FitPrime Steamin' Cardio

Kelsie Daniels
Year Released: 2002

Categories: Circuit Training (cardio and weights)


This is the fifth video I've tried from the old FitPrime series. I've found the FitPrime workouts to be quite quirky, but I think that's what I like about them. In particular, I appreciate the variety of unique moves, particularly those using the tall box/high step combined with basic choreography and providing an overall great workout. Lately, I’ve really been enjoying Tracie Long’s Fast Cheetah, and I was hoping that Steamin’ Cardio would provide another fun, cardio-focused workout. I’m happy to report that this video is exactly what I had hoped it would be—I love it!

The Steamin’ Cardio DVD is very well-chaptered as listed below. I've added my own brief descriptions of each segment as well as approximate times. The only equipment used for this workout is the tall box and a set of light dumbbells.

1. Credits
2. Intro
3. Warm Up, 3 minutes. Basic steps and simple moving stretches provide a good full-body warm up.
4. Tree Stretch, 4 minutes. Includes a few nice hip opening moves.
5. Sashay, 3:45 minutes. A side-to-side sashay combined with repeater knees and kicks.
6. Steppy Squats, 2 minutes. Squats combined with bicep curls and rear leg extensions.
7. Press Punch, 2 minutes. Tall step presses with a punch combination.
8. Hippy Curls, 3:40 minutes. A more dancey segment with lots of swaying hip moves; the choreography was a bit more complicated here, as it included turns/pivots.
9. Handstands, 2:40 minutes. Handstands from a seated on box position—you place your hands on the floor and jump up lifting your hips. These were combined with tricep dips/jacks and “springs” (sit, hover, jump to stand), making this a tough segment.
10. Lunge Row, 2 minutes. Side lunges plus side leg extensions; also curtsy dips with overhead presses.
11. Bootcamp, 3 minutes. Challenging series of lunges to plank and full push-ups.
12. Jab Kick, 3 minutes. More kickboxing, this time on the floor with a jab-cross/back kick combo. This was fun, but the order of the moves felt a bit awkward.
13. Spider, 3 minutes. Not sure where the name “spider” comes from; these were sports cardio drills including jumprope, football drills, jumps, and side hops/skates.
14. Dip Jumps, 3 minutes. The last tough cardio segment: tall box climbs combined with a rear dip/jump combo.
15. Mambo Pivots, 3 minutes. Another more dancey cardio segment, this one includes mambos, pivots, side steps, and hops forward/back to finish the cardio work.
16. Bell Crunches, 3 minutes. A short, effective crunch segment: lying toe touches holding the weights, single leg lowers, reverse crunches/rolls with weights behind the knees, and oblique knee drops.
17. V-Sits, 2:40 minutes. Teaser variation combined with “goddess” move (on all 4s, open up one leg and arm to the side, then the other) and planks.
18. Clams, 2:20 minutes. This final abs move involves lying on side and pulling knees into the chest; leg stretches are performed on both sides as well.
19. V’s & T’s, 3:20 minutes. This final stretch segment includes lying hamstring and low back stretches plus additional standing moves.

I clocked this workout right around 51 minutes, and according to my heart rate monitor, I was in my target zone for about 30 minutes of this workout—good, and I expect that it will be even better once I get all of the moves down. I used 5-lb. dumbbells for all of the weight work, but the second time I did the workout, I also added my 1-lb. weighted gloves. I can’t imagine going much higher than this with the weights, but that’s fine since I definitely felt the burn! Also, although the abs work is short, I could feel it a bit in my core the next day. As mentioned above, I really loved this workout overall, especially the kickboxing moves, the tall box work, and all of the great stretches thrown in. Steamin’ Cardio is a fun, intermediate level workout, and I definitely recommend it!

Instructor Comments:
Kelsie is a good instructor who comes across as fun and enthusiastic. She cues well, although there are a few editing glitches in the workout.

Beth C (aka toaster)

04/10/2006