Powerstrike Millenium Series #3

Ilaria Montagnani, Patricia Moreno
Year Released: 2003

Categories: Boxing/Kickboxing/Martial Arts


Background: This is the first "Powerstrike" video I've done, and my kickboxing experience, while not non- existent, is relatively minimal.

Bottom Line: I LOVE THIS WORKOUT!!!

This is the most fun I've had doing cardio in the approximately 3 months since I restarted. For some reason, cardio has been very much "eating my vegetables" for me lately; I have been hating sweating. But I had a GREAT time doing this one.

I'm not going to break down the video in detail because other reviewers have (thankfully) already done that. This video starts out slowly, as other reviewers have pointed out -- and for me, the slow part is really, really good - - I can tell this video is going to do WONDERS for my form, because the form-oriented segues seamlessly into faster combos, rather than being isolated from the actual kickboxing. Eventually the pace picks up and as an uncoordinated person, I admit I found the combos hard to follow even though they were taught reasonably slowly. But difficult is good -- I have a lot to work on! The fun the instructors seemed to be having was contagious and I didn't even mind much being pretty lost during some combos. I am planning to do this video again on my next cardio day (tomorrrow) and to my shock and surprise I am looking forward to it (I wish today were a cardio day!).

Despite the overall wonderfulness of this video, I do have one gripe with it: the camera work often didn't allow you to see the relevant body parts at the relevant time, sometimes til several repetitions of a move had gone by. Often what you get instead is a close- up on an instructor's sweaty face, and while I like to see my instructor sweat, it's more important that I can see the moves. This will be less of a problem as I become more oriented to the video and I'm not going to worry about it. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this video.

Instructor Comments:
Both are lots of fun, and really seem to enjoy working together. I liked how they would step out from the group of background exercisers -- still "doing" the workout, but demonstrating how the moves in the workout would be used in an actual boxing context.

Elizabeth Stein

06/26/2003