NYC: A New You Coming

(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)Kelly Coffey-Meyer is a high-energy instructor who offers fun workouts which blend more traditional exercises with unique, interesting twists. NYC is a 54-minute full body strength workout which uses two sets of dumbbells (light and heavy) plus an optional step; Kelly works out in a bright studio with two background exercisers. For the most part, the workout follows a specific pattern: Kelly targets a single upper body muscle group with several exercises using weights, moves on to an unweighted lower body interval, repeats a second set of the upper body moves, and concludes the series with slightly different lower body exercise. Overall, Kelly moves very quickly through the workout--the lower body exercises in particular are performed quickly enough to keep your heart rate in an aerobic zone.

Kelly begins with a 4-minute warm-up that includes basic aerobic moves and ends with dynamic stretches. The first muscle group is back, and Kelly begins with traditional 1-arm rows. More unique are the alternating shoulder blade pulls (palm up, thumb moves to the back) and the back raises with slow lowers. For lower body, Kelly does a side squat and rear lunge off the step; after repeating the back work, she does just the rear lunge, moving into a double-time count. The next exercise group biceps, starting with hammer curls that lower to the side. Kelly then does half bicep curls high and low, adding a 1-arm move to both. The leg series is a side step with a curtsey dip, adding a knee raise to work the obliques. The biceps are repeated, and then it''s a side-to-side step with a rear lunge.

Moving to lighter dumbbells, Kelly starts the shoulder work, beginning with a circling lift overhead. She then combines shrugs with an upright row and finishes with a butterfly elbow lift and overhead press. The leg move is a wide squat with a knee lift to the side and then the back; after another set of shoulders, the leg move changes slightly to an around the world leg lift with rear lung. Next comes triceps: French press, elbow touches, and dips with pulses. Then, straddling the step, you do a plie squat, this time keeping the weights in your hand; to finish, you repeat the triceps and then perform the plie squat with the opposite leg forward. Kelly conclude the standing work with an additional move for the legs, a bent-over squat with hands on the step.

The workout then moves to the floor (lying on the step/bench) for chest work, which includes pullovers, wide grip bench presses, flyes, and close grip bench presses. Kelly then does a series of abs work with basic crunches before repeating the chest moves. She finishes this series by moving the dumbbells to hips for pelvic raises to target the glutes/hamstrings. She then moves to the floor for additional abs work. These moves were more Pilates-like and thus more challenging: Kelly starts with a 4-count crunch but then does knee tuck-ins (adding rotation), roll-ups, and half roll-downs with a twist on the end. Moving to side-lying position, she does a short but tough series of hip/outer thigh work on both sides, then repeats the floor abs series. Finally, Kelly concludes the workout with a very short (about 3 minutes) stretch on the floor, first lying for the lower body and then seated for the upper body.

The Main Menu of the DVD offers the following options: Introduction, Start Workout, Workout Options, Coffey Mixes, and Credits. The Workout Options is basically a chapter list (Warm-up, Standing Exercises, Chest to Lower Ab''s [sic], Chest to Glutes, Abdominals to Outer Thighs, More Ab''s [sic] and Stretch). The Coffey Mixes menu offers several shorter premix options:

Expresso Mix (no warm-up, 1 set of all exercises, stretch)

Latte Mix (warm-up, 1 set of all exercises, stretch)

Mocha Mix (warm-up, upper body, abs, stretch)

Capucchino (warm-up, all legs, abs, stretch)

Overall, I enjoyed this workout very much. I did have a few minor issues with it--eg, I thought that the triceps were overworked, and I didn''t like the first abs series of basic crunches--but in general, I found the moves enjoyable, and I felt thoroughly worked out by the end. Kelly is a fun yet no-nonsense instructor; I give this workout a final rating of 4 1/2 stars, and I wouldn''t hesitate to recommend it, especially for intermediate-level exercisers.