CIA 2203: Boot Camp Plus Cardio Kick-it

The workout is very good. There are LOTS of plyometric bits, and TONS of core-strength pilates inspired work in there. It kicked my abs, and I consider my abs to be pretty strong.

The ab stuff was very unique and different from what I usually see, and so it really commanded my full attention and interest. The bootcamp session had its own core strengh workout with really fun stuff, as well as some tough pushup combinations and a bunch of plyometrics.

All in all, I'd give it an A, despite the annoyances of the kickbox section. It wasn't powerstrike, but the routines were pretty decent.

Instructor Comments:
I have a weird ambivalence about her. She comes across as caring and nice, and she is very graceful and strong. But she is SUCH the dancer, that I found it distracting to watch her do the kickboxing stuff. I had to watch the background exercisers who weren't dancy at all. She was annoying in the sense that she shouted out "Ho!" a lot, which is something that always annoys me.

But during the bootcamp she was much better at avoiding the weird sounds, and I loved her during the ab work and stretching. She was soothing and very very good.

Leela

This tape is 2 workouts back to back. The first is the kickboxing workout for 35 minutes. It features 3 kickboxing combos, with moderate complexity. Each combo ends with a pylometric jump move. Terri's format takes you through each combination about 4 times. Which is overkill to me. Particularly since these weren't hard combinations to learn. They were however somewhat intense, particularly once you get to the plyometric moves. Her two assistants however, had no clue what she was doing, were not exactly inspiring to look at and were very distracting since they kept making the same mistakes I did. If you do not like your instructor making lots of weird noises (yelling and whooping), then you probably will not like Terri because she does a lot of it. I thought it was appropriate for the moves we were doing though. I love to yell "HUH" when I kickbox!
Next is the bootcamp part....I really like this part. She features several plyometric combos and core strength exercises that are really tough. This portion of the tape is 25 -30 minutes and is very tough, particularly if you have done the entire tape through.
I really liked Terri's style, although I was turned off by it the first time I viewed the tape. The tape will give a great workout with more athletic moves (less choreography).

I would rate the tape a B. I would have given it higher marks if she had better assistants and if she hadn't repeated her kickbox combos so many times.

Instructor Comments:
Terri is very enthusiastic and fun. I am hoping she will make more tapes because her personality is great, her moves are not too complex and she is fun to workout to. Wait until you see how high she jumps on the plyometric moves and kicks her legs during the kickboxing moves. Her flexibility is out of control! Definitely fun to watch (oh I mean copy :) )

Latasha Gary

This is a CIA Two Workouts In One video. I am only reviewing the cardio strike workout.

Although I never do the Boot Camp (it just seemed *way* too goofy with all Terri's mock drill sargeant antics, and the workout isn't fun enough to overcome that), I felt I got my money's worth with the cardio strike workout. It's a fun, 40-minute workout of high-intermediate to low-advanced intensity.

There are three combinations; each one is done twice on each side. The first begins with a punch-punch to the front, backward elbow thrusts and side-kick lunge that turns into side-kick knee. Then you add on a one-two punch plus knee, shuffle forward, front kick/back kick and plie back, and a front-kick going into back lunge to each corner. I really don't like this particular move---it's too fast for the lunge to do anything but make you lose your balance. The combo ends with plyo jumps.

The second combo includes a punch-elbow and "soccer kick" to the front ( I just do a front kick); a jab-cross-elbow-duck in slow and double-time, sumo squats and football shuffles with front hand blocks. The ending plyo move here works your inner thighs a bit.

The final combo involves double punches to each corner, a shuffle-knee-kick-plyo back, knee smash sequence and then a pretty tough kick series--front kick, back kick and front jump kick, then front and back kicks leading to jumping jack-side kicks and a jack-front-back-side kick combo. The ending plyo is a three-jack-leap-squat-stand.

Her two background exercisers struggle a bit, but seem game and plucky. I kind of like seeing casts who aren't Amazon-cut and impossibly Hollywood-pretty.

Set looks like an art studio loft. Music is standard Dynamix-instrumental, synchronizes pretty well.

Terri seems to have a dancer's background and it actually IMO distorts her kickboxing form a bit--her kicks look flowy, not snap-recoil. But I thought the combos were well put together and the workout always goes by pretty fast. Solid 40-minute cardio workout.

Instructor Comments:
I didn't like her at first, but she kinda grew on me. She does a lot of "uhs" and "oofs" during the kickboxing moves, and they can get kinda grating if you were paying attention--but the workout is good enough that I'm not. Her humor is a little silly but pleasant. Her voice is husky and sometimes gets on my nerves, but not too badly. Cues competently.

acey