Ilaria’s PowerStrike Kickboxing 6

Ilaria Montagnani’s PowerStrike 6 is a 49 minute kickboxing workout; 5 minute warm up, 42 minute training time and 2 minute cool down/stretch. 

I love Ilaria’s kickboxing workouts—actually I love all of her workouts that I own. I own many other kickboxing and kickboxing inspired workouts, but Ilaria’s feel like REAL kickboxing. Intense and advanced. PowerStrike 6 is my favorite of all of her straight kickboxing workouts. I don’t own every single one of them—I own three (PowerStrike 5, PowerStrike 6 and one simply titled PowerStrike–but apparently is actually PowerStrike 4)—but of those three, this one is the most fun and enjoyable. As an aside, she also has two kickboxing workouts that have no punches, they just focus on the lower body—so kicks only—BodyStrike and BodyStrike 2. They are both excellent, but they are different, so they can’t really be compared to the PowerStrike workouts. Those workouts will pop up here eventually when I do them again. 

Back to the review! PowerStrike 6 consists of 3 parts. The first is punch combos, second is kick combos, third is punch/kick combos. This is the way her other two PowerStrike workouts are structured but in PowerStrike 6 you do the combos on both sides of the body—so you work the whole body evenly. In PowerStrike 5 she has different combos that are not repeated on the other side of the body. In that workout, she states that by the end of the workout, you will have worked each side evenly, but I like actually knowing that I have done a balanced workout! That’s not the only reason I love this workout the best. It is the way everything is put together. As mentioned earlier, these are real kickboxing workouts and they are hard. They take coordination and some balance. Though I do not want to negate from the other two workouts, because I really do love them all, some of the combos get a little complicated. That’s not to say PowerStrike 6 is easier, it’s not—but the moves all flow together more naturally. It seemed easier to learn them then sink into the rhythm. 

The workout is done add on style, so even with the more complicated moves you get a chance to get the move down before more moves are added and the combo becomes complex. The pace is brisk but not rushed, so your heart is pumping. Each combo is unique. For instance, once the punch circuits are done (you do them on each side of the body), you don’t see those punch combos again, same with the kicks. When you move to the full kickboxing combos, they contain new ways of putting the moves together. Plus, you do both combos on one side before doing them both on the other side, so it keeps it fresh. 

I did mention this was advanced, but perhaps low advanced. If you want to push it up a notch, use some weight gloves. I use weighted gloves for most of my other kickboxing workouts, but not for Ilaria’s—yet. I probably need to start. This is primarily a low impact workout but you get what you put into it. If you are doing weak punches and low kicks with no force behind them, it will not seem very intense. If you focus on form and put force in your moves (as you would if you were to actually strike something) you will get an intense workout. 

Ilaria is an excellent instructor, perfect form and good cuing. Her workouts are all solid, intense and fun. I wish I knew how to get my hands on the others in the PowerStrike collection (apparently there is, or was, a 1, 2 & 3), but they don’t appear to be available.