This workout has already been broken down, so I'll spend most of the review comparing it to Kathy Smith's/Micheal Olajide's Aerobox. For background, I'd consider myself low advanced aerobically.

I would rate this workout as beginner to low intermediate. The warmup is slow and thorough, with lots of stretching. There is no demo of boxing moves; they just start right in punching and uppercutting. No real form tips on punching are given, unlike Aerobox, but all the moves are executed MUCH more slowly. There's no real snapping of the arm during the jabs or crosses, so maybe form tips aren't necessary. The workout emphasized lateral footwork more than Aerobox - cha-chas, shoe-shines, grapevines, L-slides. And there was less emphasis on punching than in Aerobox. There was a VERY short jump rope section, with Sugar Ray being the only one using a rope. I didn't think the workout rated very high on the fun factor (I'm one of the weirdos that finds Aerobox fun). During the aerobic portion, you were always on the right lead, which isn't to say that your left leg didn't get worked out, it just didn't get worked out in the same way as the right leg. Aerobox was very balanced in that respect.

There was only one heart-rate check in the workout. Sugar Ray advises you to work harder if you're below your target rate zone, but the next section is the cooldown (Oops). A total of 40 minutes is spent on the aerobics portion of the workout.

The remaining 20 minutes is spent on floorwork for abs, hips, inner and outer thighs, and glutes. The ab work was standard crunches, with oblique work, and some bicycles. Leg lifts and donkey kicks were executed with correct form. The form tips for the floor work were excellent - hips stacked, abs in, and the donkey kicks were executed on the elbows (I believe that's better for your back than being on hands and knees).

The floor work finished up with some stretches - cobra stretch, spinal twist, and a nice one for the hip flexors that I hadn't seen before (maybe on one of Kari's tapes).

I found this tape too easy to be challenging, but would recommend it to beginners or low intermediates who want to incorporate some boxing into their workouts.

Instructor Comments:
Sugar Ray seemed a little nervous, but hid it well most of the time. But he did smile and give us form reminders (unfortunately, it was mostly limited to one: keep your abs in). Jill Goodacre was a little wooden, and, IMHO, didn't have the most inspiring physique (I didn't really see much muscle). They didn't go over any moves, just jumped on in and did the routines. But the workout is slower paced than Aerobox. Cuing was fair, but becasue of the slow pace, it doesn't take too long to catch on.

Jackie