Monday, October 18, 2010

Round 7: Day 33: Mason's Choice

I dug into my DVD collection today to come up with a cardio routine, and out popped Mason's Choice, also known as Cardio Confusion, from Tony Horton's One on One series.

The workout consists of a series of cardio moves picked at random out of a hat by director Mason Bendewald, then such move is performed by Tony Horton. I wouldn't exactly say that hilarity ensues, but there are light moments, typical of a One on One workout. It's rough, it's raw, it's personal (in a good way).

The moves come from a variety of sources: Power90, P90X, Master Series, and One on One. There were some moves I've never seen before and some I had done previously. Some moves felt awkward, like the Kenpo exercises, but that's probably because my body has never really taken well to kicks and punches. I recall it took weeks before I started feeling comfortable with some of the Kenpo kick and punch combinations and, if I don't do the DVD on a regular basis, it still feels strange when I finally get back to it. Kenpo is just not a particularly natural thing for me. On the other hand, many of the individual exercises were great and overall, this is a workout which, if you put in a strong effort, will bring reward.

One thing I liked about this routine is that there is no equipment involved. At one point, Tony steps outside on the deck to jump some rope, but I substituted jumping jacks for skipping, which successfully maintained an elevated heart rate. At another time, Tony used a medicine ball for press jacks, but I think that exercise can still be effective without carrying an additional 4 lb weight.

Overall, a very pleasant workout experience.

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