Men's Club

This review is geared primarily for instructors looking for choreography to use in their classes and for inspiration and teaching tips, however, I will address the video as a workout as well.

First of all, I really like Jill Casey. She is a down-to-earth instructor who communicates clearly and has excellent cuing skills. She is very non-intimidating and low key. I have another video with Jill called Make the Most of It, which combines a variety of resistance training tools (a body bar, tubes and your own body weight) and targets every major muscle group. It is an excellent video and has great ideas for strength training classes.

Men's Club is a solid sports conditioning workout that delivers interesting cardio combos that anyone can follow and get their heart rate up with. She starts out by delivering athletic 32 count combinations that are fun and easy to follow. The moves are sports-based and follow a variety of fitness activities such as boxing, baseball and basketball. She uses powerful movements to create interest and intensity. Incorporated into the video are military-style drills, which are no nonsense, but work your heart and body to their max.

Next is an Interval Circuit portion of the video was adequate, but I did not find anything particularly new and the strength segments were awkward and too short for me. I don't enjoy using tubing all that much because I am a true Cathe fan and like a dumbbell workout, but some instructors may enjoy employing the variety that tubing affords.

The last segment was my least favorite part of the video. Jill has her participants engage in group-based drills at the end of the workout. If you are looking to use this video as a personal exercise session then you will have to modify these drills unless you are working out with a partner. They reminded me of the drills I used to do in a fitness course I took when I was in college. It was when the aerobic craze first began (in the 70's) and we would do plyometric jumps and drills across a full court basketball gym. My instructor looked like a drill sergeant and she barked at me when I started to fade in my form. I hated that class but I took it to drop the freshman 15. These particular drills hit too close to that memory for me. In defense of Jill, she and her exercisers look like they are having fun. If you incorporate partner drills into your boot camp or sports conditioning classes, then you may enjoy these.

At the end of the video is a 30-minute lecture designed for the instructor who needs information on class formatting and methods for bringing more men into your classes. She is an intelligent and motivating speaker.

The instructor: Jill is friendly and fun. I look forward to more videos from her because she is an instructor's instructor. Even though I did not like certain segments from this video, overall it has excellent ideas for a boot camp class. She breaks down her combos well and cues perfectly. She is a pleasure to watch and listen to.

This workout (from Sara's City) is designed for people who prefer non-dancy, uncomplicated movements in their workouts (dare I say "masculine" movements?). Uncomplicated, however, doesn't mean easy. She works you pretty hard at times. There is one exercise in particular that is both unique and hard. You know how soldiers in basic training get down on their bellies and sort of crawl/pull themselves across mud/dirt/grass or whatever? Well, she does it here. You lie down on the floor on your stomach and using mostly arm strength, you go as quickly as you can across the room. That's surprisingly tough work for your arms and upper chest/back. I can't say I really enjoy crawling on my hard, cold basement floor, though, where I work out. And doing it on carpet is a little rough on any exposed areas. But it's definitely unique and challenging. There are lots of other exercises here, too. It starts with some basic, but good intensity aerobics, and then there are lots of calisthenic-based exercises. She calls this "Men's Club," because she designed it for training military personnel who are mostly men. But, of course, women can do it too. While this isn't really for me, since I like more choreographed styles of working out, I can see where this would appeal to a lot of people. Grade A- (it would be an A if the video quality were a little better).