Project: You - Long Lean

This is a workout that follows the concept of little intensity bursts. Like Power Push, it has segments that you do for a limited amount of time before moving on to something else. The exercises are more varied in this workout than in Power Push and Foundations so it shouldn’t be too much like doing the same workout. The choreography is the type you’d find in many other Kathy Smith workouts, which is not what I would consider complex, but is certainly varied. The segments are all short and there’s no taking it from the top of the workout, so once a segment is over, you are finished with it for good and can move on to something new.

The workout clock keeps track of how long the whole workout is and how long each segment is. Before each segment is a little blurb telling what is coming next. If you don’t like a particular segment, it is very easy to skip it on DVD or one could FF through the segment on VHS. The workout is approximately 40 minutes.

Kathy is encouraging and interacts with the background exercisers throughout the workout. The background exercisers do have microphones so you can hear all their comments.

Long and Lean is one of three cardio workouts in the Project You series. It is a little longer than the the other two titles-- 40 minutes as opposed to 30 for Foundations and Power Push. While it uses many of the moves introduced in Foundations, it is less similar to Foundations than is Power Push. It has a little more dancy flair and introduces some moves that are not seen in the other two workouts. It also contains no kickboxing segment except for a few bob and weaves.

The impact may be desribed as mixed and as is usual in a Kathy Smith workout there is an exerciser demonstrating low impact moves at all times.

The set is the same pleasant and sunny room. The music is instrumental. Some is kind of technoish. If you like that sort of thing for working out you will like it. I like that sort of thing.

Each segment ranges in length form about 2-6 minutes. My least favorite segment was a series of high knees and hamstring curls (think Charlene) which was kind of boring. I actually like high knees, but prefer them sprinkled throughout a workout. Mercifully, this was one of the shorter segments. Some of the segments I enjoyed more included what Kathy called a shuffle, but what appeared to be more of a chasse. She also had a little combo with a "scissor" kind of a chasse with the leg behind you. Well, I'm sure that explanation made nothing clear.

The intensity of this workout when done with the high impact options may be called intermediate. Actually, all the cardios in the series seem to be intermediate to me. I do add more high impact to Foundations, but it does not seem nearly as easy as I expected.

I enjoy doing higher intensity workouts such as Cathe but really do find I get a perfectly good workout with workouts such as these in the Project You series. If you are looking for floor aerobics with simpler choreography that provides a decent workout, you might want to give this a look.