I decided to do this one and was surprised when Tracie jumps right into workout. You begin on top of the step and perform staggered lunges off the back of the bench. Then you'll pulse the lunges in various reps. Then comes the hard part--you'll quickly do the lunges off the back of bench in a single, single, double count (jumping on each one) with a knee. Without a real warm up, my heart rate got up fairly quickly in this first section. I'd recommend a quick "on your own" warm up of marching in place, etc or do this work out as an add on to another workout so you are thoroughly warmed up for it. Recovery with a wide march to bring heart rate down. Squat with active quad stretch. Round 2 begins with jogs on the step (2 counts up, 2 counts down). Next is ice skaters on the floor, moving arms in opposition of the legs. March again to recover. Squats with active quad stretch again. Final round starts with the jogs onto step again, this time leading with opposite leg. Vertical jumps onto the step follow. Tracie progressively leads you up to the full vertical jumps so you'll be able to catch onto this great plyo move. March it out to recover. Squat with active quad stretch one last time. A quick stretch and this section is over--phew! Segment two uses no equipment. Tracie runs through several sets of power knees, reverse lunges, squats, skaters at various levels and power jumps. You'll still get a nice recovery between each high intensity set. The 3rd and final segment is toning oriented. You'll need your mat and step. Plyo pushups stimulate the muscles in the chest and arms. (I really enjoyed these, I really felt the muscles activate in my chest wall) Tracie does various ranges of motion with these pushups. Next up is a quick abdominal session. Sitting on the bench, you'll lean back and pull knees into the chest. Again, Tracie varies the rep count to make it tough. (I felt these, especially when she added in the rotation for the obliques) Tricep dips follow. You'll feel the burn with several sets. A few quick stretches for quads, hamstrings and hips conclude this last section.

Instructor Comments:
review copy

DeniseR