30 Minutes to Fitness Cardio Pump

Kelly Coffey-Meyer
Year Released: 2015

Categories: Boxing/Kickboxing/Martial Arts , Total Body Workouts



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My fellow check-in buddy Beth wrote an excellent breakdown of this workout, so I'll just give my overall thoughts. This morning, I did both workouts back-to-back, and I absolutely LOVED every minute! Move over New You Coming, 30 Minutes Weights, and 30 Minutes Kickboxing--there's a new favorite Kelly in Garrie's house!

Workout 1 (Cardio Boxing)
I love kickboxing, but have trouble with boxing only (as I like to both punch AND kick) format workouts. But Kelly made the workout very fun with varied combinations. Kelly doesn't TIFTT the combos together. Instead, she builds each combo, performs it a few times, then moves on. I also enjoyed how the workout was intense without a lot of impact. There are a few jumps and jacks, but nothing extreme. I might try this workout next time with 1 lb. weighted gloves to up the intensity. The music was excellent too. At the end of the workout, I thought to myself, "I wish Kelly would do a whole hour like this!"

Workout 2 (Pump)
This workout isn't true pyramid training. It's more like "Timed Drop Set" training. Kelly does 3 one-minute exercises for each muscle group. The first exercise uses the heaviest weights, the second exercise uses medium weights, and the final exercise uses the lightest weights. This is also a very versatile workout: you can use heavier weights and perform lower reps for each minute, or use lighter weights and perform higher reps for each minute. By the end of the workout, my arms felt like Jello (and still do as I'm typing this).

There's also several premixes, including an "Interval Premix" that alternates boxing combos with weight exercises for one muscle group (Boxing, Shoulders, Boxing, Legs, etc.). I can't wait to give that one a go!

Instructor Comments:
I admit that I'm late to the Kelly party. I really enjoy her genuine, down-to-earth personality. She is also down-to-business without any unnecessary chatter.

Garrie A

12/09/2017

I'm a big fan of Kelly's (she's from my hometown!), and although I haven't clicked with every single one of her workouts, I love her overall style. I have particularly enjoyed her kickboxing/boxing workouts, so I was mainly interested in Cardio Pump for that reason, although I wound up liking the weight portion better; more on that shortly.

Like all of the workouts in Kelly's 30 Minutes to Fitness series, Cardio Pump offers to main workouts of about 30 minutes in length plus various premixes made up of segments from the primary routines. The Main Menu includes Introduction - Workout One - Workout Two - Premixes - Credits. In both routines, Kelly teaches live to very upbeat music. She is in a modern studio (borrowed from Cathe) with a large group of seven background exercisers, including the return of Lauren showing modifications. I actually did not like this larger group, as they seemed very bunched together, and it was hard to see any one individual person, including the modifier.

Both workouts include the same 4-minute warm-up as part of their total time. The warm-up moves are as follows: alternating overhead reaches – tempo jabs – hooks – uppercuts – forward folds/shoulder rolls – shuffles/jogs/jacks.

***WORKOUT ONE***

The first workout is the cardio boxing routine, and it's 30 minutes long. One of the things I have loved about Kelly's prior boxing choreography is that she has made it intense and interesting yet remaining low-impact and easy-to-follow. While the sequences here are still low impact, I found that they had a more difficult learning curve, in part because Kelly seemed to string more moves together. Some of the combos just seemed to have too much going on, especially #2 (see below).

Combo #1:
To one side: jab-cross-hook-up – add shin block/double jab w/slip
After first side, jabs front and then switch sides
Combo #2:
Double jabs-single jabs – squat x3/click heels – body shot/upper cut – elbow smash/”clear” (side elbow) – finish with series of elbow smashes only
Combo #3:
To one side: shuffle-knee/jab-cross x8 – uppercut x4/speedbag x8
Hip shift to Side 2 and repeat, moving from side to side
Combo #4
Uppercut-hook x2 – bob out to one side/jack x2 – twisting bob & weave in center – switch sides back & forth – add step front jab-cross x2 after jack on each side
Combo #5
Jump rope x8/jack x4 – stomp to alternating sides/add triple hook to stomp – alternating step back/add alternating jabs front x6 – repeat several times
Combo #6
In-out step/add hi-low hook on out step x2 – stay out for double jab hold – add punch down x2/quarter turn – repeat, alternating sides

***WORKOUT TWO***

The second workout is Pump, which comes in at 33 minutes. Pump is designed as a pyramid-style workout, which means that one body part is worked out using three different sets of weights, starting with the heaviest and moving to a progressively lower weight. Unlike a traditional pyramid workout, Kelly does not do the same move for all three sets; instead, she targets the body part with three complementary exercises. Kelly usually states the poundage of the weights that she is using but encourages viewers to lift and the level that is appropriate for the individual. As noted above, the warm-up is the same as in the first workout. The remaining exercises are listed below.

Shoulders: Alternating push press overhead
Upright rows
Alternating lateral raise
Biceps: Alternating supinated front curls
Hammer curls
Alternating side curls
Legs: Deadlifts
Sumo squats, alternating sides
Alternating reverse lunges
Back: Alternating lawnmowers
Squeeze backs (reverse flys)
Run rows
Triceps: Overhead tricep extension
Single-arm alternating kickbacks
Triceps push-ups
Legs: Squats
Alternating front lunges
Plies
Chest: Chest press
Flys
Running alternating wide chest press
2-minute standing stretch (shoulders, Figure 4, body circle)

These are the premixes directly as listed off the premix menu. The cardio premixes include ALL of the cardio combos.

PREMIXES (all include a Warm-Up and a Cool-Down)
*Interval Pump 53
*Cardio Leg Pump 38
*Cardio Shoulders & Arms 41
*Cardio Back & Chest 38
*Pump Shoulders & Arms 18
*Pump Back & Chest 15

Overall, I did like this DVD, although there were a few disappointments. As I said, I wish that the boxing combos had been a bit easier to follow (and even better, I would have preferred kickboxing sequences, but I knew I wasn't getting that). I also would have loved a couple of shorter cardio premixes--e.g., one that offered Combos 1-3 and another that included Combos 4-6. Still, I'm glad to have this addition to my Kelly collection and am looking forward to experimenting with it more.

Instructor Comments:
I really like Kelly's down-to-earth style; she seems extremely genuine, which is one of the qualities I appreciate the most in an instructor. I do miss her cozier set with the real windows. Also, although I'm sure she had good intentions in including such a large background crew, I just found them to be distracting here.

Beth C (aka toaster)

06/05/2017

I had a really bad fitness year last year. Now, I am working on coming back and I am currently focusing on metabolic workouts. My personal definition of a metabolic workout is one that mixes cardio and strength and that leaves me a sweaty mess. "But wait," you say, "Cardio Pump is comprised of two 30-ish-minute workouts, one a strength training workout done “pyramid” style and the other one a boxing workout (aka, cardio workout)." That is true and they are both excellent stand-alone workouts. But, I have one word for you - premixes! As usual, Kelly includes premixes on this DVD that greatly extend the value of the DVD. And I'm having a blast exploring their options after having done each of the stand-alone workouts once each. Here is the list of premixes on this DVD:

Interval Pump - 53 Minutes
Cardio Leg Pump - 38 Minutes
Cardio Shoulder & Arms - 41 Minutes
Pump Shoulder & Arms - 18 Minutes
Pump Back & Chest - 38 minutes
Cardio Back & Chest - 38 Minutes

The Pump workout is a total-body strength workout done pyramid style. By this designation, Kellly means that you do an exercise for a body part with the heaviest weight, then you do another exercise for the same body part with the medium weight, and then you end that section for that body part with a move using the lightest weight. Each exercise is done for around 1 minute. When you're done with that, you move on to the next body part and start the process over with your heaviest weight. No exercise is repeated, which I really like because I find repeating moves to induce boredom sometimes. Kelly uses 20, 15 and 10 pound weights. I, in all my unfit glory, used 5, 8, and 10 pounds and considered that I could go a bit heavier in the future. People who know strength training will tell you that this is not true pyramid strength training - and they're right. But, I don't care - I think this is an excellent workout whatever you want to call it and found that the time just flew.

The cardio workout is boxing, rather than kickboxing. Kelly builds 6 combos. The combos are varied and bring in some leg work. I found them varied and complex enough to keep things interesting and fun, but not complex or difficult to follow. And, there were some moves that seemed very un-Kelly-like (but fun!). For example, there's one combination where she has you switch sides of the body by swinging your hips around. Overall, I found this to be a fun workout, although boxing purists may find that it's not authentic enough.

It has been awhile since I have fallen in love with a DVD and this one broke the dry spell. Of course, I also really liked the other DVD she released at the same time - Lean Body Circuits.

Instructor Comments:
I can't say enough good things about Kelly. She gets a vision for a workout and then delivers a really good version of it. Not all of her workouts are for me, but when I love one of her workouts, it falls into the category of "You'll have to pry this DVD out of my cold dead hands!"

Laura S.

06/17/2015