Review: Kristin McGee’s Power Yoga (and Giveaway!)

It’s hard to find a yoga that’s both hippity-dippity and a good workout. One that stretches you out, strengthens you, doesn’t make you feel silly with the airy-fairy stuff and yet relaxes you and allows you to connect to your breath, too. Yep, it’s a tall yoga order. And one that Kristin McGee’s Power Yoga DVD can fill.

Yesterday we loved sharing our chat with Kristin McGee, including her best advice on getting fit and healthy. And we were none too surprised to find that she brings that same sane and balanced approach to her workout-DVD instruction. Giving great cues and showing modifications, it’s obvious that McGee has been teaching yoga for years. She’s relaxing, encouraging, and she gives a workout that’s both calming and quite challenging at times.

The DVD is a total of 50 minutes long. You can either do the full Power Yoga workout in one big chunk (as I did and was left feeling awesome), or you can break it into two 25-minute parts, one that is mostly standing and the other that is almost all floor work. While it would have been nice for the DVD to have different short workouts from the main one, it’s still super helpful to have length options. Seriously, what did we do before DVD menus?!

From sun salutations to this cool form of plank where you put your toes between your opposite ankle (so hard to explain, but it’s both challenging and feels really freakin’ good) to balance work and pigeon pose, it’s the perfect intermediate power yoga workout DVD that includes just enough yoga standbys to make you feel like you know what you’re doing and just enough new stuff to make the workout feel fresh and new. Sure, the DVD set is pretty lackluster, the music is forgettable, and there are some gratuitous booty shots (if I had a booty like that, I’d probably do the same though), but it’s still a great yoga-workout-DVD collection standby. In a nutshell, Kristin pretty much nailed it.

FBG Rating (Out of 5):

Instruction: ★★★★
Long-Term Likeability: ★★★★
Music: ★★
Fun Factor: ★★★
Meets Expectations: ★★★★

Overall: ★★★1/2

Fit Bottomed Line: If you take  your intermediate yoga with a little fitness, a little mind-body and a lot of good instruction, this is your DVD!

Want to win Kristin McGee’s Power Yoga DVD and work out with Kristin McGee, too? Leave a comment below with why you’d like to win, and we’ll select one random U.S. reader to win in about a week. The winner will be posted in the comments and emailed directly. Good luck, yogis! —Jenn