FitPrime G-Force

Tracie Long
Year Released: 2004

Categories: Rebounding


What a fun workout! The music rocks and is very motivational, and the workout is effective (judging by how sore my glutes are the day after).
This is a circuit workout, alternating between cardio on the rebounder and resistance work with weights. Tracie wears 1# weighted gloves throughout, and they add intensity to the cardio moves.
Cardio steps include jogs, jacks, a "rocking-horse" type move with one foot forward and one foot back, and a "hopscotch" move where you jump on one foot for three reps, then two feet, then one, then two, then one, then two. During one segment, the music slows down, and we do a series of kicks: front knee lift followed by a kick, then to the side, then to the back. A "sports drills" segment includes high knee ups followed by a football shuffle move, with a grounded knee-up with opposite arm up for a rest. We also do some tuck jumps.

Weight work is divided into 3 segments. The first segment is one set of lat rows (with one foot on the frame of the rebounder) followed by one set of bicep curls. The second segment is leg work that uses the rebounder in some interesting ways. Step-ups are done with the front leg on the mat of the rebounder, which adds a bit of a balance challenge and seems to challenge the stabilizer muscles around the knee. Then we do two sets of lunges with the forward foot on the mat. One set starts at the top of the move, while the second starts at the bottom.

Weight work for the legs is followed by some plyometric work with the rebounder. We start on the rebounder, then do squats to the side (one foot on the rebounder, the other on the floor). These turn plyometric when we do two plyo jumps into the squat position, then jump up on the mat for 4 plyos, then step off the other side and repeat. When I previewed this, I thought the move might put too much stress on the floor knee, but it doesn't. The mat absorbs a lot of the impact, and the floor leg lands more lightly than the one on the mat.

The final weight segment is chest (push-ups with hands on the frame of the rebounder---I subbed bench presses, as push-ups are often stressful on my wrists and shoulder) and tricep dips holding onto the frame (I substituted overhead tricep presses for these, as they REALLY bother my wrists--first started having problems with carpal tunnel after a bout of these--and shoulders). All major muscle groups are covered by the weight work, EXCEPT shoulders. I added in a set of dumbbell overhead presses to compensate. As we only do one set of each resistance exercise for each body part, except legs, it’s hard to classify this workout. It combines cardio and weights, so one really shouldn't do a weight workout either the day before or the day after, but the weight work for the upper body is so minimal that it doesn't really seem to count. The lower body work, which includes some cool uses of the rebounder, does seem like a sufficient lower body workout, however.
Final "floor work" is done seated or lying on the mat. Some crunch variations, and some cool pilates-like curl ups. There are also some adductor moves, but so few reps and with no added resistance that I don't think they do much.

I LOVE this workout! The best rebounder workout I've seen and I hope it’s just the first in a series of rebounder workouts from Fitprime! But I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY (to the 10th power) wish it were on DVD! I'd like to sometimes repeat some of the cardio, and need time to "rewind" while I do my shoulders and get my weights for the tricep work.

One thing I noticed that is different from other rebounder workouts is that Tracie cues to push through our heels, while in Urban Rebounding, we are told to push into the balls of the foot. The "heel" jump seems to work the backs of the legs a bit better.

Instructor Comments:
Tracie seemed to be really having fun in this workout. I've always liked her as an instructor, but she's often been very professional, sometimes to the point of seeming a bit cold (at least "cool"). But she's really loosened up here. Thankfully not drifting into the "too happy" chipperness (is that a word?) of Denise Austin and the like, but just more personable. Maybe she also enjoyed having a different kind of workout to do.

Kathryn

07/25/2003