Lifetiquing Reviews

Equipment needed: 3-10 lb dumbbells, although travelers can use 2 liter water bottles (see my upcoming Travel Tips post for more)

New! See list of exercises in this workout

Level: Advanced

Bottom line: This routine integrates difficult athletic-style intervals with equally difficult yoga-inspired techniques, forming a challenging, unique, compact and highly enjoyable workout.

Nothing about this workout is difficult to follow or (theoretically) difficult to perform, but it defies almost all the norms that I’m used to in workout DVDs. The cardio intervals are straightforward enough, but the toning segments are quite unique, both in execution and mentality. The movements are mostly yoga-inspired and require a good deal of control and balance, but Lalo’s twists on these moves create more of a “conventional” burn and a cardiovascular workout as well. Despite the intensity, though, the workout is almost meditative.

There are some extremely difficult exercises in this workout, particularly the various types of pushups, and they are made even more difficult by the “freeze,” or pause and static hold, that is completed in each move. Pushups with twist overs and spider pushups are a challenge in and of themselves- try adding a static hold at the bottom of each pushup! There is no question that this workout is advanced; I’ve definitely had to work up to doing all the moves without modifications.

Like Lalofit, this workout is extremely compact and an excellent choice for travel, since hand weights are the only equipment needed and the workout is full-body. As I also said in my review of Lalofit, though, I wouldn’t use this workout in place of a strength training routine, since I felt that some muscle groups were not worked enough to see good toning results (ex: biceps). While it’s a good choice for cross training or travel, I would worry that using this as my only strength training workout would cause me to lose the definition I’ve worked so hard for using more conventional strength training with weights.

Overall: This meditative workout involves some very difficult exercises that will challenge advanced exercisers and therefore provides an excellent choice for cross-training or mixing up a routine. It’s also a superb travel workout. I would recommend it wholeheartedly, but certainly not in place of a more thorough strength training routine.