I first came across Les Mills Body Combat on YouTube and I can honestly say that I liked it from the start. It mixes different fighting styles, like boxing, karate, muay tai, taekwondo and capeoira, with upbeat music.
I really enjoy doing Body Combat. So even if I’m tired, I’ll still do it, because I find it fun. And that’s the thing about fitness. It isn’t for 30, 60 or 90 days. Fitness is for life. So find something you really like doing and it won’t feel like such a chore.
Les Mills Body Combat is a system used in health club group classes. They also had a 20 minute workout that was a give away. If you’re not familiar with it, check it out on YouTube here. I will do that workout whenever I need to mix things up and keep from getting bored.
So when I found out that Les Mills partnered with Beachbody, of P90X and Insanity fame, to create a home version; I had to get my hands on it. I went ahead and pre-ordered my Combat kit in October. It was set to be released on December 20th. Imagine my surprise when I received it this Tuesday.
There are three kits available. The Les Mills Combat Kit, the Supreme Warrior Kit and the Ultimate Warrior Kit. I went ahead and ordered the Combat Kit for $60. The Supreme Warrior kit comes with everything in the Combat Kit plus a pair of Les Mills Combat training gloves for $90.
The Ultimate Warrior Kit comes with everything in the supreme kit plus four more workouts for $120. Shipping is extra, unless you get a deal. I figured at half the price of the Ultimate kit, the Combat kit would be good enough for me.
I received my kit on Tuesday and eagerly opened the box. This is what came in the box.
1. A total of 6 DVDs including:
DVD #1: The Basics
DVD #2: Combat 30 Kick Start & Combat 45 Power Kata
DVD #3: Combat 60 Live Ultimate warriors workout
DVD #4: Combat 60 Extreme Cardio Fighter
DVD #5: Power HIIT 1 & Shock Plyo HIIT 2
Free bonus DVD #6: Combat 30 Live
(Update: you either need to order through a Beachbody coach or teambeachbody.com to get the free bonus DVD #6)
2. A tape measure
3. Stay with the fight fitness guide: Has the calendar as part of it’s pages, along with the DVD descriptions and fighting styles.
4. Eat right for the fight nutrition guide: includes recipes and calorie counts.
5. A measurement tracker to write down your before and after measurements.
6. I received a free VIP pass to take a Les Mills live class at a 24 hr fitness or Gold’s Gym. Not sure if everyone will get one of these.
7. A challenge flyer. Take the challenge to win a free T-Shirt.
So far I’ve only done 3 of the workouts. I’m following along with the Combat Warrior 60 day workout calendar. So far I like them alot. Even though I really get a sweat going, I don’t feel like I’m working out.
For me, its too much like fun. I had initially bought this program with the intention of using the videos to break up any boredom in my workout schedule.
I wanted to have different combat videos to do when the mood struck. But now I’m going to follow the calendar and do the entire program. Why? Because it’s fun. I may or may not do the Plyo workout.
While I like Plyo, I don’t know if I will like it for 30 minutes. In that case I will switch in the combat 30 live workout. One of my workouts does require hand held weights. The Power HIIT 1.
Bands probably wont work here. There’s no reason to go too heavy either on the exercises. They really get the heart rate up and going too heavy might make it way too hard. According to the fitness guide, if you get the ultimate warrior kit, hand held weights are also needed for the Warrior 1: Upper Body Blowout.
If the workouts are way too hard, there is always one person doing a modified version. You can also vary the workout yourself. During HIIT 1, I got winded with all the burpees. I had to slow down. I did less reps, but I still kept going.
If there’s one thing I didn’t like about the videos, it would have to be the way production setup the volume of the music. When you first start a workout, you can choose to have the music pumped up or not.
If you choose no, the music is really low and you can hear all of their instructions clearly. If you choose yes, then the music is nice and loud and they are harder to hear. That can get a little annoying, cause you might not hear the queue to change moves. I wish they would’ve just had the music and the voices leveled like in their videos on Youtube.
You can get Les Mills Combat at beachbody.com, from a Beachbody coach or at teambeachbody.com. But remember if you want to get the free Combat 30 live DVD, you need to go through a coach or teambeachbody.com.
Beachbody coaches have websites that have the links needed for the deals on the three Kits. Right now it looks like teambeachbody.com is only showing the Combat kit. If you don’t know any Beachbody coaches, try searching Google for “les mills combat Beachbody coach”.
FYI: I am not affiliated with Beachbody or Les Mills in any way other than I like Combat. Who knows though maybe in the future.
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