13 April 2010
Core Fusion Body Sculpt: Pilates on Crack
Long-time readers will know that I’m just not into yoga or pilates at all. I’ve tried. It’s just not happening, and I’m okay with that. So it’s safe to say that I was pretty skeptical of Core Fusion when Rachel offered to loan me a DVD. I was thinking, “Oh yeah, this will be some hippie-dippie yoga junk that I’ll fall asleep during halfway through.”
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Core Fusion looks perfectly innocent at first.
Totally unassuming.
The DVD is broken into 10-minute segments targeting glutes, thighs, abs, and upper body. There’s also a stretching segment, but I know I’ll never be doing that one.
After about four minutes into the thighs segment, I knew what all the hype is about. The lady who narrates the DVD (and demos the moves) keeps talking about “strength in stillness,” and you’re thinking who knew barely moving could be so hard?! Anyway, suffice it to say I was shaking pretty much the whole time. I seriously didn’t understand why it was kicking my butt when I felt like I was hardly moving. Some more thoughts…
The good:
I haven’t tried all the segments yet, but I can already tell this would be a great addition to any strength training program because, even though I do lunge after lunge after lunge, I could barely complete the glutes segment without collapsing. It works your muscles in a completely different way (and we know that’s a good thing!).
The bad:
It is a little hippie-dippie. They talk about “circular breathing” a little too much for my taste. After the first few times, I was thinking, okay, I get it already! I’LL CONTINUE TO BREATHE, THANKS. But I know some people really do like to stay aware of their breath throughout their workouts… and I think that’s a good thing. It’s just not for me. The whole DVD also seemed a little low budget — the audio is separate from the visual demo, and the narrator stumbles a couple times. But I don’t think it takes away from the experience too much.
The bottom line:
if you’re looking for a workout DVD that’s different from everything else you’ve ever done before, definitely try Core Fusion. It’s great for people who don’t necessarily have the patience for yoga or pilates (like me), but I imagine you get some of the same benefits. And you’ll definitely learn what “strength in stillness” really means.
