Peak 10 Fat Blaster Cardio Interval Burn–that title is a mouthful. I want to start this review by saying I am a big fan of Michelle Dozois and her Peak 10 workouts. But I do not like this one. I actually pre-ordered it and Fat Blaster Cardio Strength when they first came out months ago but something kept me from trying them. I was hesitant because each time Michelle comes out with a new Peak 10 workout the choreography becomes more complex. And I hate complex choreography. Well, she definitely delivered–the choreography in this workout is very complex. I would have to say this workout has the most complex choreography of all of her Peak 10 workouts (I have not done Fat Blaster Cardio Strength yet, but the Cardio Strength workouts generally have less complex choreography than the Cardio Interval Burn workouts anyway) and is the least intense of all of her Peak 10 straight cardio workouts. It was all around disappointing. The HIITs were barely HIIT-level except for the very last one and that one was yet another unnecessarily difficult move that in the end I just substituted tuck jumps for.
Before I go any further I am going to paste the basis of Michelle’s Peak 10 Cardio workouts–it is the same in all of the Cardio Interval Burns so no point re-writing it:
The Peak 10 workouts have a basic structure, though the strength and cardio interval workouts differ a bit. There are 5 circuits, each done twice for a total of 10 circuits. She calls the circuit pairs “blocks.” Each circuit has a basecamp, an ascent, a climb and a peak. Base Camp is a recovery period. Ascent is a more aerobic based cardio when you start raising your heart rate. Climb takes the cardio up to a higher intensity and the Peak is a 30 second anaerobic HIIT. The cardio only Peak 10s differ from the Cardio Strength workouts in several ways. First–they’re easier! That’s not to say that they are easy! They are not—they are very intense cardio. However, you do get a genuine recovery. In the Peak 10 Cardio Strength workouts it does not feel like there is any recovery! You’re always pushing it to the max. In the cardio only programs the Base Camp is a genuine (short) recovery that, in my opinion, carries over to the Ascent. The Ascent is good cardio, but it isn’t intense. The only aspect of the cardio-only Peak 10s that is more difficult than the strength Peak 10s is that the Peak is longer (approx 30 seconds rather than the approx 15 second Peaks in the Strength workouts).
Fat Blaster Cardio Interval Burn has some new things that the other Peak 10 workouts don’t have and I really like. I really am disappointed that I dislike the actual workout so much. First, she has a modifier for people who aren’t at an advanced fitness level and/or prefer low impact workouts. Second, since there are quite a few plank-based moves, she has a “no floor” modifier. This is a man who does an alternate exercise that is still intense (not easier/low impact) but doesn’t take you to the floor. She has an express version of the workout that is only 40 minutes long and a 3:30 movement review that goes over some of the more complex choreography to prepare you for it when it appears in the workout. Michelle does introduce some cool new moves in this workout that I really like–the “superhero combination”–this is a very cool and effective combo that she shows in the movement review. I liked it a lot and it was probably one of the highlights of the entire workout for me. I also like the the final 10 minute block the most–tho it is the block that contained the unnecessarily complicated (yet most intense) Peak HIIT that I substituted tuck jumps for. There were a few more moves/combos I did like, but overall the bad (complex choreography and barely HIIT-level HIITs) outweighed the good.
I’m actually going to keep this review pretty short since I didn’t like the workout and will not be returning to it. It has been a while since I’ve done my other Peak 10 (and PeakFit Challenge) workouts and this workout really made me want to go back and sample her choreography again. Next weekend I plan to do
Peak 10 Fat Blaster Cardio Strength, but after that I am going to return to some of her other Peak 10 workouts (and maybe one day finally review PeakFit Challenge). I will try to remember to come back here and post an update–just verifying that yes, the choreography in this workout is much more complex than in her other Peak 10 workouts.
Peak 10 Fat Blaster Cardio Interval Burn is 60 minutes long; 4 minute warm up, 51 minute training time and 5 minute cool down. As mentioned above, the training time consists of 5 approx. 10 minute blocks. Each block is broken down into two 5 minute circuits; the first time it is done it focuses on one side of the body and the second time it focuses on the other side of the body. Each circuit contains a Basecamp (recovery), an Ascent, a Climb and a Peak (HIIT). I’m not going to break down the entire workout, but here are the Peaks: 1. long jump forward, drop into plank and walk hands back to feet; 2. jumping while raising knee and bringing opposite elbow to knee; 3. squat touch down to pencil jump; 4. side leap with knee raise; 5. squat to runners lunge. This last Peak (#5) is the one that, IMHO, is unnecessarily awkward. You are doing a sort of tuck jump but bringing one knee forward and one leg back while doing it, in a sort of lunge. I hate the move. However, it is apparently the latest trend in plyometrics. It has appeared in
Insanity Max:30 and in
Jillian Michaels BodyShred–both of which are new advanced
fitness programs.
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Peak 10 Fat Blaster Cardio Interval Burn–that title is a mouthful. I want to start this review by saying I am a big fan of Michelle Dozois and her Peak 10 workouts. But I do not like this one. I actually pre-ordered it and Fat Blaster Cardio Strength when they first came out months ago but something kept me from trying them. I was hesitant because each time Michelle comes out with a new Peak 10 workout the choreography becomes more complex. And I hate complex choreography. Well, she definitely delivered–the choreography in this workout is very complex. I would have to say this workout has the most complex choreography of all of her Peak 10 workouts (I have not done Fat Blaster Cardio Strength yet, but the Cardio Strength workouts generally have less complex choreography than the Cardio Interval Burn workouts anyway) and is the least intense of all of her Peak 10 straight cardio workouts. It was all around disappointing. The HIITs were barely HIIT-level except for the very last one and that one was yet another unnecessarily difficult move that in the end I just substituted tuck jumps for.
Ok got it. I have the peak 10 system so that works… I just get a little crazy when I like a trainer’s workouts and then think I need all their workouts. I won’t bother with her newest fat blaster ones then, thank you. I have Cathe and Jari to keep me very busy anyway! And I saw that Jari love has a new 1000 workout coming out… now that one I will definately try.
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I saw this in your metabolic DVD rotation and was curious why you picked it if you didn’t like it? This is the only cardio interval burn workout of Michelle’s that I don’t have… it sounds like the others are all better? Do you think it’s worth getting? Also, the only other one of her workouts I don’t have is cardio strength fat blaster, which seems to be available by download only. Now that one sounds awesome! But I am really just set up for DVDs right now. I have almost all of the other DVDs in this rotation and have been working with them for the past few months and loving them! I think both Paul Katami and Mike Donavanik are also good ones to add… there are just so many options.
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To be honest, I didn’t remember that I didn’t like that workout when creating the rotation. I remember enjoying almost all of Michelle’s workouts. But I haven’t done that one in a while and, tho I did follow that rotation, I didn’t follow it to the letter. That’s actually the exact reason I created this blog–because if I don’t do a workout frequently I tend to forgot things about it, so I read my reviews before returning to them. I do remember why I included it tho–because when I did that rotation I did the original Cardio Interval Burn which is no longer available for purchase alone (unless you find it used)–now it’s only available in her Peak 10 system. But I should have looked over the review before I added it to the rotation. I used her original Peak 10s in place of her Fat Blaster Peak 10s when I did the rotation. I didn’t include the originals because I didn’t want to include workouts that are part of a system/program and can’t be purchased by themselves. **I just edited the rotation to note the original Peak 10s as alternatives if you can find them used.
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