CIA 2201: Strength Express

Mindy Mylrea
Year Released: 2002

Categories: Balance/Medicine/Mini/Stability Ball, Gliding Disks, Total Body Workouts


I tried this workout yesterday and am plesantly sore in my upper abs, obliques, chest and shoulders. I haven't been sore in my upper abs in I don't know how long so this is actually a new kind of soreness for me. I do lots of ab work with pilates, Cathe's abs and nothing has left me sore like this tape!! This workout is very challenging. I used a 4 lb. medicine ball and an 18 lb. bodybar. Mindy and her cast used a 6 lb. medicine ball and right now I think my 4 lb. is heavy enough. Mindy is really funny in this video and even the 2 participants have a laugh or two during the core/pushup segment. It's very entertaining to see how they are interreacting to each other although at the time I wasn't laughing. I was hurting! :-)

The first 20 minutes includes a ball warmup and what she calls 'Cardio Strength Legs'. This segment is about 20 minutes long and pretty aerobic including some plyos/drills. There is no stretching in the warmup. This segment uses the medicine ball the entire length. I don't remember the order of the drills but she does lunges, squats, plyo squats, little tosses with the ball while moving, a lunge/plyo lunge sequence similar to her Interval Express Hi/Lo lunge segment with the woodchop arms. She does this one exercise called 'Donkey Kong' Walk. You do 4 jump squats backwards (looks like Cathe's Bunny Hops) and then she walks forward very low like she's almost sitting down in a chair when she's walking. This is very tough and she does what seems like endless reps! Let's see..there is some tossing the ball from hand to hand, double side to sides with a jump in between and during this part she lets go of the ball slightly to where you have to catch it. There is also a drill she does where she places the ball between your legs and does ski hops twisting side to side. This is alot tougher then it looks and I had to hold the ball during the 2nd segment. It felt a little uncomfortable between my legs. You really have to squeeze them hard to keep the ball from falling. Mindy is out of breath during this segment in spots so you know if she's panting it's gotta be tough!

After this segment you put the ball away and get a bodybar. You do some back row extensions while balancing on one leg and lifting the opposite leg up and down. She also does a military overhead press while doing an active tree pose where you bring your foot to the inside of your opposite leg and then swing your knee out to the side and forward. So there is quite a bit of balancing going on during these upper body exercises.

Then you get to play with the paper plate and do more leg work with side lunges, back lunges and a circular motion lunge. This is very tough cuz you can't assist with your moving leg at all. I could not keep up with her at her speed during the fast rep speed! Oh..and you are holding the bodybar as added weight while performing these lunges! Then you get to do some more upper body combo exercises with bicep curls and anterior raises and deadlifts with anterior raises. I wasn't too sure if the paper plates would work okay on my carpet but it worked fine! Too fine I should add

Then you go on to floor work and if you think you get a break here...NOPE! I've never done a more tougher set of pushups and core stabilizers then with this workout! She uses a ball and I had to cheat quite a bit during this segment. The pushups she uses the paper plates to slide out and slide in. I couldn't slide out as far as she could. She also does a pushup where you slide the plates outward and inward. The ball is used for the core stablizers and some regular pushups. The core stabilizers you place both hands on the ball and you remain in a plank pose..then you lift one leg up and swing it to the side and back..then remain in the plank pose for a few seconds..then the other side!! She also does pushups with both hands on the ball but I couldn't. I had to do it with one hand on the ball and one hand on the floor. Then you do a TOUGH ab section and none of it is traditional abwork so you really work your obliques, lower abs and upper abs with some fun and innovative and TOUGH ab exercises. One non ab exercise I loved is where you are lying on your back and she starts out with chest presses with the ball and then you end up tossing and catching it at a very fast speed! Then when you know the abwork is done and you think the cooldown is about to begin she really throws in a challenge and has you do those paper plate pushups again and the core stabilizer again. Yowsa!!!! Then you finally do the yoga strength work. This is about 4 long reps of a yoga combo doing a downward dog, rolls up into an upward dog (without touching your knees on the floor). Her legs are really spread wide and she keeps her toes curled so it's a variation of the upward dog I guess. Then she goes right into a low pushup (I had to drop to my knees) and then up into a high pushup. She holds each pose for a few seconds. She says this strength cooldown will invigorate you. It certainly doesn't relax you..HA!

The actual ending athletic stretch was disappointing. I will have to include more stretching next time I do this video. It's basically maybe a couple minutes long? I felt after an intense workout like this we deserved a very relaxing and longer stretch.

If your looking for a tough medicine ball workout then this is a must! It is defintely a workout I can grow with. The volume was loud and has your typical CIA music (nothing out of the ordinary here). The workout length was 60 minutes.

Deb

Deb Rolin

03/20/2002