Bosu Total Sports Conditioning

I’m reviewing this workout after doing the entire thing (except for the partner drills segment) once.

General workout breakdown: This 50+-min. DVD contains athletic conditioning drills, which can be considered cardio, and core training, all done on the Bosu.

*Warm-up / Acclimation (8.5 min.) features simple movements that gradually get more intense and/or spend more time on the Bosu.

*Section I (General Sports Conditioning; 11 min.) focuses on more general athletic moves. Mindy builds up mini combos on both sides with moves like shuffle, over the dome, “karaoka,” jump rope, cross stick, skate, lateral hop, tap on top, lunge, squat, a dribbling move, leg extension, and jump; marches, bounces, and runs serve as holding moves between moves or combos.

*Section II (Sport Related Conditioning; 17.5 min.) focuses on movements from specific sports, including basketball (dribbling, jump shot, block and other defensive moves), ski (mogul hops, squat jumps), kickboxing (side kick w/ squat, flurries or upper cuts, knee raises, jump rope), soccer (power kick, trapping the ball, dribbling), tennis (save, swing, backhand & forehand), and football (fast run, planks w/ lunges or mountain climbers, straddles or floor jacks, tuck jumps). The segment ends with push-ups and planks with rolling the Bosu to different sides. Except for the kickboxing and football segments, moves here are done one at a time rather than in combos.

*Section III (Partner Sports Training; 14 min.) begins with solo work; standing on dome w/ torso twist, jump with ball toss, squat w/ ball in alternating hands, 1-legged balance w/ ball moving, kneeling w/ torso twist, 1-legged kneeling balance w/ ball toss, and seated w/ torso twist. The partner work includes several variations of passing the ball back and forth, including standing far apart, standing closer together, kneeling, and seated; you’ll toss, pass, and roll the ball. In the final few minutes the partners mirror each other, play tug of war, then try to stay balanced as Mindy attempts to push them off.

Level: I’d recommend this to experienced exercisers at the very least at a solid intermediate + level and comfortable with at least basic step aerobics and Bosu workouts. This is best suited for those around the intermediate / advanced to low and maybe even mid-advanced level, at least IMO.

I consider myself an intermediate + to intermediate / advanced in cardio, and I found this quite challenging for my poor little cardiovascular system. I’m going to blame that on the fact I’m so new to the Bosu plus still relatively new to step aerobics. ;)

Class: Jay Blahnik and Jen Cole join Mindy, who instructs live. Jay shows some modifications if you need less of a balance or cardiovascular challenge.

Music: upbeat mostly instrumental and some vocal stuff with an upbeat beat that’s better than average, although some of it appears in other videos of the same time.

Set: the 2003 CIA set with Miró and Rothko (well, -esque) posters plus brightly (primary) colored funky furniture and accessories off to the side.

Production: clear picture and sound, helpful camera angles. (It’s what you’d expect from CIA productions.)

Equipment: Bosu, medicine ball (for the core segment; Mindy and crew use 8 lb. ones), and supportive sneakers (you’ll want lateral support, like that which crosstrainers provide). Mindy and crew use a basketball for the beginning portion of section II, but if you don’t have one you can pretend or use your med ball (if it bounces). If you sweat a lot, you might want a towel nearby to wipe off moisture that could make you slip.

Space Requirements: enough space to move around the Bosu comfortably, with a little more space behind the Bosu, especially to the side.

DVD Notes: After the Bosu Pro Series intro (which you can skip), the Main Menu’s options are Intro to Workout, Start Workout, Mix and Match (Warm-up / Acclimation, Section I, Section II, and Section III), Products, and Credits. There are a few chapters to be found within the sections.

Comments: Although seemingly primarily designed for those interesting in training for sports, this can work for those who prefer a more athletic style of workout, as you can definitely get a workout from the warm-up and first two segments, even if it’s a little harder to follow along to the partner corework as an at home exerciser. It also seems to be designed for coaches (and parents of sporty kids - Mindy does label herself a soccer mom, after all) as well as personal trainers.

Of the four Bosu cardio workouts I’ve tried (this one plus Rob Glick’s Bosu Calorie Combustion and Bosu Cardio Fusion and Seasun Zieger’s Bosu Blast from CIA 2604 Double Cardio), this one felt the most challenging to me. Yeah, I know, it’s Mindy, so of course I knew it was going to be hard. To some extent the fact that this was athletic drills did factor into that, as I don’t normally do a lot of Bosu or even step work and do even fewer athletic drills. I am glad that I started with Rob’s two workouts, particularly the Bosu Cardio Fusion, as Rob spends a little more time getting you used to working with the Bosu’s instability and going over proper Bosu technique, so my advice to someone new to working with the Bosu would be to look there first.