Video Fitness

MTV YOGA

Kristin McGee

I expected this to be "fluff" but I’ve been proved wrong. It’s a good workout that impressed me so much that I’ve also ordered MTV Power Yoga. Although the marketing hype is that Lori from "The Real World" hosts the workout, it’s actually taught by Kristin McGee who seems to know her stuff. I would categorize the workout as a general Hatha workout. Grade A.

Annie S.
10-18-2003

i thought that this workout was fun and i liked the non-traditional music during the
workout. i also liked kristin and her descriptions of the poses.

i assume that this is a beginner practice as kristin gabs at the beginning about the mat and yoga blocks and has 3 exercisers with her to demonstrate various levels of ability.

kristin also has a short tutorial at the end that gives additional demonstration of down-dog, up-dog, chataranga, and a side angle twist.

this workout would also be fine for intermediates if they skip over the gabbing at the beginning like i do.

the actual practice is about 40 mins long or so.

the only thing that i found challenging was a balance series, the rest was a nice friendly workout.

there is one flub during the workout though... she does a quad stretch on one side but not the other :/

Instructor comments:

Carolyn Visser
pvisser@orc.ca
5/22/2005

First off, I expected something wild and crazy from MTV. And the girl on the front cover is NOT the instructor or the one leading the practice. I think she's an MTV 'star' and acts dingy with her questions but thanks to her Kristen has someone to ask for the rest of us and at the end she shows the poses in greater detail and explanation so if you're a beginner you may want to go there first and see.

ok, Lori (think that's the mtv girl's name) is the skimpiest dressed of the bunch but she's putnear the back to show beginner modificatons (whenever Kristin thinks to remind her- seems like she's not really a beginner but has to pretend she is!) anyways, into the workout a ways kristin goes back to her and adjusts some and gives her a brick as a prop. ok, there are 2 others showing modifications and both seem very serious and professional and are wellcovered (if you're not wanting to see a bunch of skin!) so is the instructor Kristin. the guy shows advanced and the other girl shows a mixture of advanced or intermediate although neither of these is shown up close a whole lot (not that you can see anyways since you're usually bent in a pose).

this starts off with sun salutations and she does them slowly. I'm overweight and not very flexible and not strong (although getting better) so I had to really modify beyond what she shows (I have to go to knees for the pushup and instead of updog I did cobra with my legs on the floor) also my foot does not go all the way to the front of the mat on the step forward so I'd get a bit behind on those which was no problem until the 4 or so quickies thrown in! there's a sequence of chatagaranga(pushup) to downdog to step up immediately go to warrior I on one breath and warrior II on next then back down and repeat ove rand over. I was out of breath and about ready to collapse! (almost reminded me of mtv power yoga for a brief few minutes!) then she goes to a standing pose like extended side angle then would go into a stretch. there were some standing lunge twists (I modified farther and put knee on the floor which she didn't show to do I don't think). also included are pigeon with the back leg pulled to stretch (she forgets the 2nd side though so you'lol have to pause or skip it cause there's not much time before the next move). also does some balance poses like tree then moves immediately to warrior III and there's a standing one where you grab your toes and straighten legs in front then side then front then hold in front without hands. she shows one modification on this with knee bent (I STILL couldnt' grab my toe with my knee bent without getting completely out of alignment so used a strap then bent knee and held at the knee). Ican't remember all the poses but there's usually a standin pose like triangle, ext rigt angle then a stretch after it before the vinyasa sequence(downdog pushup thingie) and repeating on the other side. there's a nice stretch that I just love where you stand with legs wide and bend forward then twist up on each side (think it's called fan pose) and one where you put one leg in front and bend forward with arms behind and over head (again grabbed the strap).

this is about 45 min but I think the actual workout itself is around 30 or 35 and the last 10 min are on the floor for locust, cobra, bow, a nice seated spinal twist, boat/canoe for the abs, and a seated forward bend with both legs out and with one leg and she explains the oneleg stretch really well about the twist and bend both needing to be done. the savasana is very very short and I'm not sure why she put it there since you dont' stay there long enough to do anything but stretch the arms above the head.

overall I really like kristin and the 2 (not Lori too much!) and think she's pretty professional as well as the others with her. she looks at the wrong camera f ew times but guess that's minor and she shows more details of the moves at the end like chataranga, updog, and downdog. I think she could stand on her own though and not need Lori to be the 'hostess'. I can't explain why Lori got on my last nerve in the beginning and end but she did. in the practice itself she's quiet and does the routine with the rest of them and I'd have been fine if I hadn't watched/listened to her talk!

also, I don't think this is a good one for someone new to yoga. I relied a lot of instruction from other yoga dvds iv'e done (yoga zone and sara ivanhoe for example) for help in modifying. the first part is pretty strenuous if you're weak upper body but after that quick seris I mentioned you hold the poses and do some stretches mixed in that are nice.I think it's experienced beginner wanting to work the muscles to upbeat music or maybe intermediate although there are no challenging poses in themselves; just the fact they're strung together makes them 'tough' but nothing too difficult.

filmed indoors and music is very upbeat/energizing. overall this is closer to a slow power yoga routine than a relaxing one and is mostly standing poses/lunge type moves and a lot of downdogs and forward bends and some are held a pretty good while.

Instructor comments: Great. seems very professional and knowledgeable.

Susanna

4/24/2006



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