.
Total rating: - It is what it advertises itself to be ! ... as that, it is an excellent tape! : I give it 10 out of 10.
I loved Keli Roberts' Circuit tape so much that when I saw her name for this one I thought she was teaching it and got it... my mistake ... but a good one! I'm glad I got this one. It's one of my favorite kickbox tapes.... as I said before, I personally like that it doesn't go killer fast like Billy's tapes... I also like that you don't hear someone counting... and I like Alain's composure and style!!!
Lucy
Instructor comments:
Instructor: Alain is very conscious of form and reminds you throughout. He carefully illustrates what HE is doing as he does it. Anyone can follow him because he is so exact in his movements and clear in his explanations, You have no problems following his cueing. You hear nearly no counting, and the moves are more flowing, and not as fast as Tae Bo with Billy.
Sunshine
7 July 2003
