NZ Glen : BodyCombat fanatic

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!