Actually the Edinburgh Quarterly Workshop for Body Combat release 53 was fully booked so I missed out on the master-class this time. Fortunately my CD and DVD pack came the same day so my quarterly workshop this time round was in my living room.

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Here are my first impressions:

• This is a very hard release. The emphasis is on getting a core workout from knee strikes and kicks. Who needs crunches to get a six pack anyway?
• Expect less rock music and more pounding beats from techno and dance tracks.
• I love Les Mills dark and foreboding cover of Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams”. It sounds very gothic.
• “True believer” is an amazing power track. Catchy song, driving beat and get down deep into endless upper cuts.
• The leg conditioning lunges and esquiva moves in Track 6 are about the toughest I’ve ever seen in Body Combat. But the music is “Swagger Jagger” by Cher Lloyd – an absolute abomination of a song. I’m not surprised that the exercises are so hard because you need the pain to take your mind off the music. Okay I’m a professional and I will sell the song to my participants but really, the melody is from “Oh my darling Clementine” for goodness sake.
• “Blade” is the Muay Thai track and it is off the scale. Feel the beat get right into your body and you will be gasping for air among a flurry of roundhouse knees and elbow strikes. We’ve had too much rock music at this point the class recently and this driving trance dance is much more suited to a massive Muay Thai workout.
• More dub-step sounds from Skrillex in the conditioning phase. Press ups with knee to elbow and kick backs are tough. No wonder they call them “Oblique Shredders”

One again the Body Combat programme directors Dan Cohen and Rachael Newsham have given us a challenging testing combat experience. I must remember to breathe during that Muay Thai track otherwise getting the teaching points out will be difficult.

Over to you: Have you tried Body Combat release 53? What do you think of the level of intensity? Do you like the Muay Thai music more than the rock we’ve been used to? Go on! Leave a comment. Share your thoughts.

Click here to watch the taster video for Body Combat release 53.