Crunch Fat Burning Yoga

Sara Ivanhoe
Year Released: 2001

Categories: Yoga


Please note that I wrote this review 4-5 years ago; I've copied and pasted it as originally written. At the time of the review I had done it about half a dozen times.
Oh, and for the record I ended up trading it off (shortly after writing this review, IIRC).

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General workout breakdown: This yoga workout clocks in around 40 minutes (if you skip the Crunch introduction; it’s a teensy bit less if you also skip the “Tips” chapter). The chapters divide it into the following sequences: Mountain Pose & Swan Dive, Folding-Flowing Series, Lunges, Twisting Lunges, Standing Poses, Standing-Flowing Series, Abdominal Sequence (DVD bonus), Cool Down Stretches, and Final Relaxation Pose. N.B.: Sara loves downward facing dog pose, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Sara mentions several times throughout the workout about stimulating adrenal glands or the digestive system, working up a sweat, and burning calories. This isn’t power yoga as most of us would definite it; it does move at a decent pace, but most people probably won’t work up a major sweat with this one. I’d say the focus is more on building strength and improving flexibility than just relaxing, for sure.
There are some pauses while Sara stops to instruct or encourage you. Beginners in particular will appreciate this time to pause, rest, and recenter; a more intermediate might want less pausing.

Level: I’d recommend this to an experienced beginner to a mid intermediate yoga practitioner. I don’t think a true beginner to yoga would be comfortable with the fairly small amount of basic instruction here unless s/he was complementing their practice with a live class, a book, and/or other tapes. Anyone who considers themselves a high intermediate (or even some solidly intermediate yogi(ni)s) might not find this challenging enough. I have over two years of yoga experience but am working on improving my strength and especially my flexibility. I have recently begun practicing at an intermediate level. I find this workout appropriately challenging where I am now.

Class: Sara leads 6 women and 1 man, all young. One woman shows some modifications, which I didn’t always find helpful with regards to my limited flexibility; they’re more for people with limited strength.

Music / Set / Other Production Notes: The instrumental music is pleasant and appropriate. The workout is done in a large studio space, with wood floors and fitness equipment off to the side. There are large fans to the back, and some big light fixtures hang down from the ceiling. The picture and sound quality are very good.

Equipment: sticky mat (or equivalent). All participants are barefoot.

Comments: You don’t need a lot of space for this workout. You should be able to lie down with your arms and legs extended.

DVD Notes: This is available on Crunch’s The Perfect Yoga Workout DVD, which also has Sara’s The Joy of Yoga. The DVD has 6 additional minutes of footage focusing on the abdominals and back (“core”) regions which are integrated into the routine. You can choose your chapter. You can choose to workout with the instructor and music or just the instructor.

Conclusion: This one jumps on and off my trade pile. (I’ve put it on the list, done it again and pulled it off, done it again and put it back on.) I like it, but I don’t love it as I do my Erich, Shiva, or Eoin yoga DVDs, for example. I think if I liked The Joy of Yoga more I’d definitely keep this DVD. (I personally prefer Fat Burning Yoga to Joy because I like the variety of poses better. Joy spends too much time in down dog or lunge for my tastes.)
That said, I think this is good yoga workout and Sara is a good teacher. Like Karen Voight or the Quick Fix yoga tapes, there isn’t much here to frighten off people who are wary of chanting, flowery language, spiritual overtones, etc. I’m getting into those things, so this workout and the ones I just mentioned don’t appeal to me as much now as they did when I was first starting out.

Instructor Comments:
Sara is positive and encouraging, but not annoyingly so (in my opinion). She offers some form instruction, but to me her form tips are better than her instruction. She has a young vibe and voice. There isn’t much “New Agey” talk here, although there is a good deal of talking in general.

KathAL79

09/01/2009