Firm: Calorie Explosion – Review
I like to workout but I’m not fond of cardio exercises. You know running, jumping, all those things that make you out of breath. I hate being out of breath but I know that a good fitness routine has it’s elements of cardio. While I could spend all week lifting weights with The Firm I knew I needed to add some cardio to my routine.
While browsing Hulu recently I came across the 21 minute Gaiam workouts that showcase various exercise DVDs under their brand. There was a newer Firm called Calorie Explosion
Now I’ll pause here to say that I have videos from each of The Firm’s eras up until the Wave. I skipped out there because I thought the routines had become too easy and wouldn’t provide the results the older ones have. My body type is muscular and after putting on some pounds I’m just fat now. Needing to peel back the fat to reveal my slim muscle again I found the newer Firms weren’t doing the job (but they helped my body become accustomed to exercising again after a year hiatus).
Back to the workout. Calorie Explosion
The lovely thing is you only need your 3 pound weights for this workout. Sure you can use larger but since it’s cardio and the moves are fast 3 pounds is the safest for me. Calorie Explosion starts with a minute high energy warmup designed to warm you up from head to toe. Big movements here and I was already sweating and out of breath after those 3 minutes.
Next the workout is broken down into 4 12 minute segments that you can play all at once for a complete 55 minute workout (with cool down/stretch added) or you can use only one segment or combine as many as you wish depending upon your time. So far, much to my surprise, I’ve been doing the complete workout.
Each of the 4 segments has a theme. The first segment, Kick-Butt Athletic drills look like some moves you may see on the football warm-up field. This is what my husband says. You use your weights for some of the moves also. Lot’s of squats so be sure to remember to keep your knees behind your toes.
The next segment, Explosive Power Moves, adds some sculpting with weights, and also high impact moves like plie-jumps. Ouch! Watch your knees here.
The third segment is my favorite. Cardio kickboxing. No weight here but lots of kicks and a final karate-kid like move that lets me know just how out of shape I am.
Finally there is the High Intensity moves that build on a set of basic moves, such as squats with overhead presses and ups the tempo until your are really breaking a sweat.
When the cool down comes I am really looking forward to it.
Finally a cardio workout I enjoy and the hour just flies by. I’m pretty sore the next day too. This is a high impact workout and even the modifications (done by Emily) are high impact. So if your knees give you problems this is not the workout for you.
Firm: Calorie Explosion
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