Yoga Zone - Total Body Conditioning
Written on May 14, 2008
Yoga Zone - Total Body Conditioning Set in the beautiful landscapes of Jamaica, Yoga Zone’s Total Body Conditioning delivers the intensive mind and body experience that has made Yoga Zone so popular. Divided into two distinct 20-minute workouts, the programs can be done individually for the time-pressed exerciser or together for an extended challenge. The first of these contains an informal approach to breathing and lengthening exercises. Isometric abdominal work is coupled with pelvic tilts and meditation. Some familiar postures are seen within this first session, with warrior, triangle, and mountain poses. The second session includes some deeper lunges and forward bends with the same focus on body alignment and posture. Total Body Conditioning illustrates a plausible beginning format because of its practical and approachable postures with a minimal risk of injury. In fact, programs like this can actually lengthen and strengthen the core muscles, which may aid in injury prevention. Meditation closes out both sessions and mats are necessary throughout all phases of this workout. The instruction and content here are so solid that beginners and intermediates alike will feel at home. –Olivia Voigts
Customer Review: There are better Yoga Zones….
Total Body Conditioning is another Yoga Zone video that is split into 2-20 minute sessions. The first session is led by Lisa Bennett who is joined by Charles Matkin. They are sitting on a beach at the Grand Lido San Souci resort in Jamaica, the scenery is rather nice in this segment.
Session 1 starts in a simple seated twist with legs extended out in front of you, then you lift your arms up and twist to one side then the other holding each briefly. Then you will move into chin to knee pose, crossing one leg over the other then leaning forward, then repeating on other side. After this you will do table pose, scale pose, and bound angular which Lisa calls a serenity pose. Then you will stand and do a series of poses starting with triangle pose leaning over the front leg first, then the back leg. From here you will move into warrior 2 pose then right angle with arm extended up, then you will do reverse right angle while adding a twist, with the option to leave your knee on the ground. You will return to standing (mountain pose) and repeat this series on the other side. To finish out this segment you will go into childs pose, then lie on your back and moving into a spinal twist with knees to one side then the other, then it’s the final relaxation pose.
Session 2 is led by Charles, with Lisa assisting this time. You begin with a Sun Salutation on your knees, raising your arms up and side then rising up onto your knees later adding a forward bend at the middle. Then you will do a kneeling spine stretch, then a seated hip opener with your heels together and hands behind you. Next you will move into downward facing dog, then lunge pose on the right pose, unfortunately the left side is completely missed so you will need to stop or rewind the program if you want to do lunge on the left. Then you will stretch out in seal pose before moving in side lunges, right then left. Then you will do a seated spine stretch with legs extended out and hands behind you. Following this you will see table pose, scale pose, another seated stretch with one knee in and the other leg extended out where you will reach you opposite arm to the extended leg. Then you will move into plank pose, done on the knees or the toes, then moving into downward facing dog and combining the two for a vinyasa. More planks follow this time while moving into chatarangas, then you will finish out this segment with a mini cobra, locust pose, childs pose, extended bound angular and final relaxation pose.
Overall I liked the first session better, session 2 is okay there is a rather big error with the lunge pose being completely missed on one side. Session 2 is also the identical program as session 1 on Yoga Zone’s Gentle Yoga DVD. There are better Yoga Zone videos, such as Evening Stress Release and Strengthen & Tone. This one wasn’t terrible, just okay for me.
Customer Review: Yoga Zone is Great
You just can’t go wrong with Yoga Zone. I love the fact that this is split into two 20 minute workouts. Do the 1st one in the morning before work or do the whole thing after work. The guy featured in the workout was kinda dorky but other than that really liked this dvd. Challenging but doable.
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Filed in: Yoga Resources.