Video Fitness

Kickbox Body Shop with Pepper Von

As with any Sara City production, the quality is low. Pepper seems friendly enough as an instructor, but he lacks the pizzazz and charisma of a Todd Gheiser or Debbie Burns. I was asked to view this video and review it from an instructor's perspective and will do that, but I need to let the reader know that this is not my first, second or third choice for a kickboxing video. There is so much marching and talking that I got bored right from the beginning. Pepper seems to know about form, but not to the extent that Lisa Gaylord or Katalin Zamiar might discuss.

The video description reads that the "session takes martial arts training one step further by combining aerobics, kickboxing, dance, and other components of fitness into a single synergistic workout. This combination makes for a very effective medium for burning calories, strengthening muscles, and reshaping the body".

I did not enjoy combining the kickboxing and dance as they did not fit together well, and my heart rate never got high enough to say that I had an aerobic workout due to all the marching and repetition of moves.

From an instructor's perspective, the choreography was OK, but was not put together well. There were too many awkward foot placements and transitions. I really like when choreography flows from one side into the other or from move to move. This video did not have either.

If you really need more choreography, the Sara City website offers it to instructors as do many other music and video websites. If you want a new kickboxing workout video, this would not be the one I would recommend.

Janet O'Neil
5/16/01



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