Buns of Steel 10

[Guest guest]

I pulled this one out from the way back of the shelf to give it a try for the first time. I got it from freecycle who knows when, along with a lot of other Buns of Steel workouts and decided to try it. My spreadsheet was super helpful. This is buried 3 rows back on my shelf and I didn't even know I had it. I wanted a circuit workout and something under an hour so this was one of the choices my spreadsheet gave me. Anyway, as I said, it is a circuit workout. Lesia Hart leads it. You do 3 circuits of cardio on the step interspersed with 2 circuits of toning with a resistance band, also using the step. It ends with a 5 minute ab workout done with the step slanted from one end with risers and then a stretch. There's also a warm-up. Lesia is very warm, encouraging and fun. I don't know if I've done other workouts with her before but definitely would like to again. Her cueing was great with one tiny exception. I think this is geared more towards beginners (there's a lot of instruction) and she'll say something like, "Next we're going to..." and I'd think we're going right into that move but it was still 4 or 8 beats away. Oh well, not a big deal and it probably won't trip me up next time since I'll be aware of it.

The stepping in this is beyond simple. No choreography to remember, no combinations at all. Even the arm movements are simple. She explains how to do everything very clearly too. Anyone (really) can do this one. She had her step up to 6" and I did that too since I didn't know how the workout would go but next time I'll either have to raise it or add more power moves. It is all low impact. I had a hard time getting my heart rate into my training zone during the first cardio interval but it was better during the 2nd and 3rd. The toning stuff was interesting. One example was to wrap the band around the bottom of the step, put on foot on the step and one on the floor and do bicep curls with or without lunges. She hit mostly upper body with the toning but did some lunges and squats too. (they were optional, more advanced moves but she did them). Another thing I found interesting was that all of the stepping was done with the step going on a vertical towards the TV instead of horizontal, like I'm used to. It was fine, just different.

The abs were not my thing though. I didn't get much out of them and doing them on the step was just not comfortable. I'll try it again to see if it was just me because I've never done it that way before though. The stretch was okay but not great. Relaxing though.

I was fully expecting not to like this but I really did and even though strength training with bands is not my favorite thing, this was interesting and fun and I would definitely do it again. It will be good for no brainer morning workouts that I can either add intensity to or not as I choose too.

I hope everyone else has fun workouts today too! Tomorrow is my day off from exercising but I'm planning to workout most of the rest of the week. Not sure what I'm doing next but am thinking about possibly doing a Buns of Steel week just to try out some of these tapes and see if others are worth keeping too!