Your Body Breakthru: Rockin' Body Cardio Jam

Michelle Dozois
Year Released: 2007

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance


Rockin' Body Cario Jam is part of Michelle Dozois' Your Body Breakthru series, which also includes two other workouts, one strength and one circuit. The circuit workout was the first one I tried, and I loved it, as it combined short, fun cardio segments with toning intervals which included both dumbbells and band work. While I didn't like this workout quite as much--some of the cardio moves were a bit "fussy" to me, requiring a bit of a learning curve--overall, it's still a fun and intense cardio workout. The DVD Main Menu offers the following options: Full Workout, Express Workout, Chapters, Testimonials, More on Your Body Breakthru, Michelle's personal message, and Contact. The Full Workout is 51 minutes and consists of a warm-up, six cardio intervals, and a cool-down, while the Express Workout provides a shorter (30 minutes) version of this. No equipment is needed for this workout.

The 5-minute aerobic warm-up consists of simple choreography, gradually adding more movement and concluding with about 30 seconds of dynamic stretching. Each cardio chapter is about 6-7 minutes long. As she does in the circuit workout, Michelle gradually builds on the moves, starting with footwork, then adding arm movements, and also incorporating some higher impact here and there (one of the four background exercisers always shows low-impact modifications). She alternates right and left lead, moving through each choreographed series a total of four times. The exercise are quite similar in feel to the cardio moves on the circuit workout: they tend to be more athletic, with lots of knee lifts plus some kicks and punches, but there are also a few more dancey moves as well. As with the warm-up, the 5.5 minute cool-down is choreographed, gradually reducing the heart rate and then ending with about 1.5 minutes of stretching. The Express workout includes the warm-up, Cardio chapters 1, 3, and 5, and the cool-down.

All of Michelle's background exercisers in the Body Breakthru series are from her classes, and their stories are featured in the testimonials section. They are quite inspiring, as is Michelle's "personal message," which details her struggles as the mother of an autistic son (the DVD case indicates that it is "Promoting Autism Awareness"). I consider myself to be an advanced intermediate exerciser, and I found this workout to be suitably challenging; although modifications are offered, I think that beginning exercisers might have trouble keeping up with Michelle's fast pace here. Similarly, the choreography of this workout is a little more complicated than in Michelle's circuit workout, which might leave some users a bit frustrated, especially since Michelle's cueing sometimes falls a little late. Overall, however, I think that this is a solid cardio workout for intermediates and above.

Instructor Comments:
I haven't been crazy about Michelle's workouts in the past, and I've found her personality a bit too over-enthusiastic for my tastes. I had no problems with her here, however: she comes across as very professional, she is encouraging without being over-the-top, and she cues well using mirrored cueing.

Beth C (aka toaster)

09/01/2009