I received this workout as a free copy to review. I was really looking forward to it, and I was not disappointed! This was my first workout with Dana Pieper, and she begins with an introduction to the punches. I am familiar with kickboxing, so I skipped this section. The workout is set in an indoor gym; the camera angles were good and the music was very energetic. I also like seeing the variety of skill level among her class participants -- I like to see others huffing and puffing as much as I am!

The warm-up begins with a jump-rope move, then step-punches, followed by a quick stretch. Then comes the upper body work: Dana grabs her weights (3-pounders, I think) and we punch away: jabs, crosses, and blocks (great for my triceps!) About 16 minutes into the workout and a note flashes on the screen that we are 25% complete. The time has flown! More skipping and punching, then we put the weights down at about the 22-minute mark. Next up is “hi-lo” punches, then downward punches (hi, then down to floor), hooks, high knees, and kicks. We do a lot of fun punch-combinations including speedbag arms, fast feet, fast jabs, side punches, and side kicks. She also throws in some shuffles, jacks, squats, back kicks, high knees, side kicks, blocks, roundhouses, reverse lunges, heel digs, and ... WHEW! ... we're done at 1:05!

Instructor Comments:
Dana has a tendency to “sing” with the music. She is very encouraging and greatly motivating as she moves around the room; I like her personality! One thing I didn’t like, though, was that she did not mirror cue. She seemed to do so at the beginning, then stopped; maybe it was confusing. I think kickboxing workouts (and other similarly choreographed workouts) should always be mirror-cued. Oh well, I’ll get over the fact that this one wasn’t.

Debbie J