Okay so that’s all the launches for BC38 out of the way and plenty of feedback from the people along with pained expressions brought on by muscle burn in the shoulders and the legs. I have to admit when I first saw the DVD for this release (and I couldn’t get to a Quarterly for this one) – I couldn’t hide a sense of disappointment. I thought it looked too simple. I’m not saying that I thought it looked easy – I just thought that the chorry was so basic. Millions of knees and Street Brawl punches in the Muay Thai – again. Repetitive avalanches of uppers and hooks in track 8. I found myself thinking where are all the good combos of old? Can we not have them back?

But of course once you do this release you realise that despite the simplicity of the chorry that it is a tough work out – and I suppose the simplicity in the Muay Thai is to give your brain a break after the initally complicated series of moves in Track 6. I’ve never seen so many red faces, pools of sweat and in some cases looks of disbelief on the people’s faces. “Do you really expect us to do tricep push ups after THAT track 8!!”

Upper warm up (Writing on the Wall): – gosh I can remember the film St Elmo’s fire from which the original version of this song came from. That was in 1985 – cripes. Great if not a little cheesey music and fairly basic moves as a warm up should be. The 5 reps of the travel sequence and the 6 reps the second time catch people out – they still expect there will only be 4.

Lower warm up (Because the Night): – I like Cascada. They sound sort of Scootery. Heavy pounding beat and the moves fit well. I love the way the travelling sequence starts in a relatively quiet phase and then the beat bursts in and you can just go wild (though it’s still the warm up so not that wild).

Combat 1 (Try it Again): – have had mixed feedback about the music and have heard others say that there are two many reps. On the whole though I like the feel of the music and like the fit of the moves. The roundhouse combo is particularly good and the lengthy repetitions require a good focus on technique. The quote about the definition of madness is doing the sames things and expecting different results (usually heard in dull business meetings out of the mouths of expensive consultants) – is interesting and of course by the by the end of the three months will have a slightly different meaning in the context of the song.

Power 1 (Like I Feel): – Speedball hell. Not sure about this one. I like the full combo with the jumping jabs – but not sure about all that running on the spot. One of my personal gripes with recent combat releases is the lack of travelling. In BC37 there was no travelling after track 2 and in this release there is none after track 3. This is a hard track – there’s just something missing. Still I like turning the music down during the jump jabs so that everyone can hear their feet on the floor. Can we have different directions of travel? On the diagonal maybe?

Combat 2 (Rock Da Club/Cold as Ice): – very very sore glutes. The first half moves are good but I find the music a little dull with nothing to hook onto (the problem with instrumentals I suppose). The second half is just mad and the words reflect the pain – “pay the price” etc.

Power 2 (The Best Damn Thing): – this is the track I expected moans about not least because many people have a whinge about Avril. But you can really work the levels of this track and totally exhaust everyone’s shoulders. And some of the words are great. “Let me hear you scream loud”. I also like the line about “coming home smelling of your ex girlfriend” and as we’ll see make sure people hear that line so that we can use it later.

Combat 3 (No Good):  – tough tough tough. The combo is hard and balancing is difficult but when you get it the work out is fierce. Spent some time on getting the ginga arm moves correct here so it looks great too. I still don’t like having a leg conditioning track here. I would prefer a proper combat track here and move this to track 8 (giving press ups and sit ups a rest).

Muay Thai (Raver’s Paradise):– typical muay thai combo to start and then just endless reps of single moves. The music is awesome and I think the track deserves more combos to complement it. For example after all the descending elbows it would have been nice to have a elbow and knee combo. Having said that it is a breathless work out and a calorie burner. I always like to get people saying something during street brawl punches like “DON’T DO IT AGAIN”. This time I’ve introduced, “DON’T COME HOME SMELLING OF YOU EX GIRLFRIEND”.  try it – one word for each punch.

Power 3 (What Hurts the Most): – despite the simplicity this is an epic finale. Great pounding beat and sheer exhaustion. The first time you teach this you can convince people that there are 3 full rounds – just look at the looks on their faces when they think they have one more round to go.

Conditioning (When I Grow Up): – after that track 8 this is hellish on arms. Muscles are almost failing. When they grow up do they want to get Groupies or Boobies?

Cooldown (Say): – I love the music but it is far too short (though it couldn’t be longer because the release is already nearly 57 minutes). You have to encourage people to do more stretches afterwards. As there are no Katas in the main tracks I would have had some more streteches rather than the one that is tagged on here.

So a mad bad work out and I see why some of the chorry is so simple. I would like to see some more combos in future though.