Les Mills Cross Training Review
Hi all! Hope you are having a nice weekend! I’ve been making some progress on my 30 Under 30 list so hopefully I’ll have another update for you soon! With the weather still being really cold and the hubs n Mexico, there is no excuse not to get things done! Although I can’t wait until I can finally post about my fun weekend plans!
In the meantime, I’ll continue my Les Mills review. I already gave you a run down on the Les Mills fitness programs and the at-home Les Mills Pump program, well there are a couple more at-home programs by Les Mills that are a great addition to your home fitness routine. The Les Mills Pump program is a great strength and toning home program, but you’ll see better results if you combine it with cardio. Luckily, Les Mills has you covered! The Les Mills Ultimate Cross Training three disc set provides you with a little taste of some of their best classes.
The first DVD is Step and is based on the traditional Les Mills BodyStep class. You will need a step for this DVD, so if you don’t have one, you’ll have to purchase a step. I promise if you make the investment, it will be worth it for this DVD. Holy moly it is TOUGH! It’s only 30 minutes in length so when I popped the DVD in, I confidently thought “I got this. No sweat.” Um right…thirty minutes later I was dripping in sweat. This is not your average 80’s step class. It is tough and it’s based on sports cross training. The first two tracks (remember Les Mills breaks down its choreography and moves by music track) are warm-up and are not too difficult but by track 3, expect to blast off. Think burpees, jumping lunges and knee repeaters all with the step. If you want to work on your legs and buns, I can honestly say there are not a lot of other programs out there that will give you just great results. The step really adds resistance that makes you work your bottom half really hard.
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Because this DVD was actually originally part of the Pump program (although they are not now sold together), the DVD also uses one of the Pump plates. You hold it to your chest while jumping around on the step. Yes it is as hard as it sounds. If you don’t own the Pump program, you could hold a medicine ball or one heavier dumbbell to your chest or you could do without-but that would be taking the easy way out!
The second DVD is Sports Attack, based on Les Mills’ BodyAttack program. You don’t need any equipment for this DVD. This DVD is cardio sports conditioning training. You should expect to see moves that you would see in training for sports like “shooting a basket”, high knees, knee lifts, etc. Just like Step, even though this DVD is only 30 minutes, it is a great cardio workout. You work the entire time so you make the most out of the short time. I would recommend Attack or Step when you are short on time and need to blast off some calories or you can combine them with the Pump program- more on that below.
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The third and final DVD is Combat and has a mixed martial arts focus.
As a side note, Les Mills also offers Combat as a full at-home cardio program based on their signature BodyCombat class. Their Combat program is based on mixed martial arts training. This program comes with 7 DVDs including a 30 min, 45 min, two 60 min workouts and 2 HIIT workouts. I didn’t buy this program (although it is significantly less expensive than Pump and does not require any equipment) because Combat was never really my favorite Les Mills program and I feel the burn much more in their other classes. However, if you like kickboxing, boxing, karate or other martial arts, you will probably like this program and you should give it a try!
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Anyway, the Combat DVD that comes with the Ultimate Cross Training set is 45 minutes in length. Out of the three DVDs, even though this one is the longest, I think it’s the least intense. It’s a good introduction to this type of program and I’ll use the DVD on days where I want some cardio but don’t want to work as hard. 🙂
Overall I think these DVDs are a great addition to my Pump program but even without Pump, I think these DVDs are a great investment. If you do have the Pump program, check out your Les Mills Pump Training Guide and you can find a 30-Day Les Mills Pump Ultimate Cross Training Hybrid Challenge. This Challenge combines the Pump DVDs with the Ultimate Cross Training DVDs. Here’s an example of one week of training in the Challenge:
Day 1- Sports Attack (30 min)
Day 2- Combat (45 min)
Day 3- Step (30 min)
Day 4- Flow (20 min)
Day 5- Pump Revolution (55 min)
Day 6- Step (30 min)
Day 7- Rest
Now, on a totally unrelated topic… the hubs and I are really active on the weekends during the summer but during the winter we end of sort of being couch potatoes and going out to eat a lot. While we still hit the gym, we just are not as active in the winter. Readers, do you have any suggestions for staying fit and active during the colder months before the weather gets nice?