47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fighting & aerobics workout, July 18, 2007
This review is from: The Pit Workout (DVD)
I rented this 2 dvd set. John Hackelman says this isn't the usual "follow the leader" workout. It's divided into upper body & lower body 45 min workouts on 1 disk & on Disk 2 is 1 hour full body, a couple of minutes of stretching, quick single teaching on hand wrapping & quick teaching of straight punches, hooks, front kicks, roundhouses & knee kicking.
It's John with 3 guys & 2 women all with good/great form, power in a gym. There is only 3 heavy bags to show you how you can kick & punch w/o a heavy bag.
Disk 1:
There are warm ups for both that have light punching, head rolls, jumping jacks, etc for 5-7 min.
Upper body - has a lot of push ups... in different hand positions, levels, speeds & even clapping in between. The punching time is only 5 min since thats how long the average fight lasts. So you alternative between the 2 for almost all of the workout. The punching is done at each person's pace & he gives no pointers. He only does the push ups, otherwise walks around & talks or is totally off camera & silent. There are some kicking & some jump rope here as well.
Lower body - has squat w/kicks, punching air, kicking, standing fwd bend/squats up/down, semi fast paced standing to squat thrusts & jump rope on 1 leg only.
Disk 2:
Workout 1 Hour - starts with jumping jacks, etc. aerobic warm up, then knee kicks for a while & shadow boxing for a while for a total of 30 min about. Next is push ups with squat thrusts for a long time, laying down & touching toes, bicycle crunches, simulated rowing, simulated rowing position w/torso twists, double leg lifts & jump rope for a very long time & couple more aerobics I might have forgotten.
John actually does almost all the workout with the other fighters which makes the workout much better, he's dripping w/sweat, his voice gets hoarse & even he struggles to go on which is great to see.
Teaching - it was shown very fast of punches & kicks. About 2 min spent on each with him alone. I did learn more about the intention of the move & on the roundhouse to use the calf more then the top of the foot. I was surprised when teaching a straight punch he never mentioned the wrist alignment or not to lock the elbow.
Stretching - starts with a basic Russian split, then a sitting split forward bend, then holding the split & fwd bending over each leg, butterfly & ends with reclined butterfly. John walks around here & doesn't do the stretching.
Hand Wraping - he uses a basic stretch wrap with a thumb hole & velcro on the other end & says to wrap it like you would a sprained wrist & shows it once quick.
As other reviewers said, this looks damn hard, you better have great form already & not need any pointers with great killer endurance & strength.
I enjoy the no frills, real honest workout, w/o the fancy camera angles, no extra makeup/hairstyle worries & lame script. I was just looking for a straight forward teaching of proper form fighting practice with just aerobics as only as a warm up & cool down.
Add 2 stars if you like honest, real boot camp workouts.
You can see a preview at his site thepitworkout com
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
59 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"This isn't Tae Bo...This is THE PIT" - John Hackelman, October 7, 2006
This review is from: The Pit Workout (DVD)
I train in martial arts and have been looking for ways to improve my cardio. I started with running and biking but that got boring quick. I then looked for exercise videos and yes (I am ashamed to say) I even tried Tae Bo. However, even with weights on all four of my extremities I still had no problem doing the entire Tae Bo cardio workout. Then I found The Pit Workout by John Hackelman (the trainer of Chuck Liddell - UFC light heavyweight champion).
This is a Killer workout series consisting of three workouts. One upper body workout, one lower body workout and one full body workout. Each lasts about an hour. Although you don't have to own a heavy bag/wavemaster to do the upper and lower body workouts you would probably benefit more by having one.
At one point of the workout (when I was about to puke) he actually says, "This isn't Tae Bo... This is the Pit" - LOL. I can see where Liddell gets his knockout power if he does these workouts.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great No-Frills Workout!, January 17, 2007
This review is from: The Pit Workout (DVD)
The Pit Workout DVD consists of three hour-long workouts. The first is upper body, the second lower body, and the third both upper and lower. No equipment is needed (a punchbag is optional), so it can be performed anywhere.
This will get you into shape! Anyone who says it's easy is not doing it right..it's as simple as that! And simplicity is the key to The Pit. The exercises are tough and are broken up with hiting or kicking the bag (or shadow boxing if you don't have a bag handy).
Although Chuck Lidell's name is used to sell the DVD, the workout is taught by John Hackelman (Lidell's teacher). Hackelman is a great teacher.
Bottom line: If you buy this DVD and follow the workouts three times a week, you will get into great shape!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
