Yoga DVD Review Part II

The second DVD on my three-part yoga review series (based on challenge no. 1) is:

Exhale's instructors are a married couple who teeter on the edge of being incredibly annoying, but their workouts are stellar, so I can forgive them to a certain extent.

Similar to their other DVDs in the Exhale series, this one starts off with a deceivingly mild warm-up. Then, suddenly, you're launching into what seems like a 45-minute plank and angering muscles that had no idea what was coming.

Energy Flow is much more rooted in yoga than Jillian Michael's version (review here). While Elizabeth and Fred do include repetitions, it is for the most part a heart-pumping Vinyasa flow. Down Dog breaks seem like milliseconds. That being said, it is not the most difficult yoga session I've ever done. If I can complete every move, it has to be incredibly easy for a lot of yoga practicers out there.

Boosting this DVD's score is the fact that they break it up into five 10-minute sections. So you can do almost an hour workout or pick and choose based on how much time you have.

I'm giving Energy Flow an 8 out of 10.

Yoga Wars

So Barnes and Noble was having a buy-2-get-1-free DVD sale, and I went a little nuts on the yoga DVDs. Since we just moved, I've been slacking on the yoga three times a week (challenge no. 1). It's time to get it together.

I thought I'd do a little review of each DVD (starting tomorrow as I have to actually do them). Meet the contestants:

Yeah, I know. Jillian Michaels. But I have one of her other DVDs (called Metabolism Boost Jump Start Fat Annihilator or something similar) and it has made me unable to walk up and down stairs on many occasion, so I figure that her way of yoga is going to be challenging enough. And look what it says on the cover: burn MEGA calories! I like to do MEGA everything, so let's do this, Michaels.

I have never heard of Rodney Yee before (until of course I consulted his Wikipedia page), but he looks like he knows what he's doing. He was a gymnast and ballet dancer and appears to have negative percent body fat. I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with this one, but we'll see.

I already have some of Exhale's DVDs, purchased after I spent a trial week at the Exhale gym and spa here in NYC and realized they do the exact same thing on the DVDs as they do in their classes. $250 a month saved! Anyway, their classes were extremely challenging, so I'm willing to give their yoga a try.


So I'll be spending the next week with Jillian, Rodney, Elisabeth and Fred. Wish me luck. Namaste and stuff.