Joshua Isaac Smith's Yogaboxing - The Complete Workout For The Mind, Body And Soul DVD > Reviews > Everybody say Ommm

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Educational Value	Good
How good are the presenters?	Good
How good is the content?	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	A good all over workout .
Disadvantages:	Can get a bit boring after a while

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I bought this for a quid, I wanted a new exercise video to do on the days when i wasn't training. Scouring the shelves it was a choice of Jade Goody, Ministry of sound or some soap star - not too inspiring but then I saw this in the bargain bin for a quid so in the basket it went.

Now let me get this straight I'm no gym bunny, I bought Carmen Electra's workout video and watched it while eating a cream cake - that's how committed I am to the cause. I train in martial arts three times a week but wanted something else to do for the other days until it warms up enough to go running.

Yogaboxing was developed by Joshua Isaac Smith who claims to have been instructing yoga for years despite the fact he looks like he could kick Van Damme's butt in a fight. He created it by fusing together Yoga, Tantra Yoga (the saucy one), Boxing, Aerobics, Tai chi and African dance (!) although there are elements of Taekwondo in there as well.

The video consists of 5 sections The wicked warmup, the Hips to head routine, power poses, boxcelerator and confident cooldown.

The wicked warm-up is a ten minute stretching and visualising section which I do every morning when I get up, I don't know if it helps but things ache after it and I'm a bit sweaty after - not something that happens often these days. The Hips to head routine is also 10 minutes and mainly consists of bending yourself into odd positions while praying no one comes through the door while you do and grimacing while you stretch muscles that have for most of life been hiding at the back and passing notes during class. The power poses is the the first part that sorts the men for the boys waving your arms around and going Omm is harder than it looks I had to have a bit of a rest in this bit. The Boxcelerator is a standard aerobic workout with some boxing moves thrown in and the cool down is standard stretching (or lying on the floor swearing)

The video was made in 1992 and does look a bit dated now. Joshua is a good enthusiastic instructor and his two trolly dollies behind him are unassuming and easy on the eye. Occasionally one of them turns into a man and back again, basis for an ideal drinking competition. The soundtrack is standard elevator music but is background to Joshua's Mr Motivator like "yeahs"

Overall for a quid I'm happy with it, I might even splash out fifteen notes on the DVD version so I can flick between the sections quicker. My only quibbles are that he shows you how to do each move, great the first time a bit annoying the seventh time though. You tend to go a bit quicker than him sometimes and often you are in a crane pose holding your breath wishing he would stop talking and tell you to exhale and stand up. On the whole these are small quibbles and bound to be found in any exercise video after multiple watches, worth a splash on if you can find it cheaply.