Project: You - Power Push
Kathy SmithYear Released: 2005
Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance
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I skipped foundations and went to this one instead. This is basic cardio with easy choreography. you can make it more difficult by adding propulsion moves or keep it low impact by following the modifier exerciser. I think it is a good 30 minute workout--it gets my heart rate up and makes me sweat. I did a 30 day advanced rotation of turbo jam and found this to be at a similiar level. Good for beginners and intermediates--too easy for advanced. I'd recommend this program to anyone. I think it is very good and well balanced
Instructor Comments:
Kathy is motivating in this one. She gives good cues--some may think she talks too much but I kinda tune out most instructors anyhow.
I was pleasantly surprised by this dvd! A friend gave me this while I was doing a turbo jam rotation. I thought it may be too easy for me so I skipped foundation and went to this one. It was perfect intermediate level for me when I added power moves. Pretty simple choreography but I found it nice to take a break from the more difficult choreography stuff. By the end I felt just as worked out but in a different way from turbo jam. Perfect for rebeginners or beginners because you can work up to high intensity!! Very happy with it!
Instructor Comments:
Kathy is great here...she's calm (no whooping), gives lots of modifications, or ways to increase intensity and is motivating.
This is the intermediate level cardio for the Project You set. The workout has been well described by previous reviewers so I will just note my impresssions.
I really enjoy the Power Push workout. It takes you through a series of Power Pushes or low key intervals, where you start at a low intensity and move up to a higher lever power push. This workout allows the user to adapt the workout to their fitness level. If you want to go high you can, if you aren't feeling up to it, you can keep it low.
The background exercisers make occasional comments, but for the most part it is fairly innocuous.
Overall I enjoy the workout. After doing it four times a week for two weeks straight I am getting burned out on it, but I also like workouts with complex choreography which this definitely is not.
After I finish the PY rotation, I think this workout will work very nicely as an add on after a strength workout. Something for those days where you don't want to think too much and just want to zone out.
Instructor Comments:
Kathy Smith is an encouraging and enthusiatic instructor that I enjoy.
PowerPush is keeping me sweating! I liked Foundations as it was a great transition back into aerobics from more dancy w/o's like YBB. PowerPush moves along fairly quickly. The knee up series is the only one that tests my patience (in my 2nd week of using it) but it is also the segment that I start to feel my heart zoom up. I like the regular little power bursts and the constant choice to tone it down. Music is great. Still really like it after 2 weeks. I will be using this workout for sure after my PY rotation.
Instructor Comments:
Kathy is an inspiring fitness icon. She has age, energy, experience, skill and innovation that all present a very thorough fitness opportunity for anyone who's starting out to those who are hoping to maintain current achievements. I am especially enjoying her in this Project You experience. I like the intelligence and emotion mixture that she brings to the workout. Nothing totally over the top. She's very good (almost perfect) at her cuing and is fairly diligent about instructional tips. Wonderful outfit. Wonderful figure.
This is the intermediate cardio workout in the Project You set from Beachbody. I have already reviewed most of the other titles in this set. My general comments so far have been positive. I have a good track record with Beachbody products and was certain I would like this one.
Power Push has the same structure and format as the Foundations workout, but it adds in a few hops and impacty things. Generally, you practice each move int he low impact version and then do a few sets where you alternate low impact version and high impact version. The sections are the same as in Foundations: step dig series, kickbox series etc.
The moves were pretty basic as far as choreography goes, but with the extra hops and skips a little more complex from a coordination standpoint. I actually found my heart rate monitor readings a little lower than in Foundations, because I had to drop the arms to keep up with the feet a few times, so my exertion was not quite as steady. I am sure I will get better at it with time, but for now I will probably use Foundations more because ti gives me a good workout and was fun and do-able. If you find Foundations too easy, however, this would be a good choice.
The dvd version includes both of the other cardio workouts on this set so I am not sure there is much point in evluating this as a stand-alone title. But the three workouts together represent a nice little cardio package. I had found Kathy Smith's older cardio a little on the complex side for me but I could manage all of Project You. And I am into impact these days so I liked the little bursts of it in here.
Instructor Comments:
I found this to be a very nice, basic workout. The choreography is basic enough that anyone should be able to catch on to it within a few tries. This isn’t a super-high intensity workout, but it can be modified up by adding power moves and keeping the power moves in while the crew is doing lower intensity for more of an interval workout. There is a modifier showing low impact aerobics at all times. Kathy and crew are having a good time throughout. I am an intermediate exerciser and consider this workout to be intermediate intensity when done following Kathy and most of the background exercisers.
This does remind me a little of Peak Fat Burning in that some of the exercises are similar, but there are bursts of low intensity then higher intensity and back and forth rather than true intervals. (For the record, I consider the bursts to be shorter in duration than intervals. The bursts are maybe 30 seconds and then lower intensity for 30 seconds, then higher intensity again for 30 seconds, then lower and so on.) There is a short kickboxing segment that reminds me of the kickboxing in Kathy’s Kickboxing Workout. Really there is more boxing than kickboxing because there are punches, shuffles and knee lifts, but not kickboxing-style kicks.
The workout clock keeps track of how long the whole workout is and how long each segment is. Before each segment is a little blurb telling what is coming next. If you don’t like a particular segment, it is very easy to skip it on DVD or one could FF through the segment on VHS. The whole workout is approximately 30 minutes.
The background exercisers do have microphones and comment throughout the workout. Kathy is upbeat without being overly “enthusiastic,” a la Lift Weights to Lose Weight.
Instructor Comments:
