What do folks think about the new CIA 2900 series?
 

I did CIA 2901 - Amy's Kickbox Surge this AM and loved it! :)

Amy and the crew seemed relaxed, were having fun and sweating a lot. :) The music was great - contemporary pop remixes and the combos were a bit complex but not overly so. I was easily able to keep it low impact. Big thumbs up from me! The med ball workout looked like fun as well, but I saved that one for another day.

Hardcore Kickbox Extreme is one of my favorites, and I think this one will be as well.

Hi Sharon-Would you say this one is more like Kickbox Extreme or In the Ring. KBX is my all-time fav workouts but for some reason I did not click with ITR.
I only ordered Amy's workouts but I really really want Seasun's and Tonya's too. Not sure where to order from Mary or Jen? thanks.

Pharma Gal -- I'd say this is more like Kickbox Xtreme. I didn't click with In the Ring either.

The med ball workout? Do you mean Kimberly's?

Could be wrong but I think Sharon was talking about the med ball core refining section of Amy's Kickbox Surge.

I did Kickbox Surge in its entirety last night and I really liked it. It has the best music of any DVD I own (and I own plenty!!) I'd say the choreography is not as complex as KBX (at least for me) but I think it's more like KBX than Rumble or ITR in terms of the choreography. The surges were fun and challenging. I had to rewind the workout a bit so that I could master each move. I can't wait to do this again now that I know what to expect.

I really want Seasun's workout, so I can't wait to hear feedback on it!

I did Seasun's workout yesterday - it's very complex choreography. I wasn't able to get it all but...I think I will get it the second time. She is an excellent cue-er (sp?). Music is great and the core section is similar (but with new moves) as her bosu workout - some plank stuff, some on-the-back moves.

She does have a modify in the group the shows the less complex variations and that really helps.

I did Tonya's yesterday...
 

and I loved it. Six different step sections, interspersed with moderate weight work. No cardio "surges," just steady state step work. She repeats two sections of step between each weight section, and puts all six together twice at the end. The warm up is pretty intense, but I like that. The music at the end is pumping (I recognized something from Turbo Jam), which is motivating. She is an excellent cuer, although she has a few different names for moves than I am used to. Timing is just right -- at the end of a step or weight section, just as I was pushing too hard, we would switch. Great workout.

I also liked Amy's new one. I did the first premix the other day. I don't think it's as complex as some of her other kb workouts. And I really liked the core workout with the med ball.

Annemarie

CIA series
 

I did Seasun's and Kimberly's new workout this weekend and am really happy with both.

I find Kimberly's kickboxing stuff easy to follow and liked the med ball stick parts. It broke up the workout and this will be easy to combine different sections. I didn't check out the premixes yet.

Seasun's was a lot of fun and I liked the music. I got about 90% the first go round and should have it all the next time. Her core work was all about the plank and I felt it. She is a very good cuer which helps alot.

I ordered Amy's from her site and haven't received it yet. I hope to love it as she is one of my favorites.

Liz

I've tried Amy's and Seasun's and liked them both very much. I'd recommend also the short but effective abs on Tonya's; I haven't done the rest of hers or Kimberly's.

I give a lot of credit to Greg Twombly for, year-in/year-out, creating inexpensive, fun, moderate-to-tough DVDs with good music, and creating them in a short time frame with a minimum of fuss. If a January ever rolls around without a CIA presale, I'll be very sad.

Step Surge! :)
 

LOVED Tonya's! She cues wonderfully, using hand and verbal cues. The step was challenging, but not so hard that you can't get it in a try or two. She shows beginner and advanced modifications, with a modifier doing the basic moves. Her terminology is different, but easy to pick up. The six step segments are just long enough. I didn't do the weight segments since I am currently doing STS, but the abs! My oh my! Short and intense. Tonya is very refreshing and enjoyable. This will definitely be a go to workout! :D

Was there a lot of TIFTing in this workout? The description on Collage made it sound like the step portions were pretty repetitive. Also, do you agree with their intermediate rating?

I did Amy's as well and LOVED it! On the Cathe boards I said it was like combo of Rumble and HLCK - but before anyone screams - I say it's like Rumble because the moves are much less complex and the combo's are shorter, but they are much faster and fun. The "Surges" are similar to the intervals in HLCK. I did not like ITR either. And KBX bored me after I learned it, but this one I can see keeping me interested a long time - she teaches the combos quickly - there are not too many repetitions and they are simply fun. The first Surge will have you crying for your mamma! :D

Grrr...now I regret not preordering Amy's! I can't follow her cues for cardio, but if it is less complex I think I would be ok. I guess I'll have to go order from Mary! :)

ITA about Amy's -- she still tends to throw whole blocks of choreo at you, but because they are pure kickboxing moves it's much easier for me to pick up on them (as opposed to the chunks of choreo of hi-lo plus kickboxing in previous workouts).

I was *so* relieved that the other surges weren't as painful as the first one -- I didn't like the constant get-down-get-up thing, it made the blood rush in and out of my head like a thermometer gone wild.

A solid hour of sweat!

I also loved Amy's!!! I haven't sweated that much in a long time!!! WOO-HOO!

I did Amy's this morning and I modified for the first surge because I'm getting old and I just hate moves like that. I really liked all the surges after that. My HR was still good enough. This was a fun, sweaty workout that moved quickly. I liked that the main cardio segment was only 49 minutes long, so with the warm-up, it was an hour. Moves come at you quickly but aren't as complicated as they seem once you do them a couple of times. Great mix of punches and kicks. I wore weighted gloves and it made it high intensity but not anaerobic.

Did the first half of Seasun's yesterday. Got the first combo no problem, had a little trouble at the end of the second. I didn't want to take on the whole thing at once, but I think once I get it all down, it'll be a tougher workout. There is a premix with all the finished combos that could be the next Step Blast Challenge!

I should add that I haven't ordered CIAs in years, and they are markedly improved.

Donna K

I did the Surge Premix from Amy's Kickbox Surge and it was tough. I also loved the med ball core section. I have not done the rest of the workout yet, but I can't wait to give it a try. I plan on learning one combo at a time after or before my regular workout. I think Amy's workouts get better and better. The music is rockin, the choreography is interesting, the surges are tough, and I'm going to love this as much as I love ITR (I'm so surprised by how many people don't like ITR...it's one of my FAVES!!!) I have to say that I agree with another poster who posted on Amy's forum, this may be her best yet! Amy knows how to bring fun into a kick butt workout!:)

She teaches a step combo, you run through it a few times, then you would do that step combo plus the previous one. For example: Combo 2 breakdown + Combo 2 finished product + combo 1 & Combo 3 breakdown + Combo 3 finished product + Combo 2, etc. She only goes back one combo until the end where you do all six combos together. I hope that makes sense.

I definitely agree with the intermediate rating. It is easy to modify up or down, though.

Ooh... sounds great. :) I like the sound of less complex moves and shorter combos.

I'm patiently waiting for my Kickbox Surge to arrive. Then I liked the look of Kimberly's Cardio Combat Surge clip so much, I ordered her workout, and a light Bodybar. Then to justify the cost of the Bodybar and DVD, I also ordered Kimberly's Absolute Kickboxing and Mindy's All Systems Go.

I'm home sick with the flu and in no condition to work out, but I can still exercise my credit card. :cool:

I did Seasun's workout on Monday, I had a hard time catching on to the choreography but I think after a couple more times I'll get it (I hope). It was a lot to follow along with first thing in the morning & I got a bit frustrated but my HR still stayed up there & according to my HR monitor, I still burned a bunch of calories (about 900 overall). The plank work was good, as usual with Seasun. My abs were really sore yesterday!

I did part of Amy's yesterday, combos 1-3 with the surges. Yes, the first surge was pretty tough with all the up & downs! I really had fun with this workout & can't wait to try it the whole way through.

Both workouts had great music & I'm very pleased with them!

900! My HRM showed me burning about 225 for the first half, and only 500 for all of Amy's today. I would love 900!

Donna K

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i don't even burn that much on spinervals!!!!! i can usually plan on about 600 an hour for spinervals..... 900 on a step workout? :eek:

Me, too. I never burn anywhere near that much. I'm lucky to get 300 during a tough workout!

Is that just the surges? Wow, I'll bet that was tough! I loved this workout, it's definitely her best kickbox workout ever, and up there as one of the best overall. I had trouble with that last surge, and a bit of trouble with the last combo, but other than that, it was easy to learn. When I previewed it, it looked a bit repetitive and I was afraid it might get a bit boring, but it didn't. I loved it.

My workout time was about 80 minutes because I ended up repeating one of the segments an extra time to try to get the moves down. I had my pedometer on & already had over my 10,000 steps for the day when I was done with the workout Monday morning.

I don't know how accurate HR monitors are with calorie burn but hopefully they are somewhat accurate. I have a Timex one that was recommended here a few months back & I love it! My HR averaged about 145 or so for the workout and I'm 5' 5" (and a half:o), about 128 pounds.

Thanks for the reviews! I'm planning on trying Amy's later this week (will report back when I get to it).

I'm still wavering on regretting not preordering Seasun's, but I have so many complex step workouts I've still yet to try or finish mastering...

I have loved Amy's and Tonya's. I couldn't get Seasun's. I don't know if I ever will.
Anyway, is anyone going to buy the gymstick because of getting the gymstick workout for free? I watched it. it looks pretty good with good music as well.
the music on this series really does rock. love it.
I didn't think Tonya's workout was only an intermediate as Collage says. I'd rate it as an intermediate-advanced.

Was anyone else besides mine, a plain dvd w/ black lettering?

Kim

I looked at the Gymstick website and IIRC, the gymstick was $80. I think the workout does look pretty good but I'm not going to pay $80 for equipment for one DVD. It's too bad, really.

tonya???
 

For all of you that have done the Tonya Step Surge-would you consider it a real circuit w/o or is it more cardio with some muscle thrown in to keep it interesting? Anyone ready to write a real review soon?
TIA!

When I get my copy I plan on writing an official review--give me a few days since I haven't gotten it yet (but I will write it up asap when I do!) :)


Denise

I wonder if Cathe's 3-in-1 Combo 14 lb. Weighted Fitness Bars and Stretch Tube would work. It's alot cheaper.

That is a great idea! I bet it would, it looks similar.......


Denise

Is the bar weighted? If it's not, Danskin has a similar looking one that sells for $20 at Wal-Mart.

Rose, I'm not familiar with the other bar but the Danskin one would probably work as well and for $20 might be an better option!! :D


Denise

Thanks for mentioning that!

i dunno.... i think even for 80 minutes of step... that's a LOT of calories! :confused:

I did Seasun's last night. I really enjoyed it but I pick up choreography pretty easily. My personal opinion is if a person is choreography challenged at all and not interested in having steps thrown at them with no break down, don't get the workout. Seasun moves fast from step to step. She does repeat the moves she shows quite a few times but I was still stopping to get my brain around the sequencing and turns. I really did like the workout though. The music is great and the routine is fun once you get it.

Shoot I wish I would have waited for these reviews to order - sure hope that I won't be lost in the step workout. I got Amy's Kickbox one and the first pattern was a little difficult - but I am thinking the more I do it the faster I will catch on - hopefully that will be the case with the step workout! :eek: