Kickbox Strike Zone offers an intermediate-to-advanced kickboxing workout in terms of the moves used and taught, but the cardio workout it provides is short and only intermediate in intensity. This is one of the only videos that breaks down crescent kicks, hook kicks, jump front kicks, and jump roundhouse kicks, with plenty of opportunities to practice all of these slightly-less-common kicks. If you work out with a partner and a kickbox paddle or focus mitt, or if you use a heavy bag, the paddle work segment (16 min) provides a good opportunity to practice technique for aiming one’s punches and kicks more precisely. The “strength” section (10 min) allows you to practice executing your punches and kicks while testing your balance, since Janis doesn’t have you steadying yourself on a chair during these drills. Throughout the video, Janis explains all the moves carefully and demonstrates them deliberately, so you have a good model to follow in executing your own moves.

Several factors keep the intensity in this workout below the advanced level. The workout is set at a moderate-to-slow pace for kickboxing (132bpm in the warmup, 126bpm in the workout), and the choreography section is short (20 min). The punching and kicking are frequently interrupted by breaks, since Janis sometimes teaches a new section of the routine at half-time while we march in place and often stops the workout altogether to explain form pointers. As a result, I felt the video was more targeted at learning and improving one’s kickboxing technique than at getting an intense workout.

In spite of the focus on technique, I would not recommend this video to a kickboxing novice, since it assumes knowledge of how to execute the simpler moves correctly and since the choreography does not practice them methodically. For example, the routine in the first section introduces jump roundhouse kicks, but regular roundhouse kicks do not appear until the paddle section.

Janis has a friendly and relaxed instructing style here that makes the workout feel more like having fun than tough exercise. She’s a little giggly and she does talk a lot about “feeling it in your buns” and obliques, which suggests a bit of an appearance focus. Although she does talk a lot about proper leg positioning, I find that other aspects of my form suffer (e.g. I get lazy about keeping my guard up), and I don’t push myself to punch as hard or as fast as I do in other workouts. I personally prefer a “tougher” instruction style for kickboxing. Some of her cues are a little odd: she repeats “double double” when the move executed is actually a double roundhouse, and she says “up!” on the beat of the music when your arms are actually down.

I was particularly impressed by one background exerciser (I think it’s Sensei Bryce Montgomery). He comes up in front for the paddle drills, and his hooks are inspiringly sharp and fast. I would be very interested in seeing him lead a workout himself, since his punching and kicking style motivates me to try to emulate his speed and power.

Unfortunately, the cooldown is not chaptered separately on the DVD, which makes it hard to use just the cardio portion for a half-hour workout.

Verdict? I traded it. I was looking for a continuous cardio workout, and I felt like there was too much standing around in this one. The different segments also made the workout feel too choppy, with just a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. It’s too bad Janis hasn’t incorporated the unusual moves here into a longer and more coherently choreographed routine. I’m sticking with Powerstrike.

Instructor Comments:
Janis teaches all the moves very deliberately, with a cheerful and bubbly personality. Her cueing is imperfect but adequate.

KickDancer