Wow! I didn’t realize it has been since the end of April that I last did a workout DVD review. I have done so many new ones in between that I never reviewed and I really must GET ON THE BALL! I have been out enjoying the spring (today feels like summer, however) and have been busy. I’ve been to a few concerts and visited NYC to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I’m going to Washington, DC for the Fourth of July and to the Kripalu Yoga Center in Massachusetts in August plus a few more concerts.
Anyway, I did this workout yesterday and really felt that it was a fun upbeat workout and I wanted to blog about it while it was still fresh in my memory.
If Anna looks a little familiar to you, you may remember her from the first Insanity workout series. Shaun T. called on her more than a few times during the workouts and she was kickass back then. Well, Anna has done more than well for herself since I’ve seen her in Insanity. She has her own AKT In Motion studio (AKTInMotion.com) in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and other locations such as SoHo, Connecticut and in East Hampton. The monthly fees for an unlimited membership is over $400! (Not in my lifetime.) She pulls in clientele such as Sarah Jessica Parker (Sarah does an intro to this DVD). I previously did a workout with her when a live studio workout was featured on Pop Sugar. I liked that workout and I was happy when I saw she released a DVD version wondering what took her so long!
For this workout you will need some light weights: 3s, 5s and 8s – maybe 10s. Trust me you don’t want to go too heavy. This workout is not designed that way. You will also need a lot of space for this workout. My living room is small and I had to modify to the size of my room. In addition you will also need a lot of time. I thought the workout was going to be an hour TOTAL including the warm up, cool down, etc. Nope, I was wrong. The meat of the workout is an hour. The warm up is 12 minutes as is the cool down (184 minutes total). Keep that in mind when you choose this workout for the day.
There are 10 blocks in this workout:
Section 1
Warm up Part 1 – Some dynamic stretching: Reaches; hip rolls; jacks and grape vines, etc. After the stretching she does cardio moves to warm up the body.
Warm Up Part II – Plyos. (Done on the floor. Not really sure why this is called plyos except for the mountain climbers, floor jacks and crab kicks but it’s an effective section.)
Section 2: Cardio – Nice dance combination broken down and repeated several times and then repeated starting on the opposite lead. You are provided a modifier. This combo was my favorite of the two different dance combinations.
Anna gives you little stretch breaks between cardio segments (and strength sections) to make this interval training. She mentions this a few times in the video. You can get water, towel off, etc.
Section 3: Arms. Using both your body weight and light hand weights Anna challenges your upper body. The moves aren’t your typical curls and presses.
Section 4: Cardio – On this section you start out with the familiar combo but then Anna teaches you a new one. The second combo is a bit more involved and a little more dancey but still not too complicated that you don’t get a good workout. As with the first combo this one is broken down, repeated several times and provides modifications.
Section 5: Lower Body (Right Leg) – Using hand weights Anna challenges your booty with lateral lunges and leg lifts. Then she goes into a curtsy lunge to balance and then the two moves are combined. If that wasn’t enough, then she goes into a reverse tabletop on the floor with some leg lifts and pulses until you are toast.
Section 6: Cardio – This is the second combination adding on new moves. You’ll be spinning, leaping for fun, fun, fun!
Section 7: Lower Body (Left Leg) – A repeat of what was done on the right leg.
Section 8: Cardio – Now you know the second combination and you can really dig into it for an intense cardio segment challenged once again at the end on the opposite lead.
Section 9: Core – Using light hand weights Anna starts you standing for some core work that includes some reaches and punching drills. You finish off the core with some work on the floor. This is challenging and will fry your abs.
Section 10: Cool Down. Like the warm up the cool down is 12 minutes long and very effective to release all of the hard work you just did.
I give this workout 4 out of 5 stars. I deducted a star because of the space issue that some people will have. I think it is a great effort by Anna. The DVD also has a Q&A section and a treadmill workout using light hand weights (Anna has a download of a treadmill workout on her AKT In Motion site.)
Happy Hour has fun dance cardio combos, is simple enough to manage but intense enough to get a good workout. The strength portions are icing on the cake. (Um, the figurative cake.)
I hope Anna releases more workout DVDs in the future.
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