Sara Ivanhoe's 20 Min Yoga Makeover - Total Body Tone with Weights

Rating:
Summary: Add a toning aspect to your yoga practice
Review: I was looking forward to trying this video, as I was hoping that the weights would be used to enhance the yoga poses. Instead, this is more of a yoga practice with some toning work thrown in. Instructor Sara Ivanhoe begins the practice with a few brief stretches in a standing position then picks up the weights. She leads you through some standing shoulder work in mountain, tree, and chair poses and ends the segment in eagle pose, which I found a bit awkward with the weights. Next comes a warrior series where you hold your legs in the warrior position while working your arms with bicep curls and flies. Sara also does side angle pose, using the weights in sort of a one-arm row to an overhead lift, which I felt was a nice shoulder opener.

Sara then moves to the floor with triceps/core balance work performed from a hands and knees position. Next comes bridge pose while "bench pressing" the weights; the second set is performed on one leg, which was particularly challenging. A few additional stretches bring the practice to an end right at 20 minutes. Throughout the practice, Sara uses 2-lb. weights; I used 3 lbs., which I felt were too heavy for some of the earlier shoulder moves yet too light for the biceps and triceps work. Sara's personality in this video is similar to her prior Crunch and Dummies videos: she is very down-to-earth, although some may find her language a bit patronizing at times. I don't think that this video would appeal to those who are devoted to a more traditional yoga practice, but if you are hoping to do some light strength work with yoga stretches thrown in, this routine might be right for you.