Christmas is almost here. In my Body Combat classes I’m dusting down old classic favourites and we’re having great fun as everyone winds down for the holidays.
But Les Mills Body Combat release 62 is out, and I’ve started learning it for a January launch. It’s certainly going to kick-start 2015 with a bang.
Check out those Side Kicks.
Here are my first impressions.
If you enjoyed the last few releases, you’d love this. It’s similar in feel and intensity.
The Upper Body Warm up demos the basic punches in simple fashion. It may be the first ever Upper Body Warm Up not to feature shuffling in any direction at all.
Track 3 is shorter than normal but packs power. You’ll be sweating like a tap by now.
I can’t believe how many kicks and knee strikes there are in Track 4. Cool Kata at the start too.
More Capoeira in Track 6 and that means more muscle burning leg conditioning. Like the “slow motion front kick”.
I love the music for the Muay Thai. It’s almost upbeat progressive rock.
An abs only conditioning is going to hurt.
Look out for Les Mills Body Combat release 62 coming to a club near you in the New Year. Until then, as programme directors Dan and Rach always say, “Keep it real and stay with the fight.”
Now it’s your turn:
Did you go to the Quarterly Workshops? What do you think of Les Mills Body Combat release 62? Please leave a comment below or a link to your review.
It’s a great time of year to consider taking up yoga.
I’m serious.
I know you’re thinking the opposite. With wind howling and rain lashing against the windows the last thing you want is to go to a yoga class, right? Plus you have Christmas presents to buy, parties to go to, and Christmas dinner to plan.
Although it’s fun, Christmas brings stress into your life. Yoga helps you relax. If you’re busy with work you might have stopped exercising. Yoga helps you strengthen and tone your body.
Yoga is exercise for your mind and your body.
Here are 5 benefits of yoga. 5 Reasons to start yoga before the holidays.
Less stressed
You combine the physical exercises you do in yoga with relaxation and breathing techniques creating calmness and a lower heart rate.
Enhanced mindfulness and mental calm can leave you feeling less stressed.
Re-energised
Apart from the more cardio-based forms of yoga, such as Power Yoga, you won’t find that your energy fade during a yoga class. Indeed you will find yourself re-energised and feeling quite vigorous after class.
Better flexibility
You don’t need much flexiblility to start doing yoga, but every class you attend will make you more flexible. Yoga moves stretch your body and over time will increase your range of motion.
Better muscle tone
Yoga tones your muscles. Most of the poses involve either strengthening or stretching. You can develop long lean muscles with yoga. In fact you can work pretty much every muscle in the body.
And the flow of exercises mean you’ll get a cardiovascular work out as well and getting stronger.
Better posture
Improved flexibility and increased strength improves your posture. You will find that your balance will get better too.
And finally everyone benefits. Don’t listen to the clichés. You don’t have to be a bendy girl to do yoga. No matter what your age, size, shape or level of fitness you do it and see results.
Now it’s Your Turn:
So even though it’s nearly Christmas and you’re busy. Even though you have a hundred things to do. Get yourself along to a Yoga class.
Or at least book yourself a block of classes for the New Year. Make Yoga your Christmas present to yourself.
Baron Baptiste is a great Power Yoga Teacher. One of his early videos this captures a routine that’s challenging but achieveable by everyone. Power Yoga in your living room.
And finally a great book from Ashtanga Yoga master David Swenson. Spiral bound, it looks great and contains everything you need to know about Ashtanga.
I hope you like these suggested Yoga Christmas Gift Ideas for 2014. If you have any others you’d like to share please leave a comment and a link below.
Weighing in at over 8 minutes the upper and lower body warm-ups are a challenge in themselves. We try punches, upper cuts and hooks before dropping into the legs for “shoot lunges”. Roundhouse kicks follow, then a barrage of endless back kicks and an arsenal of Muay Thai knees.
This shows how the programme has evolved over the years. Early warm-up tracks were just that. An easy way into the class before the work started properly in track 2. Now the warm ups are immediately intense. We’re straight into the hard work.
And two uplifting techno tracks as well. Body Combat release 61 is a beautiful monster.
Track 2 is a surprise. Rather than the usual rock music, roundhouse kicks and strikes we face a slower leg conditioning experience. And it hurts.
Watch the DVD and think, “That looks easy and short.”
Try it and you’ll say, “Ouch I’m glad it’s a short track.”
From the balancing front kicks, to the “toe tap” squats, to the knees and side kicks a fire ignites in your supporting leg until the muscles scream for a rest by the end. Awesome leg conditioning.
Fast travelling jabs
Power training 1 – Every Breath You Take – Praying Hunk
Every kick you take. Every fist you make. Every slip you fake. A techno update of an ancient song by The Police. We experience the theme of Body Combat release 61 here. Explosive speed. I love the fast travelling jabs and upper cuts section and the one simple combo that bookends it. Go hard here and you get breathless fast.
Combat 2 – So What! (M Edit) – Independence Days
“So What” first appeared in release 27 as a Muay Thai track (the first to feature the Street Brawl Downward Punch in fact). Almost the same mix it’s therefore familiar but different. Building up to the jump kick raises our heart rates. The sharp, powerful karate punches continue the explosive speed theme. More jump kicks at the end of each section bring us close to fatigue.
Great lyrics to hook into as well. “You know karate and kick me in the eye!”
Not an update of Led Zepplin’s classic, “Stairway to Heaven” feels like we’re climbing to another exhausting peak. After two long rounds of upper cuts and the hook cross hook combo we finish with a flurry of jabs that feel they should belong in the last power track and not at the halfway point of the class.
Breathless again and we transition into another leg conditioning track. Yes more tough leg action this time based on capoeira moves. Switch lunges, esquiva and those agonising low “shoot lunges”. You need to grit your teeth during this one. And like track 2 aren’t we relieved its short?
Before our legs can recover the Muay Thai track hits us like a runaway locomotive. I’m not usually a fan of heavy rock Muay Thai tracks but “Are You Ready” hits the spot for me. A couple of fast combinations, relentless knee strikes and a breathless finale with double knees and an optional leap to the ceiling jump knee guarantee to take you to your cardio peak.
After the guitar solo and before the last chorus we revisit the “Superman Punch”. Controlled and powerful we do the punch using explosive speed. It’s still taking time to perfect the footwork that accompanies this punch but al least we get to work up through the levels here.
A finale that feels like there’s no end in sight. Your shoulders and upper arms will burn after only a few minutes of this hard-core upper body blaster.
It’s like the “Groundhog Day” of power tracks. Just when you think it might be over, we start the entire sequence again. And again. And again.
A great work out if a little too long and repetitive. It needs good coaching and motivation to get people all the way to the end.
Jaguar
Conditioning – Watch Out For This (Bumaye) – Since Ten
In my opinion this could be the strangest conditioning track in Body Combat history. Some say that “animal forms” are the future of training. The “Jaguar” moves certainly isolate the core in a way most people haven’t experienced before. It just takes ages to master it and I’ve found many frustrated people deciding they’ll stick to a hover instead.
I actually think the problem isn’t mastering the move. It just doesn’t work on most studio gym mats (in fact a Yoga mat might work better but most venues don’t have these in their main studios). The standard gym mat is too small to do the move properly and most people do not want to be “matless” and work on the wooden floor.
Sadly therefore this track has the most votes for an early mix out.
A catchy chorus and stretches we desperately need (including the Downward Facing Dog) brings this beautiful monster of a class to a swift end. As Body Combat release 61 is so long, at venues that don’t have a 5 minute gap between classes I have to cut the cooldown short. After that everyone staggers out of the room, T-Shirts dripping wet with sweat, exhausted smiles on their faces.
Now it’s your turn:
Do you agree with my review of Les Mills Body Combat release 61? What do you think of the Jaguar moves? Please leave a comment below or post a link to your own review.
