Kellyro77
Cathlete
So, I've finally finished going through the ICE series and feel like I can post my thoughts on it here.
I remember viewing the clips of these workouts way back when it first released and thinking to myself "these don't look intermediate to me, they look advanced."
I kind of still hold to that impression after doing them. For me, what makes these intermediate isn't necessarily the absence of difficulty - it's the length of the workouts. So, instead of spending, say, five minutes doing a "blast" (where cardio in the main workout is concerned), you spend maybe three, so you're not pushing so hard for quite so long and you get a little break sooner than you would in her bonafide advanced workouts.
I think this has potential to build confidence in beginner/intermediate exercisers - you can try out the advanced moves, discover they won't kill you, and get a breather really quickly so you can recover sooner.
Yes, Amanda is there showing optional, lower-impact / lower difficulty moves If you followed her lead through all the workouts, I'd then probably categorize these as intermediate, possibly leaning toward beginner.
Now, the above is speaking to the main workouts. NOT the Blizzard Blasts. The Blizzard Blasts are absolutely advanced - and while I didn't do all of them yet, the Blizzard Blast from Rock'm Sock'm gave me a good taste for what the blasts have in store (and jeeeeez, it feels like it won't end!)
With this series, I feel like Cathe did a great job of making sure exercisers of all levels get what they want. The beginners get Amanda to follow, the intermediate get to experience some true intensity with quick breathers in between, and the advanced get to tag on the Blizzard Blasts and increase their weight selections.
I'm glad I finally gave this series an actual real try. I did some of the workouts a couple years ago with an OnDemand subscription, but I don't feel like I was able to give them a fair chance because at the time, I was recovering from a pinched nerve in my lower back, which made a lot of the moves where you lean forward either really uncomfortable or just plain impossible. That really frustrated me--because such moves showed up a lot through the series--so I felt kind of luke warm about the series.
Now that I can experience the series injury-free, I've found that overall I really like it (even if I waffle on whether or not these workouts are truly "intermediate".) The music and sequencing are all fun, and I love the bright, cheery outfits.
Finally, I've not re-visited the Muscle Meltdowns, yet. I did them a couple years ago when I had OnDemand, though, and I remember they felt pretty challenging - again, mostly when I increased my weight selections. When I did that, I also paused the workout between sets so I'd give myself extra rest before diving into the next set.
Glad I have this in my library, now. I think my favorite from all of them is Rock'm Sock'm. If anything is missing from this series, I do feel like it's a good, solid lower body resistance training workout. There's some weight work in Chiseled Lower Body Blast, but the weights are on the lighter side and she's relying more on explosive cardio-type moves to challenge the muscles than weights. I do, however, love and appreciate To the Mat (the only workout from this series I purchased when it first came out) - I appreciate having a floor-work-only lower body workout, as it's equally important for my joints to get some training that doesn't include weights and high impact. I try to do this workout, or the floor work from Butts & Guts, at least once a month.
I look forward to figuring out how I'll weave these workouts into future rotations. I did them as part of a rotation mixed with Strong & Sweaty, found in the S&S User's Guide.
I talked at one time about maybe subbing in the Muscle Meltdown body parts workouts for the body parts workouts in the STS 2 rotations. Blizzard Blasts can show up as quick cardio additions on cardio days. The core bonuses were nice and of course can be swapped out with any other core workout.
And one last note of appreciation that with this series, she was still including decent stretches at the ends of the workouts.
I remember viewing the clips of these workouts way back when it first released and thinking to myself "these don't look intermediate to me, they look advanced."
I kind of still hold to that impression after doing them. For me, what makes these intermediate isn't necessarily the absence of difficulty - it's the length of the workouts. So, instead of spending, say, five minutes doing a "blast" (where cardio in the main workout is concerned), you spend maybe three, so you're not pushing so hard for quite so long and you get a little break sooner than you would in her bonafide advanced workouts.
I think this has potential to build confidence in beginner/intermediate exercisers - you can try out the advanced moves, discover they won't kill you, and get a breather really quickly so you can recover sooner.
Yes, Amanda is there showing optional, lower-impact / lower difficulty moves If you followed her lead through all the workouts, I'd then probably categorize these as intermediate, possibly leaning toward beginner.
Now, the above is speaking to the main workouts. NOT the Blizzard Blasts. The Blizzard Blasts are absolutely advanced - and while I didn't do all of them yet, the Blizzard Blast from Rock'm Sock'm gave me a good taste for what the blasts have in store (and jeeeeez, it feels like it won't end!)
With this series, I feel like Cathe did a great job of making sure exercisers of all levels get what they want. The beginners get Amanda to follow, the intermediate get to experience some true intensity with quick breathers in between, and the advanced get to tag on the Blizzard Blasts and increase their weight selections.
I'm glad I finally gave this series an actual real try. I did some of the workouts a couple years ago with an OnDemand subscription, but I don't feel like I was able to give them a fair chance because at the time, I was recovering from a pinched nerve in my lower back, which made a lot of the moves where you lean forward either really uncomfortable or just plain impossible. That really frustrated me--because such moves showed up a lot through the series--so I felt kind of luke warm about the series.
Now that I can experience the series injury-free, I've found that overall I really like it (even if I waffle on whether or not these workouts are truly "intermediate".) The music and sequencing are all fun, and I love the bright, cheery outfits.
Finally, I've not re-visited the Muscle Meltdowns, yet. I did them a couple years ago when I had OnDemand, though, and I remember they felt pretty challenging - again, mostly when I increased my weight selections. When I did that, I also paused the workout between sets so I'd give myself extra rest before diving into the next set.
Glad I have this in my library, now. I think my favorite from all of them is Rock'm Sock'm. If anything is missing from this series, I do feel like it's a good, solid lower body resistance training workout. There's some weight work in Chiseled Lower Body Blast, but the weights are on the lighter side and she's relying more on explosive cardio-type moves to challenge the muscles than weights. I do, however, love and appreciate To the Mat (the only workout from this series I purchased when it first came out) - I appreciate having a floor-work-only lower body workout, as it's equally important for my joints to get some training that doesn't include weights and high impact. I try to do this workout, or the floor work from Butts & Guts, at least once a month.
I look forward to figuring out how I'll weave these workouts into future rotations. I did them as part of a rotation mixed with Strong & Sweaty, found in the S&S User's Guide.
I talked at one time about maybe subbing in the Muscle Meltdown body parts workouts for the body parts workouts in the STS 2 rotations. Blizzard Blasts can show up as quick cardio additions on cardio days. The core bonuses were nice and of course can be swapped out with any other core workout.
And one last note of appreciation that with this series, she was still including decent stretches at the ends of the workouts.