30 Minutes to Fitness: Cardio Blast

This DVD contains two workouts, Athletic Step and Plyometrics. I've only done the Athletic step portion, as I'm still a little wary of an all plyometrics routine (though on preview it looks approachable!)

The combos were interesting without being difficult to remember. They were definitely athletic, but I wasn't bored (and I love dancey step!) There were only a few moves with my back to the tv, so following was not a problem. Note that Kelly uses more taps than many instructors, and that she often defaults to an alternating basic.

There is a fair amount of high impact - bench hops, jumping jacks, plyo lunges (I think that's the name, it's a lunge where you jump up instead of pulsing.) I can do a fair amount of impact, though not super high, and this was mostly fine for me. The only thing I didn't do was the fast feet taps, as I always worry about tripping on those.

If I had a criticism, it would be that the combos seem to have about one more repeat than I would prefer. I'd rather string together all the combos at the end once or twice, but I know that's a matter of preference! I've done this workout twice now, and I look forward to using it in the future. It is longer than 30 minutes with warm-up and cooldown, but it's still a great workout in a short time period. I like to do it on days where I'm planning to add on abs or some other workout.

Instructor Comments:
This is my first experience with Kelly, and I loved her! I found her to be encouraging and warm, while still giving what were (for me) good cues. I love her interactions with her background exercisers. She seems to be having a great time, which makes me want to work out with her! I'm looking forward to trying some of her other workouts soon.

stitchywitch

This is one of my favorite workouts acquired in 2010. It was a trade that I didn't expect much from and that I am still doing months later.

There are two workouts on this DVD, Athletic Step and the plyometric workout. I did each one once for the experience and then have done Athletic Step exclusively since then. I did the premix once with one ploymetric move between each Athletic Step segment and will do it again in modified form when I have the time. I have arthritic knees that are bothering me quite a bit these days, so I follow Lauren and even modify her some. She does jumping jacks and some other jarring, but non-torquey, moves and I need to modify those. Lauren doesn't use the step, so, for me, this is a floor workout.

I thoroughly enjoy this workout from beginning to end. Historically, I have liked dancey cardio, so I was a bit surprised how much I like this workout.

Instructor Comments:
Kelly cues pretty well in this workout and she is funny and fun to work out with in this workout.

Laura S.

My review is for the Athletic Step section of the workout. But first one note about the DVD. The premixes include a 41-minute mix of Athletic Step with one set of Plyo moves between each combo and a 49-minute mix with Athletic Step and two sets of Plyo moves between each combo.

Athletic Step is exactly what the name says, it is a non-'dance-y' combination of interesting but not choreographically complex step moves. Kelly even says a few times through the workout that 'you're not going to find any mambos here.' I don't remember how many combos there were exactly (4 or 5) but she puts each together, adds on a few moves as she goes then moves on to the next combo. There is no TIFTing and no putting-it-together-at-the-end. The steps are basic and include jump shots, step hop-overs, squat Vs. There are some jumping jacks in between steps and a smattering of kickbox moves - thrust, jab-crosses, squat punches, etc.

I really enjoy this workout. It's tough but not puke-in-a-bucket tough and I appreciate that. I can get my heartrate up and feel that I have had a solid cardio workout in under 45 minutes with this one. The pre-mixes with Plyo moves add an even greater challenge so you can grow with this one.

Most of the music is re-mixed versions of identifiable songs. I much prefer this music to your standard fare of electronic music found in most step workouts.

I recommend this workout highly.

Instructor Comments:
Kelly is humorous and motivating. She's conversational throughout but no weight loss or body image talk. I really like her style. I've heard comments about her cueing style but I've never had a problem. When I've done a workout for the 3rd or 30th time, I don't want to have every step told to me. She also makes me laugh at the end when she does a few mambos for those of us that missed them.

Nat