Power Punch Step and Kick

I bought this not knowing anything about it. As it turns out, it's a pretty nice workout that would be suitable for experienced beginners or intermediates. It's a step workout that incorporates punches and kicks into the routine. There is nothing too fancy in the way of choreography. I think those who like the step workouts from instructors such as Keli Roberts, Jane Fonda, and Donna Richardson would like this as well.

If you like step and you like kickboxing and are at a beginner/intermediate exercise level, this might be a video that you would enjoy. WWWendy was kind enough to let me try this one out and here is a brief summary of the workout and my thoughts:

As I stated, this video is a combination of step aerobics and kickboxing on the step. The pace is pretty slow. In other words, Tae Bo it is not.

The aerobics workout itself is only about 23 minutes long and all the moves are pretty basic kickboxing moves on the step so it is not that hard to follow for those of us (me included) that are choreograhically challenged. However, one major complaint that I do have is sometimes you can't see the moves being executed because all you can see is a 1/2 body shot and not a full body shot so it made the workout hard to follow at times.

You do front kicks, side kicks and back kicks off the step along with punches. Like I said, pretty basic (even for me). All the moves are shown very slowly at first and some good form pointers are given on how to execute the moves. There is also a background exerciser who is doing the workout without a step. Since the moves are not executed that fast (I'm guessing because you can use a step and you must consider safety reasons) I don't think intermediates would get much of a workout without using a step.

Power Punch also features Greg Mancuso, who according to Tama, is a 4th degree Master of Tang Soo Do Karate. I thought he would lead some of the workout but he doesn't. He is just featured as one of the exercisers and occasionally Tama refers to him about how to learn proper kickboxing form.

The workout ends with a yoga style cooldown.

I think beginners/intermediates or someone who is just learning kickboxing might like this video but since I consider myself to be an advanced exerciser, I did not really get much of a workout out of this video. For someone advanced, it might be good to use this in addition to something else like another kickboxing tape but if you are a Tae Bo lover or prefer other intense types of kickboxing, I think you would be bored with Power Punch Step and Kick.

Kickboxing on the step is an interesting concept and one that I would like to see from other instructors. I believe Cathe F. talked about doing this at one time. If she ever makes a kickboxing/step tape, I would, without question, buy it from her but this one was a little slow for my taste. For now, I'll stick to doing my kickboxing workouts on the floor.