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muck_a_luckYoga Now: 30-Minute Core Workout, Mariel Hemingway and Rodney Yee.
This disc bills itself as a cardio-yoga fusion.
It is definitely the simplest yoga you can imagine. There are no real challenges here, even for the most inexperienced practitioner.
I would actually describe this as more yoga-inspired, for the most part.
It begins with a set of supine poses for core strengthening. Yoga-inspired situps, if you will, with a Belly Twist A thrown in. It was a gentle abs workout and stretch.
The cardio section was more interesting. Again, I'd call it yoga-inspired, low-impact aerobics. They start with a fast drop-swing thing with the arms that reminded me of some of the pranayama warmup on Power Yoga Total Body or some of the Yoga Shakti segments. But again, done faster, as a combination dynamic stretch for arms and shoulders and warmup to the cardio. For the next level of cardio they did fast alternating lunges, that remind me of the early part of Rodney Yee's Power Yoga Total Body, but done fast enough to get your heart rate up.
There are standing forward bends and downward dog. Some cat/cow vinyasa. A few rounds of cobra.
They then do a third level of cardio in the form of small leaps. The emphasis is on catching your landing and controlling the entire leap with the large muscles in your thighs. So although there is a fair amount of bouncing involved, it did seem that my shins and ankles were being protected by the action of the rest of my leg.
Finishing out the yoga part of this there were a few standing postures. Warrior II and Extended Side Angle.
I liked this disc and if I had it around I would probably work it in periodically. The low impact cardio makes a nice change from real aerobics. It wasn't too challenging, either, but I did sweat and my heart rate elevated some. Probably I will just check this out from the library again when I see it is in and I happen to be there.
The yoga instruction, such as it was, was a mixed bag. I actually gained some real insight into Extended Side Angle. But there is not really any explanation at all of how to perform Cobra, the only backbending in the entire routine. (Unless we're counting Cow as backbending.) Cobra is not an intuitive pose for beginners, it would have been good to get a basic explanation of your to use your upper legs to ground the posture and take the strain off the back.
The worst thing about this disc was the interaction between Hemingway and Yee. Though for someone else it might be the best thing about the disc, I don't know. They chuckled their way through in what felt to me like a spoof of a morning chatty news show. Yee makes little jokes that I found lame and fairly annoying. I'd suggest doing this one with the audio off, except that I was taking all my cues from the audio on this one. It would have been annoying for a whole different reason to have to watch it.
Oh. And what is with the no mirror image thing again? Maybe that’s a yoga instructor thing. I had not noticed it before, but now, two discs in a row.
My take on this disc: Check it out from your library to run through their cardio strategies. They are simple. Then the next time you need a dynamic stretch and light cardio warm up, say before your strength training or some such, break out these moves. Might make a good way to get warm before your early-morning sun salutations.
And if you adore the Rodney and Mariel Show, well, more power to you! :D
This disc bills itself as a cardio-yoga fusion.
It is definitely the simplest yoga you can imagine. There are no real challenges here, even for the most inexperienced practitioner.
I would actually describe this as more yoga-inspired, for the most part.
It begins with a set of supine poses for core strengthening. Yoga-inspired situps, if you will, with a Belly Twist A thrown in. It was a gentle abs workout and stretch.
The cardio section was more interesting. Again, I'd call it yoga-inspired, low-impact aerobics. They start with a fast drop-swing thing with the arms that reminded me of some of the pranayama warmup on Power Yoga Total Body or some of the Yoga Shakti segments. But again, done faster, as a combination dynamic stretch for arms and shoulders and warmup to the cardio. For the next level of cardio they did fast alternating lunges, that remind me of the early part of Rodney Yee's Power Yoga Total Body, but done fast enough to get your heart rate up.
There are standing forward bends and downward dog. Some cat/cow vinyasa. A few rounds of cobra.
They then do a third level of cardio in the form of small leaps. The emphasis is on catching your landing and controlling the entire leap with the large muscles in your thighs. So although there is a fair amount of bouncing involved, it did seem that my shins and ankles were being protected by the action of the rest of my leg.
Finishing out the yoga part of this there were a few standing postures. Warrior II and Extended Side Angle.
I liked this disc and if I had it around I would probably work it in periodically. The low impact cardio makes a nice change from real aerobics. It wasn't too challenging, either, but I did sweat and my heart rate elevated some. Probably I will just check this out from the library again when I see it is in and I happen to be there.
The yoga instruction, such as it was, was a mixed bag. I actually gained some real insight into Extended Side Angle. But there is not really any explanation at all of how to perform Cobra, the only backbending in the entire routine. (Unless we're counting Cow as backbending.) Cobra is not an intuitive pose for beginners, it would have been good to get a basic explanation of your to use your upper legs to ground the posture and take the strain off the back.
The worst thing about this disc was the interaction between Hemingway and Yee. Though for someone else it might be the best thing about the disc, I don't know. They chuckled their way through in what felt to me like a spoof of a morning chatty news show. Yee makes little jokes that I found lame and fairly annoying. I'd suggest doing this one with the audio off, except that I was taking all my cues from the audio on this one. It would have been annoying for a whole different reason to have to watch it.
Oh. And what is with the no mirror image thing again? Maybe that’s a yoga instructor thing. I had not noticed it before, but now, two discs in a row.
My take on this disc: Check it out from your library to run through their cardio strategies. They are simple. Then the next time you need a dynamic stretch and light cardio warm up, say before your strength training or some such, break out these moves. Might make a good way to get warm before your early-morning sun salutations.
And if you adore the Rodney and Mariel Show, well, more power to you! :D