Customer Reviews

Crunch: Super-Charged Kickbox Party

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I picked up the early release of this dvd from a local retailer and in my opinion, this is the best Crunch has done in a long time. I always enjoy Crunch workouts for their fun factor.

The dvd is a mix of uncomplicated kickboxing and dance moves. It has the classic Crunch set and background exercisers in colorful outfits. The music is upbeat and the instructor is good.

Several of the background exercisers are annoying and whoop and holler a little much, but I can ignore this. If that bothers you, you probably don't like other Crunch videos either and would probably steer clear of this one anyway.

All in all, a great exercise and I worked up a sweat. The moves are not complicated.

A keeper.

The kickboxing part of this workout is excellent - easy to follow but great for getting your heartrate up. However, I personally found the dance moves in it to be distracting and annoying - stuff college age girls would probably have fun doing. I tried to ignore it and just do some classic exercise moves during the dance parts like jogging in place or side steps so that I could just get through the workout, but eventually got tired of hearing the instructor yell out over and over again, "Come on, girls - touch yourself!!!"

I have half a dozen other Crunch workouts that I love and I was really excited to see them release one for kickboxing, but sadly, overall I really found this to be a disappointment. I'd highly recommend someone rent this and try it out before buying it.

I like this because it's fun and energetic and it makes you want to move. It's only about a half hour of cardio (then there's the warm up and cool down as well) so it's the perfect amount of time you need to be getting your heart rate up.

Jeanette is really outgoing and encouraging and she cues well in this. You mix kickboxing and Jamaican style island dance to get a really funky workout. It kind of intervals for you so once you've done a tough segment of kickboxing, you can take it a little easier with a slower dance section. It's really calorie burning with the combination of powerful kickboxing combos and dance moves to follow.

I found this to be a lot of fun and as a result, the half hour goes by really quickly while you end up working up a true sweat. I highly recommend this to people who like intervals and want to burn heaps of calories. It's fun and not too challenging.

I own 5 of the Crunch series DVDs and this is my favorite. Jeanette has an infectious enthusiasm, which makes it impossible not to have fun during this workout. The DVD consists of a warm-up, 5 kickboxing combos, and a cool-down. All of the segments are short, which makes the workout fly by. The 5th combo is slightly longer, but arguably the most fun. The choreography is an excellent mixture of dancing and kickboxing. The dance moves are simplistic, and do not require coordination. The kickboxing moves are not overly-complicated, but do require a moderate level of coordination. Jeanette does an great job of showing the moves at half-time without dragging out the demonstration for so long that it becomes boring once you learn the video. When high-impact moves (jumping jacks and jump kicks) are incorporated, there is one dancer who consistently demonstrates the low-impact version. Additionally, the cueing is right on throughout the DVD. I find the stretching moves in the cool-down slightly difficult and uncomfortable, but not enough to keep me from performing the moves. My only complaint about this DVD as a plus-size (fit!) woman is that all the dancers have very thin bodies. Generally, the Crunch series casts a racially diverse group of dancers with varying body types. The dancers for this DVD are racially diverse, but the body type diversity is missing. I would recommend this DVD for beginning or intermediate excercisers with at least some coordination. If you're and advanced excerciser, you may think this video is too easy.

This is a fun and energetic workout. At best it is moderate in intesity, but I did get my heart rate up in this 40 minute video (30 min workout and 10 min for warm up and cool down). The set is the same as the set for some later Turbo Jam videos and some of the moves remind me of Chalene's moves in Turbo Jam, but simpler. All in all it's a fun mix of simple dance, but if you are a big Turbo Jam fan like I am (or Turbo Kick as it's called in the gyms), it's not quite as good. If you have no idea what I'm referring to with "Turbo Jam," then definitely check this out - Crunch videos are a lot cheaper than the Turbo Jam series and these types of workouts are a lot of fun, so much so I'd recommend them to everyone! Great music, kickboxing, and dance :) This instructor is energetic too and her cueing is good. An experienced exerciser will find these to be relatively easy but fun while a beginner may find it fun to include dance without difficult choreography.

This workout makes you sweat. Today is my first day of doing the workout and it makes you sore aftering do it. She explaines things very well and you do an example workouts then she will bring it up to tempo.

I have enjoyed this workout... I am very fit and workout everyday, and I find this video to be a nice alternative to traditional cardio. I did the video once and found that it worked muscles that I usually don't work - I felt a little tightness around the abs and hip flexors the next day!

The pace of the workout is pretty fast, and there are some complex combinations that require good coordination. If you are a person that can pick up choreography quickly, you won't have a problem after the first or second viewing. Lower-impact alternatives are shown for some high-impact moves like jacks, etc.

Jeanette is a good instructor, and has a nice energy throughout. The alternating cardio boxing and dance segments make the time go by quickly too! I like high-intensity cardio, and I would rate this to be mid-intensity... won't use it everyday, but it could be a great warmup for a short run or even a good workout for lighter days. A good addition to your Crunch collection!

Jeanette Jenkins is a favorite of mine, but this workout did not cut it. The warm up was excellent, I felt prepared for an intense workout. Yet I became more and more disappointed as the video went on, as the majority of it was ridiculous dance moves with very little actual kick boxing. I also experienced little cardiovascular benefit. I wear a heart rate monitor and I was barely above 92bpm for the entire workout. My target is between 160bpm and 175bpm. This video may be good for someone who is new to exercise or maybe has a hard time with strenuous workouts, but for someone in good physical condition, it's mostly a waste of time.

I enjoyed the kickboxing segments, but really didn't like the dance segments that went with them. When I'm doing kickboxing I much prefer to stick with straight on kickboxing, not throw dance moves in the middle of it.

I did feel bad for the one guy in the whole group of exercisers. Especially with the hip rolls, the "touch yourself" v-steps and the booty shaking island dancing segments. He seemed to just roll with it though. One of the girls right behind Jeannette was a little too sexual in some of her dance moves. I don't mind when the background people put their own style into the moves, but this chick was downright distracting. It looked to me like she was trying to attract the attention of someone off screen.

Other than that, it's not a bad work out if you don't mind mixing up your kickboxing with dancing.

I've never actually seen another workout like this that combines both dancing and kickboxing into one workout, but I love it! This is a workout DVD that is about intermediate level led by Jeanette Jenkins. It is pretty high cardio and it adds some dance moves to make it a little bit more. There are 5 segments which are about 7 minutes each, and each of these segments has a 1 or 2 kickboxing combos with 1 or 2 dance combos. Unlike other reviewers, I thought the dance and kickboxing combos were blended well together. The kickboxing combos are usually made up of jabs, cross punches, front kicks, knee thrusts, side kicks, roundhouse kicks, jump kicks, and back kicks. Jeanette also expects you to already know all of these punches and kicks. Jeanette will break down the harder kickboxing combos slowly enough times to get it, but not long enough to lower your heart rate. Also, there are modifications for some of the higher impact movements (such as the jump kick) that you can choose to do instead. The dance combos consist of relatively easy steps such as a V-step with chest pumps, heel and toe taps, and hip rolls. Once again, the more complex moves Jeanette breaks down 1 or 2 times, but your heart rate shouldn't go down. The pace is pretty fast, and besides slowing down about 3 times to teach a tougher kickboxing/dance combo, she will never slow down. The warm-up starts out with some plies and reaches, then moves into some punches and kicks before slowing down for some stretching. The cool down takes on a Latin feel as Jeanette does some Mambo and Cha-Cha dance moves before doing some more stretching. Overall, this is a very fun workout that is pretty intense and fun to do, and I look forward to doing it every time I pull it out!