Crunch Super Slim Down

This is one of the newest dvds in my collection. My dvd collection is mainly made up of dancing videos, and I have been looking to expand into more yoga and pilates dvds. I wandered into HMV and this was on sale, so I decided to buy it.

Crunch Super Slim Down: Pilates Yoga Blend is about a 40 minute workout. There are 7 chapters to the actual workout. This dvd was nice because it started out with yoga moves, and slowly transitions into pilates moves, giving you the benefits of both workouts in one. I also really liked Ellen Barrett; she's friendly, cheerful and give really good cues. She isn't overly peppy or crazy like some other instructors I've seen on other dvd's.

The first two segments are Standing Yoga segments. You start out with a warm-up, and then the second segment is a lot of triangle and warrior poses. I really started to feel it in my arms during the second segment. They really leaving you feeling stronger and stretched out.

The next two segments are the All Fours Matwork. These ones aren't bad, but if you have knee problems then you should be extremely careful with them. For example, the first time I tried this dvd, I had to skip one of these segments because my knees were hurting. If I think about it next time, I'll try it with some sort of pads on the knees and see if that helps. Other than that, the segments are pretty good, filled with lots of good yoga postures like the cat poses and child's pose. There's also an optional downward dog pose.

The next segment is the Side Lying Matwork. I really like this segment, as you can really feel these moves. You start out doing some side leg raises, and move onto that move where you lift your hips off the ground. This is a great segment that really works your inner theighs.

The final full segment is the Abs Matwork. There are some really different moves in here (like the "climb the rope" move that gets into your obliques) along with some more standard pilates moves (like the full or partial roll up). By this time, you can really feel your abs working!

The Abs Matwork is followed by a quick Calming Cooldown. This is the one segment of the dvd that I'm a bit disappointed with; it seems like to little after a very invigorating 40 minute workout. (It reminds me of the quick little cool downs that are thrown onto a 10 Minute Solution segment). You sit on the floor and do a couple of movements and then your done; there's no leg stretching at all. I think they could have come up with something better to end this dvd with.

All in all, I really enjoy this exercise dvd. Other than the two points I listed (how the matwork segments are a bit hard on the knees and how the cooldown is way too short), this dvd is great. It gives you a good workout and has a great instructor. I think this is going to be one of those dvds in my collection that I keep coming back to!