Video Fitness

Power Half Hour Ab Burner

Tony Horton

This workout is part of the Power Half Hour series. It is available on individual VHS, or on a compilation dvd with the other workouts in the series (arms, buns, thighs, stretch). Tony Horton leads Dreya and Tony II in this half hour routine. The usual beahbody countdown timers mark the time left in the section and in the total workout on the bottom of the screen.

The routine creatively alternates standing cardio-based ab work with short floor sections. Many of thesse moves such as the heisman, wacky jacks and ski twists will be familiar to users of other Tony Horton programs.

The first cardio section features several knee-up variations. Then we hit the mat for a short section of crunches and crunch-type moves.

The second cardio section is kick-based and features oblique exercises for the floor part.

The third cardio section is plyo-baseed and features twist jumps and ski moves, then floor work that is mostly flexion-based such as in outs and ab rockers.

Finally we have a section based on heisman-type moves (like knee-ups, but more oblique-based) and some combo and balance floor moves. Then a short stretch and we are done.

The workout had some really interesting moves in it, and the floor-based work is in short, manageable sections. There is some impact here, and Tony is sketchy on showing modifications for some of it. He is also not the best cuer---often he will just announce an exercise and begin, which could be difficult if you are not familiar with the moves. The set is also extremely bland---all the Power Half Hour workouts are shot on a drab grey backdrop that will put you to sleep if you care about such things.

So, my overall verdict---a nice change of pace with some interesting moves, and enough cardio to count this as a cardio day. But on the other hand, Tony is one of those love-him-or-hate-him kid of instructors, so what it really comes down to is---do you love him? If you do, then this is up to his usual standard and would be a nice addition to your collection. If you don’t, I don’t think this will be the routine to convince you. That’s just the way it is with Tony :-)

Joanna

08/31/04

If you like working with a class clown with music you can hardly hear and bland set , then this workout is for you! The workout seems to not have alot of flow to it. And you don't do ab work to the beat of the music. There are no reps counted but there is clock that you can watch the whole time wishing it was over. I'm sorry, I wish I could have liked this workout but it looks like it was filmed by a home video camera. The quality is awful.
There is ab work which starts off with lots of hip flexor warmup and there are some kickboxing moves. The floor stuff is traditional type ab crunches for lower ,upper. But he throws in weird cardio moves in between getting up and down. But he is always going back to check the background exercisers so much that you KNOW that he is taking a break.
If you want a great ab workout, check out Cathe Friedrich Core Max.

Instructor comments: A complete class clown. Half the time he is joking and not doing the workout. He's "checking" the background exercisers. I would never want him to be my personal trainer.

Mandy

5-10-2007



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