Hey Wendymin!! I just finished reading the check-in updates, and YES you can be VERY excited about receiving the IS!! It's awesome and amazing!
Cardio & Weights will be really, really good for you right now. It's the least intense of all the cardios, and doesn't have any power/plyo blasts. You can choose to either do the whole workout in it's circuit format (*very* good upper body conditioning), or you can choose the cardio-only premix. The cardio-only premix is 30 minutes, and about on par with All-Step for intensity. You might want to modify the turn-squat-lunges in the very last segment.
You can actually give IMAX2 a whirl. The step portions prior to the blasts are quite easy and fun. I've actually done just the aerobic step portions as their own workout, using the mix'n match menu. I just skipped over all the blasts and recoveries (dvd is great!). It was a nice mild step workout. I am still doing IMAX2 with the blasts, but know the workout so well by now that it's very easy to swap the intense moves with easier modified versions.
BootCamp will be useful to you right now for the weight work premixes. The cardio in that workout is truly unmodifiably intense. Actually, the cardio is so short, that doing a non-intense substitute would be ineffectual for anything. But the premixes of the weight work would be great! Muscle Endurance should be no problem, as long as you keep your weights light.
The Pyramids are completely doable, particularly since you already know how to modify your weight work. The chest work in PUB is on the flat board, but there's no reason you can't modify by doing them on an incline. And there's no pushups, so you won't have to worry about that! The stability ball ab work in PUB is stellar, but I don't recommend you begin attempting Pikes at this point. You could do the ab work up until the end of the wood chops. When she starts talking about doing planks on the ball, it's time to quit!
In the Body Blast Series, all of the cardio workouts are great. Step Blast has the Challenge at the end, which takes the workout from an intermediate level to advanced. There is a SB premix that just does the 3 combos, with no blasts/challenge at the end. Alternatively, you could do the Challenge, but hit "skip" when she moves into each Blast segment. It's really fun putting all of the 3 combos together at the end; no need to do the blasts that she inserts in-between them.
SJP is great. The hi/lo might feel a bit intense; that's a personal call for you to make. My bladder can't take hi/lo anymore, so I'm avoiding it. If it weren't for the bladder situation, I'd stay with it. SB and SJP have some awesome, awesome premixes that combine segments from each workout. Any of those that don't include the SB Challenge would be great. SJP's step-only premix is 26 minutes, and I would rate it intermediate in level (but super fun!).
KPC is one of my favourite non-step cardio workouts right now. Cathe and Crew really give it 100% during this workout, and if you do the same it will be very intense. However, if you stay light with your punches and jumps, and low with your kicks, you can still get a great, fun cardio workout that doesn't take you out of "talk-test" zone. KPC has a premix that I would rate as "intermediate". It's the 4th one, and runs about 45 minutes. It contains the warm-up, intermediate conditioning drills, and kick/punch combos 1&2. KPC stability ball core work is also really, really good but includes roll-ins and pikes at the end, too.
The weight workouts in the BB are excellent, especially for your current level/needs. I can see myself using them more and more in the near future. There are a couple of moves that you will need to modify due to your belly, but usually Cedie is showing a good modification.
You have a ton of super workouts, Wendy!! Have fun trying them all out! Let me know what you think of the workouts, and which ones turn out to be your favourites!
Cheers!
Sandra
