NZ Glen : BodyCombat fanatic

Well better late than never – here’s my review of BODYCOMBAT 42. Have a read and definitely let me know your thoughts!

01. Numb (RainDropz! Mix) – Jan Wayne vs RainDropz! / I Do Not Hook Up – Kelly Clarkson

Well – I really like this warm up. It’s just the right length (especially compared to the warm up from BC41 which had Dragostea Din Tei played through twice – I mean that was just too much numa numa!) and I love the upper body remix of Numb. Kelly Clarkson for the lower body warm up for two releases in a row – yeah, possibly could have made a better choice here, especially as it’s the squat track in BODYPUMP 72 – for those of us that teach or do pump as well (and there’s a lot of us) have pretty much more than got the message that she does not hook up. I’ve started mixing in my classes here and I’ve not yet mixed out the warmup as I like it so much – but in pump the squat track was the first track I mixed out for that reason.

I mentioned in the filming post that curiously the only side kicks in this entire release are in the warm up. There’s not a single side kick in any other track… which is a bit of a let down for me as I love them (I’ve done many many years of Tae Kwon Do and Karate and side kicks are a staple in both). Oddly again, there’s zero back kicks in BC42. Yet there were a tonne in BC41 (even a tonne in the warmup in 41!) but there’s not one in 42. Weird huh?! There’s a couple of mindless facts for ya! 😉

02. I Was Made For Loving You – Scooter

My only comment about this track is that it’s a tad too long. I’m not sure if LM can get away with speeding tracks up in their programmes but to my mind this may be a candidate for doing so… or even better perhaps splicing some of the music out (which I’m sure is a big no no). The chorey is just a little too slow. As I said I’ve started mixing in my classes here and this was one of the two tracks I mixed out first. Other than that I like the final combo, double karate punch – backfist – roundhouse.

03. Poison (Al Storm Remix) – Groove Coverage

Great track. Again it’s a long track (in fact it’s literally the longest track 3 ever!) but the movements are fast enough to get away with it. There’s two points in the music here that I absolutely love (well actually four points – but two points each side if that makes sense). The first is directly after the second set of 8 jab-cross/4 hooks combo – the second point which literally gives me goose bumps every single time I hear it is just as the full combo kicks in… love it love it love it!

04. Use Me – Hiroshi Free

This is a Les Mills cover version (a good one too – very true to the original) so yes we have sound effects back! (brings back memories from the combat early days for some I’m sure!) No they’re not over the top – just a mild swishing noise every time we do the new move in BC42; The Sweep.

Now I’m all for innovation but I kinda feel like this move is innovation for innovation’s sake. It doesn’t challenge the body in the way the last big innovation in combat does (namely the esquiva) and it’s not a hard move to do cardio wise… so personally I’d be quite happy not to see it again. There’s another entirely new move in BC43 as well which originates from mixed martial arts in the same way the sweep does, and to be honest I kinda feel the same way about that too. But, you kinda have to feel for Dan and Rach here because they’re damned if they don’t add innovation – and in some people’s eyes they’re damned if they do.

While on the subject of the sound effect – the swish – on the one hand it’s good as it helps the class with timing but for some strange reason LM included a swish for the instructors to precue the sweep/jab/cross combo to and it’s not in the place I’d normally cue the move. I’d normally cue it a few beats before the sound effect so the move has time to land with the participants before they have to do it themselves – but the music forces me to precue it immediately before the combo. Instructors do you know what I mean here?? Just a little thing but yeah – it does bug me.

So, in terms of the track itself, yep it’s another long one and it’s okay – just not my pick of the release. Again – I’m only mixing two tracks out of BC42 in my classes at the moment and this is the other one.

05. The Anthem – Good Charlotte

Well, tracks 2, 3 and 4 were all amongst the longest respective tracks ever so guess what – to counter it this track is short. Really short! Under 3 minutes even! It’s a split room track which is something we’ve not seen in combat for a few releases and I like it. The music’s uplifting – can’t really comment too much on the chorey as there’s not much of it (hehe) but it works. I’ve written about this before and I’ll say it here again – the only issue with these super short tracks (track 5 in BC42 and BC41 are super short) and conversely the super long tracks (track 3 and track 7 in BC42 are the longest tracks ever) is that we have to be really careful when we start mixing or it’s too easy to go well over (or well under) the prescribed class length. If every track in combat was 6 minutes then we’d not have to think at all – but when some are ten (BC41 track 1) and some are 2 minutes something we have to activate the ol’ brain a little more. All good though!

06. Warrior’s Dance – The Prodigy

One word; ouch. The initial quarter turns in this track are tricky; quarter turn to your left – stepping on your right foot… or for instructors quarter turns to our right stepping on our left! But, once the class has got that nailed the key to making this track work is to make ’em go LOW. I must say the word “lower” about ten times when teaching this… and the looks I get back (pure pain!) are priceless. Don’t worry – I’m hurting too!

The track also has the lunge-front kick combo last seen in No Good from BC38, and a tonne of esquivas (Portuguese for pain! – haha just kidding). The track works – I like it a lot. This is a cardio recovery so the heart rate will drop – but that’s a good thing as you’ll need the recovery for what’s coming….

Me showing the jump knee option at our release

07. Excalibur 2000 (2000 Radio Mix) – F.C.B.

Well, 8 minutes of muay thai (okay – that’s what we’re told but to be picky it’s actually 7 minutes 42 :P) This is a solid muay thai – for me personally it’s not quite as climatic as some of the others (yes I’m talking about Hardcore Angel again – I’m sorry but I just love that track so so much!) But this would definitely make my top 10 muay thai tracks and could almost scrape into top 5 (maybe not quite but very close). Features the plyo push-push kick combo seen in Enter Sandman from BC41. I’ve noticed a few people (instructors too) having trouble picking up the push kick and for me the easiest way to explain it is to “cycle” the foot away from the chest. The track also has streetbrawler punches, ascending/descending elbows and a tonne of knees… a tonne of knees. And yes – we can show the jump knee as an option here at the end of the track (the jump knee is my all time favourite move) – however – remember it’s just an option!

08. Miracle (SAD Remix) – Cascada

Short and sweet! Shorter than most power 3s but a great song and great chorey (and trust me if you’ve not done this release you’ll be happy it’s shorter after that darn muay thai!). Love the build up into the double uppers and double hooks… and you can just blast the roof off the gym in the final right-left jab combo. Great track.

09. Fire Burning – Sean Kingston

Should be called abs burning due to the triple crunch move that features in it. Sit ups, c-crunches, the hover and of course press ups at the end. Not the hardest conditioning track ever but not the easiest either.

10. Second Chance – Shinedown

Love this cooldown. I love the song and it’s a perfect end to a fantastic release. Bit of kata (I’m not a huge fan of kata in combat as you may know if you’ve read any of my other posts) but not too much to dominate the track which is great. Possibly my favourite combat cooldown ever simply due to the song.

And that’s about it! BC42 is a great release – overall it has some great tracks and not a single track I don’t like (obviously there are a tracks I prefer over others but seriously not a single bad track). Now, let the countdown begin to BODYCOMBAT 43 which trust me has some absolutely EPIC tracks!!

Been a bit slack getting this uploaded – especially since most of you have probably seen or done BC41 by now! So this is long overdue… But nevertheless, for blog completion’s sake I’ll post my thoughts below.

As always be really interested in your feedback on the release 🙂

1a: Dragostea Din Tei (DJ Ross Radio Mix) – O-Zone

The upper body warm up is quite possibly the most controversial track of the release! If you read any of the group fitness forums you may have seen some of the initial reactions to this song being in BODYCOMBAT (here’s a hint – some instructors haven’t been all that impressed…) however, personally I’ve found this track has gone down really well! You can have a lot of fun with it and the members are always smiling and quite often singing along which is always good! One of the first times I did this release after the filming was in Hernan’s class in Auckland. If you know Hernan and what a fun character he is you can imagine how hysterical he was presenting this track… the entire room was having a ball. And although I’m not one tenth the funny man Hernan is I try to do the same. “Numa numa” is a light, fun start to the release so even though I know some people aren’t too happy with its presence in combat you won’t hear any complaints from me.

1b: My Life Would Suck Without You – Kelly Clarkson

Okay, here’s the strange thing about the lower body warmup. We’ve got no sidekicks at all, and a whole heap of back kicks (a whole heap!) This struck me as being really weird at the filming and to be honest I’m still not sure why Dan and Rach didn’t swap out one of the sets of back kicks for some sidekicks. But never mind for what ever reason they chose not to and they’re the boss(es)! That aside again this is another fun track and I’ve seen loads of members singing along to it. If you’re not a Kelly Clarkson fan, well, without saying too much my advice is that you should probably just accept the fact she’s in combat as I think we may be seeing a bit of her in the future 😉

I’ve not formally checked but I’m almost certain that this is the single longest warmup in the history of combat, close to ten minutes long! Having taught this release well over a dozen times now probably my only other comment is it does possibly go on a bit too long.

02: Music Is Pumpin – Radical Rhythm

Officially my new favourite track 2! The last few releases have seen reasonably rocky type track 2s (Cum on feel the noise, Try it again, Born to be wild etc) and Music Is Pumping is a refreshing change. I love the music, and love the chorey. There’s enough time to introduce the “new” kick to BODYCOMBAT here in the first combination (the Push Kick – a modified front kick) which means you don’t have to do too much cueing before track 4 (where it features prominently). I absolutely love the hook roundhouse combination, and the treble elbow knee sequence at the end just goes off! 10 out of 10 from me. Love love love it.

03: Slow & Steady Rush – Random Attack

A dance remix of Faith Hill’s Breathe, Slow & Steady Rush really has no surprises in terms of chorey – the track builds really well into the final combo (double jab, upper) x 2 – 4 hooks where you can really blow the roof off the gym in terms of intensity. Probably not my favourite track 3 but a solid one that will stand the test of time.

4a: Enter Sandman – Spock

Okay, track 4. Here’s where the release gets kinda interesting. We begin with a rather dark track, a cover of Metallica’s hit Enter Sandman. Really powerful Hook/knee combo to start which changes into a jab/cross/upper/roundhouse sequence before going back into the hook/knee combo. We then have the new move to combat – the plyo push. Pretty straight forward, we push our opponent away with a sharp snapping movement, then push kick them to finish the job. Instructors really have to change the delivery of this track, it’s a dark rock/metal track that requires it to be presented in a similar fashion. Certainly a massive change from the light cheerful tone of track 3 that’s for sure!

Me executing the option for the evasive sidekick in BC41

4b: Boom – P.O.D.

Okay, well unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know that yes the evasive side kick is back. It hasn’t been in combat for some time and it without question it is the most controversial move in combat. In my post after the BC41 filming I wrote the following:

“While on the subject of the evasive sidekick I got talking to Dan in the changing room after a BC41 trial run and I mentioned to him it was great to see the e-kick back. He said they were introducing it slowly, and toned it down as in the past some instructors were jumping so high it was unobtainable for an average participant to achieve. As much as I hate to admit it he is right – the jumping evasive side kick as demo’d by Dan himself in Rock Me Amadeus (although it looked AMAZINGLY impressive) was kinda crazy in that he leaped a good 5 feet in the air! In BC41 the e-kick is done with a “hop” as opposed to a jump (if that makes sense) so although I’m sure some instructors will go back into old habits and fly into the air I think the idea is to try to keep the level a little lower. Will be interesting to see how it pans out…”

Well I can tell you how it’s panned out in the gyms I teach at; perfectly fine! I think the key is that if you’re going to introduce the jumping option, introduce it as an option only when appropriate. What do I mean by this? Well for me personally I teach at 3 different gyms; all three have a different membership base. One of the gyms literally had Les Mills group fitness classes brought in a week ago. So, there’s no way in hell I’m going to expect them to even dream of doing a full e-kick for a long time! It’s just not going to happen. However, another gym has a loyal membership base of diehard combaters who love the jump knees and advanced options (and have seen and done the e-kick in previous releases) – so when we launch there on Wednesday quite possibly it would be appropriate to demo it in the later part of the track. I guess my point is some people dislike the e-kick as they feel it was unachievable for members; and if that’s the case stick with the low option. My 2 cents anyway 🙂

My final comment about track 4 is that it’s quite long… 7 minutes! When you combine that with the 10 minute warm up when instructors start mixing we’ll have to be really mindful of track lengths. In BC41 this is offset by a very short track 5 (3 minutes) – however you’d only have to switch out a couple tracks with longer ones before you’d start running into class length issues. Worth bearing in mind anyway.

05: Ballroom Blitz – Dave & The Extras

Well of course the likely hood of anyway loving every track in a given release is incredibly slim (you can’t please all of the people all of the time) and yes, this is one of the ‘don’t likes’ for me personally. I’ll admit it is growing on me but definitely looking forward to mixing it out. As noted above it is only 3 minutes long so it’s over pretty quickly anyway! As I mentioned in my filming post Ballroom Blitz was also in BODYCOMBAT 6 – which means this is the second release in a row in which a track from BC6 has been reused (the last one was Tubthumping in BC40)

06: Let Me Entertain You – Bodytronixx

Not too much to say about this track – very similar in structure to Shut Up and Drive from BC34 but instead of side kick, knee, back kick this time there’s another knee. A Tae Kwon Do based track without a single punch/hook/or upper in the entire thing (I did 7 years of TKD and yes we didn’t use our hands much so it is true to the discipline!) Hasn’t gone down as well as Burn It To The Ground from BC40 but it’s not a bad track and the kick kata is slow enough that it is a recovery.

07: Desolation Row – Krakaw Kreativ Kollektiv

Muay Thai is traditionally my favourite track in the class but unfortunately I did find this track a little lacking. Unlike most muay thais of late this isn’t a techno track but rather a Les Mills cover of the My Chemical Romance track. Loads of jab/crosses and loads of knees and really not much else. Not a bad track, but just lacks the intensity and climax of say Hardcore Angel from BC39 (quite possibly my favourite Muay Thai along with So What! from BC27).

08: What Do You Want From Me (squad-e remix) – Cascada

Awesome finish to the cardio portion of the release. Great song that builds into a powerful hook/jab/cross sequence at the end. Not too much else to say other than YES!

09: Right Round – Flo Rida Feat. Ke$ha / 10: Halo – Beyonce

Conditioning/cool down. Won’t spend too much time on these – circular crunches and circular pressups feature in the conditioning, and the cooldown has nice chorey which finishes with the same kata sequence introduced in track 6. Halo whilst not really my cup of tea musically at least is a nice calming track to bring the heart rate down to and seems to be liked by the members.

So, overall a solid release! Any release that has a track that tops my favourite list must be a goody and yes, whilst BC41 has a couple of tracks that I’m not a massive fan of it has more than enough tracks that I really like and one that I absolutely love! At the end of the day the members seem to be loving it and that’s all that counts! Enjoy!

Well it’s that time, I finally feel like I know BODYCOMBAT 40 well enough to write my opinion on it. Apologies for the delay in writing this – I actually went to write it two weeks ago… BUT, I held off a little as like every release it’s definitely grown on me a lot; although I did love the filming (heaps!) my enthusiasm actually waned slightly at first – but now it’s right back up there again (phew!).

Being that this release is the tenth birthday of combat D&R have tried to include a wider range of strikes and blocks – and that’s definitely the case. There’s lower blocks, mid-blocks, outer leg blocks, knife strikes, open palm blocks… the list goes on. This release also features the return of the esquiva, and the jump kick (in the same track even!)

Anyway, here’s a play by play (note this is only my personal opinion – feel free to disagree!)

Upper body warmup: Layla (Caribbean Mix) – DJ U Hey vs DJ Minagawa

Great start to the release. Uplifting track – a dance remix of Eric Clapton’s original track with the backing vocals “put your hands up in the air, put your hands up in the air!”. Unusually the upper body warmup features the outer leg block, and is done entirely in front stance (meaning no left right changes with the jabs/uppers/hooks). Loads of performance opportunities with the air guitar (of course!) – really like this track.

Lower body warmup: Hot n Cold – Katy Perry

As much as I hate to admit it I like this track too! Mega cheesy pop song but again loads of performance opportunities and a chance to have some fun with the entire class. Truth be told I’m just happy we have a release with no Rogue Traders!

Combat 1: I Know Kung Fu – Shitdisco

I couldn’t stand this track when I first did it but it’s really grown on me. Loads of knees and knife strikes, as well as the roundhouse challenge (low kick then high without touching your foot to the ground) – great for the ol’ leg conditioning. If you’ve seen the DVD you’ll see what a great job Hernan does in presenting it. I’ve tried his Bruce Lee impressions “waaaaaaaaaa!!!” and I just can’t pull it off – the class look at me like I’m mental!

Power training 1: Sweetheart (Squad-E Remix) – Rezonance-Q

LOOOOVE this track! Was a real stand out for me right from the start. The chorey and level changes match the music perfectly. The entire track builds into a huge final combo (double upper – speed ball) where you can really drive your “opponent” through the ceiling and hit maximum cardio output. This is one of those tracks that gets a round of applause every time it’s taught. Possibly my favourite track 3 ever!!! Highlight of the release.

Combat 2:
4a. Power Of The Mind – Headhunterz

Quite a dark track (similar in feel to We Will Survive from BC37). Super simple chorey (two side kicks, outer knee block, front kick all same leg) and to be honest possibly goes on a tad too long.  The timing is a little odd to get off the bat but probably only the first couple times you try it. Really not much more to it! Track 4 actually starts with this track right hand side (RHS), then goes to 4b RHS, then 4b LHS then back to this track LHS.

4b. Tubthumping (Everybody Handz Up In Japan Remix) – Hi End Attack

Tubthumping is back! (well it was in BC6!) This track features both the esquiva and then the jump kick. Basically prepare for pain!! Hammers the legs – especially if you concentrate on really lengthening your esquivas right out and pulsing on each one. Hammers one side before restarting and hammering the other and then going back to track 4a. Again, quite repetitive – and not my favourite track. As a side note for those of you that are big esquiva fans as the esquiva is in track 4 you could actually have two esquiva tracks in the same class if you wanted to! (but seriously are you fricken crazy?!)

Power training 2: Tutti Frutti – Mike Hardy & The KooladeSingers

Hmmm… not sure I’m loving this 50’s revival trend in the last couple combat releases. Structurally very similar to Johnny B. Goode from BC39 – effectively lots of identical rounds of chorey. Loads of performance opportunities with the “ooooo”.  I enjoyed this track at the filming but I think it could possibly be one of the first to be subbed out when instructors start mixing. Others may feel differently perhaps?

Combat 3: Burn It To The Ground – Nickelback

Well, track 6 aint a recovery in this release that’s for sure! As per usual we have the back kick – however it’s not the “feature move” of the track as we’ve had in the past. This is another track that’s really grown on me. The combos flow really well and fit the music – I especially like the last hook-knee combo – if you really drive the knee and hip you can burn a monstrous amount of calories with this one.

Muay Thai: Speed – Atari Teenage Riot

In general the muay thai for the me is the climax of the class. It’s where my heart rate peaks and I really go balls to the wall knowing that there’s no kicks in the last cardio track. However this muay thai for me disappoints. The chorey is okay – you can really launch your entire body on the rear descending elbows – but the music. Uggg… I can’t stand it. And it definitely lacks the intensity of the muay thai’s of the past. I haven’t had a chance to wear my heart rate monitor to grab a fair comparison to previous releases but I suspect my heart rate/caloric expenditure doesn’t reach anywhere near that of most other muay thai tracks. HOWEVER… as I pointed out this release doesn’t really have a recovery track – so perhaps this was intentional? That is if we did have a Party non stop or Hardcore paradise type muay thai we may see members keeling over from exhaustion! Guess we’ll find out when we start mixing (he says in his evilest voice!!)

Power training 3: Set you free (Hixxy Remix) – N-trance

LOVE it. Fantastic end to the cardio portion of the release. Every class has wooped and cheered during this track. Work the levels and send your fitness levels sky high. What the muay thai lacked this track makes up for!

Conditioning: Let it Rock – Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil Wayne

Second release in a row we’ve had no crunches – but we do have the plank and the “komodo dragon” (simple move bringing your knee to elbow working the core). First half of the track has loads of pressups – including the challenge portions on your toes. Decent conditioning track and decent song. 🙂

Cooldown: Use Somebody – Kings of Leon

Love the music and love the chorey. Nice simple soft kata that doesn’t require much thought or co-ordination for participants (unlike the kata from 39 which did take some a couple classes to get right). Beautiful end to the release.

So… all and all a solid release and one that rates a solid 8 out of 10 in my books. To my mind not quite a BC38 in terms of fun but a decent length (56 minutes I believe off the top of my head) and given there’s no real recovery tracks you’ll definitely get a decent workout! I’ll post some pics from our big local release later in the week – it’ll be a blast! If you haven’t done it yet then it’s certainly something to be excited about. Enjoy!

Had workshop on the weekend – the official release of BODYCOMBAT 39 – the quarterly was HUUUGE! Absolutely loved it. I’ve done BODYCOMBAT 39 a fair few times now and feel I’m in a position to give it a decent review – so here goes.

As discussed in my first post after the filming, the theme for this release is Ultimate Fighting (UFC). At the filming I noted that the complexity of the release was way down (little note here: this depends on how you define “complexity” – Andreas makes some good points in the comments below). What I mean by that is that almost all of the “advanced” moves were gone; no gingas, no esquivas, no evasive sidekicks, no jump knees. To be honest, I wasn’t too excited about it. Especially after attending the BC40 filming – I enjoyed that release a lot more. BUT (yes there is a but!) – in the DVD Dan & Rach explain they purposely did this based on the releases theme. That is, they dropped the complexity down, dropped the lateral movement down and concentrated on repetition and double combos because that fits with the UFC. Am I buying that? Well, nah. But (again with the but) having done the release many more times now I do have to say I like it much more than my initial impression. Here’s a track by track play for ya:

Warmup: The One & Only (Topmodelz Radio Cut) – Mario Lopez/ Calling All Lovers – Rogue Traders

Okay – mega mega cheesey warmup. The One & Only has gotta be one of the least “combaty” tracks ever released! (yes I did just make that word up…) However, much as I hate to say it but I like it! It’s a nice happy, cheery start to the workout and that’s what you want before jumping into the heavier stuff. To be fair, my favourite warmup ever is Amazed from BC35 so maybe I’m a big cheese fan 🙂 Not too much more you can say about this track. Couple of interesting points – there’s cross-jacks in the first half where we’d normally have the ol’ scissor, and the reps on the left and right differ during the upper body warm up which makes life interesting – but yeah, much as I hate to admit it I do like it! As for the lower body warm up – well, hmmm, yes, not a big Rogue Traders fan actually. Last seen in both BC36 and BC37 we did get a single release away from them before they’re back. Happy to report no sign of them in BC40 🙂

Combat 1: Cum On Feel The Noise – Group X

Okay, truth time. I HATED this track at the filming. Not a fan of the song (at all) and I recall being suitably unimpressed. However, I really like it now! Great combos (there’s two of them as per usual) and it’s quickly become one of my favourite track 2’s of recent times. First combo is simple, builds to back knee, front kick, cross, jab, cross – the second combo is better, double front hook , body rip, jab, body rip, round house. We have a lower block front kick to the side in betwen the right hand and left hand halves.  Bit of a performance opportunity in the second half “c’mon – ROCK IT!” and a great track to have a bit of competitiveness between the males vs the females in the class.

Power training 1: Come With Me (Unique Mix) – Styles & Breeze

Not to be confused with the Power training 1 track of the same name from BC28 (completely different song!) this track builds into what has got to be one of the longest combos in combat history. Two sets double uppers, 8 jab cross, two sets double jabs and eight scissors. Certainly it takes the participants a couple of sets to get it right – but once they do it’s awesome! Builds into a fantastic peak which has participants wooping and working their guts out. Great song, great progression, great track!

Combat 2: Jump That Rock (Whatever You Want) – Scooter vs. Status Quo

I LOVE this track. The music is awesome and it has a fantastic powerful backfist – side kick combo that you can really sink your teeth into. I mean you can really just launch into the move with a massive “aarrgg!!!”. Tonnes of knees also as well as the obligatory track four jump kick. Awesome awesome track – with the exception of the muay thai for me this is the highlight of the workout.

Power training 2: Johnny B. Goode – The Undertow

Still haven’t been able to find this track on youtube but it is very true to the original. Again, truth time – much like “Cum on feel the noise” I did not like this track based on the music alone. But it is a really fun track and has a “new” move – the jump squat. It’s essentially exactly as it sounds, you jump out on a 45 degree angle into a squat position (on the 3rd set each side there’s an optional jump instead). Now I did this track twice on Saturday, once on Sunday and also yesterday (it’s Tuesday today) and boy do my quads hurt this morning – it works! The chorry for the track is very fast, loads of double jab-cross sets, speed balls and running on the spot. Again, surprisingly this track has grown on me!

Combat 2: So What – Pink

Nice to have a break from the esquiva in this release before we have it again in BODYCOMBAT 40 (if you didn’t know that you read about it here). My first impressions of this track stand. After the filming I wrote: “Track 6 (So What by Pink) had simple but effective chorry – double uppers, hook-hook, back kick, double knee, front kick. I found myself getting into a really good rhythm coming from the back kick into the knees and really enjoyed this track.” – and that’s exactly how I feel now. Pink as a track 6 is nothing new to combat (U + UR Hand and Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)) so really no surprises – solid “active recovery” and nice nice break before all hell breaks lose in the Muay Thai!

Muay Thai: Hardcore Angel – Nick Skitz

Okay – this track is for me possibly the best Muay Thai ever! I absolutely love it. The music is perfect, and the new move – the ‘step over cross’ is awesome for building a tonne of power and then really launching into your “opponent”. Loads of treble elbows, loads of knees and loads of step over crosses. A huge amount of attitude from Nick Skitz – the words are  “HYPER HYPER!!” before launching into a massive combo. I can’t say enough about this track. The final phase (just when you think the track is over) has another massive burst of knees – that’s especially great since at the quarterly jump knees were added (my favourite!) – perfect!! If you haven’t done it yet you’re gonna love it!

Power training 3: Cry For You (Weaver Remix) – September

Okay, this track is a fricken marathon. It is officially the LONGEST TRACK 8 EVER at 6:45. It just goes on and on (and on and on…). Starts with four body rips, two hooks – building into a full combo with the addition of 8 jab-crosses. Three sets of those in total with a set of three jabs two hooks to the left and right in between (all on the same arm just to really hammer the shoulders). It’s a great track – possibly a little too long? Each time I’ve taught it the class have literally breathed a sigh of relief at the end – it really is marathon! Great finish to the workout though; not quite a “What Hurts the Most” but a solid track 8.

Conditioning: I Won’t Be Crying – Infernal

Good track – no situps nor crunches. Loads of hovers (or planks if you prefer) and also side planks for the obliques. Loads of press ups too. Makes a nice change actually (mind you there’s no situps or crunches in BC40 either so if you don’t mix you’re going 6 months without any!)

Cooldown: It’s All Coming Back To Me Now – Meat Loaf feat. Marion Raven

Not my favourite cooldown but a nice finish to the workout. Quite a lot of kata – and not and easy kata either – does require a bit of attention to master at first. Not too much you can say about a cooldown so will possibly come down to musical preferences as to whether you like it or not. Me – I have no problem with a bit of Meatloaf, and this track definitely serves its purpose of bringing the heartrate down and relaxing you at the end of your workout. Nice 🙂

Overall I’ll say this. BC39 is a good release. Yes a lot of the more, shall we say, “advanced” moves are gone (as I mentioned the esquiva is back in BC40 but apart from that there’s no e-kicks, jump knees or gingas in that release either so maybe that’s where combat is going). The real stand outs for me are tracks 4 and 7 – both are powerful tracks (heck any release with both Nick Skitz AND Scooter has gotta be good!). I do think the release will get old a little quicker than usual due to the repetitive nature of the tracks, however, still being in the first 2 weeks of doing it I’m still loving it. If I had to rate it side by side with BC38 I’d probably rate 38 as a better release, but to be fair (based on first impressions) I think BC40 is going to better than both! But I’m getting way ahead of myself (for a change!). My final thought would possibly be this; Give it a decent blast before you judge it. I definitely am A LOT happier about this release now I’ve done it half a dozen times as compared to my first impression. Anyway, that’s my $0.02 – as always love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Okay, I’ve now done BC38 many times… both as a participant and instructing so I feel I can give it a decent review. Overall I think BODYCOMBAT 38 is a great release; let me clarify by saying it is not terribly complex in it’s movement, many of the tracks are pretty repetitive and the combos are pretty simple. BUT, what it lacks in complexity it DEFINITELY makes up for in intensity. Make no mistake about it it is a hard release! And I think many tracks will stand the test of time and be used over and over again once we start mixing. Anyway, read on and if you’ve done it I’d be really interested in your feedback.

Warmup: “Writing on the wall” – 2-4 Grooves / “Because the Night” – Cascada

Fantastic start to the workout. As I stated in my initial impressions it certainly helps your enjoyment of a particular track if you actually like the music, and I really like both the tracks that make up the warmup. If you don’t like dance music obviously you won’t feel the same. Both tracks are light and really uplifting! One thing that’s occurred to me in this release is that with the exception of track 2 every other cardio track has a dance/trance feel to it. There’s a distinct lack of rock in this release. Getting back to the track itself there’s a couple of little tricks in the chorry which took me a couple of sessions to sort out – the shuffling “left” (instructor right) before the knees at the end is kinda odd! All in all a great warmup – no kata, no real surprises, just covers the basics. *by the way – I meant to add that if you haven’t heard the actual version of “writing on the wall” used in this release then please ignore the youtube link to it; the version I’ve linked to isn’t the same. The actual version is better… yay! Addition: See Andreas’s comment below for a better link… thanks bud!

Combat 1: “Try It Again” – The Hives

Not my favourite track but a solid track 2. Consistently I find the first combat track one of the tracks I enjoy least. I wasn’t a big fan of Born to be wild (BC36) however I did enjoy Beat It from 37… definitely Try it Again has a more Born to be Wild feel to it, perhaps it’s the traditional karate movements that appear in both. Loads of traditional karate blocks and punches exactly like BTBW. The final section after the “They say madness is doing the same thing…” part is cool. I used to use “sliding side kicks” (as we called them) in my Tae Kwon Do days a lot – and shuffle side kicks are just as good! Solid track and will stand the test of time.

Power training 1: “Like I feel (squad-e mix)” – D:code Feat Emma

Very typical power training track – could easily be a track 8 which seems to be common in the last few releases – track 3 and 8 in terms of style are almost impossible to differentiate. Music is also exactly what you’d expect based on BC35-37 – fast dance music. This track has lots of speed balls, lots of ROTS (running on the spot), and a tonne of jump jabs; it is a nice, happy, uplifting song. One thing I will say, instructors, doesn’t Hernan do a fantastic job presenting it. He’s awesome

Combat 2: “Headbangerz Rock Da Club” – Nick Skitz / “Cold As Ice” – Starsplash

You know what – I still can’t decide if I like this track. I’m gonna do it a couple more times in a class environment and then make my mind up. At the moment I’d have to say I’m not enjoying the first half much at all. The second part (Cold As Ice) with all its round house knees into side kicks I’m loving. I will probably complete this tomorrow (I’m doing it again tonight and 6am tomorrow) and by then I’ll know for sure. Stay tuned! Okay, yep, I do like this track. It’s got about 240 knees and kicks in it, and the round house knees into side kicks (think The United Vibe) hurt!! I tell you, this combined with track 6 definitely mean your legs get a complete and utter hammering in this release.

Power training 2: “The Best Damn Thing” – Avril Lavigne

Okay this track has already caused quite a bit of controversy (like here and here just for starters), and I’ve mentioned I’m not a big Avril fan…in fact, I’m not any type of Avril fan! And, when I saw this was in BC38 I expected another split room “Girlfriend” (i.e. BC33) type track; or, lord help me another “Don’t You Wanna Feel” type track from BC36 (possibly my least favourite track 5 ever!) By that I mean, they’re all kinda girly poppy songs. Well, it’s not “girly” at all (okay, expect for the lyrics – they’re almost unbearable “I hate it when I can doesn’t understand that at a certain time of month I don’t want to hold his hand…” WTF! anyway, moving on…) We should dub this track the shoulder killer as mine consistently hurt like hell afterwards! The track blitzes your right side (or left for instructors) totally before restarting and doing it again… given my first impression of the music this track is MUCH better than I thought it would be!

Combat 3: “No Good” – The Prodigy

The esquiva track. Much like BC37 this track is all about leg conditioning. Esquivas. Lunges. Pain! Prepare to hurt. Seriously. And, I really hate to admit it – but I’m not a fan of this track. I know, I know… you probably like it right? I really wish I did like it – but unfortunately I’ve now waited and given it a pretty good blast (5 or 6 times) and truth be told I’m not a fan. Here’s the thing. I do combat for a cardio workout. I know the merits of conditioning – but I do BODYPUMP and weight training to tone and strengthen my body. I do combat to stay fit, remain lean (or even get leaner) and to stay nice and healthy. So to my mind throwing a leg conditioning track in the middle of the release is a little bit frustrating. I will say that this track does keep your heartrate up to a much higher degree than stamp in BC37 did (another esquiva track) because of the lunge, front kick, esquiva combo so that’s a good thing… let’s just say fingers crossed it grows on me. Let me also add that I’m definitely in the minority here – most people seem to love it – so enjoy!

Muay Thai: “Raver’s Paradise (Stadium Mix)” – Nick Skitz feat MC BB

Not a bad track as far as Muay Thais go, though personally not one to really get excited about. The chorry is very simple, and as can be expected has lots of knees, elbows and street brawler downward punches. No surprises here (like the incorporation of gingas a la BC36) and sadly for me no jump knees either. I LOVE the Muay Thais with jump knees. Though, that’s no to say you can’t add one per side as the last knee in the sequence. A reasonably solid track but definitely not Muay Thai classic as far as I’m concerned.

Power training 3: “What hurts the most (Al Storm remix)” – Cascada

ABSOLUTELY my favourite track in this release. Here’s the funny thing, I used to love this song. For a fair part of last year I’d constantly thrash it when training on my iPod; I think I had 4 or 5 different versions of it in total and I used to play them in succession whilst doing weights in the gym. But, as you can probably guess I got really sick of it really quick. Then it came out as the back track in BODYPUMP 66. And suddenly I loved it again. But, after 3 solid months of thrashing it (again!) I got sick to death of it. Now it’s out in BC38… and believe it or not I love it again! Granted it’s a different version but still the same song… it’s fantastic! The track is split into 3 parts – the first two a mix of non-stop jabs, followed by non-stop uppers and non-stop hooks. The third part is just jabs. I mean, it is the simplest chorry you can imagine but the way the music builds with it’s peaks and valleys – well it just rocks. This is the perfect climax to an intense release – love it!

Conditioning: “When I grow up” – Pussycat Dolls

Killer conditioning track. 32 tricep pushups followed by 32 wide pushups – with no break! I’m no fan of the song but to be honest the chorry is so hard that I barely notice it! This track also has crunches and a plank for the ol’ abs. Not too much else to say except ouch!

Cooldown: “Say (All I Need)” – OneRepublic

Not too much you can say about a cooldown. The song is a nice calming song and I think a perfect end to an otherwise intense workout. Your heartrate will drop and you’ll leave the workout feeling refreshed – exactly what you’d want! I’ll admit I’m not terribly a big fan of the ‘neck stretch’ movement, but this is a fittingly great end to a great release – nice job guys!