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sun_salutationI have recently been on a kick of "fusion" type DVDs, so I thought I'd review a few as a theme.
First, the most "yoga" of the three.
Jillian Michaels – Yoga Meltdown. Includes two thirty-minute routines.
I bought it several weeks ago at Costco, all you Costco shoppers, for about $8.00.
After thinking about this, I would call this a "fusion," because Ms. Michael's approach to yoga has a very strong emphasis on using it as strength training by way of body weight resistance. And she adds cardio. A word of warning to the beginner, yoga postures are used as the tool for body weight resistance, but the postures *are not* taught. I cannot emphasize that enough. If you are newer to yoga, you will want to use an instructional video first, or at the very least watch this video on fast forward, pausing to see how the postures are executed before trying to actually do the workout
Workout content first, DVD review after.
Ms. Michael's goal is to do reps of everything, working the big muscles in the legs and hitting the upper body for strength and toning, too. She instructs on execution of the pose, then takes it in reps, then pauses for an isometric hold of about fifteen seconds.
In Level 1, her warm up includes what I would call Chair Squats. She does a couple of rounds of Chaturanga pushups and some very rapid Surya A salutations. (She leaves off a couple of beats in the sun salutations, which is a little harrumph-inducing, just because it makes someone who knows the salutations screw up. *shakes fist at DVD*)
She gets in some nice combo moves, including alternating Vasisthasana, alternating Dolphin Plank with Dolphin, and a flowing/vinyasa Camel (Ustrasana) move that will hit you hard in the quads and core.
For a balance pose she moves into and out of Warrior III. For further back bending and heat-building, there's Locust (Salambhasana).
Her cool down is a relatively quick set of Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Ardha Matsyendrasana, and Pigeon ( Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, but the forward bending variation). Be careful here, as this is one place where I totally missed the cuing.
For a thirty-minute routine that's a little different from your usual, Level 1 is not bad. Also, for yoga beginners, it might appeal because there are not too many postures, and they are all well within a beginner's level, yet you will really work hard. If you are like me and want a really good sweaty workout, but don't have a lot of time, this could be a nice option for you.
Level Two is more about balance and twist. Warmup is Surya A again. She proceeds to do a cycle of Extended Side Angle, Revolved Triangle, and Crescent Moon. Yes. Reps in Crescent Moon. Trust me, you will feel that in the morning! Repeat on the other side.
Chair Squats.
Second sequence is Utthita Hasta Padangustasana (which Ms. Michael's charmingly seems to have real trouble with), Revolved Side Angle (Prayer Twist Variation), and Malasana. My knees are aging, and I admit, doing reps in Malasana, which are essentially reps of very deep squats, gave me pause. But my knees were there for me, so it was all good. And wow, speaking of one thing you will feel tomorrow. Repeat on the other side.
Crow. Roll out the wrists. Try it again. :D
Time to kill your abs. Boat with alternating leg extensions prior to the isometric. The next move is not a posture I recognize. It looks like a variation of Upward Plank. Or some kind of upside down version of Table. Anyway, feet and one hand on the floor, facing up, one arm reaches for the sky, as you lift and lower your butt. After reps, full extension of arm to open the chest to the sky. The next move in this cycle is some slow double leg lifts. Repeat the sequence.
Reps in Urdhva Dhanurasana.
Cool down is again Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Ardha Matsyendrasana, and Pigeon ( Eka Pada Rajakapotasana - forward bending variation).
Level Two is another good, sweaty workout, and a good bit tougher, as moving in and out of the revolved postures requires a lot of balance and the glute work is hard.
And onto the review!
Ms. Michaels is clearly *not* a yoga instructor. You only have to see her Ardha Matsyendrasana to know that. Some of her cuing is very poor, and weirdly, she does not prompt for which side you are on (which seems sort of exercise-instruction basic), so you need to pay attention on your own to be sure you don't accidentally repeat the same side. She obviously does not understand that people using yoga DVDs are not going to be focused on the screen the way that people doing basic exercise DVDs are. We (or I, at least) rely much more on verbal instruction, and that is probably the single biggest criticism I have of this DVD.
She also seems kind of schizo about her attitude toward yoga. At some points, especially in the Level One workout, she seems very scornful, talking about "melting your heart toward your thigh" then turning around and saying "that just means go as far as you can go. Speak English." But she also has a really nice commentary during the cool down on the first workout about how we all need to learn to go beyond our comfort zones and try something new.
I think the issue here is that the audience for this disc is not the members of this community. The audience for this disc is people who are looking for a bootcamp style workout and picked up Yoga Meltdown because it was part of the Michaels library. They are probably skeptical about yoga, and she is talking to them. She may in fact be somewhat new to yoga herself, as she does things in the routine that I think have better solutions within yoga even with her purposes in mind. On this disc, and on Shred, she does comment that she is not very flexible – "If you are less flexible, like me…" This may actually be an exercise culture outside her usual comfort zone.
With those caveats, there were a lot of things to like about this DVD. True to the Jillian Michaels work ethic and dedication to "getting big results fast," she does push you hard. But… no harder than MTV Power Yoga or the tough vinyasas on a Shiva Rea DVD. Of course, because this is yoga-based, I probably have the advantage of being familiar with and trained for these exercises, so it is possible that I'm conditioned to have an advantage (and probably, therefore, so are you). I did sweat, don't get me wrong, but MTV Power Yoga still beats it for sweat inducement.
This really worked as a fusion DVD, possibly because yoga is, in fact, just a style of body weight resistance training, so when Ms. Michaels takes it and manipulates it, she's only changing it stylistically, not fundamentally.
I will definitely be doing this disc a lot. Despite her equivalence about yoga, Ms. Michaels makes this a yoga-based workout. There is attention to breath. There is adherence to the postures we know. And while I found her teaching style somewhat abrasive on 30 Day Shred (where I work my ass off and don't really enjoy it), I am more in my comfort zone here, so her hectoring, combined with her amazement, her encouragement, her commiseration, all just seemed like fun to me. It was an energizing and enjoyable workout, with a strong yoga flavor.
I recommend it.
Namaste.
First, the most "yoga" of the three.
Jillian Michaels – Yoga Meltdown. Includes two thirty-minute routines.
I bought it several weeks ago at Costco, all you Costco shoppers, for about $8.00.
After thinking about this, I would call this a "fusion," because Ms. Michael's approach to yoga has a very strong emphasis on using it as strength training by way of body weight resistance. And she adds cardio. A word of warning to the beginner, yoga postures are used as the tool for body weight resistance, but the postures *are not* taught. I cannot emphasize that enough. If you are newer to yoga, you will want to use an instructional video first, or at the very least watch this video on fast forward, pausing to see how the postures are executed before trying to actually do the workout
Workout content first, DVD review after.
Ms. Michael's goal is to do reps of everything, working the big muscles in the legs and hitting the upper body for strength and toning, too. She instructs on execution of the pose, then takes it in reps, then pauses for an isometric hold of about fifteen seconds.
In Level 1, her warm up includes what I would call Chair Squats. She does a couple of rounds of Chaturanga pushups and some very rapid Surya A salutations. (She leaves off a couple of beats in the sun salutations, which is a little harrumph-inducing, just because it makes someone who knows the salutations screw up. *shakes fist at DVD*)
She gets in some nice combo moves, including alternating Vasisthasana, alternating Dolphin Plank with Dolphin, and a flowing/vinyasa Camel (Ustrasana) move that will hit you hard in the quads and core.
For a balance pose she moves into and out of Warrior III. For further back bending and heat-building, there's Locust (Salambhasana).
Her cool down is a relatively quick set of Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Ardha Matsyendrasana, and Pigeon ( Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, but the forward bending variation). Be careful here, as this is one place where I totally missed the cuing.
For a thirty-minute routine that's a little different from your usual, Level 1 is not bad. Also, for yoga beginners, it might appeal because there are not too many postures, and they are all well within a beginner's level, yet you will really work hard. If you are like me and want a really good sweaty workout, but don't have a lot of time, this could be a nice option for you.
Level Two is more about balance and twist. Warmup is Surya A again. She proceeds to do a cycle of Extended Side Angle, Revolved Triangle, and Crescent Moon. Yes. Reps in Crescent Moon. Trust me, you will feel that in the morning! Repeat on the other side.
Chair Squats.
Second sequence is Utthita Hasta Padangustasana (which Ms. Michael's charmingly seems to have real trouble with), Revolved Side Angle (Prayer Twist Variation), and Malasana. My knees are aging, and I admit, doing reps in Malasana, which are essentially reps of very deep squats, gave me pause. But my knees were there for me, so it was all good. And wow, speaking of one thing you will feel tomorrow. Repeat on the other side.
Crow. Roll out the wrists. Try it again. :D
Time to kill your abs. Boat with alternating leg extensions prior to the isometric. The next move is not a posture I recognize. It looks like a variation of Upward Plank. Or some kind of upside down version of Table. Anyway, feet and one hand on the floor, facing up, one arm reaches for the sky, as you lift and lower your butt. After reps, full extension of arm to open the chest to the sky. The next move in this cycle is some slow double leg lifts. Repeat the sequence.
Reps in Urdhva Dhanurasana.
Cool down is again Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Ardha Matsyendrasana, and Pigeon ( Eka Pada Rajakapotasana - forward bending variation).
Level Two is another good, sweaty workout, and a good bit tougher, as moving in and out of the revolved postures requires a lot of balance and the glute work is hard.
And onto the review!
Ms. Michaels is clearly *not* a yoga instructor. You only have to see her Ardha Matsyendrasana to know that. Some of her cuing is very poor, and weirdly, she does not prompt for which side you are on (which seems sort of exercise-instruction basic), so you need to pay attention on your own to be sure you don't accidentally repeat the same side. She obviously does not understand that people using yoga DVDs are not going to be focused on the screen the way that people doing basic exercise DVDs are. We (or I, at least) rely much more on verbal instruction, and that is probably the single biggest criticism I have of this DVD.
She also seems kind of schizo about her attitude toward yoga. At some points, especially in the Level One workout, she seems very scornful, talking about "melting your heart toward your thigh" then turning around and saying "that just means go as far as you can go. Speak English." But she also has a really nice commentary during the cool down on the first workout about how we all need to learn to go beyond our comfort zones and try something new.
I think the issue here is that the audience for this disc is not the members of this community. The audience for this disc is people who are looking for a bootcamp style workout and picked up Yoga Meltdown because it was part of the Michaels library. They are probably skeptical about yoga, and she is talking to them. She may in fact be somewhat new to yoga herself, as she does things in the routine that I think have better solutions within yoga even with her purposes in mind. On this disc, and on Shred, she does comment that she is not very flexible – "If you are less flexible, like me…" This may actually be an exercise culture outside her usual comfort zone.
With those caveats, there were a lot of things to like about this DVD. True to the Jillian Michaels work ethic and dedication to "getting big results fast," she does push you hard. But… no harder than MTV Power Yoga or the tough vinyasas on a Shiva Rea DVD. Of course, because this is yoga-based, I probably have the advantage of being familiar with and trained for these exercises, so it is possible that I'm conditioned to have an advantage (and probably, therefore, so are you). I did sweat, don't get me wrong, but MTV Power Yoga still beats it for sweat inducement.
This really worked as a fusion DVD, possibly because yoga is, in fact, just a style of body weight resistance training, so when Ms. Michaels takes it and manipulates it, she's only changing it stylistically, not fundamentally.
I will definitely be doing this disc a lot. Despite her equivalence about yoga, Ms. Michaels makes this a yoga-based workout. There is attention to breath. There is adherence to the postures we know. And while I found her teaching style somewhat abrasive on 30 Day Shred (where I work my ass off and don't really enjoy it), I am more in my comfort zone here, so her hectoring, combined with her amazement, her encouragement, her commiseration, all just seemed like fun to me. It was an energizing and enjoyable workout, with a strong yoga flavor.
I recommend it.
Namaste.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 02:37 pm (UTC)I imagine Ms Michaels is a bit skeptical, but give her time (and some bum joints as she ages!) and she might come around!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 02:42 pm (UTC)