Exhale Core Fusion Bootcamp

This is a 60 minute fusion workout led by husband & wife team, Fred DeVito and Elisabeth Halfpapp. This workout is a blend of core focused pilates, yoga, and bootcamp-esque work. It contains a lot of core work, balance, strength, pilates, yoga, and cardio work. It is blended very well and had a wonderful flow. You will need a playground ball (I used an 8# weighted ball), light dumbbells (they use 3#'s), and a mat for this workout. Fred & Elisabeth & team workout barfoot & so did I- love that. The set is a nice room with hardwood floors and some drapery hung around. One b/g'er provides beginnner mods.

The dvd is divided up into six 10 minute segments, and you can "play all" or select an individual workout. The segments are: sun salutations, jump back 1, jump back 2, abdominal curl, back strengthening & stretch, and a bonus thighs & core segment. Each segment includes a lot of core work.

Sun Salutations: This segment is (of course) core focused and includes different sun salutation variations, lots of plank work, and some pulsing chair poses w/ tricep work.

Jump Back Part One: This segment includes a good amount of cardio & strength. Using a ball, you do pushups, planks, chair pose with tricep work, and of course the jump ups- similar to a squat thrust using the ball and including chair pose. My heartrate got up there nicely in this segment.

Jump Back Part Two: This cardio & strength segment is different from JBP1 but includes the moves above. In addition you will see tricep pushups, a lunge with a sidelift, and bicep work with a twist. My heartrate was elevated in this segment as well.

Abdominal Curl: This section is done on the floor and Fred provides a lot of good form pointers. I have neck issues so I performed these moves in a V sit as opposed to the lower hover they did. Using a dumbbell you perform some tough nonstop ab work- including roll-ups, moves similar to the pilates 100, and included oblique work as well.

Back Strengthening & Stretch: This is a nice little lower back & stretch segment done on the floor. Lower backs never get enough work IMO so I am always happy to get some in. It uses the ball & incorporates a lot of nice superman moves & spinal stretching.

Thighs & Core: This segment starts with a side lunge with a knee lift using the ball, then you move to the floor for some core work with your feet on the ball, V sits, oblique twists, crunch variations w/ the ball between the knees, and some bridge work with the ball between your knees.

I would rate this workout an intermediate fusion workout. It really does combine SO many elements in such a smooth flowing way. I felt a TON of core work, my heartrate got up, I got some yoga and pilates in, and some nice (mostly) body weight strength work in. This was a great way to spend a workout hour and NO SHOES- cant go wrong with that! I really like both Fred & Elisabeth as leads, they provided some great form pointers & explanations and their cueing was spot on. I am very impressed by this workout! Very unique.

lindseylu8

LindseyLu's review is a very comprehensive!
Here are some additional, random, impressions. FYI, I do a lot of yoga, and my usual strength workouts are: Val Waters’ circuits, Montenegro Method, Dove’s Bodies 3 & 4, and some of Leah Sarago’s Ballet Body workouts (those that aren’t too barre-like – I’m not fond of barre, in general).

Wow, Core Fusion Bootcamp is a sneaky workout. I thought the moves looked pretty tame on preview, but many are tough. My weaknesses were exposed. This will be a good complement to my other strength workouts. I think the strengthening emphasis (endurance) will be very helpful for my yoga.

I loved the flow of all the segments, and of each segment into the next (with the exception of the last two bonus segments, which I reversed). I like that this is total body toning with cardio benefits - it felt like a complete and balanced workout to me. They work the arms in many non-traditional ways – so, for me, there was more arm work than appears by simply viewing the workout. I also liked that this is not typical barre (none of the barre moves that I find tedious).

I liked the yoga movements - they worked for me - and, didn't feel too fusion-y. The Sun Salutation segment included some great strengthening poses and variations.

I was very challenged by a number of moves. I can tell that this workout hits areas in different ways than my other strength workouts. All of the chair pose variations were an endurance battle for me. While in chair pose, there are also movements with arms extended (holding the ball) - these really worked my whole back and shoulders.

The jump-backs were nice and controlled - I don’t really like burpees, but I enjoyed these. They didn’t dominate the workout as much as I thought they would - they probably comprise half or less of the 2 segments labeled “Jump-Backs.” There are plenty of other moves in those sections – including those chairs!

The other difficult segments for me were the Abdominal Curl (c-curve abs) and Thigh Core. I started out okay, but couldn't believe Fred just kept going with more sets! I had to take breaks. I don't usually do this kind of ab work - but I liked both segments, particularly Liz's - some very different moves. I imagine I'll get better over time.

I don't have a playground ball, so substituted a 3 lb medicine ball for most of those moves, except the jump-backs, which I did with no prop.
The only awkward moves for me were the pivoting lunges. I'm not sure there is any benefit to the pivot - so I may do static or forward or backward lunges instead.

LunaSea