Review: Amy Dixon's Kickin' Strength

Vidiot that I am, I popped in this DVD as soon as it arrived. I just couldn't help it. Addiction? Some would say so. But at least it's an addiction to something healthy. I simply can't stand it when I have a new DVD sitting on the shelf, and it hasn't been at least previewed yet. The anticipation is too much for me!

I haven't done any of Amy's Women's Health workouts, so I based my purchase of this DVD on the clips only (which are great!). So, what did I think of Kickin' Strength? It's kickin', for sure!

Amy's excellent and inspiring cues help add intensity to every move. I love how she takes a basic move and incorporates a flash of something new, usually a twist or other core-based move.

During the strength segments, a lot is accomplished because of the multi-jointed exercises (i.e. sumo squats with overhead sweep) and the twists, again for added core work. The heartrate is up, even during the strength segments. The actual cardio portions are less intense than something like Amy Bento's Kickbox Xtreme, for example -- but that's as it should be. You wouldn't want to exhaust yourself with ultra-high impact cardio segments, then move on to weights, because your form during the strength training would definitely suffer. Amy maintains a perfect balance between the two, keeping the heartrate up during strength training by utilizing large muscle groups with smaller muscle groups (i.e. twisting squats with biceps for lower body, upper body, and core). As a matter of fact, you'll get so much core work during both the cardio and strength segments that you'll feel that you don't even need to do the Bonus Core section on the DVD--but don't skip it! It's too excellent--and effective--to miss.

Amy's inspirational quotes really helped me to push harder, increasing the effectiveness of the workout. "We want to get into the glutes a bit more just by adding a new movement." Oh yeah! She trusts that we'll push ourselves to our limits, and when you do, you'll see a definite raise in energy and burn. "Really sell it," Amy says. "I want to know you're working out there."

And work out I most definitely did this morning! I can still feel it now ...