Kick Box Boot Camp Workout DVD - High-Intensity Cardio & Strength Training for Home Fitness | Perfect for Beginners & Advanced

This is basically a cardio sculpt/aerobic weight training workout which uses a step (placed in a vertical position), light hand weights (for punching), and a body bar (for strength moves). I don't have a full step, so I substituted the bottom (blue) section of my Fanny Lifter. This worked fine, although next time, I think I would be better off using the shorter (purple) top section; I also think you could forgo the step entirely and do the workout on the floor, especially the cardio segments. I used an unweighted dowel for the body bar, but I don't think this provided enough resistance (even though I was wearing my 1-lb. weighted gloves), so next time, I might try dumbbells instead.The workout begins with a 5-minute basic warmup; instructor Kimberly Spreen spends a lot of time warming up your shoulders in particular since you'll use these muscles a lot during the workout. Next comes 25 minutes of cardio sculpt. Kimberly uses the step to add intensity at times, but the impact is still fairly minimal. The simple choreography includes punches, bob-n-weaves, side steps, lunges, knee lifts, and a single knee-kick move. The cardio segment segues into about 10 minutes of more toning-specific moves using the bar, including a fun block move, squats, rows, planks/push-ups using the step, and lunges onto the step. Next is 8 minutes of core/abs work, mostly oblique moves while seated on the step with balance v-sits between each set. I was a bit disappointed in the core work, as I didn't feel it was very intense, but I liked that Kimberly included some balance moves. Kimberly finishes the workout with a 9-minute segment that includes some nice lower body stretches (again using the step) and a Tai Chi-like cool-down, which brings the workout in at about 57 minutes total.In general, I liked this workout, although there were a few disappointments. First of all, I wore my heart rate monitor the entire time, but it showed that I was only in my target zone for about 15 minutes, which was frustrating since I did feel like I was working hard. It's possible that because this was my first time with the video and I was just learning the moves, this may have affected my HR, so I'm hoping that my time in zone numbers will improve. Also, as mentioned above, I didn't feel that the core work was very intense, so I'd be inclined just to skip it in the future (luckily, the DVD is chaptered, so this would be easy to do). Finally, although Kimberly was a good instructor and cued well overall, there were times when she slipped up a bit-e.g., at one point she cued "upright row" when she meant "front raise." She also has a tendency to be a bit goofy in her comments, although she does come across as very down-to-earth.In summary, this is a solid cardio sculpt workout, and I'm hoping to get greater cardio intensity from it in the future.