Today I got home from work and had to work out. I wasn’t much in the mood to do anything, and so I talked myself into doing yoga, with fear of hurting myself because I’ll be starting a pretty intense program this week (more on that later). Instead, I decided to take advantage of my Beachbody On Demand that I now have (basically, Netflix for workout programs). I decided to try out CIZE, which is the newest craze in the Beachbody world.
I’ll be honest. CIZE is very similar to Zumba. I’ve had really positive, and awesome experiences with Zumba. Group classes, fun music, lots of energy, bright colors…it’s awesome. Shawn T is the trainer, and I was a little intimidated because he’s best known for Insanity and T-25, super hard core programs.
I call this a “fist time” review, because I’ve only tried out Crazy 8’s, one of the six provided DVDs in CIZE. I expected the workout to be similar to Zumba; 30 minutes of following along as best I can.
I grew up as a dancer, but was never truly very coordinated. I always felt a little self conscious in dance class, especially because of my weight. I never did participate in hip hop, though, so this was bound to be an interesting experience. I turned on the video, and the music was already playing. Alright, I can get down with this.
I wasn’t expecting much “teaching” with CIZE, only because they promised me a full workout in 30 minutes. But, Shawn T went through all the moves, starting with a very basic move, and then building on it to get the full move, full speed. It actually provided a good variety. even though the different moves were variety enough!
The half hour went SO quick. Most of the workout is spent learning a move, then building up the whole routine, repeating, learning a new move…repeat. Even though that sounds boring, I had a ton of fun. I was incredibly surprised about how hard I worked, too. I’m not sure if it was because I needed a change in my workout, because I just wanted to dance after having a bad few days, or because it really is THAT good, but I burned over 250 calories in just about a half hour. That’s about how many I burned using the 21 Day Fix/Extreme. I can get behind that!
Overall, I had a ton of fun with CIZE. I wasn’t counting down the minutes until the workout was over, I didn’t feel sore or want to give up…for the first time basically ever. With this routine in particular, the only thing I didn’t like was I felt “uneven.” A few of the moves are right or left leg dominant. I thought that maybe halfway through the routine we would switch sides, but we didn’t. I decided to do that on my own.
I will be honest and say that I wasn’t incredibly interested in CIZE when it first came out. I was satisfied with the 21 Day Fix and 21 Day Fix Extreme, drinking my Shakeology, and throwing some PiYo in there, too. But after trying this out, I will say that I really enjoyed the change, energy, and the fact that I could smile!
Check out my sneak peek video, and excuse my dancing. Even though I’ve gotten more confident, I can’t say I’ve gotten more coordinated. But as Shawn said multiple times throughout the routine, as long as you’re moving, you’re working.
Get CIZE and Shakeology for a killer deal here
Or, just CIZE, here.