H.I.T.S. with resistance belt

Lori Dean
Year Released: 1999

Categories: Boxing/Kickboxing/Martial Arts


Kathryn and Stephanie have done a very good job of describing the actual workout, so I will not do that. Just wanted to give everyone my impression.

I can't seemed to make up my mind about this tape. On the one hand, it is a fun workout. On the other hand, it has some very annoying flaws. I have a feeling I am going to do this about five times total and then I will not be able to face it again for 5 or 6 months!

This is one of the few tapes where, in my opinion, it previewed much better then the actual workout. When I watched the tape I was thinking "Wow, if this is even half as good as it looks, 90% of it belongs in the Hall of Fame. The other 10% belongs in the Hall of Shame" As Kathryn has said, it has some very terrible "film glitches". I can't decide if these were a mistake, or some cameraman trying to get "arty". The points where the soundtrack and film don't match up just seemed to get worse and worse as the tape goes along. The "smeared jelly" out of focus sequences are not as annoying, but just compounds everything. Finally, there are two live drummers performing and during most of the first half of the tape their sound seems to overwhelm Lori's voice. I had a hard time hearing her. It was better in the second half, but that was when the soundtrack and film mis-match seemed to get worse. I keep wondering if the drummers overwhelmed the sound and that is why they had to use sections of the other soundtrack? I also know that it is going to start to drive me nuts that the same drum beat is used over and over through out the workout. I actually started to enjoy Lori's "ba da da da da da da da da da" cueing because it made it sound like there was some different music for awhile!

When I watched the tape, I thought that the workout was going to be very intense. You can tell that Lori is getting soaked with sweat and you can see it flying off her hair. But, when I actually did the workout, I found that it was sort of in the middle. I did manage to get my heartrate into the low, low section of my target zone for most of the workout, but it seemed like everytime we did any moves or combos that started to really bring my heartrate up, then we would be stopping to "bob and weave". My heartrate would plumment down again and I would actually have to jog in place rather then "bob and weave" to get it back up. Some of the punching combos were too slow as well and again I started adding on my own kicks to go with them, just to nudge my heart up again.

I finally decided that she just does not have enough moves that incorporate a large range of motion with your lower body. With Power Kicks you have a lot more kicking sections. HITS seems to have too much just plain boxing.

I also didn't like the "leg work" with the "flamingo-style" stand (great name for it, Kathryn!) being put in between the combos and the final "aerobic" combo. I found the ones where you hop from one leg to another to be difficult to do and hard on my back, and the whole section caused my heartrate to plummet down to almost a resting beat! On the other hand the entire leg work section seemed to give you some good toning. I could really feel my legs!

I did not like the section using the belt. I am not sure that I am using it properly and again I don't like to stand on one leg for that amount of time! I just would prefer to use my weight tapes to work my legs and I think I will just not do this section in the future.

Even though I sound like I am complaining about this workout, I actually had a good time doing it. I was just a little disappointed that it was not more intense.

I think this would be a good intermediate workout, maybe lower advanced. I will do it again and probably continue to add on my own kicks and wider range of motion to her boxing sections.

Instructor Comments:
I hope Lori continues to make videos, only with better production and sound quality! I really liked her happy, almost joyful, approach. She seemed like she was having a great time and she made the work-out fun. When you could hear her, she gave fairly good oral cues, but her visual cues were good too. I could catch on to everything just by following her body. She reminded me alot of that actress who used to play Maggie on Northern Exposure. She has a really beautiful face and well-toned body.

Clare

02/15/1999