Tracey Staehle''s Strike Zone (released June 2008)

Tracey, along with cast members, Josef, Barbie and Jill, are in this kickboxing workout. I was expecting good things with this workout but I was sadly disappointed.

What I liked about this workout:

**Josef. He''s a natural teacher. He leads some of the sections and those sections are nice and intense, just what I was looking for.

**the interesting set. The workout is filmed in a dark wood set and the lighting is low. I liked this since it fits with gritty feel of the workout.

**the music type fits the workout. I like the music genre since it fits in nicely with the workout. However, the workout is off-beat from the music (see below).

**Tracey''s chemistry with Josef. They complement each other.

What really detracted from this workout:

**the moves are offbeat from the music. This is Tracey''s fourth series and there is no excuse for such production issues.

**it''s not very intense. I do the workout with 1 ½ pound weighted gloves and my heart rate is only in the low end of my aerobic zone. The only time my heart rate is high is when Josef is leading a section.

**annoying chapter titles between each section. It''s artsy looking, but completely disrupts the flow of the workout. It''s a pain to have to keep shuffling or doing jumping jacks to keep my heart rate up when the titles are showing.

**Sloppy editing. In Strike Zone 4, Tracey completely misses doing one side of the routine.

**the odd placement of the spider web section. The spider web move is when you''re on the ground and switch from crab to table top. This move should be at the end of the workout as a preparation for the cool down, not in the middle of the workout.

I suggest this workout to folks wanting a less intense workout with a gritty feel and an interesting set.

I''ve had this since it first came out a year-and-a-half ago, and really like it. The first few times I did it, I felt like it wasn''t very hard, but once I started doing it with weighted gloves, the workout became much harder.

Tracey''s cueing is not the best and she doesn''t always give you enough lead time before a new move, but I like her personality and she makes the workout fun. The workout is actually co-taught by her and Josef, which makes it more fun, too.

There are 12 "strikes" (or sections total), which includes two warm-up sections and a cooldown stretch. The workout stops between each section to display a note telling you which "strike" is coming next. This annoyed me at first since my heartrate drops during these breaks, but I''ve been using them to job in place or do jumping jacks.

I''m used to doing Cathe Friedrich''s and Amy Bento''s kickboxing workouts, which are much more challenging than this one, but I like to do this one by Tracey on days when I want a fun, solid workout that will get my heartrate up without absolutely killing myself. ;-)

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