All Terrain Workout

The All-Terrain Workout is a sports training/functional fitness circuit workout shot on trails around Northern California and the central coast. The 50 minute workout is led by Jenn Varno, an athlete and a certified fitness instructor. The camera follows her down the trail as she demonstrates strength, balance and agility drills using the natural surroundings (like using a tree as a target for kickboxing or big rocks for agility drills). The moves are creative and a change of pace from what you normally get in fitness vids, and Jenn makes suggestions for what to substitute at home. She sometimes mentions which sports will benefit from specific moves. In between, you keep your HR up with jogging and sprints. Jenn gives some form pointers but not very many, and the beginning stretch is very short, so add your own.

The scenery, as might be expected, is stunning, and the music is sort of bluegrassy, quite different from the usual. Unfortunately this tape is far too high-impact for me, but anyone without knee problems looking for a sports training workout should give this one a look. It definitely has the best fitness video credits ever!

I was mainly interested in the All Terrain Workout as a rebounder substitute workout. But I found it to be much more than that.

This is a 50-minute intermediate level comprehensive exercise video intended for the home exerciser to use with no equipment. The premise of it is that Jenn Varno (Wilderness Fitness Instructor) leads you down trails and through some of California's most beautiful outdoor wilderness and you follow along at home to get your workout. While she's running down wooded trails, your running in place at home. (To me, this is much more fun on the rebounder.)

There was such a variety of exercises in this tape, it would take a while to break it all down so I will limit it to the highlights. For the warmup, we jog in creative ways (as Jenn does the same on trails), do side shuggles and one-legged squats. This is followed by a stretch.

Then into the cardio - Jenn also on the trails. She mixes it up and creates a challenging cardio workout with walking lunges, jumping jacks, a skier move and more. The cardio section ends with 5 one-minute sprints. This is a great interval workout.

The strength & balance section among the redwoods is next. There is a kickboxing section here as well as balance moves and standing ab work.

My favorite part was the strength/cooldown section set on the Pacific coast. Here she did squats, some yoga poses, pushups and ab work. Then a short stretch.

There were a few things that had me really enjoying this tape. First was the music. I liked the acoustic guitar music - each song matched the section very well.

Secondly - I liked Jenn's personality. She's really into the outdoors and is doing a great job in sharing this with the viewers. She made relevant comments about the locations. She reminded me of college friends - pleasant and easy-going. At the end - she even says that she hopes you're inspired to enjoy the outdoors. She's just really into it and I like that.

What I liked most - of course - was the scenery. I work indoors and workout indoors so often, that this tape made me feel like a bit of the outdoors was in with me. The choices of location were wonderful.

I would recommend this tape to anyone who is looking for a video that requires no equipment to get a full 50-minute enjoyable workout. The cardio section is pretty adaptable to the rebounder. You have to be creative but it's not too hard with these moves. The sprints are really fun on the rebounder. It's nicely produced and one-of-a-kind. The website says they're planning more. I'll look forward to it.