Power and Grace

This is a 54 minute workout that has an emphasis on lower body and core. First, let me say that most of my usual workouts are Cathe, with some Jari workouts thrown in for variety in weight workouts, and CIA workouts for variety in cardio. So this would be a workout I would do on an "easy" day. But I was very impressed! My only experience with Gilad was with his step video, years ago, which I thought the outfits were very dated and I generally grew out of the workout pretty quickly. I thought I'd take a chance with his most recent offerings.

It's set on a beautiful beach. I often caught myself looking out beyond Gilad to watch the people swimming in the ocean. Gilad has 4 people with him, 2 men and 2 women, and they are all on large "pads" on the sand. They all seem to truly be enjoying themselves. I smiled with them when Gilad over-enunciated "gluteus maximus" and the women tried hard to suppress their giggles. I've read that past workouts had women in bikinis which the camera focused on - nothing like that here! This is true family viewing.

The workout starts with a 10 minute warm-up. I really enjoyed some of the different moves Gilad had us do, like the discus and the judo throw. Usually, long warm-ups get boring to me, but there was enough cardio and twisting core action that it felt like a mini workout in itself. The main body of the workout 35 minutes long and consists of squat and lunge variations with changing counts and isometric holds. Core is a focus also. Gilad has you do some upper-body motions, but I view them more as something to fill in the time for the static leg work. The feel of the workout was similar to Minna Lessig's Strength and Grace. It has a yoga feel, without feeling like a yoga workout. I guess I mean that the movements are controlled and there's more focus on what's being worked. The last 5 minutes of the workout are on the floor where Gilad has us do plank and T-stands for more core work. I wish this section was a bit longer and maybe had more focused ab work - maybe some bicycles thrown in.

Overall, this workout is very approachable and well-suited for the intermediate exerciser. It required no equipment and doesn't take up much space. I'll have to remember to recommend it when a VFer asks what DVDs are good for travel.

There was one move that Gilad did on one side, that he forgot to do on the other. I'll forgive him for that - it was an awkward punching, knee-lift move anyway. I didn't feel slighted. ;-)