I’m reviewing this workout after doing it 3 times.

General workout breakdown: This 52-min. cardio workout fuses kickboxing with freestyle dance and Capoiera moves. Sabine has already broken down all of the moves and segments so well I have nothing else to add, except that this is the workout for you if you love upper cuts (and also like speedbags, back kicks, and the twist, a jab-cross-jab-knee combo).

Level: I’d recommend this to intermediate through intermediate / advanced exercisers with previous experience with Turbo Jam or similar kickboxing classes. Lower advanced exercisers can still get a good workout by adding 1-1 ½ lb. hand weights, impact, etc. Beginner / intermediate to low intermediate exercisers can follow the low impact options. I consider myself an int. / adv. in terms of cardio, with the vast majority of my kickboxing experience from videos, and I feel that I get a good workout from this. It definitely doesn’t wipe the floor with me, but my heartrate gets up, I get nice and sweaty and red-faced, and I feel a rush of those endorphins afterwards.

Class: 8 women and 1 man join Chalene, who instructs live. 1 woman shows lower impact modifications.

Music: old school hip hop and similar songs with a definite beat. Even the stuff that’s not remakes of popular songs is better than what usually passes for exercise video music.

Set: bright brick loft setting (which I’ve seen before in Kathy Smith’s TimeSaver series, a few of the Quick Fixes, and other types of workouts).

Production: crisp image and sound, camera angles that are more helpful than distracting (although for some reason most folks feel compelled to make goofy faces during close-ups).

Equipment: sneakers (make sure you can pivot your foot for punches and other moves).

Space Requirements: You should be able to kick front and back as well as take a few small steps and kick to each side.

DVD Notes: The DVD allows you to play the workout as is or with the music louder; the other option from the main menu is Special Features (Jam’d: Turbo Jam Gone Wild, or Chalene’s version of Punk’d; Behind the Sweat: The Chalene Johnson Story; Get to Know the Cast; BeachBody Supplements; Kathy Smith’s Project: You). Each song is chaptered, so you can skip one if you’re short on time, do the turbo twice, etc. Oh, and hope you like the “Hey, it’s time to party!” song, ‘cause it plays on a loop during the main menu.

Comments: If you like kickboxing workouts to have 100% perfect traditional martial arts form and a serious, kick butt attitude, Chalene’s might not be for you. This is more about delivering a fun fitness class using kickboxing to burn a lot of calories and including some chances to “bust a move.”

I find that it’s pretty easy to take out some of the pivots (there’s really no need for Chalene to do some of the half and quarter turns that she does, especially since she usually just moves or even quickly hops right back to where she started for the next move), which helps eliminate some of the torque that has aggravated some knees.

I like the TJs in spite of myself. Yeah, there’s some infomercial-type cheesiness (you’ll love this! this will get you fit in no time / like nothing else! think of all the calories you’re burning!) and over the top personalities (at least on camera) and goofy moves and questionable tastes in outfits. But the workout itself is good, with some nice little kickboxing combos with other interesting moves thrown in. I can’t see myself doing Turbo Jam all the time, though, as I think that might be too much Chalene for me, but this is a good one to rotate in with my other kickboxing videos (Amy, Cathe, Ilaria, Janis, Kimberly, Patricia) to give me some variety in intensity, length, and moves.

TJ CP1 vs. CP2 vs. CP3 (my take): 3 is more like 1, where punches and kicks are combined with freestyle dance and capoiera moves, and less like 2, where punches and kicks are separate and there aren’t as many dance interludes or capoiera. 3 is the longest of these, although the extra couple of minutes is actually spent in a cardio cool-down, so if you’re hoping for another long high energy combo or an additional turbo, this doesn’t have it. I feel 1 has the least amount of repetition of moves throughout the whole workout and 2 the most, with 3 in between. I find Chalene more hyper in 1, a little less so in 2, and much less so in 3, but maybe the fact that I can turn the music up (and thus Chalene down) has clouded my judgment. In 1 Chalene keeps saying, “You’ll do this all the time because you love it,” and in 2 her major theme is that the music’s so awesome you can’t help but want to do the workouts; here she says that you’ll do this because you’ll burn so many calories. IMO she actually cues and instructs more in 3 than in 1 and 2. Which one is my favorite? Hmm, I’d have to do these more frequently to say. For me they’re sort of too similar for one to stand out as “the best,” yet they are different enough that each one has a distinct personality (It’s not like comparing apples and oranges and bananas, more like Granny Smiths and Macintoshes and Pink Ladies). It all kind of depends what mood I’m in, really.

Instructor Comments:
Chalene is energetic, that’s for sure! She mirror cues. Her cuing is more consistent here, usually taking place a beat or two before the move, but it can be, well, concise (e.g. “triple” for a triple jab followed by a cross) or at times not so existent, particularly during the Turbo. She spends a lot of time motivating the viewer or getting into the music; encouraging people to exercise is probably her biggest goal. She includes a few form pointers and reminders – not enough for true beginners to kickboxing but sufficient for someone new to Turbo Jam.

KathAL79