Rapid Fire--my review

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
Holy moly did this one kick my butt! And SO much fun! I admit I was skeptical the first time I tried it, didn't seem to get my HR up very high until about midway through the workout. But I can also see the logic in it--the intensity builds steadily so you barely notice it, & before you know it your HR goes from 145 to 175. The second time I did it (Saturday) it kicked my booty! :eek:

It's broken into 3 sections. The shadow box section is first & is probably the easiest, but it's still a good, solid routine that gets your HR pumping. Sue's form is excellent & her cuing is perfect.

The KB section is, for me, the most fun. Some jump kicks & some moves that are familiar, some that aren't. She puts together some super fun combos.

The heavy bag section is awesome. It's very different from Cathe's & Amy's, & I'm really glad I now have the 3 to choose from. :) I think there's more kicking than in the others, & lots of flurrying to spike the HR.

And I cannot say enough about her core section! I never thought I'd find an instructor whose core work rivaled Cathe's when it comes to a major burn, but Sue fits the bill. Well, except for the last exercise in the routine, which I still haven't quite gotten down yet. I did her's & the Cathe's CM sec 3 after the cardio, & OMG was I feeling it yesterday!

In any case, an excellent workout all around. If you love KB--crap, even if you don't--this is a must have for your collection. :cool:
 
I've done this workout and parts of it twice through and LOVE IT!!! The ab section is awesome. The standing ab work is ok, didn't really feel it as I was doing it but the next day I did.

Love the KB part and the SB part. I'd love the heavy bag if I had a heavy bag! LOL! It's ok even without the bag, but it would be better to have one.

10 stars on this one!
 
I did a little of this work out one time and enjoyed it. Can't wait to do more. I did it wearing weighted gloves which I wear for all k/b work outs now. I did all of the shadow boxing plus a few minutes of the kickbox and finished off with the seated ab work. I enjoyed it but I think the kickbox segment is going to take some practice which I will need to make sure I have the patience for when I do it. She quickly threw in a move that I had trouble with which is part of the reason why I didn't do more of the work out. I wasn't prepared to be patient that day. :p Anyway, in only 30 mins I got a good work out and my core was ON FIRE the next day!!!!!! :D

Not sure when I'll be kickboxing again but when I do this one is on tap for another try! :)
 
Count me in as another THUMBS UP for this workout! I completed it for the first time on Friday and completed it in its entirety. I cannot say enough good things about this workout. I've been to several live classes of this format, and it felt like I was right there in class. Susan's form is impeccable, mostly b/c she's a 5th degree black belt :). I love, love, love her personality. I will be reaching for this workout time and time again. I didn't get all of the moves perfectly the first time through, which I liked. It means that I still have combinations to work up towards. I don't envision myself EVER getting bored with this workout. I actually wanted to do it again last night, but had some others still in the wrappers that I hadn't yet tried. I hope this is the first of many Susan Chung workouts. FANTASTIC!

Pjlippert: The instructor is Susan Chung. This is her first workout DVD, and it was produced by Tracey Stahale. Here is a link where you can learn more about the DVD and the instructor - http://www.brucechung.com/powvideo.html
 
I've just previewed this one so far, but have it on my schedule for today.
I REALLY like it from preview (all but the intro, where the instructor does a 'big eye' thing like one of the hosts of a diet show on FitTV, but since I won't watch that section again, it's no biggy).

I thought all the sections looked great, and I really appreciated the modification offered for the turning move (though I'd sub with two front kicks and two back kicks instead).

I think this is an EXCELLENT workout and DVD, especially for a first-time effort (and I hope Susan comes out with more in the future).
 
kathryn said:
I've just previewed this one so far, but have it on my schedule for today.
I REALLY like it from preview (all but the intro, where the instructor does a 'big eye' thing like one of the hosts of a diet show on FitTV, but since I ......
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What's a 'big eye' thing?


This is a great workout! I've done it without the bag a few times, then yesterday I added the bag in the workout! I liked it--it's different than Cathe's and Amy's, and good to have these all to choose from. (I think Laura said that, too) The whole workout from start to finish is fantastic. Susan has great form! She is such a great example to follow and emulate.
Here are some comments I made on a couple of Facebook posts. I'm pasting them here, so the ideas might not flow smoothly,
but many of my thoughts are here! Such a great workout, especially this being her first video.

I posted this on FB when first time I did the workout:
Susan Chung's RapidFire: Kick, Box & Core Burn. Today I did WU, Shadow Box, Kickox, Standing Core Ball Work, Stretch. 63 minutes.
She presents a very good instruction section, w/husband Bruce demonstrating the moves with very good form. I learned a lot watching that portion.VERY good dynamic & energetic workout. The shadow box & combinations are cued in the beginning of the combinations well, then then she cues a bit less in the end, so I would get a little lost(but wasn't too bad on my part!). Choreography of the KB combos are a happy medium between Cathe and Amy--in other words,I was able to learn all the combos today with just slight difficulty. The music was mainly a driving beat,and the songs were non-descript(could have been more motivating, but, I mostly didn't notice the music.

I wrote this on another post later:
Some constructive criticism would be: some more music variety. Although what she has doesn’t bother me, music changes more often would be motivating, as opposed to mostly the driving beat music she has. There are some close-up shots where they are almost too close to see anything, so those could maybe back off a little. This is not a criticism, but, just a comment that she cues well beginning the moves, then the cueing drops off near the end of the combinations—I am not sure whether she should increase the cuing – I got a little lost my first time through, but, I know I will pick it up later when I do it a couple of more times. But, some people may need more cuing. I don’t really need more cuing as I am use to working out to Amy Bento(she cues less and I can get her moves). Anyway, those are just minor things. This is such a FANTASTIC TOP NOTCH workout.
 
Below is what I previously wrote about Susan's workout. I really enjoyed it

I did Susan Chung's new Rapid Fire Kickbox and Core Burn DVD tonight. It is a very good 90 minute workout. I think that you really have to review the instructional segment first. For some reason I did that today but usually I do not. I am glad that I did. She throws moves at you very rapidly and she assumes that you know what she calls things. She does not do much breaking things down or give many form pointers. I think because she assumes that you reviewed the instructional segment. I missed maybe one or two reps of some of the moves while I acclimated myself to what she was doing. The workout has ten premixes of all different lengths and is well chaptered and contains a mix and match segment. She does give suggestions about how to use the pre mixes because most days many people do not have 90 minutes to exercise. The ab segments (standing and floor- using a med ball or core ball) is very good and looks easier than it is. By the time you get to it, your abs are fatigued from all of the kickboxing moves and all of the core work that you do in the kickboxing segments. It contains a good heavy bag segment. Some of the camera angles in this segment threw me off because sometimes she does not mention what leg you are on (or maybe I was not paying attention). She must be left dominant because many of the segments throughout this DVD began on the left. The left start was a good change of pace for me. As I said, thing go rapidly and you really have to listen closely to her cues. The music fits the tempo and style and feel of the workout. All in all a solid 4-4.5 star workout. I am going to do it again in a few weeks. The DVD contains a very good shadow boxing segment (I used my 1lb boxing gloves but she used one pound dumbbells) and very good kickbox segments. Once I am more familiar with the workout I am sure that I will enjoy it even more
 
I did the workout last night: all but the bag segment and the floor abs.

I liked it as well as I had on preview. Her choreo reminds me somewhat of Illaria in the way that moves are built up, but I might like her even better! I thought the moves flowed very smoothly into each other.

Cuing could be sharpened a bit in places, but it's easy enough to catch on. She does give some moves names that are not self-explanatory (ie: a 'knee twist', which sounds like an injury, but is a cross-over knee move).

Other small peeves: no one should EVER do close-ups of shuffles, they are dizzying (noticed more on preview than on doing the workout, since I usually watch my own for more than the DVD), and extreme closeups that don't show the moves (a few in the warm-up, also not that noticeable when doing the workout) should be avoided. The final stretches for upper body are also not held quite long enough (8 counts, whereas I prefer post-workout stretches of about 15-20 seconds) and the first stretch is a ballistic bounce that I will not do.

I liked the music (my type of music for a KB workout: strong beats, no vocals, like I'm in a 'workout façtory') I didn't even mind the repetition.

Overall, I'd give this a 4.5 out of 5.

FYI: If anyone else wants to sub to stay facing forward for that pivoting move, the two-front-kicks/two-back-kicks works MUCH better than her suggestion of 4 front kicks, as it puts you in position for the next move.
 
FYI: If anyone else wants to sub to stay facing forward for that pivoting move, the two-front-kicks/two-back-kicks works MUCH better than her suggestion of 4 front kicks, as it puts you in position for the next move.
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THANK YOU! I will have to try this the next time I do the work out! :)
 
wendygurl said:
Son of a gun... Why did I open this thread? Well here we go Capitol one...
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Yeah, I opened the last thread on this subject.:eek: I haven't done it yet, but I'm really excited based on the reviews. Thanks, Laura, for letting us know about it.
 
Okay enablers you've hooked me (get it? ha ha). I had no interest in this before, but now, thanks to this old thread, I'm off to make my third purchase of 2011!

Shelbygirl
 
Thanks for posting Laura! I pre-ordered but have not done it yet, now I have some motivation to try this one out, probably tonight.
 
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