This week I received my copy of Art of Strength-Providence! My BF and I tried it out and found it quite enjoyable. Here’s the recap and review:
The instructor is Anthony DiLugllio, and he’s pretty much all business, which I like. My BF enjoyed mocking Anthony’s Rhode Island accent, until about the third round or so, when he was too busy struggling to keep up. Ha.
There is a “Practice” section where you can review and practice each of the exercises featured in the program.
The workout is broken into fourteen 2-minute rounds with 1-minute breaks between each round.
There is a joint mobility warmup that is almost exactly identical to the one on Lauren Brooks DVD. Maybe it’s just a kettlebell thing.
Here’s a list of the exercises in each round:
1. 2-handed swing, one arm swing, hand-to-hand swing
2. Cleans (yes, just two minutes of cleans)
3. Chest presses
4. Squats and sumo deadlifts
5. One leg deadlift
6. Windmils into overhead squats
7. Clean and press
8. Flip and squat
9. Tactical lunges
10. Triple crush (neat little bicep-tricep exercise)
11. Sling shot in a figure 8 with a static hold
12. Seated press
13. One arm row
14. Pullovers, Russian twists, Sicilian crunch
Plus a three-minute bonus round of snatches. Ouchie.
OK, now the workout was really good: simple but intense, and it took about 45 minutes (closer to 50 if you stick it out for the bonus).
Anthony is a good instructor. Not “Cathe” great, but perfectly good. Sometimes the “1-minute” breaks aren’t really 1 minute, and sometimes he spends time explaining a move that might be better spent just DOING it. But these are nitpicky complaints and I think I’ll get my money’s worth out of the video. It would also be a good one to share, since it’s relatively do-able (relatively).
I don’t mind if instructors releasing their first DVDs are not as smooth and professional as Cathe, and I get that they might need to charge a little more to make up the expense of filming. You will pay around $50 for each of the Art of Strength DVDs, and they don’t have the versatility, chaptering, or production quality of Cathe’s DVDs. It’s a little aggravating, but I guess it’s worth it to support people who are producing new and innovative workouts (so maybe we can get cheaper, better ones in the future!). Also, maybe Cathe will do a kettlebell DVD? Which would be sooooo awesome.
I think an earlier poster on another kettlebell thread suggested trying either this one OR the Lauren Brooks one, and I’d say that was a pretty good suggestion – Providence offers a slightly greater variety of exercises, but there’s not a huge amount of difference between the two. If you’re on a budget, one or the other of these would be fine as a beginner/intermediate DVD, or a way to work on your form, and can be made more challenging by upping the weight.
Since previewing this and the Lauren Brooks DVD, I have to say I CAN’T WAIT to finish my current rotation so I can invent a kettlebell rotation! I’m really looking forward to playing with both of my new DVDs!
I also received my “Kettlebell Goddess” DVD (with Andrea DuCane, from DragonDoor) and I don’t have much good to say about it. No music?? Hardly any explanation or cueing?? Umm…definitely not a keeper for me.
If you want to, you can find my review of the Lauren Brooks DVD here.
Lisa
The instructor is Anthony DiLugllio, and he’s pretty much all business, which I like. My BF enjoyed mocking Anthony’s Rhode Island accent, until about the third round or so, when he was too busy struggling to keep up. Ha.
There is a “Practice” section where you can review and practice each of the exercises featured in the program.
The workout is broken into fourteen 2-minute rounds with 1-minute breaks between each round.
There is a joint mobility warmup that is almost exactly identical to the one on Lauren Brooks DVD. Maybe it’s just a kettlebell thing.
Here’s a list of the exercises in each round:
1. 2-handed swing, one arm swing, hand-to-hand swing
2. Cleans (yes, just two minutes of cleans)
3. Chest presses
4. Squats and sumo deadlifts
5. One leg deadlift
6. Windmils into overhead squats
7. Clean and press
8. Flip and squat
9. Tactical lunges
10. Triple crush (neat little bicep-tricep exercise)
11. Sling shot in a figure 8 with a static hold
12. Seated press
13. One arm row
14. Pullovers, Russian twists, Sicilian crunch
Plus a three-minute bonus round of snatches. Ouchie.
OK, now the workout was really good: simple but intense, and it took about 45 minutes (closer to 50 if you stick it out for the bonus).
Anthony is a good instructor. Not “Cathe” great, but perfectly good. Sometimes the “1-minute” breaks aren’t really 1 minute, and sometimes he spends time explaining a move that might be better spent just DOING it. But these are nitpicky complaints and I think I’ll get my money’s worth out of the video. It would also be a good one to share, since it’s relatively do-able (relatively).
I don’t mind if instructors releasing their first DVDs are not as smooth and professional as Cathe, and I get that they might need to charge a little more to make up the expense of filming. You will pay around $50 for each of the Art of Strength DVDs, and they don’t have the versatility, chaptering, or production quality of Cathe’s DVDs. It’s a little aggravating, but I guess it’s worth it to support people who are producing new and innovative workouts (so maybe we can get cheaper, better ones in the future!). Also, maybe Cathe will do a kettlebell DVD? Which would be sooooo awesome.
I think an earlier poster on another kettlebell thread suggested trying either this one OR the Lauren Brooks one, and I’d say that was a pretty good suggestion – Providence offers a slightly greater variety of exercises, but there’s not a huge amount of difference between the two. If you’re on a budget, one or the other of these would be fine as a beginner/intermediate DVD, or a way to work on your form, and can be made more challenging by upping the weight.
Since previewing this and the Lauren Brooks DVD, I have to say I CAN’T WAIT to finish my current rotation so I can invent a kettlebell rotation! I’m really looking forward to playing with both of my new DVDs!
I also received my “Kettlebell Goddess” DVD (with Andrea DuCane, from DragonDoor) and I don’t have much good to say about it. No music?? Hardly any explanation or cueing?? Umm…definitely not a keeper for me.
If you want to, you can find my review of the Lauren Brooks DVD here.
Lisa
Can't wait. I used them at a conference in March so I know they're great fun. Wahoo!!! Thanks for posting about the Lauren Brooks DVD.
