Results Fitness

Chris Freytag
Year Released: 2008

Categories: Circuit Training (cardio and weights)



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One hot genre these days seem to be the 1-minute intervals. This workout faithfully follows that format. There are two 30-minute workouts, one for upper body and one for lower body. Thanks to Chris's expert instruction and lively personality, they go by pretty fast -- and they're pretty tough. If you like Annie Mair's Force workouts you might like these (there is no step here).

In the lower body workout, you alternate cardio moves with weighted lunges, squats, plies, curtsey squats, one-legged hops. I noticed there are no standing pulsing leg lifts or much inner thigh work besides the plies. The cardio moves are lower-body oriented also, i.e. deep jacks with bent knees, pulsing squats with jump, the ubiquitous ski hops side to side, semi-plyo lunges, football runs.

The upper-body workout has you using two different sets of weights, heavy and light. Tricep kickbacks, delt raises and flies; there is a bicep curl plus shoulder raise which includes balancing on one leg for the latter half of the minute. Pushups, rows and more shoulder work. Cardio moves include cross-country ski with punches, boxer shuffles (without punches) and a whole lot of fast knee raises (one set is done standing, another set is done low to the ground).

In the last 5 or so minutes of both upper and lower body segments, you do intervals of cardio and abwork. In both workouts, the ab work includes "punching" with the light weights to get that torso twist effect. You also do lower and upper body crunches and cardio moves in plank formation (mountain climbers, plank jacks). I thought it interesting that there were no real Pilates-style moves i.e. bicycles or roll ups.

Instructor Comments:
Chris is appealing for her down-to-earth yet energetic demeanor, good cuing and constant reminders about form. However, she is prone to some of those deadly mantras like "Think about that sleeveless dress!" "What about those low-rise jeans?" "Just think about the results you'll get!" Other rather canned and repeated phrases include "You can do anything for a minute!"

She does also say some pretty funny stuff like "You might have to go to your happy place!" during some tough cardio moves. It's nice when she seems to be saying something spontaneous.

acey

11/04/2008