Crunch: Belly, Butt & Thighs Boot Camp

This workout is an aerobic and non-weighted toning workout to work the legs, butt, and abs. It is in the usual Crunch workout setting with a gang of 20 somethings (mostly women but there was a token guy in the back), and they definitely whooped plenty in this workout. I recognized Terri Ann from her being a backgrounder in Firm Pump Jump and Jab, although as it turns out I did not care for her as a lead. The full workout clocks in at 40 minutes with the first half hour or so standing, followed by ab work on the floor and a lengthy stretch. The music is generic musak, nothing remarkably motivating.

I picked up this workout for lighter days, thinking I would like it for days when I just didn’t want to work out or had DOMS and was feeling stiff. Today was a not wanting to work out day, and while the intensity of the workout is what I expected (low intermediate or you can keep it beginner by following the modifier), the workout was just really boring and repetitive. The cardio was not choreographed, nor was it a series of sports drills that don’t repeat; instead there were FOUR levels of a similar move (say, V steps), repeated over and over again, with the final two levels including high impact. Do several on each side (about 8 reps of each level-so 32 reps), then break it up and do another few on each side (about 4 reps of each level-another 16 reps). I love V steps but got tired of doing them over and over again. The next cardio set was a similar series using knee repeaters (again I love knee repeaters but not when done continually for 5 minutes). The final cardio had a series of kicks (similarly redundant), then four reps of squat thrust with pushups, which seemed oddly advanced for a toned down workout, although there were not many reps.

The strength was indistinctly mixed throughout the workout and included unweighted lunge and squat variations, and some side and back leg lifts – almost like a BBL lite. I felt a pleasant burning in the legs (they did not work to fatigue, nor was I expecting them to) but again it was really repetitive and the lunges weren’t great for my knees. At one point I subbed kettlebell swings for a long lunge sequence to spice things up (and to save my knees).

At about the 30 minute mark we go down to the floor for a series of very basic crunches, followed by some fairly challenging plank work (mountain climbers and knee-in variations while in plank, again seemed oddly out of place), then back to prone position for more basic crunches. The workout ends with some basic stretches (wide straddle, hamstring stretches).

I don’t usually form such a distinct opinion of a workout the first time through (unless it is a positive one), but I just did NOT like this workout. As I mentioned, it was horrendously repetitive, definitely NOT fun (usually Crunch workouts are a little fun if kooky), and frankly not really even effective, even for a slump, don’t feel like it day. I watched every minute drag by and only got through the whole thing to allow myself validation of getting rid of it (asap). Maybe this would be okay for a beginner, but as a vidiot I have far too many workouts to do something I dislike this much. Overall Grade C-.

Instructor Comments:
Terri Ann used ‘bootcamp’ jargon, something which I despise, and she was just such a valley girl. It was clearly her first time instructing and she stumbled over her words, and often repeated herself, “this is the last rep…this is the last one”, which got annoying. I don’t know if she was the choreographer, but whoever was made the workout woefully repetitive and boring. I usually enjoy instructors’ enthusiasm (which she had), but she really just didn’t do it for me. I am unlikely to try her workouts again. As for the backgrounders, there seemed to be a lot of whooping, even for a Crunch workout.

Emily B.