Maya
ok, this dvd is one of the 4 'toys' included with the mcdonald's adult go active happy meal. The fact that the trainer is computerized didn't bother me nearly as much on this one as it did on the yoga dvd. You get 4 workouts on this one. Your first choice is to choose step yes or no then you pick your level. so, you get 2 step workouts at 'ease me into it' level and 'challenge' level. I previewed the easier step but not the challenge one. I did the 2 floor workouts (1 at each level). The music is nice and as in the yoga dvd the name of the next move comes across the bottom of the screen which you'll need because the cueing isn't so great here. I also found both floor routines to be high impact. she does say you can just go lower but no effort is made to show this modification so you have to know what to do on your own. The easier floor routine has a lot of side steps and grapevines and double side steps and walking up/back and the higher impact moves are kicks that she sorta hops with (you can take them down to low impact) and skips which are basically the skips moving forward and back. She repeats the same moves over and over but you're pretty much moving the whole time. The challenge floor routine starts with grapevines and that's as easy/low impact as it gets. I think this one could be done on a rebounder since not as much movement (both probably could be if you took out the forward/side stuff) anyways, this one has heel jacks, lunges, double lunges, jogging, jumping jacks. pretty high impact stuff but I found it a nice change of pace though I doubt I can handle the high impact that often unless I use my rebounder.I'm needing to lose about 80 more pounds (around 210) and have been exercising regulary about 2 1/2 months now so I was sweating and breathing pretty hard...probably more from the high impact. I liked the music and the scenery I would say is on top of a building it looks like. Interesting I though. no needless chatter un-related to the workout if chatter bothers you. I previewed the easier step workout and it looked pretty basic for the most part..basic steps,step touch, v step, travel. she does go over the top several times but I think it would be easy to catch on to also has amove called the charleston which is basically a step with a knee up then step down and step back with the leg that stepped orignally. hard to explain but looked like fun. I plan on doing the steip routine next with one of the other routines(probably the other basic one!). the floor routine also has a few step type moves done on the floor (think it's the first one since it was low impact and the advanced floor was mostly high impact). Overall I liked this dvd and will probably do it again (I have tons of leslies and george foremans though to rotate it with) but for a the price (free!) it's a darn nice workout for a beginner, I think the moves would get boring to someone more experienced but then leslie's do too IMO. It's also hard (at least on my dvd player) to get to the menu so I can pick the next workout..had to walk in place and wait for it.
Instructor comments:
Maya is a computerized 'woman' or 'virtual' whatever you want to call it! She's 'dressed' in exercise attire unlike a lot of 'real' ones! She says 'come on' and sorta 'motivates' throughout the cardio workouts unlike in the yoga where she just says them move. voice-over.
Susanna
5/5/06
