I love stretching. I just do. It feels so good to stretch long and deep. I wish I loved yoga as much as I loved stretching in general. I’m a big fan of Cathe workouts for many reasons but one of the many is that she never neglects a good stretch at the end of her workouts. I also love, love, love her STS Extended Stretch (it’s included on every STS workout DVD) and I also really like her Stretch Max stretches. However, time is a factor. Stretches needed to be an appropriate length for me to be able to add them on as frequently as I want to. STS Extended Stretch is 15 minutes long. Stretch Max stretches range from 17-22 minutes. Making all of them too long for me to tack on to most of my morning workouts since my time is limited in the mornings. So I decided to give Cathe’s Total Body Stretching DVD a try since it contains 3 stretch segments ranging from 12-14 minutes. The first stretch segment uses only your body and the other 2 use a stability ball. I liked them a lot! I did not like them as much as STS Extended Stretch or Stretch Max but they are still very good long and relaxing stretches.

#1 Basic Stretch is 14 minutes long. Tho these are called “Total Body Stretching,” this segment spends a lot of time on the lower body. It starts with some basic standing lower body stretches. Next you will get lower by bending at the waist to stretch the lower body, then coming down into runners lunges and hamstring stretches. Child’s pose, cat & cow and pigeon. Quad stretch while lying on your side then roll onto back to stretch the leg by lifting it straight toward the ceiling and holding it with your hands. Figure 4 glute/piriformis stretch. While lying on back rotate knees to side to stretch the spine. Come back to sitting to stretch hamstring. This transitions into a side/upper body stretch by putting one hand behind you and pushing up onto knee and hand while stretching one arm overhead and arching back. Sit cross-legged and stretch arms and torso out in front of you. Transition into sitting spine stretch. End with butterfly and neck stretch. Stretch the chest then round the back.

#2 Stretching with Ball #2 is 13 minutes long. This one is more of a very gentle stretch. I didn’t feel like I got a very deep stretch so I am not sure how often I will return to it. However, it maybe be a good one to come to after doing a super intense workout like Insanity or Cathe’s Maximum Intensity Cardio and you are so worn out you just need to relax and take it easy on the body but still get stretched out. The segment begins with you laying on your back with your calves on the stability ball. You do a sort of butterfly, pulling the ball in with your feet to stretch the inner thighs. You roll the ball to the side with your calves, stretching your spine. Raise one leg to ceiling and grab with hands to stretch leg then transition to figure 4 stretch with one foot still on ball. Bring ball to floor overhead and do spine stretches again, bringing the knees to the side of the body. Holding the ball in both hands overhead, twist the ball then lower it to the floor behind you, stretching your shoulder. Change position to child’s pose with hands on ball. Change it to one arm child’s pose, pressing to side to stretch lats deeper. You will do another arm/shoulder stretch with one arm on ball. Then you lay on your side on the ball to do a side stretch. Sit on ball and shift hips side to side then forward and back. Still sitting on ball, spread knees wide and shift side to side, stretching inner thighs. Turn to side onto a deep lunge with the side of your hips resting on/against the ball. Stretch shoulders and back while sitting on ball. Roll back onto ball with hands behind head, leaning back to stretch torso/spine. It ends with neck and spine stretches while sitting on ball.

#3 Stretching with Ball #3 is 12 minutes. This one has deeper stretches and I really liked it. I did it after Gym Style Legs and my body really felt like it needed it. It starts with a child’s pose with hands on the ball, rolling arms/torso side to side. Then you push back into a deeper child’s pose, hands still on the ball, bottom on feet. Lay on the ball, belly on the ball and legs wide; twist torso, raising one arm to ceiling while other is on floor. Fall over ball, relaxing hands and legs and roll gently forward and back. Do a cobra on the ball then fall back over ball and roll gently again. Do another cobra. Remain with belly on ball but put one hand on ground in front of you and grab your foot in the other hand doing a quad stretch. Sit on ball and do single leg hamstring stretch. Still sitting on the ball, spread legs wide with feet flat on ground, stretching the inner thighs. Bring feet together in front of you and fall over them, stretching low back. Lift feet so you are resting on heels and do double leg hamstring stretch. Put feet flat on ground again, wrap hands around ankles and round up, stretching upper back. Tricep stretch. Roll then shrug shoulders. Circle hips. Stand, holding ball overhead and do circle stretch, bringing ball to ground and overhead.

I discovered this workout when perusing fitness forums. I vaguely remember some contest run by both Men’s Health and Women’s Health about choosing the next “top trainer.” The winner got to create a workout series. That’s the last I heard of it. Well, as it turns out, The Anarchy Workout was created by the male winner of this contest, Andy Speer. I did some research, watched some clips and it looked pretty cool to me. It is a little system that contains 8 workouts: six 30 minute workouts and 2 fifteen minute workouts. These are broken down into phases. In Phase 1 you do the first three 30 minute workouts and in Phase 2 you do the second three 30 minute workouts. You do the two 15 minute workouts in both phases. Each phase is done for 3 weeks–so it is a 6 week program. The 30 minute workouts for each phase consist of Strength, Cardio and Endurance. The Strength workouts are the only ones that require dumbbells but dumbbells are optional in Phase 2 Endurance. The bonus 15 minute workouts are titled Anarchy Abs and Free Flow.

The first DVD has a little 1:30 minute intro to the program that breaks down how to use it. Obviously this isn’t a high dollar program–no rotation calendar, fitness guide or nutrition plan. Just the basics. You start with Phase 1 and do each of the three 30 minute workouts once a week starting with Cardio #1 (so probably Monday), mid-week you do Strength #1 (probably Wednesday), and the final workout is Endurance #1 (so probably on Friday or Saturday). You can rest on the off days or do one of the 15 minute bonus workouts. Since you get FOUR rest days, it’s probably a good idea to do them on two of the rest days and just take 2 rest days. But that’s just my opinion.

I purchased this workout directly from its website (couldn’t it find anywhere else, new or used) for $29.95. The shipping is $7.95, but I got free shipping because I also bought 10 Minute Torchers.

I expected to like these workouts otherwise I wouldn’t have purchased them, however I am surprised by how much I enjoyed them. They are all excellent workouts. Their 30 minute length makes them perfect for doubles workouts for me but if I want a longer workout, they fit together very nicely; for instance, do one of the Strength workouts followed by an Endurance workout to give you an hour long total body strength workout. Or a Strength workout followed by a Cardio workout for cardio + strength. And any of the workouts followed by one of the bonus workouts will give you a nice workout, too. They are all challenging workouts, they are sequenced nicely and I actually like Andy. He is a very good trainer who created an impressive program that is pretty well rounded. I didn’t follow the plan as laid out, but I did do Phase 1 before I did Phase 2. Both Phases were challenging but I actually liked Phase 1 workouts better. To me, they felt like they flowed better and were more well rounded. Though some of the exercises were more advanced in Phase 2, I’m not sure you actually got a better workout.

Phase 1:

Cardio is 27 minutes long with a 3 minute warm up and barely a 1 minute stretch in which you stretch each leg once. Cardio is set up in 3 rounds; each round has similar exercises but they increase in intensity and you do them for longer. So, in Round 1 you do each exercise for 30 seconds and get a 10 seconds rest, in Round 2 you do each exercise for 40 seconds and get a 20 seconds rest and in Round 3 you do each exercise for 45 seconds and get a 15 second rest. No equipment is needed. There are two back ground exercisers and one of them (the female) will show modifications for many of the exercises.

Now, before I break this down I have some comments/observations to make. First, this is the first workout of the program I did so this is my first impression. This workout is progressive. It starts out seeming too easy and by the final round it really pushed me. Not Insanity level push me–I can make it through the entire workout w/out stopping or taking personal breaks–but by the end I felt like I was getting a very good workout. Some of the moves were burning my legs out. Also, Andy got a little weird during this workout. First, early on, when the workout wasn’t very challenging, he was acting like it was. Also, he gave the male crew member a lot of attention. A lot. Frequently, while doing the exercise, Andy would do the exercise while staring at the man (who was also doing the exercise) the entire time, never taking his eyes off of him. It was pretty awkward and I am surprised it wasn’t edited out by focusing on the woman. But throughout the workout the female was little more than an afterthought. It was kind of weird! ** Now that I’ve done all of the workouts, I have to mention that this was not a pattern; I never really noticed him doing that in the other workouts.

Round 1 (30 seconds of work w/ 10 seconds of rest) : 1. 1-2 Punch (punch w/ fast feet), 2. Starter Drill Right (start position when running track; then bring back leg up into knee up), 3. Starter Drill Left, 4. Plank Fly (get into plank and alternate raising one arm out to side), 5. Quick Toes (fast feet), 6. T Plank Hold Left (hold in side plank), 7. T Plank Hold Right, 8. Rotational Slam (pretend like you are holding and slamming a ball on the ground to the side, coming down into a lunge as you slam down–alternate sides), 9. burpee.

40 second rest

Round 2 (40 seconds of work w/ 20 seconds of rest): 1. 1-2 Punch w/ Hop, 2. Starter Drill Right (same as in Round 1–just done faster), 3. Starter Drill Left, 4. Push Plank Fly (same as in Round 1, except before raising the arms to side, come down to elbow plank the back up to high plank, first on the right then on the left, then do the flys), 5. Pogo Split (4 wide hops alternated w/ 2 wide scissors), 6. T Plank Rotation (alternating side planks–he adds the option of adding a push up in between if you want), 7. Rotational Slam Split Squat (same as Round 1, except when you slam it down in the lunge, you come up and slam it again on same side (so a static lunge) before changing to other side), 8. Donkey Switch (get down on all 4s but raise knees so you are hands and toes; alternate kicking feet up to ceiling while in this position).

20 second rest

Round 3 (45 seconds of work w/ 15 seconds of rest): 1. 1-2 Upper cut (4 punches, 2 upper cuts), 2. Starter Drill Jump Right (same as Rounds 1 & 2, except add a jump), 3. Starter Drill Jump Left, 4. Push Plank Spider Fly (same as Round 2 except at the of the combo, while in high plank, bring knee to elbow on outside of body), 5. Pogo Hop Sprawl (hop with wide feet until he tells you to sprawl, then you go back into quick burpee), 6. T Plank Rotation Knee Drive (same as Round 2 but while in side plank bring knee to elbow), 7. Rotational Slam w/ Split Squat (same as Round 2 except jump lunge when doing 2nd lunge/slam), 8. Donkey Switch Kick to Burpee (same as Round 2 except when he tells you to, you jump up into one-leg burpee).

Strength is 27 minutes long with a 3 minute warm up and 1:30 minute stretch. This is actually a great little strength workout. It moves fast, so it is metabolic, too. Now, keep in mind, there is no way to get a comprehensive strength workout in less than 30 minutes; nevertheless, this workout does a good job hitting all of the major muscle groups. I followed it up by Phase 1 Endurance (see review below) which functions as a bodyweight strength workout and I really feel like I got an excellent metabolic total body strength workout by combining the two. But if you are short on time and can only do 30 minutes, this workout does do a very nice job. In order to get the best all around results from this workout you need to go heavy. Andy and crew each only had one set of dumbbells but I used more than that. I used 25, 20 and 15 pounds dumbbells. Primarily the 25s and 15s, but in the final round I had to drop from 25 to 20 for some of the exercises. The basic structure of each round is a little different. For Round 1, you do each exercise for 30 seconds then get a 15 second rest before moving on to the next exercise; the final exercise is a cardio move that you do for 60 seconds. After you finish Round 1 you get 20 seconds before moving on to Round 2. For Round 2 you do each exercise for 40 seconds and get 20 seconds of rest before moving on to the next exercise; the final exercise is a cardio move that is again done for 60 seconds. After you finish Round 2 you get a 30 second rest before moving on to Round 3. Round 3 is a little different from the first two rounds. It is 3 minutes long and you do each exercise for 30 seconds with no break between moves. If you are like me and you use more than one set of dumbbells, you need them close by since you will not get that rest period to change weights. You get 20 seconds of rest before moving on to the very brief (too brief IMHO) stretch.

Exercises:

Round 1 (30 seconds work/15 seconds rest):
Goblet Squat
Lawnmower Row
Split Stance Overhead Press
RDL (deadlift)
Skull Crushers
Narrow Chest Press
Cardio: Split Switch Reverse Fly

Round 2 (40 seconds work/20 seconds rest):
Goblet Squat Crush Curl
Lawnmower Row Iso Hold
Split Stance Push Press Right
Kickstand Deadlift (one-leg deadlift) Right
Split Stance Push Press Left
Kickstand Deadlift Left
Hollow Skull Crushers (legs raised)
Chest Press Iso Hold
Cardio: Single Leg Skip

Round 3 (3 minutes long/30 seconds each move/no rests):
Bicep Curls
RDL (deadlifts)
Split Stance Push Press
Lawnmower Row
Goblet Squat Hold with Curl
Goblet Squat
Cardio: Jump Squat

Endurance is 30 minutes long with a 6 minute warm up and 1:30 minute stretch. I didn’t know what to expect from Endurance before I did it and was very pleasantly surprised. It is bodyweight strength primarily, with some moves similar to those found in PiYo and BodyFit 360. In fact, paired with Strength, this can give you a more thorough total body strength workout. I really liked it a lot. It has a longer warm up, too. I feel the warm up, due to the exercises utilized, are as important to the content of the workout as the workout itself, so I will break those down, too. For the warm up, you do each exercise 45-60 seconds. For the workout you do each exercises for 45 seconds w/ 15 seconds of rest. You go through a long series of exercises, then you get a 35 second recovery and end the workout with a “Finisher” which is 3 minutes of non-stop exercises, no breaks. You get another 20 second rest before ending with the very short stretch.

Warm up:

Hip Bridges

Reach and Roll (do a hip bridge but hold at the top and reach with arm over and above the opposite shoulder)

Hip March (while in bridge, raise and lower each knee)

Spider T Rotation (alternate legs in runners lunge, raising same side arm as front leg toward ceiling)

Hip Drop Stretch (bend at the waist and grab ankles then bend knees and squat deep; never stand up, alternate bending at waist stretch w/ deep squat)

The final warm up exercise he didn’t give a name to, however you start doing the Hip Drop Squat, but while in squat, raise your arms overhead then jump to standing, keeping arms overhead, then bend at the waist, grabbing ankles and deep squat.

Main Workout Exercises:

Sprint Balance Hold (hold one knee up until he tells you to switch, then jump to other foot, holding other knee up)

Sprint Build Up (start w/ fast feet and progress, bringing knees up higher on Andy’s command until you are doing a high knee run)

Sprint and Hold (sprint until Andy tells you to hold, then you stand on one leg with the other knee up until he tells you to sprint again)

Pull Down to Push Up (lay on stomach and raise arms in front of you and chest as if doing superman; pull arms back as if doing a lat pull, then do a push up)

Downward Dog Push Up

Rockstar Sweep (start in high plank, twist into side plank raising top arm overhead and kicking bottom leg out; alternate sides with a push up in the middle)

Lateral Lunge w/ Balance (side lunge and when you come back to standing, raise the knee so you are balancing on one leg)

Plyo Lunge (get into a deep side lunge then bounce/plyo hop foot off ground, never really coming out of side lunge)

Crawl (get on hand and knees then raise knees off floor so you are on hands and toes; crawl forward two steps and backward two steps)

Bird Dog Reach (do Crawl but for each two steps, stop and raise arm and opposite leg)

Sweep (basically the Rockstar Sweep but faster and with no push up and your starting position is the Crawl position rather than a plank)

Hollow Knee Kicks (get into hollow man position (on back with straight arms raised, head/shoulders raised and straight legs raised at a 45 degree angle) and bring knees in and out, pausing briefly in straight leg position)

Hollow Hold (hold Hollow Man)

Hollow Rocks (get into Hollow Man and hold your position while rocking)

Punch Jack (jack the legs in and out in a sequence while punching fits forward)

Bunny Jack (squat jacks)

Squat Jacks (air jacks that start/end in squat)

35 second rest

Finisher (do each exercise for 30 seconds w/ no break between each exercise)

Hollow Rock

Push Ups

Lateral Plyo Lunges (30 seconds each leg)

Squat Jacks (air jacks)

Sprint

Phase 2:

Cardio is 27 minutes long with a 2:30 minute warm up and a 1 minute stretch. Cardio wasn’t what I as expecting. In some ways it was more intense than Phase 1 Cardio but in other ways it wasn’t. Andy mixed core moves in, bringing my heart rate down, and by the end I didn’t feel like I had worked as hard as I did in Phase 1 Cardio. But he did have some very challenging plank based moves which made this seem more like an Endurance workout. Nevertheless, it was a good workout. It got my heart rate up, I sweat, it challenged me. Overall, I like it!

Exercises:

Round 1 (40 seconds of work/20 seconds of rest): 1. Hallow Hop (arms over head, feet together, hop fast); 2. Squat Jumps; 3. Plank Walk Fly Spider (while in plank walk 3 to the side, lift outside arm in a fly and lower, then bring outside knee to elbow; repeat going the other way); 4. Single Leg Start Drill (same as in Phase 1 cardio except you are balancing on one leg the whole time); 5. Bird Dog (done in plank; raise one arm and opposite leg, bring them both under body, touching elbow to knee, then immediately raise them again; alternate sides); 6. Upper Cut Squat; 7. Suitcase Squeeze Abs (lay on back and bring elbows to knees; push and hold); 8. Single Arm Burpee.

40 second rest

Round 2 (50 seconds of work/10 seconds or rest): 1. Hollow Hop; 2. Squat Jump (pattern–jump to side and back, then 90 degree turn jump and 90 degree turn jump back to start); 3. Plank Walk Push Up Fly Spider (same as in Round 1, but every plank step is now a push up); 4. Single Leg Starter Drill (same as in Round 1 but add a jump); 5. Plank Bird Dog Push Up (same as in Round 1 but add a push up before you do the other side); 6. Double Upper Cut (same as in Round 1, but do two single arm upper cuts then one double arm upper cut); 7. Ab Runners (bicycles while in Hollow Man (Hollow Man position:lay on back with straight arms raised, head/shoulders raised and straight legs raised at a 45 degree angle)); 8. Single Arm Burpee w/ Fly (do a single arm burpee but hold at the bottom and fly each arm out to side before jumping back up and changing arms).

40 second rest

Round 3 (3 minutes, 30 seconds each exercise, no rest): 1. Hallow Hops; 2.Plan Walk Push Up Side-to-Side; 3.Singe Leg Starter Drill; 4. Single Leg Start Drill (other leg); 5. Single Arm Burpee; 6. Squat Jumps.

25 second rest

Strength is 28 minutes long with a 2:30 minute warm up and a 1:30 minute stretch. Another great short, but effective, total body strength workout. Even tho it is Phase 2, I didn’t think it was a better workout than Phase 1 Strength. They are both very good, but overall I think Phase 1 is more comprehensive. This is still a very good workout, very metabolic with some more advanced level moves, but it didn’t hit every muscle group. Just like in Phase 1, to get the best possible workout, you need to go pretty heavy. I used 25, 20 and 15 pound dumbbells. Just like in Phase 1 Strength there are 3 rounds; for the first round you will do each exercise for 40 seconds with 20 seconds of rest. In Round 2 you will do each exercise for 45 seconds with 15 seconds of rest. And for the final round there are no rests–just 4 minutes straight; you change exercise every 20 seconds.

Exercises:

Exercises:

The first series is a modified Turkish Get Up progression (use an optional dumbbell to hold overhead throughout this series/progression): 30 seconds of Forearm Half Get up, 30 seconds of Straight Arm Half Get Up, 30 seconds of Half Get Up to Bridge. Do 20 seconds of Hip Bridges before repeating the Turkish Get Up series on the other side of the body.

Shuffle Reach for 60 seconds

Static Split Squats for 40 seconds (the first half you just lunge up and down, the second half you do isometric holds with a jump; use an optional dumbbell), Split Squat Plyo for 40 seconds. Stretch your quad.

30 seconds of Defensive Bound Reaches (cardio Move)

Spider Walks for 40 seconds (walking on hands and toes, but trying to keep tabletop position)

Spider Walk Push Up for 40 seconds (add a push up)

Double Spider Walk Push Up for 1 minute

Seal Jacks for 40 seconds

Repeat the Static Split Squats and Split Squat Plyo on other side of body

Shuffle Bound for 40 seconds

Crab Bridge for 40 seconds

Swipers for 40 seconds (from crab, bring one foot under and behind you while pushing opposite arm out in the opposite direction)

Crab Swiper Burpee for 40 seconds (complicated move–do the crab swiper, but then keep turning until your in “quadruped” (on hands and feet but in table top rather than plank), jump in and up (burpee) then back down and twist back to crab)

Finisher: ladder up with push ups and jump squats, so 1 push up, 1 jump squat, 2 push ups, 2 jump squats; continue until you are doing 10 of each.

BONUS 15 Minute Workouts

Anarchy Abs is 15 minutes long. It is a tough little core workout and it hits your entire core: front, sides and back. Each move is done for one minute.

1. Cardio Skip

2. Resisted Knee Drive (standing on one leg, raise the other and, while balancing on one foot, press your hand into your knee as if trying to push it down)

3. Ab Tucks (lay on back with legs straight and fits pressed into your chin; sit up, bringing knees in and grabbing ankles; return to start position)

4. Hollow Hold (lay on back, legs straight and arms straight overhead; raise arms/shoulders, bend both knees and bring them in to body, push them out straight to a 45 degree angle then lower back to start)

5. Hop Switch (get into plank, bring one foot to outside of hand on same side, and jump/switch feet–so a wide (or spider) mountain climber)

6. Side Plank (get into side elbow plank; do 30 seconds of raising and lower hips; then raise one arm overhead and bring it down, pushing it under hips–do this for the remaining 30 seconds)

7. Single Leg Hollow Runner (bicycles while in Hollow Man (Hollow Man position:lay on back with straight arms raised, head/shoulders raised and straight legs raised at a 45 degree angle))

8. Push Plank (high plank to low plank)

9. Superman (you will change arm positions throughout the minute)

10. Russian Twist Tap (2 Russian Twists then bringing feet in and tap feet with hands)

11. 3 Way Climbers (get into plank; bring knee to elbow on outside of body, bring knee to elbow underneath body and bring knee to opposite elbow underneath body; alternate legs)

12. Hollow Rock To Superman (you do this in pyramid count–10 Hollow Rocks, 10 Supermans, 8 Hollow Rocks, 8 Supermans–continue down to 2 of each)

13. Feet to Hands (lay on back and raise straight arms and legs to ceiling; slowly lower hands and feet to about 6 inches off ground then bring back to start)

Free Flow is 15 minutes. Free Flow is not a stretch or yoga workout as I expected. It does have some yoga/stretching in it, but it is a mix of yoga, joint mobility, dynamic flexibility and even some bodyweight strength work. I really liked it and it makes a very nice add on to finish off and enhance whatever other workout you did that day.

1. Leg Cross Over (lay on back, legs straight and arms stretch to sides of body in a T; bringing leg over body and try to touch toe to opposite hand.

2. Thoracic Windmill (do leg crossover then bring arm (same side as leg that is crossed over) overhead to other hand then back.

3. Spider Lunge Series/Hip Hike with T Rotation (get into deep spider lunge (runners lunge), raise hips/round back, come back down and raise arm (same side as forward leg) toward ceiling while twisting spine; alternate sides).

4. High Lunge with Reach (get into lunge and hold arms over head, round back forward and touch fingertips to ground beside front foot).

5. Lateral Lunge to Drop Lunge (side lunge to curtsey lunge w/ twist)

6. Windmill Progression (the progression is just changing hand position)

7. Quad Stretch

8. Plank Walk Out into Plank Kick Over (get into plank and raise one leg, bring it behind you until it touches the ground and you are in a sort of tabletop w/ one leg bent, one leg straight, one arm reaching behind you and one arm underneath you/supporting you)

9. Crab Bridge

10. Crab Bridge with Single Arm Reach

11. Pigeon Sequence (Downdog to pigeon)

12. Child’s Pose

10 Minute Torchers was discovered completely by accident. First, I came across a forum post about a Men’s Health workout series called The Anarchy Workout. I was curious so I did some research on it. When I decided to spring for it, I was offered 10 Minute Torchers at the checkout. So, of course, before finishing the checkout process I did some research on 10 Minute Torchers. There wasn’t a lot of information on this little program but what I did find looked pretty cool. It looked like something both me and my husband might enjoy (so did Anarchy) so I ordered them both.

10 Minute Torchers consists of 12 ten minute workouts. The DVD case actually contains 3 DVDs; however, each DVD contains the same 12 workouts, they are just… structured differently–more on that shortly. The trainer is B.J. Gaddour. I’ve never heard of him. In his quote about this program he states that these 10 minute workouts are based on bootcamp classes. The idea behind this collection is “you can mix and match any routine for a seemingly endless variety of workouts. In fact, you can create 1,728 different 30-minute workout combinations!” And all you need for these workouts is your body and some dumbbells.

DVD #1 has all 12 workouts and you can pick and choose which workout you want to do. Disk #2 has the workouts set up in a 10 week rotation calendar. This is actually pretty cool. If you are completely out of shape or coming back to working out after an injury then start at Week 1. If you are already in shape then start at a later week. You just go to the day on the calendar and you click on it–and there is your workout for that day, already put together for you. Here is how the rotation calendar is structured: 1st 2 weeks you do 1 segment a day for 6 days; 2nd 2 weeks you do 2 segments 4 days a week and 1 segment 2 days a week; 3rd 2 weeks, you do 3 segments 3 days a week and 2 segments 3 days a week; 4th 2 weeks you do 4 segments 3 days a week and 2 segments 3 days a week; 5th and final 2 weeks you do 5 segments 3 days a week and 3 segments 3 days a week. The calendar already chooses which workouts you do each day, you just choose your day, click on it and workout. Disk 3 contains 25 different combos, combining the segments into different workouts ranging from 20-90 minutes. They each have a clever name to highlight their focus like the Stress Shedding Torcher (Fat Frying Flow and 6 Pack Super Storm), The Date Night Torcher for Men (Upper Body Blast and Arms & Abs Assault), The Beach Ready Torcher for Women (Dumbbell Dynamite, Belly Fat Broiler & Lower Body Crush), The Ass Kicking Torcher (Dumbbell Dynamite, Belly Fat Broiler, Upper Body Blast & Lower Body Crush), plus 21 more combos. I like that last one I listed btw–the Ass Kicking Torcher. Nice combo. Date Night Torcher for Men is another nice one–I actually used that one after doing RIPT90’s Arm Annihilator–and totally burned my arms out.

Even tho some of these are great little workouts, 10 minutes will never be enough to do any real muscle/strength building, but they are nice for add-ons and/or an effective metabolic/bootcamp workout when stringing them together. The level of the workouts varies, which makes sense. If you use the rotation calendar disk you would see that some of the workouts do not even appear until later weeks. If you take some of the more challenging workouts and string them together you could actually get a very intense metabolic strength workout. For instance, for a great 40 minute metabolic strength workout that is all dumbbells do Dumbbell Dynamite, Belly Fat Broiler, Upper Body Blast and Arms and Abs Assault (these are the only 4 workouts that use dumbbells). If you want to use all of the strength workouts and add 30 more minutes to your workout–add on Tempo Torchers, Lower Body Crush and Isometric Inferno–3 more strength workouts but no equipment needed. So it is entirely possible to get a 70 minute total body metabolic strength workout. And of course remove 1, 2, 3 or more of the segments to construct the workout you want and/or change the focus of the workout. You would of course need to add on your own warm up and stretch.

For the break down, I am not listing times because B.J. is consistent–every workout is 10 minutes. However, he does give a very brief explanation of what to expect at the beginning of each–generally it lasts about 20 seconds. There are no warm ups or cool downs. But at the end of every workout he usually yells “Done!” All of the workouts feature BJ only and are set in a huge empty warehouse. BJ himself is an odd man–he makes a lot of silly commentary that sometimes made me laugh and sometimes just made me roll my eyes. He did have a lot of energy, put together some great mini workouts and seemed to put his own spin on everything.

Workouts:

Tempo Torchers is a body weight workout, so no equipment. 10 exercises, 50 seconds of work 10 seconds of rest. The title means that each exercise is done very slowly. Also, you never totally come out of a move; for example, the first exercise is Tempo Squat; you squat very slow and deep and never come all the way back to standing, so there is always tension in the muscle.

Exercises:

1. Tempo Squat

2. Tempo Push Up

3. Tempo Split Squat

4. Tempo Split Squat other leg

5. Tempo Bridging

6. 3 Slow Squats/1 Fast Squat or Squat Jump

7. 3 Slow Push Ups/1 Fast Push Ups

8. 2 Slow Walking Lunges

2 Fast Walking Lunges

9. T Planks; alternate slow and fast

10. Alternating Fast and Slow Mountain Climbers (4 of each)

6 Pack Super Storm is a cardio/core interval workout and pretty cool, I really liked it. You do 30 seconds of cardio and 30 seconds of a core move (usually isometric). No equipment needed.

1. Seal Jacks

2. Forearm Plank

3. Traditional Jumping Jack

4. Left Side Plank

5. Split Jacks (scissor hops)

6. Right Side Plank

7. X Jacks (just cross feet when jacking in)

8. Hip Bridge

9. Predator Jacks (squat jack, except at bottom (when in wide squat) shift side to side before jumping back up)

10. Hallow (or banana hold–lay on back and lift feet, hands, head, shoulders 6-8 inches off ground and hold)

11. Back Foot Touch Skaters (low impact skaters)

12. Push Up Hold

13. Speed Skaters

14. Bird Dogs

15. Stick the Landing (skaters that you hop to the side and hold/balance)

16. T Push Ups

17. Elastic Skater Jumps (just fast full skater jumps)

18. Dead Bug

19. Fast/Slow Skaters

20. Slow Mountain Climbers

I discovered RIPT90 thanks to Amazon recommending products it thinks I might be interested in based on my past purchases, my wishlist, my browsing history, etc. RIPT90 appears relatively new. I have not seen this particular program before but Amazon has recommended others by the same company: X-TrainFit. I have looked at X-TrainFit’s other programs but they have never interested me. They looked cheaply made and too easy. Before I bought RIPT90, I thought it actually looked like a quality program (production value). Though I should have been clued in by the price. (I paid $29.98; it is currently going for $29.96 on Amazon.) After receiving and reviewing it (but before doing it!), I changed my opinion. It is pretty cheaply made. However, just because Beachbody didn’t put it together with a great studio, staff and packaging doesn’t mean the actual workouts are not worthwhile or challenging. It is actually an excellent program. Do not misunderstand–I have my criticism and nitpicks, as you will find in this review, but over all, with some tweaks, this is an awesome value for only $30. There is quality in the workouts–just not in the production.

RIPT90 contains 14 workouts ranging in time from 14-42 minutes. They are very metabolic, very intense and advanced. And they have no stretch or cool down at the end, which I discovered right away when my husband and I were previewing the workouts. This irritates me to no end. But I just used a Cathe workout stretch to finish off any RIPT90 workout I did. However, I was generally doing more than one RIPT90 workout back to back and I only have an hour to workout in the morning; also, I like to keep my doubles workouts to 30 minutes. So I couldn’t do a long stretch and most of Cathe’s are thorough and last 5-7 minutes. But if you are simply doing one RIPT90 workout a day (as the rotation calendar directs you to do) then finish it off with RIPT90’s Stretch DVD. It is an excellent 17 minute total body stretch and since these workouts are so short, that leaves plenty of time for a thorough stretch. Besides–your body needs it after the intensity of these workouts.

RIPT90 was created and led by trainer Jodi Hendrix. It comes with a training guide, a nutrition plan and a workout rotation calendar. The “training guide” is very brief and generic. It breaks the 90 days into three 30 day segments–Conditioning, Strength, Sculpting… but they all use the same workouts. They just mix them up differently. I counted them on the calendar. I did not count Stretch or RIPT Abs in my count. You do all of the workouts 1-2 times the first month, all of the workouts 1-2 times the second month except for Shoulder Pressure and Deadlift Killer which you do 3 times and in month 3 you do all of the workouts 1-2 times except, Shoulder Pressure, Deadlift Killer and Chest Shredder which you do 3 times. I didn’t follow the rotation calendar but maybe I should have. There is a lot of shoulder work in these workouts and not just in Shoulder Pressure. This program is full of thrusters and other compound exercises that work the shoulders and they appear in many of the workouts. By the end of the week (I did the entire program over one week) my shoulders were aching. So maybe the calendar separates workouts so you aren’t burning your shoulders out. Maybe not. I don’t know because I am never going to follow it. However, you can do as I did and create workout cards to track how heavy you lifted or just use my break down below and don’t schedule workouts that hit the shoulders hard close together. I did them in a week for the purpose of giving them all a try. When I use the workouts in the future I will not use them in the same fashion and will mix them up with workouts from other trainers/programs.

The “Training Guide” also tells you what RIPT stands for: Resistance Interval Plyometrics Training. It lists each workout and how many calories it estimates a 30 year old, 5’11”, 200 pound man will burn doing each workout. There is a short description of each workout that really gives you no useful information but does contain typos. The Nutrition Guide is probably the most useful part of the supplemental literature. It has some healthy recipes with nutritional breakdowns and some basic instructions on clean eating. The casing for the DVDs is actually very nice and reminiscent of P90X; in fact, another thing about this series is “reminiscent” of P90X. At the beginning of every workout in P90X, there is a little clip, set in a completely separate/different setting, in which Tony Horton talks about the workout you are about to do. It’s very brief but unique to P90X. Well, RIPT90 does exactly that. Right before each workout there is a short clip of Jodi Hendrix in a completely different setting giving a little summary of the workout you are about to do–frequently attempting to be clever/funny. I like the workouts enough that I shrug it off, but it’s such an obvious Tony Horton/P90X rip-off that it is cringe-worthy. The workouts are set is a small room, nothing fancy or ascetically pleasing. There is a timer that counts down the workout and there is band along the bottom of the screen that tells you what exercise you are doing and what the next exercise will be. There is also a counter that sometimes lists the correct number of reps you are supposed to do and sometimes it doesn’t. Jodi always has two exercisers behind him. One is doing modified version of the exercise and/or is also using a band rather than dumbbells or pull-up bar.

This program is a metabolic strength series. It’s advanced and its tough. You will burn fat and increase/define muscle (with proper diet of course). My husband did this series before me and he didn’t care for it nearly as much as I did. In spite of my criticisms I loved these workouts. They challenged me. A lot! I will definitely use these workouts again. I didn’t love Jodi; didn’t hate him either. He did a decent job. His count was frequently off. He frequently took breaks to “demonstrate form” but unlike other trainers, it clearly seemed he is taking a break because it was very hard. He doesn’t seem well versed in basic physiological information that any good trainer should know. You almost never see the modified version of an exercise in a timely manner. However, he does frequently encourage you to modify moves, sit out a set, or do less reps to bring the workouts to your level of fitness. Why didn’t my husband like these workouts? He didn’t like Jodi, he thought the workouts were too hard (he doesn’t like the metabolic aspect of it) and he hated all of the squats. My husband does not like to work his lower body and avoids it completely. Well, Jodi manages to bring squats into every workout. Not just in the warm up (there are always squats in the warm ups)–but in the workouts, too, including upper body workouts. Sometimes he just makes you squat, other times he incorporates squats into a compound move that works both the upper and lower body. I love that aspect of it because I love squats–my husband does not! He hates squats. And finally–the warm up and lack of stretch were some other things I didn’t like. You do the exact same warm up in every single workout. 1 or 2 of the workouts vary it slightly, but otherwise it is identical. And its not that great to begin with! So having to do it ad nauseam (as Tony Horton makes you do in P90X2–but at least RIPT90’s warm ups aren’t 15-18 minutes long like P90X2’s are!) gets old if you are following this as a 90 day program. And as mentioned in many places throughout this review, I am highly irritated there are zero cool downs and stretches in these workouts.

Finally, the background music is low key and generic. However each DVD has the option of playing it without the music. On to the individual workouts.

Workouts:

Minute by Minute is 25 minutes long with a 5 minute warm up. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. Minute by Minute is actually a sort of “fit test” for this program. It was the last workout I did when sampling this series, but if you are using the rotation calendar it will be the first workout you do and the last. You will also do it several other times in the 90 day period, but it is used as a way to see how far you’ve progressed–as well as get a great workout! This workout consists of one circuit made up of 3 different exercises (5 pull ups, 10 push ups and 15 unweighted squats) that you repeat 20 times. You read that right–20 times. The aim is to complete each circuit in less than a minute so you have some recovery time before repeating (Jodi and crew averaged 15-20 seconds recovery time). If you can do 20 circuits at the most advanced level (as in no modifications) then you are super fit. It is impossible for me currently and probably always. If you do the entire workout, w/ no personal breaks, and do every single rep, then that is 100 pull ups, 200 push ups and 300 squats. Currently I cannot even do 1 unassisted pull up, and only 2-3 using an assist. So obviously I was modifying with bands. (**I decided to test myself after I posted this review and I was able to do 10 assisted pull ups. Nowhere near the 100 this workout calls for. Plus, due to the fact I have to get my foot in and out of the assist (which is time consuming), I will stick with bands so I get some recovery time). I also went to my knees on push ups (not immediately but halfway through). However, I did do every rep and every circuit–I just modified. Jodi does encourage you early on to modify however you need to and even sit a circuit out to regroup–but the goal is to eventually do the entire workout w/ no breaks and no modifications. It was still a tough, great little workout–even with modifications!

20 One-Leg Dead-Lifts (10 on each leg)

20 Straight Leg Dead-Lifts

20 One-Leg Straight Leg Dead-Lifts (10 each leg)

Finisher: 50 Jumping Lunges

Back Breaker is 42 minutes long with a 6 minute warm up, no cool down/stretch. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. This is an excellent and tough workout that seriously does the job. My back is aching afterward and I expect some serious DOMS. I have some nitpicks. First, there is a band modifier. This is great, BTW–but we need to see him early on! We don’t even see the band modifier for the first circuit of the pull ups! I cannot do 72 pull ups–not even with an assist. (This is how many pull ups you do btw.) So I used the band option. Having done many other workouts (P90X and others) that use band modifiers I am already well aware of how this is done, but what about the exerciser that isn’t familiar? They have no idea how to modify this exercise until well into the workout! The same thing happens when we move to the second circuit that uses dumbbells–he doesn’t show the modified version with bands right away. This is something that should be demonstrated immediately. In spite of these criticisms, I loved this workout. By the end of this workout you will have done 72 pull ups, 100 bent over rows, 50 renegade rows and 100 sit ups. No too shabby. **Yep, I had DOMS the next day.

Equipment needed for this workout is a pull up bar or bands for the pull ups, and dumbbells or a band.

Exercises:

Circuit 1 (repeat 3x):
8 wide grip Pull-Ups
8 standard grip Pull-Ups
8 close grip Chin-Ups

Circuit 2 (repeat 5x):
10 Bent Over Rows
10 Explosive Bent Over Rows
10 Renegade Rows

Circuit 3 (do once):
10 Reverse Flys (3 sets)
10 Pull-Overs (3 sets)
20 Push-Ups (5 sets)

Shoulder Pressure is 21 minutes with a 4 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. Because of the length of this workout, I paired it with Back Breaker and totally burned my back and shoulders out. I really enjoyed this short but effective workout. It is not a comprehensive shoulder workout–nevertheless it does a good job. By the end of this workout you will have done 75 overhead presses, 75 upright rows and 100 sit ups. All you need for this workout is dumbbells.

Exercises:

15 Overhead Press
10 Sit-ups
15 Sumo High Pulls (upright rows w/ sumo squat)
10 Sit-ups
Repeat Circuit 5x

Finisher: 25 Lateral Raises

Metabolic Mania is 25 minutes long with a 4:30 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. This is a tough cardio/HIIT workout that includes a lot of core work. You do 3 circuits; each circuit contains 3 exercises and each circuit is repeated 3 times. You need a set of light weights and one heavy dumbbell or a kettlebell. Jodi’s count is off frequently–usually to your benefit and you do less reps than you’re supposed to be doing, but at least once he has you do more. You need dumbbells for this workout. You can also use a kettlebell for one of the exercises if you own one.

Circuit #1 (repeat 3 times):
10 Slalom Press (skaters while punching light dumbbells)
10 Spiderman Push-ups
20 Tuck Jumps

Circuit #2 (repeat 3 times):
10 Mountain Climbers
10 Burpees
20 Squats

Circuit #3 (repeat 3 times):
10 Step Outs (in plank, kick leg underneath you to opposite side, or bring knee to opposite elbow)
10 Dumbbell Swings (kettlebell swing w/ a dumbbell except you bring the dumbbell/kettlebell all the way overhead)
20 Jumping Lunges

Leg Overhaul is 25 minutes long with a 4 minute warm up. This warm up is slightly different from the others. For this one you alternate between jogging in place and downward dog to push up; you cycle through it twice. The reason he doesn’t include the usual squats in the warm up is because the first exercise is 5 sets of unweighted squats. Compared to the other RIPT90 workouts I’ve done so far, I didn’t find this one very challenging. It is a decent lower body workout, but nothing I would ever think to return to. At least on it’s own. I do think pairing it with Dead-Lift Killer would make a more well rounded lower body workout that clocks in at 64 minutes. However, you would also need to tack on some lower body stretching. I have been using Cathe‘s Xtrain Cardio Leg Blast stretch (8 minutes) to finish off RIPT90’s lower body workouts, but she has other lower body stretches that are shorter. And of course you could just use RIPT90’s 17 minute Stretch. All you need for this workout is dumbbells.

Exercises:

30 seconds of Unweighted Squats (5 sets/15-20 seconds of rest between each set)

10 Static Lunges (3 sets)

10 Squats (3 sets)

Calf Raises – 20 seconds of work/10 seconds of rest (7 sets)

10 Goblet Squats (3 sets)

10 Jumping Lunges (6 sets)

Death by Thruster is 25 minutes long and it is brutal. Brutal! This workout is a monster! But the end of it you will have done 225 thrusters! This workout is metabolic muscle building, fat frying at its finest and it is tough. I started with 15 pound dumbbells and quickly dropped to 12s then 10s by the end. I was pushing hard to finish by the end of every circuit (those lunge thrusters start out seeming so doable and by the end–OMG). You are getting strength, cardio and HIIT with this workout. You are working lower and upper body as well as your core. What is a thruster? It is a front loaded squat with an overhead push press. This workout has it all, but it is just criminal that Jodi provides no cool down and stretch because damn–do you ever need it by the time you are done. Luckily, Cathe can provide me with that and I popped in Flex Train and went straight to the stretch.

I got ahead of myself in my gushing all over this workout. The warm up is 5 minutes and no cool down/stretch. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. This workout is made up of one circuit of 4 different styles of thrusters that you repeat 3 times. Choose your weights well. The challenge (for me at least) will be to get through this entire workout one day using only 15 pound dumbbells. I am no where near that level yet. Finally, Jodi’s count was off half of the time.

Exercises (repeat 3 times):
15 Thrusters
15 Burpee Thrusters
15 Sumo Thrusters
15 Lunge Thrusters (15 each leg that is)

15 Biceps Curls to Overhead Press (3 sets)

15 Hammer Curls (3 sets)

5 Jumping Jacks to 5 Tricep Push-ups (8 rounds no rest)

5 Biceps Curls with heavy weights (10 sets)

15 Triceps Dips (3 sets)

5 Chin-Ups (10 sets)

50 Sit-ups (3 sets)

Dirty Dozen is 22:30 minutes long with a 4 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. After doing Death by Thruster yesterday I approached this workout with some dread. However, this workout wasn’t nearly as punishing! It’s a great little workout. It consists of 12 exercises and you do 12 reps of each exercise–then repeat. I was so nervous I went too light on my dumbbells the first round! But I heavied up on them the second time through. I think this workout would be excellent as an add-on to another workout or even just repeat it–or do it 3 times. Seriously! Skip the warm up the second (and third) time through and it is 41 minutes if you do it twice and 59:30 if you do it 3 times. By itself, I don’t think it’s enough of a workout, but definitely awesome if added on to another workout or done at least twice. For this workout you need a set of dumbbells, a pull up bar (or bands) and if you have a kettlebell you can use that, too, for one of the exercises (or just use a dumbbell).

Exercises (do 2 times):

12 Tuck Jumps
12 Pull-ups
12 Thrusters
12 Dead-Lifts
12 Push-ups
12 Burpees
12 Fly Traps (core move; lay on back and jackknife straight arms and legs till they touch)
12 Push Press (he actually just does overhead presses the majority of the time)
12 Side Knees alternating each side
12 Dumbbell Swings (kettlebell move except he brings the dumbbell all the way overhead)
12 Sit-ups
12 Squats (unweighted)

Total Body Tamer is 32 minutes long with a 2:30 minute warm up. The warm up in this workout is a little different than the others. You go through the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit one time then end with jogging in place before moving on to the workout. This is another tough metabolic strength workout. I feel like your shoulders get the most work, but maybe it just seemed that way because mine are still smarting from Death by Thruster. Equipment needed for this workout is dumbbells or bands and a pull up bar or bands. You can also use a kettlebell for one of the exercises if you own one. As usual, Jodi’s count is off. Also, we are supposed to do 10 sets of weighted burpees but you only actually do 9 sets. I don’t think anyone is complaining!

Exercises:

15 Weighted Thrusters (3 sets)
5 Pull-ups (10 sets)
5 Push-ups (10 sets)
10 Clean and Jerk (deadlift, hammer curl and overhead press) (5 sets)
5 Weighted Burpees (w/ overhead press) (9 sets)
10 Sit-ups + 10 Dumbbell Swings (5 rounds)

Ups and Downs is 18 minutes long with a 5 minute warm up. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. This is a tough and quick cardio workout of the HIIT variety. I did it immediately after finishing Total Body Tamer, so I was already tired! Its a great metabolic workout on its own or it finishes off another workout nicely. All you need for this workout is a dumbbell or bands.

Exercises:

30 Dumbbell Snatch (single arm but alternate arms; you start with the dumbbell on the ground in front of you and you squat to place it on the ground before switching hands)
30 Mountain Climbers
30 Squats
10 Burpees
20 Dumbbell Snatch
20 Mountain Climbers
20 Squats
15 Burpees
10 Dumbbell Snatch
10 Mountain Climbers
10 Squats
20 Burpees

Chest Shredder is 37 minutes long with a 5 minute warm up. For the warm up you will repeat the standard jog in place, downdog to push up, squat circuit twice. Another tough strength workout. I was dreading this workout because the chest is my least favorite muscle group to work. My favorite muscle groups to work are back and lower body. I hate chest work. Even tho this was a tough workout, it wasn’t the hardest chest workout I’ve ever done. Cathe still holds the title for that with several workouts (Ripped with HIIT & Gym Style come to mind…) but this was still a very good workout that burned my chest (and other muscle groups) very well. Lots of core work, too. Equipment needed for this workout is just several sets of dumbbells. I also used my weight bench for chest flys and presses but Jodi and crew just did theirs on the floor.

Exercises:

15 Wide Arm Push-ups
15 Standard Push-ups
15 Close Hand Push-ups
10 T-bar Push-ups (5 each side)
15 Chest Fly
15 Chest Press
25 Sit-ups

Repeat this circuit 3 times

Finisher: Forearm Planks, hold for 30 seconds, 5 times

RIPT Abs is 14 minutes long. No warm up but there is a 1 minute stretch at the end. This is a great little core workout. Not the toughest I’ve done, but it does a good job and I like how it alternates between plank and supine core work. It also uses a ladder progression; you do a circuit of exercises that you repeat 3 times. You start out doing 40 reps of most of the exercises, then the next time through you drop to 30 reps and the final time through you drop to 20 reps. You always hold the forearm plank for 60 seconds on each circuit.

Exercises:

Sit-Ups
Hold Forearm Plank for 60 seconds
Twist Crunches (Russian Twist)
Plank Knee to Elbow (Spider Plank)

Repeat Circuit 3 times; 40 reps first time, 30 reps second time and 20 reps 3rd time

Stretch is 17 minutes. This is a very nice total body stretch and one you should tack on to the end of every single workout if you are only doing one workout a day. Seriously. These are short workouts with zero stretching at the end. This will thoroughly stretch you out! I hate that these workouts have no cool downs or stretches at the end and both are so important. If you are limited on time and/or are doing more than one RIPT90 back to back (like I did), you can do like I did and just use a shorter stretch from another workout. I am spoiled because Cathe chapters her workouts so well that it is easy to go into any one of hers and go straight to the stretch. I know that isn’t possible with the majority of the workout DVDs out there (they aren’t chaptered) so at the very least become familiar with the common stretches and stretch yourself out after the workouts.

At the beginning and during this workout Jodi recommends doing this segment before or after your workout or on your rest day. NO! His ignorance is appalling. You do not hold cold/unworked muscles in static stretches. You warm them up first. It is after the workout that you do static stretching. And if you are going to stretch on your off/rest day–at least do something to warm up a little. A few minutes of jumping jacks and jogging in place.

Since this is a stretching workout I am not going to break it down in detail, but here are the basic stretches and the order they appear: neck stretches, overhead/side stretches, hamstring/calf stretch (bend at the waist/touch toes/floor), downdog, cat and cow, thread the needle, quad stretch (while laying on stomach), tricep and shoulder stretches, shin stretch (sit with legs straight in front of you and toes pointed; reach for toes), spinal twist, play dead (lay on back and stretch arms overhead and legs straight/toes pointed).

I cannot even remember how I came across Ultimatum but it has been on my Amazon Wishlist for a very long time. It is expensive. The trainer is Lindsi Sanor and she created an intense metabolic weight training fitness program along the lines of Michelle Dozois‘s Peak 10 Cardio Strength workouts–except shorter. So I was definitely interested. I watched a clip and these workouts looked tough! You get 8 workouts and one 15 minute stretch. 6 workouts are cardio + strength workouts, one is a bodyweight only workout and the last is a kickboxing workout. Amazon sells it for $89.95. I couldn’t find enough information to decide if it was worth that much money so I bought it used on ebay for cheaper. Now that I own it and have done all the workouts–I think it is definitely worth it.

Before doing these workouts I previewed most of them to create workout cards (a chart with all the strength exercises listed to record the weights of the dumbbells I used–so I can keep challenging myself every time I do the workout) so I have a few observations up front before ever doing any of the workouts. First, these workouts looked very advanced and very challenging. This is evident just from watching the exercises but also from observing/listening to Lindsi during the workouts. Now, let me clarify this by saying she is a very good trainer, she leads the workouts well. She does the majority of the workouts, only stopping occasionally to point out form. These workouts wear her out. Big time. These are not high quality videos. Very well done for the obviously low budget but they did not take the time to test the sound. Her microphone records everything–heavy panting, gulping when drinking. Another thing is the music. All of the workouts appear to use the same music track. It is decent workout music–fast paced beat, but its pretty generic.

Now, having done all of the workouts, I have to re-frame my opinions. They are all awesome workouts (except the stretch). Very metabolic, but the level varies. Some are advanced, others are more intermediate. Some are more intense than others. I would also compare these workouts more to Cathe‘s Crossfire, To the Max and X10 rather than Peak 10’s Cardio Strength workouts. They all fall in the same category–metabolic strength training, but I found them more reminiscent of Cathe workouts. I think it is the fun factor. I find Cathe’s workouts much more fun than Peak 10 workouts. And Ultimatum workouts (to me) are fun. I love an intense and challenging metabolic workout that is also fun. So these are winners. In fact, I would go so far as to put the Ultimatum workouts that use dumbbells (so 6 of them) as a cross between Cathe’s above mentioned metabolic workouts and her circuit based cardio + strength workouts such as High Step Training and High Step Challenge–except Ultimatum obviously uses no step. In the two Cathe circuit workouts I just mentioned you get total body strength + cardio; you get that too in Ultimatum but Ultimatum does not give your muscles the same focus Cathe does in High Step Training and High Step Challenge (and in To the Max, Crossfire and X10 you get cardio + weights, but not a total body strength workout). So it falls somewhere in between–you do get total body strength + cardio, but not the same focus on each muscle group that Cathe gives them. Maybe I am putting too much thought into it? All I know is I really love these workouts!

The more intermediate workouts are the White, Blue, Purple and Bronze workouts. The most advanced one (to me) was the Red workout followed by Platinum. Black and Gold fell somewhere in the middle–maybe lower advanced or high intermediate. And remember–the level of the workouts will depend on the dumbbells you chose. If you are using 5 pound dumbbells you aren’t going to get an advanced workout.

You don’t get a lot of information about this program. You get 3 pieces of literature: 2 rotation calendars and 1 food list. One of the calendars rotates Ultimatum workouts only and the other has days in which you can insert other workouts of your choice. And you get a very barebones meal plan. It gives you breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack choices. It gives you daily calorie ranges base on sex and weight but none of the meal/snack choices have any nutritional information–so you have no clue how those meals/snacks fall into the calorie ranges given. Zero instructions. Extremely barebones.

Workouts: in the exercise breakdowns below you will see “(DB)”–all that means is that dumbbells are used for that particular exercise. Also, the workouts appear in the order I did them (so Blue workout was the first workout I did and Gold the last).

Gold Workout is 44 minutes w/ a 6:30 minute warm up and a 2 minute cool down/stretch. Another great metabolic workout and the final one I did in the program. Red is still the hardest and I think Platinum is harder than Gold–but this one ties with Black, tho Black is more strength focused (and more fun, so Black is still my favorite). There is a lot of plank based moves in the first cardio circuit that you repeat 3 times and I am not a fan of mountain climbers–but other than that, I really enjoyed this workout.

The Butt Bible is a workout series created by Pauline Nordin a Swedish fitness model and trainer. She is also the creator of the Fighter Diet which is strength training and diet guides for bodybuilding and fat loss. I decided to get this because on my next round of STS (starting in September) I want to give my glutes extra focus and this has received a lot of good reviews. So I was surprised to discover that this DVD did not just contain lower body workouts. It actually contains 6 workouts: 3 lower body and 3 upper body/core workouts. They are separated into levels that correspond not only to how challenging they are but to their length. Level 1 workouts (easiest) are 20 minutes long, Level 2 are 30 minutes long and Level 3 are 40 minutes long (and the most challenging).

Pauline has a strong Swedish accent but I had no problem understanding what she said. She is a small very muscular woman and she talks non-stop. This was something that was commented on repeatedly in reviews. Some peopled hated it and were even insulted by her commentary, and other people didn’t care–the workouts were worth it. I am in the “didn’t care” camp. She didn’t bother me. She is silly and says silly things, but her workouts are great and super tough! She hits the lower body and glutes hard! And does a good job on the upper body, too. In fact, look at the cover of the DVD case with all of the silly writing. She probably wanted all of that there. She has a lot to say about butts and when you do the workouts you will get to hear it all. She also has a butt to aspire to which is also prominently displayed. I won’t lie; some of the things she says are insulting. Now, they didn’t bother me but I can see how some people might be offended. She picks the imperfect female body apart–from cottage cheese thighs, to back fat, to jiggly arms and much more–she will let you know she sees it and finds it repulsive. She even insults old men at the gym.

On the cover of the DVD case it states “Free workout plan and meal guidelines” at http://www.thebuttbible.com. But every time I try to go to this website it times out. If you go to Pauline’s Fighter Diet website she has the Butt Bible books (for $58) and there is a picture of the DVD case but it says it is no longer available. So I guess you cannot get a free workout plan and meal guidelines. She does tell you in her very short intro on Disk 1/Level 1 that it is a 6 week program–you do each level for 2 weeks and each workout 2 times each week (so you workout 4 days). Tho these are split into upper and lower body, each disk has the option to “play all” so you can also do both workouts, one after the other, and get a total body workout. Finally, the music is generic but upbeat and drives the workouts.

Level 1

Lower Body is 21 minutes  w/ a 3 minute warm up and a 4 minute stretch. This workout is body weight only. Since this is level one, uses no equipment and the workout is only 20 minutes long, I expected this to be easier than it was. It is not advanced, difficult or even challenging–however, it does a great job for such a short workout. I actually liked it a lot. I used it as a sort of cool down after an intense Ultimatum workout. And I love it for that purpose–a cool down that actually works your glutes, too! I assumed I would do this workout once and never return to it, but it fits perfectly after any 30-40 minute workout to round your workout out to an hour + give you some excellent glute work!

Exercises:

Glute Bridge (2 sets)

Side (lying raise): bent leg, then straight leg (2 sets each leg)

Wide Stance Squats (2 sets)

Static Lunge

Sumo Deadlift

Stiff Leg Deadlift

Sumo Deadlift

Glute Bridge (3 sets)

Upper Body is 21 minutes w/ a 3:30 minute warm up and a 2 minute stretch. Just like the Level 1 Lower Body I expected this to be easier than it was. Not that this was a hard workout–especially if you are using weights like Pauline and crew are using (3-5 pound dumbbells max). If you are going super light as they are, then this is a pointless workout. I used 15 and 12 pound dumbbells and I got a nice little workout. Now let me clarify. Before doing both Level 1 Upper and Lower Body workouts, I did an Ultimatum workout which is cardio + strength and very metabolic. So these workouts served as add-ons and finishers and they are perfect for that purpose. Just like Lower Body, I assumed I would never return to this workout after doing it once, but as an add-on after Ultimatum it is perfect!

Exercises:

Butterfly (3 sets)

Double Arm Bent Over Row (DB)

Overhead Shoulder Press (DB)

Repeat row and overhead press

Double Arm Bent Over Row (DB)

Triceps Kickback (DB)

Biceps Curl (DB)

Repeat kickbacks and curls

Rear Delt Flys (DB)

Push Ups

Repeat flys and push ups

Crunches

Reverse Crunches

Repeat both crunches

Side Elbow Plank Hold (2 sets)

Superman w/ Arms at Side (2 sets)

Level 2

I discovered this workout system from Oxygen Magazine–they sent me a sales email. I was immediately intrigued. I am getting ready to start another round of STS in September and I am planning on adding additional glute focus. I have already tried The Butt Bible for that purpose and loved it, so I decided I needed this program. Edge Booty Extreme 2 was created by Ingrid Romero. She is a Spanish (with a thick Spanish accent, but I understood everything she said) fitness competitor who has won a lot of competitions including The Arnold Classic. I do not follow fitness/bodybuilding competitions but the Arnold Classic sounds like a big deal to me since it is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger and she won 1st place in it as well as 1st place in many other fitness/bodybuilding competitions. That’s the kind of person I am interested in learning how to strength train from. She is also a writer, a cover model, a fitness and nutrition expert and coach, as well as the founder of Team Edge which is apparently a fitness/bodybuilding competitor team. (info found on her website) So she has the credentials to build a pretty amazing strength training program. The clip I watched on her website was short but the exercises looked pretty advanced and the program is glute focused–so I ordered it immediately. BTW–it was not cheap. But so worth it.

Edge Booty Extreme 2 is a 7 week workout program that comes with 7 workouts on 3 DVDs, 2 firewalker bands (resistance band loops) and fitness guide that includes the rotation calendar and the meal plan. When I ordered and received my email receipt, it also contained a digital version of the fitness guide, which is pretty cool because you can start reading about it before the program even arrives. And just to clarify, when you receive it, it comes with a hard-copy fitness guide, too. These workouts are available digital, as well, if you don’t want DVDs (or want immediate access). However, my program shipped quick. I received it in less than a week.

If you follow the rotation calendar that comes with the program here is how the program plays out: For the first 3 weeks you do the first 3 workouts: Weighted Legs, Weighted Upper Body and Weighted Glutes. In addition, she wants you to do cardio 5 days a week. There is no workout DVD for the cardio she wants you to do; she breaks it down in the fitness guide. They are interval workouts that give you circuits of running, jumping rope, jump squats, ice skaters, jump lunges–even treadmill and stationary bike. The 2nd 3 weeks uses the second 3 workouts: Weights + Plyo Legs, Weights + Plyo Upper Body and Weights + Plyo Glutes. Just like the first 3 weeks she wants you to do additional cardio 5 days a week and lays it out for you (no DVD) in the fitness guide. Week 7 is different from the first 6 weeks. You use one workout–Peak Cardio which is a plyo HIIT workout. You do it every single day the 7th week. You also do 30 minutes of “fasted” cardio; it can be any kind of cardio–running, biking, elliptical–but you do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. You also get a detailed meal plan for the entire 7 weeks. There is an optional vegan meal plan. It’s pretty detailed and comprehensive. And, of course, I will not be following it.

The workouts all have the same structure (except for Peak Week Cardio). They are set up in supersets and the superset is repeated 4 times. During a superset repetition (repeating the same superset 4 times that is) you get little to no breaks (except in the lower body w/plyo workouts–you get more breaks in those). You do get a brief break before you start the next (different) superset. This is a very tough and effective training method. It is also very metabolic so are getting cardio, too. All of the workouts also have excellent graphics along the bottom, telling you what exercise you are doing, how many reps and which stage of the superset you are currently in. All of the workouts (except Peak Week Cardio) have the same warm up:  circling the arms, side lunge stretch w/ arms raised overhead, bend at the waist with legs wide to stretch hamstrings/glutes, crossover stretches (cross one leg over the other and bend at the waist, reaching for floor), high knee march, jog in place, butt kick run in place. And finally, in each workout there is someone doing a “gym” version of the exercises that uses a bench and sometimes gym equipment (a cable pull around the ankle). Ingrid and the other crew member (she always has 2 crew members except for in Peak Week Cardio where she has 5) are doing the “home” version which uses a stability ball and the firewalker bands. But if you have a bench or step with lots of risers, you can easily do the gym version for every exercise except the one that uses the cable pull.

Summary: After having done all of the workouts I do think Ingrid put together a solid rotation, but I will still never follow it. I like more upper body and core work than what this program provides. Plus I like more variety in my cardio. But these are all excellent, advanced workouts and they will fit perfectly into my upcoming STS rotation. I do have some nitpicks. First, none of these workouts have a cool down or a stretch. I find this very irritating, but lately I’ve been coming across this a lot. RIPT90 workouts have no cool downs/stretches, Lindsay Brin‘s Pretty Fierce workouts sometimes have no cool down/stretches tho she always directed you to cool down and stretch if she didn’t include it. Ultimatum had extremely short cool down/stretches. Maybe this is the new thing? I don’t understand it; after working a muscle is the ideal time to stretch it. Here is a short article on the Benefits of Post Workout Stretching. It is important. So after I finished these workouts I would always pop in a Cathe workout, either her pure stretching workouts or one of her regular workouts; in the case of the latter, I used chaptering to go straight to the stretch.

Another irritating thing was Ingrid’s silliness. She is very perky and bubbly, so much so that it did get annoying at times. Usually, however, she was working me so hard that I stopped noticing it. But she is “over the top” excited about everything. Then there are the outfits. This doesn’t affect my workout and I really don’t care, but I honestly cannot imagine working out dressed like Ingrid and some of her crew members (not all of them). The outfits are like bathing suits–many of which look as if her breasts are about to pop out of them. When doing plyometrics I need a very strong support sports bras, but apparently this is not an issue for Ingrid. Also, Ingrid’s rep count is sometimes off. That is ok because I counted every rep I did and since the graphics at the bottom of the screen are excellent, I always knew exactly how many reps I was supposed to be doing. But I often noticed when I was on pace with Ingrid that she did more reps than I did. And finally, she was inconsistent with form. Her form was not bad per se, but she did her reps quickly. However, when she would stop to point out form on her crew members she would always make them slow down! Which was weird because they were going as fast as she would go when she performed the exercise! She didn’t demonstrate the same control she expected from her crew.

Overall, I love all of these workouts and will incorporate every single one of them into my upcoming STS rotation.

Workouts:

Weighted Legs is 50 minutes w/ a 4 minute warm up and no stretch. This workout was brutal. It was the first Edge Booty Extreme 2 workout I did, but it made its mark as the hardest lower body workout I’ve ever done. And there are still 3 more lower body workouts to sample! I am both excited and scared. This workout was very advanced, very challenging and I was struggling to get through it from the first super set. Not early on but you do each superset 4 times, so by the time I was on the 4th superset, I was in pain. Fast forward to the final superset and I was struggling through all 4 times you do it. My a$$ and hamstrings are still burning. That is another thing that came as somewhat of a surprise to me. I expected the Weighted Glutes workout to be the workout that focused on the glutes (and it probably does, I haven’t done it yet) but Weighted Legs hit the glutes very hard–harder than any of the other lower body muscle groups. I had initially planned to do some HIIT cardio after I finished Weighted Legs then finish it off with a long stretch. Well, that did not happen. When I finished Weighted Legs I was done. D.O.N.E. There was no way my lower body was going to cooperate for a plyo/HIIT workout. I did a long stretch however and called it a day! Ingrid and crew were using decent dumbbells (unlike Pauline Nordin in Butt Bible) but I would still expect a competition level fitness competitor to use heavier weights. The heaviest dumbbells anyone used (and it wasn’t even Ingrid–hers’ were even lighter) were 20 pound dumbbells. Now, you do so many supersets that it is hard to go heavy on some of the exercises. I found myself resorting to 12 pound dumbbells more than I like to for a lower body workout because I was wasted–but I also used 30, 25 and 15 pound dumbbells.

Equipment: dumbbells and a bench or stability ball. Ingrid shows limited equipment modifications for all of the exercises. You can also use a high step for some of the exercises instead of a bench (or instead of doing the floor/limited equipment version); I used mine at 14 inches.

Exercises:

Superset #1:
Squat + Kickbacks (rear leg raise) (DB)
Hip Thrusters (DB & stability ball/bench)
4 sets of 20 reps (on 4th set of Hip Thrusters you hold the final rep at top of move for about 20 seconds)

Superset #2:
Split Squats Lunges (DB & step/bench)
Deadlift (DB)
4 sets of 12 reps

Superset #3:
Step Up to Reverse Lunge (DB & step/bench) 12 reps
Lying Leg Curl (stability ball) 15 reps
4 sets (on final set of Lying Leg Curls, after finishing all reps, hold in “out” position for about 5 seconds then in “in” position for about 5 seconds)

Superset #4:
Curtsey Lunge to Side Lunge (DB)
Crossover Step Up (DB & step/bench)
4 sets of 12 reps

Weighted Upper Body is 34 minutes long with a 3 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. Another excellent workout from Ingrid. I am really impressed. As far as upper body workouts go, Cathe still rules, however–this is the best complete upper body workout crammed into 34 minutes that I have ever done. So it wins in that respect. Very, very effective and in a short amount of time.

Equipment: dumbbells in various weights and a stability ball or bench. I used a bench for this workout.

Exercises:

SuperSet #1:
Push Up w/ Renegade Row (DB) 10 reps
Tricep Kickback (DB) 15 reps
4 sets

Superset #2:
Shoulder Press (DB)
Bicep Curls (DB)
4 sets of 12 reps

Superset #3:
One Arm Bent-Over Row (DB)
Chest Press (DB & stability ball/bench)
4 sets of 12 reps

Superset #4:
Front Raise to Lateral Raise (DB)
Skull Crushers (DB & stability ball/bench)
4 sets of 12 reps

Weighted Glutes is 54 minutes long with a 3:30 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. I’m not sure why I expected this workout to be even harder than Weighted Legs, but I did. It is not. It is a very good glute focused workout, but not nearly as challenging as Weighted Legs. In fact, I could have done some HIIT/Plyo cardio afterwards, but I didn’t schedule it after how Weighted Legs burned my lower body out. The reason it was easier is probably due to the use of the firewalker band and the floor work. Those components are good for targeted glute work; however, I am used to doing them Cathe style–super high reps. Now, the fact you are doing supersets 4 times does make it high rep–cumulatively–but you get breaks, unlike in a Cathe workout (and even Butt Bible) where they rep you out to failure or close. By the end of this workout I came up with several ways to make it harder which I think will make a good workout great. The first is rather than using one firewalker band I used both at the same time. The second thing I did is for the hip thrusts, rather than keeping my foot on the ground I put it on an 8 inch step to increase my range of motion. And finally, in the future I will also wear ankle weights for some of the exercises. However, overall it is a very good workout and compliments Weighted Legs perfectly. I think using the two in conjunction gives your glutes some seriously comprehensive work! Oh–this workout also contains the exercise shown in the clip on Ingrid’s site that sold me on this workout: Kneeling Squats. Now those are hard! I had to drop to lighter dumbbells halfway through!

Equipment needed for this workout is firewalker bands (if you have a cable for leg extensions (gym machine) you can also use that for one of the exercises), dumbbells and a mat.

Exercises:

Superset #1:
Cable/Band Kickbacks 12-15 reps
Side-Step w/ Band 30 seconds
4 sets

Superset #2:
Kneeling Squats (DB)
DB Donkey Kicks (DB) (for the last set hold and pulse at the top of the move for the final rep)
4 sets of 12 reps

Superset #3:
DB Plie Squats (DB) 12-15 reps
Angled Donkey Kicks 15 reps (for the last rep of every set hold isometrically at the top of the move)
4 sets

Superset #4:
Single Leg Hip Thrust (DB + 8 inch step) (for the last rep of every set hold isometrically at the top of the move)
Fire Hydrant w/ Band (for the last rep of every set hold isometrically at the top of the move)
4 sets of 15 reps

Weights + Plyo Legs is 51 minutes with a 3 minute warm up and no stretch. Holy cow! This was brutal! Even more challenging than Weighted Legs. But that’s because of the weighted plyometrics. Even Ingrid was struggling and she only did about half of the workout! She took a lot of breaks to “point out form.” You do get more breaks during this workout, unlike the first 3 workouts. But you need them. Even during a superset she will let you catch your breath. I was pushing and I wont lie–halfway through the final superset I had to drop my weights and do it unweighted. I was dying! This workout definitely gives me something to work toward! Not only increasing the weights of my dumbbells, but using dumbbells throughout w/out dropping them! Ingrid’s rep count is off, as usual, but in this workout she sometimes does less reps than required rather than more. She does do too many reps, too. So it is important for you to keep track of your reps in this workout. Oddly, Ingrid also has you stop in the middle of the workout and stretch your lower body, commenting on how important stretching is… yet she never stretches you out at the end of any of these workouts–including this one! I used Cathe‘s Xtrain Legs stretch to finish this workout off. Equipment needed is dumbbells and a bench if you have one; if you don’t, Ingrid and one of the crew members does the exercises on the floor. I used my high step at 14 inches. As you can see below you use dumbbells for everything–including the plyometrics! Though she does frequently tell you to drop the dumbbells if it becomes too much for you. I did keep my dumbbells throughout until halfway through the Superset #4. I was dying so I dropped my weights so I could finish the workout strong and with good form. BTW–the weighted plyometrics bring this to a HIIT/strength workout.

Exercises:

Superset #1:
DB Squats
Weighted Jump Squats (DB)
4 sets of 15 reps

Superset #2:
Split Squats or Lunge-Kickbacks (DB & bench) 12 reps
Weighted Lunge Hops (DB) 12-15 reps
4 sets

Superset #3:
Step Up to Reverse Lunge (DB & bench) 12 reps
Alternating Jump Lunges (DB) 20 reps
4 sets

Superset #4:
Curtsey Lunge to Side Lunge (DB) 12 reps
Ice Skaters (DB) 20 reps
4 sets

Ends w/ “Burn Out”–30 seconds of unweighted skaters

Weights + Plyo Upper Body is 29 minutes long with a 4 minute warm up and no stretch. I’m not sure why this workout has the word “Plyo” in it because there are no plyometrics at all. I suppose so that if fit in with the two lower body workouts it is paired with which do contain plyometrics. Nevertheless this is a tough, challenging workout. It is very fast paced, so you are getting cardio, too, plus it is hard to go heavy. Now, prior to doing this workout I created workout cards and chose the weights I would normally lift for the exercises. They were all too heavy because of how fast the rep tempo is and, of course, the structure of the workouts–supersets done back to back 4 times. That is what makes all of the workouts in this series so challenging! It is an excellent workout. Weighted Upper Body is excellent, too, but I felt this one even more. So it was definitely more challenging. Oh and I had serious chest DOMS the next day–so much so that plyometrics were hurting my chest!

Equipment needed for this workout is dumbbells and a bench or stability ball. I used a bench.

Exercises:

Superset #1:
DB Chest Press (DB & bench or stability ball) 15 reps
Push Ups 10 reps
4 sets

Superset #2:
Tricep Kickbacks (DB)
Tricep Dips (bench if you have one/floor if not)
4 sets of 15 reps

Superset #3:
Bicep Curls (DB)
Bent-Over Rows (DB)
4 sets of 15 reps

Superset #4:
Arnold Press (DB)
Upright Row (DB)
4 sets of 15 reps

Weights + Plyo Glutes is 45 minutes with a 3:30 minute warm up and no stretch/cool down. Another super tough workout from Ingrid! Unlike Weighted Glutes, I didn’t have to do anything to increase the intensity and burn of this workout. It was tough on its own! Perhaps mildly easier than Weights + Plyo Legs, but not by much! One of the crew members is also named Ingrid and she seemed to be really struggling during the final superset (sumo squat jumps). I was struggling, too! Just like in Weights + Plyo Legs you get more breaks than you get in other workouts. For this workout you need the resistance band (or a cable machine) and dumbbells.

Exercises:

Superset #1:
Cable/Band Kickbacks 15 reps
Double Jumps (DB) 24 reps (jump squat to jump lunge)
4 sets

Superset #2:
Swing Lunges (DB) 10 reps (pendulum lunges)
High Knees 30 seconds
4 sets

Superset #3:
Curtsey Lunge + Step Up (DB) 15 reps (curtsey lunge and raise knee at top of exercise)
Jumping Jack + Squat 30 seconds (squat jacks)
4 sets

Superset #4:
DB Sumo Squats (DB) 15 reps
DB Sumo Squat Jumps (DB) 30 seconds
4 sets

Peak Week Cardio is 26 minutes long with a 3 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. This is a tough HIIT/Plyo workout! And tho none of the workouts have cool downs/stretches (and that does irritate me) this one really needs a cool down at the very least since when the workout ends you are panting! It is an excellent cardio workout that continues to work the glutes hard through plyometrics. All of the other workouts have the same basic warm up, but the warm up for this one is different. The structure of the workout is a little different, too. Rather than supersets you are doing trisets, and you don’t repeat them 4 times, you only repeat them once. There are 5 trisets, each exercise in the triset is done for 25 seconds. You get a 30 second break and repeat the triset. You get another 30 second break before moving on to the next triset. The workout ends with a one minute high knee run burnout. Excellent workout–you just need to cool yourself down and stretch out afterwards. I, of course, used one of Cathe’s many excellent stretches. The warm up consists of unweighted squats, jog in place, deep side lunge stretch–but you move side to side, so it is dynamic; repeat. No equipment is needed for this workout.

Exercises:

Triset #1:
Squat + Jump Squats + Tuck Jumps (25 seconds each)
30 second break and repeat

Triset #2:
Mountain Climbers + Core Hops + Burpees (25 seconds each)
30 second break and repeat

Triset #3:
Ice Skaters + Side to Sides (squats) + Side to Side Lunges (25 seconds each)
30 second break and repeat

Triset #4:
Plank Walks (bend at waist and walk out to plank then walk back to feet (but don’t stand) + Plank to Elbows (high plank to low plank) + Plank Jacks (25 seconds each)
30 second break and repeat

Triset #5:
Cheeva Squat Right Leg (start in deep curtsey squat with hands on floor; kick back leg up) + Cheeva Squat Left Leg + Alt. Jump Lunge + 180 Jump Squats (25 seconds each)
30 second break and repeat

1 Minute High Knee Run Burn Out

**Note: since I am doing two related systems together the first few paragraphs in both reviews are similar.

Pretty Fierce: Lean Out is the other fitness program I purchased by new-to-me trainer Lindsay Brin. She has a DVD series titled MIF/Mom’s Into Fitness. I bought two of her programs, Pretty Fierce: Weight Loss and this one because they looked pretty tough and I liked the length of the workouts. Oh, and they were priced very affordably when I bought them. I believe I bought Weight Loss on Amazon and it is still $34.99; Lean Out was on sale on another website for the same price, but it is not longer so inexpensive. However, Amazon is currently selling it for $42.99 which isn’t a bad price.

Pretty Fierce: Weight Loss has some strength work in it but it seems primarily targeted at cardio/fat loss and core workouts. This program, Pretty Fierce: Lean Out, is more comprehensive with more resistance training focus. Both programs come in nice clamshells. A card was inside both of the programs with a website address so you can sign up and get the rotation calendars plus meal plans, a smartphone app and other bonuses. She sends a series of newsletter emails full of encouragement and information and sometimes even bonus online workout videos.

Lean Out contains more workouts than Weight Loss does and more of the strength variety, which is one of the reasons I thought they would work well together. Lean Out has less core workouts and the exact same two short yoga workouts that are included in Weight Loss. In Lean Out you get a total of 13 workouts ranging in time from 9 to 55 minutes.

The first disk in the clamshell has the Fit Test on it. It is 10 minutes long. It starts out telling you what equipment you will need for the workouts in the program: a 8-12 pound medicine ball, a set of light weights, a set of medium weights and a set of heavy weights. However, none of these are needed for the fit test. The fit test is done at the beginning of the 60 days and again at the end. It is made up of 5 exercises you do for one minute each; you do as many reps as you can in one minute. In addition to these 5 exercises, you are also expected to time yourself running 1.5 miles; you plug your running time into a calculator on her website (URL is given on screen). Fit Test Exercises: 1. one minute of push ups; 2. one minute squat jacks; 3. one minute V-sit ups; 4. one minute switch kicks (jump kicks) each leg; 5. flexibility (several different stretches to test flexibility). You do the Fit Test at beginning of the 60 days then compare your run time, reps (exercises) & flexibility to how you test at the end of the 60 days when you do it again. I didn’t do the fit test since I am not doing this as a program.

Summary: Due to the fact I purchased Pretty Fierce Lean Out & Weight Loss at the same time, and did them at the same time, I am forced to compare them. So first, Weight Loss is more of beginner program than Lean Out. They both have challenging workouts, but Lean Out’s workouts are much more advanced. What I didn’t like was the fact some of the workouts have no warm up and/or no stretch. That does seem to be a growing trend in the new fitness programs I have been purchasing (primarily the lack of cool down and/or stretch at the end) but I still don’t like it. Unlike the others, at least Lindsay instructs you to do it on your own. I used Cathe‘s stretches and warm ups from her workout DVDs. Her workouts are always chaptered so it is easy to go straight to the stretch. As far as enjoyability goes, I didn’t love any of the workouts in either of the programs (tho I did like some a lot). Some I blatantly disliked, others were ho-hum and some I did enjoy and will return to. So that isn’t promising. I love to workout and be challenged. I workout every single day–so I expect to enjoy what I am doing. Even when I hate it, if that makes sense. Some workouts (like Insanity) I have a love-hate relationship with. That is not the case here. There is no love for any of these workouts–not love-love or love-hate. However, this program does do the job so it’s not a waste of money. The workouts I will return to are Anaerobic Capacity, Upper Body Endurance, Total Body Strength, Upper Body Strength (but probably only when combined with Upper Body Endurance), Lower Body Strength, Yoga and Total Body Express.

Workouts:

Aerobic Capacity is a very unpleasant workout. It was the second Pretty Fierce workout I’ve done and the first from the Lean Out program. So far I am thoroughly unimpressed with these workouts. They are tough so far, so they will do the job, but they are not enjoyable at all. This one especially. Let’s start at the beginning. As the workout opens, Lindsay talks for 1:30 minute about the purpose of this workout–it is cardio endurance and you should be at 70% of your maximum heart rate throughout the workout. She also says she would like for you to alternate this workout with an endurance run–4 to 5 miles or 30 minutes of running. The opening menu has 3 workout lengths you can choose from: 28 minutes, 38 minutes or 46 minutes. They are all the exact same workout. Here is where intense boredom sets in. The workout is made up of one 8 minute circuit and it is repeated however many times needed to fit into the time frame you select. So for the 28 minute workout you repeat it 3 times, for the 38 minute workout you repeat it 4 times, and for the 46 minute workout you repeat it 5 times.

There is a 3:30 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. A banner runs along the bottom of the screen listing all of the exercises. There is a timer in lower right hand corner counting down your workout. And Lindsay leads the workout all by herself, no crew members. The music is generic, low key and boring.

The first (and last) time I did this workout I did the 46 minute version. And I hated it. It was very hard and it was very boring. I have done a lot of very hard workouts before. If you are new to this blog–please, peruse all I have done (and do) and love. So the difficulty of this workout is not what turns me off. The boredom factor is what I cannot stand. And trust me, I did not come to these Pretty Fierce workouts wanting to hate them–I wanted to love them. But alas, so far it is not happening. But it is early yet for me, so I may change my mind.

The warm up consists of 10 jumping jacks, 10 high knees, 10 mountain climbers, 10 stomp jacks (scissors), 10 plank pikes, 10 stomp jacks, 10 plank jacks, 10 fast cross punches, 10 high knees, 10 track runs (a kind of high knee skip); repeat all warm up exercises one more time.

As mentioned above, one circuit is repeated over and over again for each workout until you reach the workout’s time limit; it takes 8 minutes to get through one circuit. You get a 30 second break before you repeat it all over again. And btw–Lindsay only films this one time. You do the exact same 8 minute segment over, and over, and over, and over again.

Exercises:
20 tuck jumps to jumping jacks
4 high knees to 4 butt kickers 20x
50 mountain climbers
50 stomp jacks (scissors)
30 pike planks (jump feet from plank to pike)
2 stomp jacks 2 regular jacks 30x
30 plank jacks
100 cross punches
4 run up & 4 run back 15x
50 track runs (a kind of high knee skip)
30 second break

Anaerobic Capacity is 36:30 minutes long with 1:30 minute intro, a 2:30 minute warm up and a 2:30 minute cool down/stretch. After Aerobic Capacity I was dreading attempting this workout. Aerobic Capacity was miserable and I didn’t expect better from this one. Well, I was wrong. I liked this workout a lot! It was just as hard as Aerobic Capacity–maybe harder, but it was not boring. It was actually enjoyable and I was motivated to push through. A winner! Anaerobic Capacity is a HIIT workout consisting of 3 circuits. The first circuit consists of 10 exercises that you go all out for 40 seconds and have a 20 second recovery; the second circuit is 4 exercises in which you go all out for a full minute then get another full minute of recovery; the final circuit is the same as the first circuit except you do the 10 exercises in reverse order. It was very tough and I was pushing hard near the end. The warm up is a preview of many of the workout exercises except you don’t go all out and you only do each one for 15 seconds. Warm up: high knees, small jacks, mini suicides, mountain climbers, double ropes, speed skaters, switch knees, heel ropes and plank jacks.

Circuit 1 (40/20): 1. high knees, 2. jack/big jack (big jack=air jack), 3. mini suicides (1-2-3 high knee), 4. 4 mountain climbers to 4 high knee runs, 5. double ropes (jump rope 2x feet together and 2x feet wide), 6. speed skaters, 7. switch knee (like a switch/jump kick, but raise knee rather than kick), 8. switch knee other leg, 9. ropes (jump rope arms w/ 2 heel ropes and 2 high knees), 10. 2 plank pikes/2 plank jacks.

Circuit 2 (60/60): 1. power slaloms (side to side tuck jumps), 2. burpee jack to tuck jump, 3. switch kicks, 4. switch kick other leg.

Circuit 3 (40/20): 1. 2 plank pikes/2 plank jacks, 2. ropes, 3. switch knees, 4. switch knees (other leg), 5. speed skaters, 6. double ropes, 7. 4 mountain climbers to 4 high knee runs, 8. mini suicides, 9. jack/big jack, 10. high knees.

Core Strength is 8:30 minutes. For this workout you need a 8-10 pound medicine ball or dumbbell. This is a tough core workout! I did like it better than some of the other Pretty Fierce workouts I’ve done to date. This morning I did Aerobic Capacity and finished it off with this. This is only the second Lean Out workout I’ve done. I definitely felt it in my abs. Lindsay starts out stretching out your quads and hip flexors.

Exercises:

1. 20 full sit ups bringing ball overhead at top
2. 20 sweet spot obliques (Russian twists w/ ball)
3. 20 transverse iso crunches (lay on back, legs straight and raised to ceiling, head/shoulders raises; reach ball toward feet)
4. 20 rectus iso obliques (legs straight out in front of you, torso leaned back slightly, arms holding ball straight out in front of you; twist and touch ball to ground beside you keeping arms straight; 10 on each side)
5. 20 core iso scissors (lay on back with legs straight and raised to ceiling, hold ball overhead with legs straight and head/shoulders raised; scissor legs)
Repeat all exercises

She has a finale but it is not actually part of the workout. Lindsay expects you to continue after Core Strength is over; she wants you to hold a forearm plank for 30 seconds, then hold boat pose for 30 seconds and alternate between the two until you are too fatigued to continue. I held plank while she was talking, but as soon as it returned to the menu I was done.

Yoga is 13 minutes. It is included on a DVD that contains a one minute clip explaining why Lindsay feels you need yoga and a 2 minute tutorial showing various poses and proper form/alignment. Also on this DVD is Yoga Hybrid. BTW–this is the exact same disk that is included w/ Pretty Fierce: Weight Loss–it just has a different picture on the face of the DVD; so Weight Loss does not contain different yoga workouts. The 13 minute Yoga workout is a pretty decent yoga flexibility workout. I like it. Lindsay starts out warming you up for the stretching with chair poses and knee raises. Next you will do a swan series where you bend at the waist, stretching your hamstrings/back, then you stretch your chest and end with tricep/chest stretches. Planks and updogs. Downdog on toes. Warrior 1 & 2 and triangle ending with wide leg hamstring stretch (do this series 2x on each side of body). Runners lunge. Hamstring stretch. Child’s pose. Thread the needle. Downdog w/ heels down. One leg down dog. Updog. Shoulder stretch. Figure 4 glute stretch. Bridge stretch. Deadbug. Roll knees/hips side to side.

I don’t like Yoga Hybrid nearly as much as Yoga. Yoga Hybrid is 14 minutes long. You need 3 or 5 pound dumbbells for this workout. It is a hybrid between dynamic yoga and core work. Since I didn’t like it and will not return to it, I am not going to break it down much. It starts out with a “warm up” that includes a move she calls the “sunflower” which is circling the arms while leaning forward in plié squat alternated with a plié squat; next plié squat while leaning and reaching toward same side ankle; pelvic tilts; the warm up ends with marches. Next you do some warrior poses with dumbbells, a right angle while raising and lowering a dumbbell to open the chest. Next is warrior 3s. Then triangle with the dumbbells. Get into plank and do inverted V. Elbow plank w/ hip tucks, child’s pose, threat the needle. Next you do some low back work w/ cobra and superman poses. Then two minutes of Lindsay’s tough core work. The final two minutes are on your back: bridge, happy baby and leg stretch.

Bonus Total Body Express is 39 minutes, no warm up or cool down. Lindsay suggests warming yourself up for 2 minutes and cooling yourself down for 2 minutes. Each exercise listed below is done for one minute before moving on to the next exercise. The segment ends with a 4 minute HIIT series in which you do 4 exercises, each for 40 seconds with 20 seconds of recovery. If you want this to be an approx. 20 minute workout (as the menu suggests; it says it is a 20 or 40 minute workout), you stop after going through the entire circuit once. But it doesn’t cue you to do that. As soon as the circuit is done once, it jumps right back into repeating it. However the workout ends after going through the circuit twice. There are no crew members–Lindsay only–and it is done with Lindsay speaking in a voice over as she performs the exercises, smiling constantly and unnaturally.

This DVD contains two “bonus” workouts: Total Body Express and Core Shredder. Apparently, these workouts are meant to be used outdoors. It is more obvious how this is done in Core Shredder. Total Body Express seems like an indoor workout to me. You would need to have the workout downloaded on your iPhone or iPad to do it outdoors–plus bring your equipment with you. She talks about doing it in your driveway. I’m not sure why I would bother when I have a well equipped home gym, but I know that isn’t the case for everyone.

I did like this workout. It is a pretty solid metabolic strength workout that manages to hit every body part in some fashion at least once (well, twice if you do the full 39 minute workout) and some muscle groups more than once (like the triceps). How often will I used this? I don’t know. Tho I did like it, the lack of a warm up and cool down is off putting. I used Cathe‘s Tabatacise warm up and cool down to this workout which add 13 minutes to it, bringing my total workout time to 52 minutes. Then I added on Core D from Pretty Fierce: Weight Loss and my morning workout clocked in at 59 minutes. Not bad!

Exercises:

1. Plank jacks (band around ankles)
2. Plank clocks (3:00 & 9:00/band around wrists/step out and in w/ hands)
3. Moving jump lunges
4. Arnold Press (DB)
5. Push Up to Kick Through
6. Iso Tricep Push Ups/Iso Hershey Kiss
7. Iso Jump Lunge and Press (DB)
8. Trciep Dips
9. Hammer Pumps (DB)
10. Lat Pullovers to Crusher
11. Tuck Jump & Jack
12. Rolling V-Ups
13. Reverse Pull Ups (or regular pull ups) (DB) (rotating bento-over row)

HIIT Segment (40 seconds on/20 seconds recovery)

1. Mini Suicides
2. Burpee Jacks (burpee to plank jack to regular jack)
3. 4 Moving High Knees
4. 4 Mountain Climbers / 2 Tuck Jumps

Stop here for a 20 minute workout or continue, repeating entire round

Core Shredder is 10:30 minutes long w/ a 1 minute intro. The menu states it is 15 minutes long but it is not. It is included on the “bonus” DVD with Total Body Express. The idea behind it is to take this workout outdoors. You alternate the core exercises that are actually performed on the DVD with running drills that that are not performed on the DVD (tho she does tell you exactly what to do). She also states that if you don’t want to do the workout outdoors you can just do the core exercises, which is what I did. This workout is odd IMHO. It may appeal to some people, but I don’t like it at all. I am not a runner. I get my cardio in lots of other ways–running is boring and no fun. I supposed if you wanted to, you could just pause the DVD and do something else of your own choosing (jumping jacks, skaters, whatever), but that defeats the purpose of owning a workout DVD. The core portions of this workout are very challenging but also boring and zero fun. So yet another disappointing Pretty Fierce workout. Here is the basic layout. She does the core exercises with you then a screen pops up telling you what running drill she wants you to perform. So if you were doing this outdoors (I guess that is if you purchased the download), you would pause the workout, do the running drill, then come back and continue on to your next core interval. If you are doing it as I did, it gives you a very brief (about 5 seconds) break before the next core exercise. So here is what you actually get on the DVD:

10 Single Rowboats alternated with 10 Rocking Rowboats (100 reps total)

Instructions: Jog 50 strides/Run 50 strides (repeat 5x)

10 Bicycles alternated with 10 Straight Leg Bicycles (100 reps total)

Instructions: Sprint 20 seconds/Walk 20 seconds, repeat until you reach 5 minutes

10 Plank Oblique Knees alternated with 10 Iso Planks (100 reps total)

Instructions: Jog 1 mile at a steady pace

Repeat everything and cool down on your own

**Note: since I am doing two related systems together, the first few paragraphs in both reviews are similar.

I have come across a lot of new programs and trainers lately. Lindsay Brin is the latest. She has a DVD series titled MIF/Mom’s Into Fitness. Yeah, I’m a mom, but mine are out of the house, grown ups living their own lives. Nevertheless, these looked like some pretty solid programs even if they are targeted at mom’s with rugrats. I bought two of her fitness programs: Pretty Fierce: Weight Loss and Pretty Fierce: Lean Out because they looked pretty tough and I liked the length of the workouts. Oh, and they were priced very affordably when I bought them. I believe I bought this one on Amazon and it is still $34.99; Lean Out was on sale on another website for the same price, but it is not longer so inexpensive (however it is about $43 on Amazon).

Pretty Fierce: Weight Loss has some strength work in it but it seems primarily targeted at cardio/fat loss and core workouts. Pretty Fierce: Lean Out is more comprehensive with more resistance training focus. Both programs come in nice clamshells. A card was inside both of the programs with a website address so you can sign up and get the rotation calendars plus meal plans, a smartphone app and other bonuses. She sends a series of newsletter emails full of encouragement and information and sometimes even bonus online workout videos.

Pretty Fierce: Weight Loss comes with 3 metabolic strength workouts, 3 cardio/HIIT workouts, 5 core workouts and 2 yoga workouts (the two yoga workouts are the exact same workouts that come with Pretty Fierce: Lean Out). The workouts are anywhere from 6-15 minutes (the core and yoga workouts) to 23-34 minutes (HIIT workouts) to 34-37 minutes (strength workouts). So they can fit in any schedule. I was attracted to the length because they can be used as add-ons, doubles or 2-3 paired together to equal my hour long morning workout.

The intro on the first DVD gives an overview of what the program contains. Lindsay also tells you that if you are doing this program your children must be at least 6 months of age (check–mine are in their 20s) and you must have been exercising consistently for at least 2 months (check–15+ years, almost every day). She also tells you about the online tools she makes available to you when you purchase this program–calendars, nutrition plan, a smartphone app, short videos she created. I looked at all of it and watched the videos when the arrived in the newsletter and they are all full of good, encouraging information. She tells you the equipment you need for this program–dumbbells, a chair and sliders (Slide N Glide disks or you can use paper plates or furniture sliders). Finally she talks about Diastasis Recti which is a gap in the abdominal muscles that can occur during pregnancy. She has a little test for it and if you do have this condition, you should not perform the core exercises in the program. Your core needs to heal before you do the core exercises.

The Fit Test is 10 minutes long. You do one minute of 5 different exercises, trying to do as many reps of each exercise in that minute as you can. 1. 3/3 push ups (3 knee push ups/3 toe push ups), 2. power touch squats (squat jacks, touching the floor at bottom of move), 3. rowboats (in V sit, bring knees in and out), 4. switch kicks (jump kicks), 5. flexibility. You do this Fit Test before starting the program (and record your results) and then again at the end of the program to see how you’ve progressed.

On the same disk as the Fit Test are 5 core workouts that range in length from 6-11 minutes and a core bonus. Since this workout program seems more geared toward the mom who recently gave birth, the core workouts will be the first workouts I review here, even tho that is not the order I did the workouts. Despite the fact they are geared toward new moms, these are excellent and challenging core workouts (except the first one, Core A), so you don’t have to be a new mom to get a lot out of them. Core A isn’t bad either, especially for someone new to exercise and/or focused core work. Lindsay teaches you a lot about how to engage your core properly when doing exercises. The bonuses aren’t really bonus workouts. They’re just instructions. When you click on “Core Bonus” it takes you to another menu with two choices” Core Shredder A and Core Shredder B. When you click on them you get a weird graphic intro then instructions. For Core Shredder A you are instructed to alternate Plank Pelvic Tilts and and Plank Boomerangs in ladder format (10 reps of each, 9 reps of each, 8 reps of each and so on); you do see Lindsay demonstrating each exercise for 10 reps but that’s it (and it is cut from other workouts, is in black and white and just has music, no voice). Core Shredder B is set up the same way with the weird intro and instructions, as well as black and white of Lindsay doing the exercise but no voice, only music. The exercises you are instructed to do are Plank Shifts and Boomerangs–also in  ladder format. Both “bonuses” are 1 minute long.

Summary: Due to the fact I purchased Pretty Fierce Weight Loss & Lean Out at the same time, and did them at the same time, I am forced to compare them. So first, Weight Loss is more of beginner program than Lean Out. It is still full of challenging workouts, but if you are new to exercise or coming back to it after giving birth (or an injury) or have just fallen off the exercise wagon–this is the program to start with. Lean Out is much more advanced IMHO. But like I said, that doesn’t mean this program will not challenge you. I did like the length of the workouts; they work well as add ons and doubles workouts. What I didn’t like was the fact some of the workouts had no warm up and/or no stretch. That does seem to be a growing trend in the new fitness programs I have been purchasing (primarily the lack of cool down and/or stretch at the end) but I still don’t like it. Unlike the others, at least Lindsay instructs you to do it on your own. I use Cathe‘s stretches and warm ups from her workout DVDs. Her workouts are always chaptered so it is easy to go straight to the stretch. As far as enjoyability goes, I didn’t love any of the workouts in either of the programs. Some I blatantly disliked, others were ho-hum and some I did enjoy and will return to. So that isn’t promising. I love to workout and be challenged. I workout ever single day–so I expect to enjoy what I am doing. Even when I hate it, if that makes sense. Some workouts (like Insanity) I have a love-hate relationship with. That is not the case here. There is no love for any of these workouts (not the love-love or the love-hate variety). However this program does do the job so it’s not a waste of money. The workouts I will return to are Core B, Tabata Cardio, Cardio Plyometrics, Muscle Splits Lower Body and yoga.

Core Workouts:

Core A is 8 minutes long. For the first minute Lindsay talks about the purpose of Core A–to train you to use your inner core muscles. It starts with a basic pelvic tilt, then a butterfly pelvic tilt. Next you will be engaging your core and pelvic floor (and she gives excellent instruction on how to do this properly) and extending alternating legs, this changes to marching legs, then reverse marching legs. Next is supermans. The last 3 minutes Lindsay takes it up a notch to more “traditional” ab exercises: basic crunches w/ legs lifted and bent, twisting/marches (oblique work–do marching legs while twisting torso and bringing elbow to opposite knee), pulsing crunches w/ butterfly legs. Repeat these 3 exercises. Lindsay ends by instructing you to do 20 pelvic tilts and 20 reverse marches every night to train your core.

Core B is 7 minutes long. This is a short but excellent and tough core workout! I really liked it a lot! It will be great to tack onto the end of other workouts. Starting in knee/elbow plank you do pelvic tucks. Next you will raise arms/legs into superman but rather than raising and lowering your arms/torso and legs, you hold this position while opening and closing your arms and legs. Turn over into C sit and do pelvic tilts. Put arms behind head and do oblique twists; you will twist toward your knees while remaining in C sit, but not coming all the way up to touch them. Next, you will lean back a little further, bring your arms out straight in front of you then lean torso/arms to side and do crunches. While still in this position bend the elbow that is closest to the ground (the side you are leaning toward) so that it touches the ground. After repeating on the other side of body, return to C sit and raise arms overhead in a V then bring them together in front of you, keeping arms straight. Repeat all C sit exercises. End with the knee/elbow plank pelvic tilts.

Core C is 7 minutes long; the first minute is an intro by Lindsay. This one was actually easier than Core B, which I didn’t expect, and different, too. It seems almost like C should have come before B in the progression. But it’s a decent core workout. Not a waste of your time. She spends time reviewing the how to engage your inner core with the first few exercises. Start laying on your back with one leg crossed over the other knee. 1. 5 pelvis tilts with arms on floor at side, 2. 5 pelvic tilts with arms on floor overhead, 3. raise and lower leg 5 times, 4. double reverse crunch–same #3 but put arms behind head and raise shoulders/head, too, 5. take leg that was bent across knee and straighten it; reach toward ankle, raising head/shoulders 5x, 6. banana crunch–bring knees in to chest and raise head/shoulders; keep shoulders/head raised and straighten arms and legs out long then bring them back in 10x. Repeat everything on other side of body. Next is a plank series, so get into forearm plank. 1. 10 plank shifts–pushing feet forward from toes, so your shoulders shift forward, 2. 10 boomerangs (shift hips side to side). Repeat these two exercises 2 more times (so 3x total). Finish by holding side elbow plank for 20 seconds on each side.

Core D is 5:30 minutes long. This was another short but effective core workout. Not so great that I will return to it frequently but a good core add on just the same. You start out laying on your back w/ legs straight and one foot stacked on top of the other. Do 15 small crunches. Do 15 small oblique crunches in this same position. 15 pelvic tilts in same position w/ head/shoulders raised. Repeat on other side (swap how feet are stacked). Next do 16 supermans. 10 straight leg bicycles. Hold legs in straight leg bicycle position (one leg a few inches off floor and one leg straight toward ceiling) and crunch for 10. Repeat straight leg bicycles. Hold legs in straight leg bicycle position again, but this time leg positions are swapped and crunch. Repeat the entire straight leg bicycle series except rather than simply crunching while holding straight leg bicycle, you will oblique crunch while holding that position.

Core E is 11 minutes long. This core workout is based on the tabata protocol–20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. It is a pretty good workout but at 11 minutes there are better core workouts out there by other trainers so this isn’t one I would return to. It’s not a bad core workout, tho. It is made up of 5 exercises. Each exercise is done 4 times for 20 seconds w/ 10 second rest. 1. bicycles, 2. in plank, bring one knee in and out (each 20 seconds you alternate knees, so each leg is done 2x), 3. in side plank, raise and lower hips, 4. in C-sit cross punch 4 times, then lower torso back further and punch 4 times (alternate high and low torso position), 5. lay on back with feet together and knees opened wide (butterfly position); crunch upper body and pelvis.

Workouts:

HIIT & Loading Hybrid is 23 minutes long, no warm up or cool down; Lindsay spends the first 1:30 minutes talking. She gives recommendations for how she wants you to warm up (jog) and how long you should cool down (walk around a few minutes and stretch 4-5 minutes). I jogged in place during her intro and did Cathe‘s X10 stretch afterward (the second time I did this workout I did X10 warm up). This workout is set up in 7 blocks, each block contains 3 exercises and each exercise is done for 40 seconds with a 20 second recovery. You need a set of light dumbbells and a set of heavy dumbbells. I used 5 pounds and 8 pounds for my lights and 15 pounds for my heavies. There is a count down clock in bottom left-hand corner of the screen that counts down each 40 second interval and a bar along right side of screen that counts down each block. She shows modifications for most of the exercises and she chatters non-stop. This was a tough workout that had some exercises I really liked, but I didn’t enjoy this workout. I’m not sure why. It is the first Pretty Fierce workout I have done (I am doing both of the Pretty Fierce programs (Weight Loss and Lean Out) at the same time) so I’m not yet sure what turns me off about it or if it will even continue. And I did want to like this workout. It is the perfect length for a doubles workout or an add-on so I was disappointed I found it rather lackluster. ***After doing all of the workouts from both programs I want to come back and try this workout again; the workouts in both programs are hit or miss with me, but this one just seems like something I should like more, so I wanted to give it another try. So before I posted the review to this program I did this workout a second time. Unfortunately, my opinion didn’t change. Despite the concept, this is just another ho-hum/lackluster workout. It is a good workout, just not very enjoyable. Lindsay talks a lot; plus, she has no crew, it is just her doing the workout and the fact she constantly stops doing the exercises during the 40 seconds you are supposed to be going “all out” is pretty irritating, too.

Exercises:

Block 1: 1. jumping jacks w/ shoulder press using light weights; 2. bent-over underhand back row w/ heavy weights; 3. squat jump w/ upright row w/ light weights.

Block 2: 1. alternating deep lunges, never standing up straight; 2. box lunges (not using hands lower to knees then stand, using legs only; 3. jump lunges.

Block 3: 1. mountain climbers; 2. one leg tricep dips; 3. jump feet from plank to pike.

Block 4: 1. jumping jacks w/ shoulder press using light weights; 2. machine guns w/ light weights (fast alternating overhead press); 3. pike pendulums.

Block 5: 1. squat to back kicks w/ heavy weights (alternate legs); 2. alternating reverse lunges while remaining hinged at waist w/ heavy weights; 3. crickets (fast jump squats w/ heavy weights).

Block 6: 1. wide leg burpees; 2. burpee w/ push up; 3. 3 knee push ups, 3 toe push ups.

Block 7: 1. 6 high knee runs, 6 jump lunges; 2. side to side knee push ups; 3. pulse 6 times in static lunge then jump lunge to switch and repeat.

Shredding is 30 or 34 minutes long; warm up is 3 minutes and cool down/stretch is 5 minutes. There are two options–you can do the 30 minute version, or the version with a finale which is 4 minutes longer. Both are unimpressive. For the workout you need slide and glide disks, light and heavy dumbbells. There is no way you can truly lift heavy in this workout, but we will get to that in a moment. This is a cardio + toning/metabolic workout. My favorite kind of workout so I really wanted to like this one. You alternate cardio blasts with strength work. The cardio was ho-hum as usual and the strength work is done so rapidly that not only is it difficult to lift heavy, but it is difficult to do the moves at her pace and preserve proper form so that you get the most out of the exercise. It is a workout that has a great deal of potential but fails IMHO. And it can be done well; Cathe, Michelle Dozois, Lindsi Sansor, Patrick Goudeau, Amy Dixon, Jillian Michaels, Paul Katami, Toby Massenburg, Shaun T and even Dashi Libin all do it far better than what is presented here. BTW–even Lindsay does it better in Lean Out–much better (Total Body Strength). So it is doable–it can be effective and fun and challenging–and you can get a lot out of these types of metabolic workouts. I know! Because they are my #1 favorite types of workouts! And I am completely unimpressed with this one. So big disappointment. Anyway, here are the exercises:

Cardio:
25 Squat Jacks
20 Mountain Climbers
15 High Knees
10 Mini Suicides (1-2-3 knee)
5 Wide Leg Burpees

Strength:
Disk Mountain Climbers
Plies with “W” Overhead Presses
Repeat

Repeat Cardio

Strength:
Static Lunge w/ Overhead Tricep Extensions
Static Lunge tapping DB behind heel
Rear Delt Flys
Repeat

Repeat Cardio

Strength:
Curtsey to Side Lunge w/ disk
Raise DB from floor to ceiling while in Side Plank
Repeat

Repeat Cardio

Strength:
Lunge w/ Bicep Curl, Plie, Lunge w/ Bicep Curl, Plie–keep alternating
Staggered Push Ups
Repeat

Finale
5 Push Ups
High Knee Run for 5
Repeat 4 times
10 Squats
High Knee Run for 5
Repeat 4 times
50 High Knee Runs

Tabata Cardio is 26 or 29 minutes long (29 minutes long if you chose the version with the finale). Lindsay does a one minute intro before moving into the 2 minute warm up. There is a 2:30 minute cool down/stretch. Finally! A workout I like. I do not love it–it isn’t great or creative and certainly not the most intense tabata/HIIT workout I’ve ever done. But it is a decent workout for 29 minutes. The tabata concept is to do an exercise as hard and intense as you can for 20 seconds then take a 10 second recovery; you do this 20/10 cycle 8 times for one 4 minute tabata. Lindsay has altered this slightly. She has you do seven 20/10 cycles then you take a 40 second recovery (this equals 4 minutes) before moving on to your next tabata. There is a counter in the bottom left hand corner of the screen that counts down each 4 minute tabata. Again, these are definitely not the most intense intervals, so I would put this at an intermediate level–definitely no Breathless Body or Tabatacise. Nevertheless, I did like it and will return to it. Exercises: 1. shuffle jabs (4 jabs with high knee shuffles to each side); 2. high knee run forward for 8 and back for 8; 3. speed skaters; 4. football shuffle (fast feet for 10 then touch floor); 5. jump rope 8 w/ 1 tuck jump. Finale: the finale is 2:30 minutes long; do each of the exercises you just did one time, one right after the other, to the 20/10 cycle.

Cardio Plyometrics is 29 minutes long w/ a 4:30 minute warm up and no cool down/stretch. She does instruct you to walk around for 2 minutes to cool down and to stretch afterward. I really liked this workout. Again, this is not the most intense or difficult cardio/plyo workout I’ve ever done and there was actually very little plyometrics (at least of the variety I am accustomed to), but it was a good cardio workout and I enjoyed it. So yay! I am not impressed with a lot of these Pretty Fierce workouts, so I am thrilled when I like one of them. This workout is set up in circuits that Lindsay calls “stacks.” On the menu screen you can choose to play the entire workout or just choose one stack. The first stack includes the warm up.

Exercises:
Stack 1: mini suicide (1-2-3 knee), toss backs (high knee runs w/ twist), run forward/run back, double toss backs, 4 fast cross punches/2 jacks, cross punches only, standing side-to-side ab crunches, slaloms (lateral tuck jumps), hop 3 times/cross punch, hop w/ cross punch, high low jabs, high low jabs with hop, speed bag, fast feet; break b4 next stack

Stack 2: rotating helicopter (similar to skaters), 180 squat jumps, mountain climbers, 180 squat jumps, scarecrow (bring knee to elbow at side of body), pulsing jump lunges, scarecrow (other side of body), pulsing jump lunges, speed skaters, 12 & 3 jabs, switch kicks, 12 & 9 jabs (other arm), switch kicks (other leg); break b4 next stack

Stack 3: same as Stack 1; Lindsay says you will do it faster this time but you don’t.

Yoga is 13 minutes. It is included on a DVD that contains a one minute clip explaining why Lindsay feels you need yoga and a 2 minute tutorial showing various poses and proper form/alignment. Also on this DVD is Yoga Hybrid. BTW–this is the exact same disk that is included w/ Pretty Fierce: Lean Out–it just has a different picture on the face of the DVD; so Lean Out does not contain different yoga workouts. The 13 minute Yoga workout is a pretty decent yoga flexibility workout. I like it. Lindsay starts out warming you up for the stretching with chair poses and knee raises. Next you will do a swan series where you bend at the waist, stretching your hamstrings/back, then you stretch your chest and end with tricep/chest stretches. Planks and updogs. Downdog on toes. Warrior 1 & 2 and triangle ending with wide leg hamstring stretch (do this series 2x on each side of body). Runners lunge. Hamstring stretch. Child’s pose. Thread the needle. Downdog w/ heels down. One leg down dog. Updog. Shoulder stretch. Figure 4 glute stretch. Bridge stretch. Deadbug. Roll knees/hips side to side.

I don’t like Yoga Hybrid nearly as much as Yoga. Yoga Hybrid is 14 minutes long. You need 3 or 5 pound dumbbells for this workout. It is a hybrid between dynamic yoga and core work. Since I didn’t like it and will not return to it, I am not going to break it down much. It starts out with a “warm up” that includes a move she calls the “sunflower” which is circling the arms while leaning forward in plié squat alternated with a plié squat; next plié squat while leaning and reaching toward same side ankle; pelvic tilts; the warm up ends with marches. Next you do some warrior poses with dumbbells, a right angle while raising and lowering a dumbbell to open the chest. Next is warrior 3s. Then triangle with the dumbbells. Get into plank and do inverted V. Elbow plank w/ hip tucks, child’s pose, threat the needle. Next you do some low back work w/ cobra and superman poses. Then two minutes of Lindsay’s tough 2 minutes of core work. The final two minutes are on your back: bridge, happy baby and leg stretch.

Muscle Splits: Upper 35 minutes total; however it is broken down into 3 parts: Warm up: 4 minutes, Chest/Back/Shoulders 19 minutes, and Biceps & Triceps 12 minutes. There is no “play all feature”; so you have to do the warm up, then it takes you back to the menu to select which you split you want to do next. These were both decent workouts. Not the best, not the worst. I would combine them with something else tho. When I did this workout I combined it with Pretty Fierce: Lean Out Upper Body Strength. And I still didn’t get an “awesome” workout. But it was decent. You could also pair it with Lean Out’s Upper Body Endurance (which is a great workout).

Chest/Back/Shoulders 19 minutes. Lindsay has you do push ups and renegade rows on your knees but I did them on my toes to get the most out of this workout. There is a chair present in this split but it is only used for a modification. You need dumbbells and sliders. You do 15 reps of every exercise.

Renegade Row on knees (DB)
Push Ups
W Overhead Press (DB)
Kneeling Elbow to Knee (DB)
Side to Side Push Ups w/ disks
Serve the Platter (pushing DB from hip out straight to side)
One Arm Pinky Fly (DB)
Chest Fly (DB)
Bent Over T Flys (DB)

Repeat all exercises and end with one minute stretch.

Biceps & Triceps 12 minutes. You do each exercise for 15 reps. You need dumbbells and a chair. After some of the exercises Lindsay will stretch out the muscle group you just worked. At the very end of this workout she gives you a “finale” except you do not actually do it on the DVD–she tells you what to do and expects you to do it after the DVD workout ends: 15 machine gun hammer curls and 15 tricep kickbacks.

Simultaneous Hammer Curls (DB)
Tricep V Lifts (DB)
Bicep Curls with Arms straight in front of you (DB)
Tricep Kickbacks w/ palms facing forward (DB)
Concentration Curls (DB & chair/step)
Tricep Kickback Pulses (DB)

Repeat all exercises and end with 30 second stretch.

Muscle Splits: Lower is 40 minutes total; however it is broken down into 3 parts: Warm up 4 minutes, Glutes/Outer & Inner Thighs 21 minutes and Quads & Hamstrings 15 minutes. And just like Muscle Splits: Upper, there is no play all feature; you do each segment individually then it returns you to the menu. I really liked this workout. I didn’t love it, but I did like it. It stands on it’s own, I think (if you do the full 40 minutes or combine it with other workouts–do Muscle Splits Upper & Lower for a total body workout or combine it with Lean Out‘s Lower Body Strength, which is what I did. That will give you an hour long excellent lower body workout). Unfortunately, Lindsay was again frequently moving too fast for full range of motion or good form. A few of the exercises that was necessary–Reverse Disk Lunges you did not use full range of motion, but that was the point, staying low to burn out the glutes, but still, slowing down a little would have burned them out even more. Still, this is a good workout. Every exercise in both workouts is done for 15 reps.

Glutes/Outer & Inner Thighs is 21 minutes long with a 2 minute stretch. For this portion you need dumbbells, a chair and a towel (or a pilates ball). You do 15 reps of every exercise.

Penny Pick Up (DB) (reverse lunge, touching dumbbell to floor near front heel and when you stand, do a knee raise)
Side Leg Raise (need chair) (you will do a pendulum between sides; so 15 right leg, 15 pendulums, 15 left leg)
Inner Thigh Squeezes (chair + towel or pilates ball) 15 reps + hold for 15 seconds
Long Reverse Lunge (holding onto chair seat) (this is a very deep lunge that you never stand up during, that’s why you use the chair seat)
Hinged Alternating Curtsey Lunges
Crab One-Leg Inner Thigh work
Reverse Disk Lunges w/ DB
Standing Hydrants (chair)
Bridge One-Leg Inner Thigh work

Repeat all exercises and end with 2 minute stretch

Quads & Hamstrings is 15 minutes long with a 40 seconds stretch. For this segment you will need dumbbells, sliding disks and a chair. You will do 15 reps of every exercises.Lindsay has one of her optional “bonuses” at the end which you do not actually do on the DVD; she just gives instructions. Do 15 more running heels while in bridge w/ disks and 15 more Sissy Squats.

Pelvic Tilts on toes w/ chair
Squats series on toes w/ chair (you will do 3 sets of 15 reps with different foot/leg positions: feet close together, open knees a few inches, then feet shoulder width apart; you will end with 15 “heel pumps” or heel raises)
Single Leg Deadlifts
Squats
One Leg Bridges (you will actually be in more of a crab since you will be resting on hands/straight arms and one foot, rather than shoulders and foot)
Sissy Squats (squats w/ heels raised on DB)
Running heels while in bridge w/ disks

Repeat all exercises and end with 40 second stretch

Before I start this review I have a bit of background information to give–I’ll try to make it quick. I bought this program a long time ago when it first came out and was called Peak Fit Challenge. I started this review in 2012 but I bought it even earlier than that. Then it dropped off the map. Michelle Dozois stopped selling it and good luck finding it used! Then a year or two ago it re-appeared with a slightly different name: Peak Fit System. I did read her explanation at the time, but don’t remember it very well. It had something to do with the supplier and branding–which is why when she re-issued it she had to change the name.

I want to explain this for a reason: by looking at Michelle’s page it looks like the exact same program and also, when she re-issued it, I asked her directly on her Facebook page if it was the same program and she verified that yes, it is the exact same program. However, in case there are any differences (like with my TurboFire review)–keep in mind that I pre-ordered the very first issue of this program 3+ years ago. I am assuming it is the same because she said it was and it appears identical, but just in case it isn’t–here is my disclaimer. Ok–on to the review.

This review was started in 2012!!! Yes, it has taken me that long to finish it. Not because I don’t love these workouts. I actually do return to them. And when I purchased it I did the entire 8 week program (but that was before I had created this blog). But for some reason, every time I planned to complete this review, I would do all of the workouts except the Pure Strength workouts. It has nothing to do with them being bad workouts or me not liking them. They’re excellent workouts. I don’t know what kept side-tracking me, but it happened every single time. Maybe because when I started this review I had nothing to link it to–the program had disappeared. Then, even when it reappeared, I would start the review and get side-tracked. Personally, it was probably because Cathe workouts dominated my strength-training and I have had a hard time stepping away from her workouts to try other trainers (until recently). But I decided that finally–3 years later–I will complete this review. Onward!

Peak Fit Challenge (now re-titled Peak Fit System) is the DVD version of a workout system Michelle Dozois teaches at her gym Breakthru Fitness. It is an advanced and effective 8 week metabolic cardio + strength program. The program comes with 10 workout DVDs, a unique resistance band, a nutrition guide, a workout calendar/schedule and a workout chart with pictures so you can do at least one of the workouts “Anywhere, Anytime, No Excuses” anywhere, anytime—even if you don’t have a TV/DVD player with you.

The resistance band that comes with this program is amazing. It is a big loop with handles and it is a strong/heavy weight. Very challenging. There were some moves that I couldn’t do the same as the exercisers in the DVDs because of how tight the band was! It worked my muscles HARD!

If you have done Michelle’s Peak 10 workouts, these are along the same lines. In fact, two of the workouts in this program are essentially then same as two that used to be for sale (the original Cardio Interval Burn and Cardio Strength). But I guess the fact that they are basically in this program made her stop producing them–so people didn’t feel like they weren’t getting their money’s worth. I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed to find out that two of the workouts in this program I already owned (basically). I keep saying “basically” because they aren’t identical. They are the same workout, but they were not filmed at the same time. She apparently did the stand alone Peak 10 workouts first, then used the same workouts for the two workouts of the same name in the program. You can tell because the clothing is different, the set is different and the running times are a little different. Also, tho Cardio Interval Burn is almost exactly the same moves, Cardio Strength has some minor differences.

Michelle’s Peak Fit and Peak 10 workouts are based on what she calls a “metabolic blueprint.” Half of the workouts in the program are made up of metabolic circuits; each circuit consists of a Basecamp, an Ascent, a Climb and a Peak. The Basecamp is a recovery period, the Ascent starts to raise the heart rate with either 4-limb strength moves or aerobic level moves, the Climb increases the intensity, pushing you close to the anaerobic level and the Peak is an anaerobic HIIT. Dumbbells may be used in Basecamp and Ascent, but never in Climb or Peak.

The Nutrition Guide is pretty detailed. The first week is called “Starting Strong” and you eat at a lower calorie level the first week then you do the throughout the rest of the program. There is a big emphasis on organic foods. In fact, the menu and recipes all call for nearly everything to be organic. Personally, I think it is unrealistic for most people. Eating all organic is expensive. As I have mentioned in other program reviews, if your goal is to lose weight then a more doable plan is Hungry Girl. I am not a spokesperson for Hungry Girl but I have been receiving her newsletter and buying her cookbooks for years. She came out with an excellent diet plan that is based on the volumetrics theory of eating and she just recently came out with a cookbook to supplement that. It is super easy to follow, is filling (3 meals and 3 snacks), will give you lots of protein and falls in weight-loss calorie limits–and if you need more or less calories, it also tells you how to easily increase or decrease your calorie intake.

Summary: I really enjoyed revisiting all of the workouts in this program again. I found it to be a great program back when I did it for 8 weeks 3+ years ago and I still find all of the workouts excellent and effective. In particular, I was especially impressed with Pure Strength #2. I cannot believe I have stayed away from that one for so long. It is an excellent metabolic total body strength workout. Also, Anywhere, Anytime and Core Dynamics are impressive workouts I should return to more often. When I did those two again I did them together (finished Anytime Anywhere off with Core Dynamics) and that was a very nice and intense hour long workout. Also, Dynamic Flexibility is in a similar vein to Michelle’s newer BodyFit 360 workouts–except shorter. Finally, since this review was started back in 2012, rather than rewrite some of the reviews, I just added an “update” to the end of some of the descriptions/reviews for the individual workouts after I did them again in 2015.

Workouts:

Fit Test: 28 minutes long; 5 minute warm up, 19:30 training period and 3:30 cool down/stretch. You do the Fit Test twice during the 8 week program period. Once at the beginning and once at the end. The purpose of the Fit Test is to test your fitness level prior to completing the 8 week program, then to see how you’ve improved at the end. Just like Insanity‘s Fit Test, this is a great little HIIT workout. The first time I did the Fit Test I was SORE afterward. It is an intense little workout. It consists of 10 moves. Each move is done for a minute followed by a one minute recovery. The object is to do as many reps of the move as possible in one minute. The moves are: prisoner squats, alternating front lunges, burpees, tuck jumps, pushups, ankle grabbers, sit-outs, plank to frog, fence hoppers and side lunge to jump shot. For the purpose of the blog post I’m going to post my Fit Test results in this review. There will be three numbers. The first numbers are how many reps I did at the beginning of the 8 weeks, the second number is how many reps I did at the end of the 8 weeks and the third number? How many I did when doing the Fit Test again to review the workout for the blog post (more than 6 months later). Keep in mind that since completing the 8 week PeakFit Challenge, I have continued to do Michelle’s Peak 10 and PeakFit workouts, just not nearly as frequently as the program requires. (Also–this was done in 2012; I did not do the Fit Test again in 2015 before posting this; sorry.) Prisoner Squats 53/52/50, Alternating Front Lunges 39/45/41, Burpees 22/28/28, Tuck Jumps 35/41/51, Pushups 28/37/35, Ankle Grabbers 33/36/35, Sit-Outs 32/37/40, Plank to Frog 21/30/29, Fence Hoppers 60/76/70, Side Lunge to Jump Shot 29/34/34.

Pure Cardio:52 minute cardio-only workout; 5 minute warm up, 41 minute training period and 6 minute cool down. I love this workout. During the program, you will live for Pure Cardio days. They are a relief after beating yourself to death all week with the other workouts! This does not mean this is an easy workout—it is not! It is an intense and excellent cardio workout. The bonus is—no Peaks! It contains 4 circuits (each repeated for a total of 8 circuits); each circuit consists of Basecamp, Ascent and Climb. The workout is fast-paced and non-stop. The Basecamp isn’t much of a recovery at all! And that’s fine, I suppose, since there are no Peaks, yet it would be nice to have just a second to towel off the sweat and get a drink of water! The workout contains lots of kickboxing inspired moves and calisthenics (jumping jack variations). The majority of the workout is high impact—including the Ascents—plenty of jumping. The intensity increases throughout the workout until you get to the Climb of the last two circuits which suspiciously resemble a Peak—plenty of jump lunges in those last two circuits! Overall a great workout and a nice break from the more intense HIIT workouts. **This review was originally written in 2012. I did Pure Cardio again this morning (2015) and though I still enjoyed it and found it to be a great workout, it wasn’t as tough as I seemed to think it was 3 years ago. The final Climb wasn’t really HIIT/Peak level at all. Still intense–but apparently I am in better shape now than I was several years ago–which makes sense, since I discovered Cathe in 2012 and she really improved my fitness level in all domains. Anyway, the point is, it all depends on your fitness level how difficult you will find this, or any of the workouts in this program.

Anywhere Anytime No Excuse: 41 minutes; 5 minute warm up, 32 minute training period and 4 minute cool down/stretch. This workout is awesome. It is a cardio/interval workout with lots of body-weight strength work in it, too. Though this workout has the elements of Michelle’s metabolic blueprint, they are all mixed up. Plus it is shorter than her others–but trust me, short does not equal easier! It is intense and challenging. It doesn’t start out that way. The intensity increases as the workout progresses so that the final Climb/Peak are the most challenging. To begin with, after the warm up, you have two 5 minute Ascents, one right after the other. In my opinion, the first ascent is more of an extended warm up. However, for the second Ascent you are doing every kind of jumping jack you can think of, all varieties of jump squats and even jump lunges. After the second Ascent you get a brief Basecamp, then you move on to the really difficult part of the workout–the Climbs and Peaks. 4 Climbs and 4 Peaks, each done twice for a total of 8. No Ascents. However, you do get Basecamps–honest-to-goodness Basecamps that give you some brief recovery time. You will need it. For the Climbs, the first half of each climb consists of some kind of jack or jump squat, as well as lunges, squats, curtsy lunges interspersed with higher intensity bursts like skiers. The second half of the Climb is different varieties of push ups and planks. Then it’s on to the 30 second Peak. The Peaks are one legged hops, squat jumps, 180 squat jumps and it ends with the killer–tuck jump to burpee. This is an incredible workout for only 41 minutes. No equipment needed. **This is also the workout that you get a paper chart so that you can, literally, do this workout Anywhere, Anytime. The chart isn’t exact, but it is pretty darn close. It is just pictures, but after you’ve done the DVD version 1-2 times, you’ll know exactly what the person in the photo is doing.

Exercises:

Ascent 1:
Rear lunges
Side lunges
Alternating side lunges
Front kicks
Punches, hooks, upper cuts
Knee lifts
Repeat

Ascent 2:
Jumping Jack combo (regular, seal jacks, fling jacks)
Drop Squat
Wide Outs (squat jacks)
Gate Swings (deeper squat jacks)
Drop Squat
Wide Outs
Gate Swings
Power Jacks
Power Jacks but touch opposite shoe
Lunge Jumps
Knee Pulls
Power Jacks
Lunge Jumps
Knee Pulls

Basecamp

Climb 1:
Drop Squat w/ Punch
Speed Skaters
Single Side Leg Squat Touch Down
Speed Skaters
Single Side Leg Squat Touch Down (other leg)
8 Push Ups
8 Plank Ski Jumps

Peak 1:
Drive knee up w/ jump and touch the floor

Basecamp

Repeat Climb 1 & Peak 1

Climb 2:
Jumping Jack w/ Front Arms
Alternating Front Lunges
Side-to-Side Skates

Alternating Front Lunges
Push Ups w/ alternating arm row (no DB)
While in Plank, alternate kicking legs to side

Peak 2:
Squat Jumps

Basecamp

Repeat Climb & Peak 2

Climb 3:
Prisoner Squat w/ Alternating Knee Lift
Curtsey Lunges
Scissors Jumps
One Leg Shoulder Push Up
Sit Outs

Peak 3:
180 Squat Jump

Basecamp

Repeat Climb 3 & Peak 3

Climb 4:
Jumping Jacks w/ arm crosses
Fast Feet Sprint
High Knee Runs
Push Up then Raise Arm and Opposite leg at top; alternate sides
Side Plank w/ hip raises

Peak 4:
Tuck Jump to Plank Drop (Tuck jump w/ burpee)

Basecamp

Repeat Climb 4 & Peak 4

Dynamic Flexibility: 28:30 minutes. Dynamic Flexibility is a very nice stretching workout. “Dynamic” means that there is no static stretching in this workout. You are always moving–but you are also stretching. It is separated into 5 blocks. The first three blocks need no equipment and you are mostly standing. The third segment has you in plank frequently. The last two segments use the band and have you on the floor–on your back, butt or knees. It’s a very nice and relaxing workout after working so hard in all the other Peak Fit workouts. I did work up a mild sweat in the beginning tho! The first block is like a warm up block, with heel raises, shoulder rolls, sun breathes, chair pose, some side to side squats, torso circles, curtsey lunges in which you are reaching toward back foot. It ends with some hip flexor, tricep, shoulder and chest stretches. The second block starts with some deep sumo squats, stretching inner thighs, then straighten legs while still bent at waist and do spine twists by raising one hand toward the ceiling. Next you’ll do crescent knees followed by straight leg kicks. This is followed by a flowing warrior series. The third block has planks to downdogs. Then from plank you’ll alternate bringing one leg forward into a deep lunge and raising arm to ceiling. Next is another flowing series where you do a 3 leg down dog alternated with a high pigeon. The 4th block is on the floor with the band. It starts with figure 4 glute stretches into straight leg hamstring stretch. You do a straight leg pendulum, stretching both inner and outer thigh. You finish with hip stretches. The 5th and final block also uses the band. You’ll be laying on your side and doing a flowing hamstring to quad stretch. Next you will be doing a seated sun breath where you are sitting on your bottom with legs straight and flowing from leaning forward to stretch hamstrings to coming up into tabletop to stretch chest. It ends with hip flexor stretches, torso circles and tricep stretches.

Core Dynamics: is an excellent 22 minute core workout broken down into four 5 minute blocks. Though the focus of this workout is on your core, it actually works your entire body. I really enjoy this workout for so many reasons. It hits the core hard, but you also work so many other body parts. It has lots of  variety and it really holds your interest–never seems repetitive or boring. You work you core in all planes. The first 5 minutes is standing core work using a dumbbell. I used 8 pounds and felt it was the perfect weight for the moves. This segment works your core and your upper body while standing. The second 5 minutes is floor work. It starts with a plank series than moves to other floor ab moves, including the Ankle Grabber move from the Fit Test. The third 5 minutes is all core work using the band. However, this segment is really full body moves. The way she has you use that incredible band works the core and both the upper and lower body. The final 5 minutes is more floor and plank work. Equipment needed: band, one dumbbell and a mat. I’m going to break down each block, but some of these exercises are hard to describe–but I will do my best!

Block 1: (one DB held in both hands) squat and circle dumbbell up overhead, then squat again; side lean; holding DB in one hand w/ arm in goal post, lift knee and bring elbow to knee; lean to side and push DB overhead; swing DB (holding w/ both hands again) around body, haloing around head; holding DB in one hand again, legs in a split stance, hold DB overhead and bend torso forward.

Block 2: (no equipment) start standing and walk hands out to plank then walk hands out even further into extended plank, lower into elbow plank and rock forward and back (pushing forward with feet); tuck hips while bending knees; walk hands back to feet and stand. Judo Kick (lay on back on mat with one knee bent w/ foot on floor and the other knee bent with leg raised, you will push leg out straight and as you do, you will push up with other foot, raising hips off ground while bringing bent arms overhead); roll onto side with a “hollow belly,” )arms overhead and legs straight but brought forward a little) from this position roll onto back and into boat position then return to side; ankle grabbers.

Block 3: (need band) Booty Blaster (get on hands and knees with band wrapped around one foot while holding the band with both hands on the floor; in this position kick leg in and out); keep band on foot and come up onto one knee with banded foot straight out to side, other end of band in same side hand, in this position do a side lean, stretching band overhead while touching floor w/ opposite hand; in this same position bring arm holding band into goal post arm and twist torso, bringing band and elbow down to opposite side of body; get into side elbow plank, band still around same foot and held in same side hand, in this position, raise and lower hips while pressing band overhead; keep band on back foot and kneel, holding other end of band in both hands straight overhead, in this position, curl forward.

Block 4: (no equipment) start in elbow plank, bring one arm out straight to side of body and tilt whole body, tapping fingers on floor; get into high plank and lift one arm and opposite leg, bring them in, under body, touching hand to knee then raise them both again; lay on belly with arms out straight (superman pose) then pull arms back, bending elbows while lifting torso. Lay on back with one leg bent and the other extended straight, do crunches in this position; add knee pull; change to lifting straight leg while reaching for shoe w/ opposite hand; raise both legs straight to ceiling and reach for toes w/ hands; straight leg scissors; add rotation (straight leg bicycle). Double crunch (raising bent knees and head/shoulders); add straightening legs after lifting them. Ends with some stretches.

Cardio Interval Burn: 64 minutes; 5 minute warm up, 51 minute training time and 8 minute cool down. This is the longest of the PeakFit workouts–though not by much! It sticks to the idea of the “metabolic blueprint” more closely than any of the other workouts in the program. And it is tough. Cardio Interval Burn is the same workout as Peak 10 Cardio Interval Burn, which was sold separately (not anymore unless you buy it used), so I am not going to review it again here–just check out the review I already did for Peak 10 Cardio Interval Burn. You’ll notice the times I give for the two workouts are slightly different. That’s because even though they are the same workout, they are not identical. They were actually filmed separately. Michelle doesn’t say the exact same things, the exercisers are in different positions and the warm up and cool downs have very small variations. Nothing huge. In fact, the only thing that jumped out at me is that she warms up and cools down your ankles in the Peak 10 version. She also seems to get through the circuits in some of the Peak 10 Climbs a little faster so you just end up doing an extra circuit or part of a circuit–but the time spent in each circuit is the same in both workouts.

Cardio Strength 1: 58 minutes; no warm up and 6 minute cool down. Cardio Strength 1 is the other workout that you could previously also buy as a separate Peak 10 version (so check out the review for that/this workout here). And it is tough. This Cardio Strength and it’s Peak 10 sister are probably my favorite of all of Michelle’s Cardio Strength workouts. That is because the choreography is still basic and atheltic. The strength moves are compound but also uncomplicated. It is intense and easy to follow. The more Peak 10 workouts Michelle makes the more complex the choreogrpahy becomes, so IMHO–this is the best Cardio Strength she has created to date. This workout is very metabolic, cardio + strength and will wear you out if you challenge yourself with heavy enough weights. You need a set of light dumbbells and a set of heavy dumbbells. I used 8 pounds and 12 pounds, but in the future I will use 15s for my heavys. Over time you progress and can increase the weight of your dumbbells to get more out of the workouts. When I started doing Michelle’s Peak 10 workouts many years ago I used 7s for my lights and 10s for my heavys, so I have improved! This workout consists of 5 metabolic circuits, each repeated for a total of 10 circuits. Basecamp and Ascent are the strength portion of the circuit. The Climb is cardio and the Peak is a plyometric/anaerobic HIITs. As mentioned earlier, there is no warm up. You could say the first two circuits are the warm up since there is no peak component in those circuits. However, it doesn’t feel like a warm up! The remaining 8 circuits all have peaks.

Circuit 1 uses light weights and has no Peak. Ascent: squats, add bicep curls, change curls to overhead press. Kettlebell swing (w/ dumbbells), add iron cross at top. Side lunge w/ front raise. Front and back lunges with running man arms. Transverse plane lunge w/ single arm standing chest fly. Climb: burpees, jacks, side hops, jogs, high knees.
Circuit 2 uses heavy weights. Ascent: deadlift. Reverse lunges. Upright rows. Clean and press. Wide squats with bicep curls; change to bicep curls only. Climb: knee pulls, various plyo jumps. Peak: pogo jumps.
Circuit 3 uses light weights. Ascent: side bend holding both dumbbells in one hand. Stir the pot (core move) w/ a squat. Various push up variations. Climb: plank to frog, scissor runs, shuffle to side and jump. Peak: atomic lunges (jump lunges).
Circuit 4 uses heavy weights. Ascent: lunge deep to one side (tapping dumbbells on floor by foot), stand do one arm overhead press on other side. Bent over rows. Pulsing static lunges; rather than pulse, hop while in static lunge. Side lunge w/ back row at bottom and bicep curl at top. Climb: mountain climbers, plank ski jumps, punch/knee combos, shuffle forward with punches and run back. Peak: ski jumps (fast side to side tuck jumps).
Circuit 5 uses light weights. Ascent: low V to high V. Curtsey lunge with lateral raise. Curtsey lunge with tricep kickbacks. Pulse dumbbells to back of room w/ straight arms. “Drive the bus” (circle to side and overhead w/ straight arms). Climb: punch and blocks, 180 squat jumps, front knee/back kick, front knee/touch down lunge. Peak: frog squat jumps.

Cardio Strength 2: 56 minutes long, no warm up and a 5 minute cool down/stretch. Since this is #2, it is supposed to be harder/more challenging, I suppose. But IMHO, it’s not really. It is challenging but it is because the choreography gets more complex. Cardio Strength #1 (in this program and in her Peak 10 series) really is the gold standard. They’re all excellent and effective workouts, but #1 just puts everything together in a challenging but non-complex way. For this workout, just like in #1, you use a set of heavy and a set of light. I used 8 pound and 12 pound dumbbells. Unlike in #1, the 12 pound dumbbells are about as heavy as I can go because some of the strength choreography makes it hard to go any heavier. It is still an excellent workout that I enjoyed. It is structured the same as Cardio Strength #1: 5 metabolic circuits each repeated for a total of 10 circuits. Basecamp and Ascent are the strength portion, Climb is the cardio and Peak is the HIIT. There is no warm up but there is also no Peak in the first circuit.

Circuit 1 starts with one heavy dumbbell and changes to light dumbbells halfway through and has no Peak; Ascent: sumo squats, add halo around head. Rotate dumbbell side to side w/ knee raise. Reverse lunge w/ figure 8. Grab light weights and do bent over rear dealt fly. Kettlebell swing (w/ dumbbells) into one arm overhead “bow and arrow.” Squat hops, change to squat jacks. High V front raise. Transverse plie squat w/ upright row. Climb: upper cuts, punch corner to corner, jacks, side to side lunges.
Circuit 2 uses heavy weights. Ascent: deadlifts. Lunge and row. 2 clean and press, put weights on floor, two push ups, renegade rows, stand and do upright rows then bicep curls. Split squat lunge w/ one arm overhead press. Put one weight down and do woodchops. Climb: 4 lunges to the side (more like side scissors), jacks, hop squats, hops alternated with high knees. Peak: fast tuck jumps
Circuit 3 uses light weights. Ascent: curtsey lunge to side lunge bringing weights overhead during the transition. Side to side hopping curtseys. Static lunge while rotating weights side to side. Start in lunge, raise back leg, lower leg and do front raise. Squat, add lateral raise. Overhead shoulder press, add knee raises. Climb: move she calls “falling forward,” speed back, squat w/ upper cut, hop while punching, jump rope, step touch and jump shot. Peak: leap to side then jump shot
Circuit 4 uses heavy weights. Ascent: one leg squat. Back rows. Deadlift w/ upright row. Runner arms. Hammer curls. Traditional curls. Plie squat, pivot and do one arm overhead press to side. Climb: diagonal mountain climbers. Push up jacks. Jogging heel taps. Jumping jacks with knee raise. Shuffle to side w/ 3 knee raises. Peak: 180 jump squats
Circuit 5: uses light weights. Ascent: diagonal rear delt raises each way + regular rear dealt raises. Stir the pot into tricep kickbacks. Tricep kickbacks only. Stand and push weights behind you, arms straight. Pulsing plie squats, add little hops. Crocodile drop (get into plank, lower as if doing a tricep push up but at bottom drop to knees and roll back into child’s pose). Tiger plank (while in plank bring knee to elbow on outside of body). Sit outs. Climb: plank to frog jump. Punch high 4 times, double punch down, jack legs. Triple run. Scissor. Pendulums. Peak: air jacks

Pure Strength 1 is 50 minutes long with a 5 minute warm up and 3:30 minute cool down/stretch. This is a fast paced total body strength workout. It moves at a brisk clip so your heart will be pumping, too. She does a good job hitting every muscle group in just 50 minutes but it’s not the best total body workout I’ve ever done. Still, it’s a good one. Equipment needed: a set of light dumbbells and a set of medium dumbbells + the band. I actually used 3 sets of dumbbells–light, medium and heavy. You will need your light weights for the warm up. When a round/circuit is repeated, Michele often varies the tempo of the reps.

Exercises:
Back:
One Arm Rows (band)
Lat Pull Down (band)
Upright Row (DB)
Bent-Over Row (DB)
Kettlebell Swing w/ alternating knee raise (DB)

Chest:
Wide Plank Hold/Push Ups
Chest Fly (band)
Chest Fly w/ legs raised/bent and pressing them in & out (DB)
Pulsing Chest Flys (DB)
In Plank bring knee to opposite elbow then press out 4x; add one leg push up
Push Ups
Squat w/ One Arm Overhead Press

Repeat Back & Chest

Legs:
Squats/Squat Jumps (2nd round Lunges/Lunge Hops)
Squats/Lunge (band)
Runners Lunge (pendulum lunge) (DB)
Side Lunge w/ Leg Raise (DB)
Plie Squats w/ alternating leg raise and overhead press (DB)
Stir the Pot w/ Plie Squat (DB)

Arms & Shoulders:
One Arm Tricep Push Up
Plank Tricep Kickbacks (BD)
Reverse Plank w/ alternating knee raises
Tricep Dips
W Overhead Press (DB)
Lateral & Front Raise (DB)
One Arm Bicep Curl (band)
Squat with Lift Over Shoulder (band)

Repeat Legs and Arms & Shoulders

Pure Strength 2 is 50 minutes long 5 minute warm up and a 4 minute cool down/stretch. This is a tough and excellent total body workout. It moves at a fast clip and if you are challenging yourself with heavy enough dumbbells you will get cardio, too–my heart was racing sometimes! You need heavy and light dumbbells and the band. Just like in Pure Strength 1, I had 3 sets of dumbbells. The exercises in this workout are so excellent–my muscles were burning for hours afterward. When I did this as a program back in 2012, I kept a sort of workout diary, recording the weights I used and my thoughts. I was able to go quite a bit heavier this time through than I was able to lift 3 years ago. So bonus! I am definitely stronger because according to my notes it killed me with lighter weights! It didn’t kill me this morning but it did challenge me and give me a stellar workout. I can’t believe I’ve stayed away from this one for so many years. This one definitely needs to be revisited more frequently!

Exercises:

Back:
Bent-Over Rows (band)
Band Pulls (band)
One Arm Row–sitting (band)
Deadbug (arms only move) (band)
Dumbbell Swing (kettlebell swing w/ a DB)

Chest:
Side-to-Side Push Ups
Kneeling Chest Fly (band)
Toe Taps in Plank/Push Ups
Kneeling Chest Fly (DB)
Sumo Squat into Side Lean w/ One Arm Overhead Press (DB)

Repeat Back & Chest

Legs:
Squats (lots of different tempos) (DB)
Static Lunges (DB)
Tic Tock Lunges (Static Lunges w/ Rear Leg Raise) (DB)
Alternating Curtsey Lunges (DB)
Thrusters (squats w/ overhead push press) (DB)

Arms & Shoulders:
Tricep Push Ups
Tricep Kickbacks (DB)
Runner Arms ( with arms bent at 90 degree angle, raise dumbbells up and behind head, not changing bend in arm) (DB)
Alternating Front Raise (DB)
Lateral Raise (DB)
Bicep Curls (band)
Bicep Curl w/ band pull at top of move (band)
Band Circles (band)

Repeat Legs and Arms & Shoulders

Your Health Back is a Kelly Coffey-Meyer workout I never thought I’d purchase. The point of this workout is to create and maintain a strong and healthy back. Considering the fact I do heavy barbell rows and deadlifts I didn’t think I needed something like this. And I didn’t actually purchase the DVD for myself. My husband has chronic back problems so I got this workout along with some gentle yoga back therapy workouts for him. But when I previewed this one, it was not the gentle therapy I was expecting and, in fact, not something someone who is currently experiencing back pain should attempt. This is a workout that should be done when the back isn’t hurting to strengthen your back and prevent future problems. It was more challenging than I expected; doable, but I worked up a sweat!

Unlike her other 30 Minutes to Fitness DVDs, there is only one workout on this DVD though you do get 3 shorter premixes. No equipment is needed–it is entirely bodyweight work but that is all you need to strengthen your back, spine and core. In her intro, Kelly states that the workout was designed with physical therapists and chiropractors, and I found it pretty comprehensive. The first time doing it, I chose to do it during a recovery/deloading week. I am on my 3rd round of an STS hybrid rotation I created that is really kicking my butt, so I really felt the need for something lower key. And this is lower key than what I had been doing–but definitely not easy.

This is an excellent workout for someone who wants to strengthen their back to prevent back pain. And in my opinion, it’s not just for people suffering from chronic pain but for anyone who wants to avoid the  degenerative pain that typically comes with aging. It is also functional fitness that will only aid you in future workouts–like heavy deadlifts! So even though I didn’t buy it with the intention of using it myself, I will be using it.

Your Health Back is 29 minutes long with a 2 minute warm up, 24 minutes training time and 3 minute stretch. There is no crew in this workout–it is led by Kelly only. The warm up consists of squats, shoulder/spine twists, knee raises and step-backs with shoulder/chest stretches. On several of the exercises a box appears in the right hand corner showing a modified version of the exercise. For most of the exercises you do 2 sets and you usually do 10 reps. Everything is done at a slow and controlled pace.

Exercises:

1. Static lunges

2. Airplane (standing with legs wide and arms straight out at sides, bend over and reach for opposite foot while raising leg behind you)

3. Side leg lift into squat

4. Caterpillar (from a plank, walk feet to hands (so you’re in pike) then back out to plank, then walk hands to feet (so you’re i pike) and back out to plank; alternate)

5. Supermans

6. Elbow plank hold

7. Clam (lay on side with legs bent, weight on elbow with hip raised; keeping feet together, open and close knees)

8. Bridge with leg thread (lay on back in bridge with hips raised; raise on knee then thread foot under bent leg)

9. Crunches (first you’ll do upper body crunches, then lower body crunches, then full crunches, combining the upper and lower body)

10. Thread the needle yoga stretch

11. Bird dogs

Premixes:

Fast Track Mix (15 minutes)

All Floor Exercises (21 minutes)

All Standing Exercises (9 minutes)

Figure 30: Hips was purchased in my attempt to take better care of myself. Yes, I exercise every day and push myself hard, but sometimes I think that is a problem–I am focused on the wrong things. It’s not all about how heavy I can deadlift and how high I can tuck jump–there is also functionality. And I do make attempts to incorporate more of it into my routines but it always seems to be short-lived and I return to beating myself up with little rest. Anyway, the point is, that was why I purchased this DVD–to work on my hip joints. I was so pleased with Kelly Coffey-Meyer’s Your Health Back, which reminded me of how excellent Mark Lauren‘s Mobility Rx is–that I decided the hips need special attention. Unfortunately, I wasn’t crazy about this workout so I already know I won’t be motivated to return to it. Nevertheless it is a good workout. So I’ll summarize what is good about it, what I don’t like about it, then on to the breakdown.

But first–the trainer is Tracie Long. She is new to me and this workout did not inspire me to want to purchase more of her workouts.

The good: she packs a lot into only 30 minutes and just about every single move in this workout–including the warm up and cool down–will benefit your hips in some fashion. It’s pretty comprehensive. She keeps things moving at a fast clip, the exercises are varied and you get it all–cardio, strength, mobility and flexibility.

The bad: what I don’t like about this workout may be the very thing that makes this the perfect workout for someone else. There is a lot of balance workout in this workout. A lot. It is good to work on your balance, however, I have very poor balance. I’ve mentioned it in other reviews, but I have plates and screws in my heels that affect my ankle and foot range of motion. In order to balance on one leg, the muscles in your feet are constantly firing and compensating to keep you steady. Well, mine cannot do that so I cannot stand on one leg w/out holding onto something. Oddly, I can hop on one foot, but I cannot do one leg exercises w/out modifying for balance. I have to either tap a toe down or hold onto something. For the balance exercises in this workout I had to hold on to something. Now, I still think I got good hip work, even holding on to something, since whether or not you are balancing on one foot doesn’t affect the range of motion of your hip. Nevertheless I dislike workouts that have such a huge amount of balance work–I don’t like being forced to modify so much of a workout. One of the other things I disliked about this workout was the fast pace. Now, in general I do not have a problem with a fast pace, but the exercises in this workout are compound and complex, and since she keeps you moving constantly I felt like the exercises didn’t have the control factor that is needed in a work like this. I was hoping for something along the lines of Mark Lauren‘s Mobility Rx and Kelly Coffey-Meyer‘s Your Healthy Back. Those two workouts focus on functionality, strength and flexibility; and because of that, every move is done with control and strict attention is paid to form. That does not happen in Focus 30: Hips. The cueing was less than stellar, too, for this type of workout.

A better workout (in my opinion) for your hips is Mobility Rx. It isn’t just for your hips–it’s for your entire body, but even so, it does a better job working the hips than Focus 30: Hips does.

Focus 30: Hips is chaptered, just in case you don’t want to do the whole 30 minutes. There are benefits to every section of this workout–the warm up and cool down, too. Tracie did a great job really focusing on moves that benefit your hip strength, mobility and/or flexibility. I’ll review it by chapter but the workout as a whole is 30 minutes long from beginning to end. Equipment needed: ankle weights, slider disks or paper plates and a broom handle or dowel stick (I used my body bar). Now, in the breakdowns below, I list each move in the order it appears, but sometimes she only does one side of the body for some of the moves then comes back later and works the other side of the body. When that happens I only list the first time the exercise appears.

Warm up is 5 minutes. It consists of balance work; raising a knee then a shallow lunge while bending forward to touch front toe. Squat, then shift hips forward and raise heels. Side lunges with alternating toe touches. More balance work: stand on one leg, raise the other knee, straighten the leg then circle it both ways. Next you’ll stand on one leg and raise the opposite knee, but this time you will bring it around and kick it behind you. Plie squats.

High Cardio Hips is 10 minutes. The first move is called hurdles and you will be returning to this particular move frequently during this section but you will be combining with other moves; you raise your leg and rotate it into a squat like you are jumping a hurdle (circling the leg in the hip joint). Add a little “push off” or side leg lift right after the squat before returning to starting position. Next is a side tap with a hip hinge and knee raise at the top; this turns into a balance move (no more tapping). More balance: lunge forward, come up with knee raised (so on one leg) then kick in a pattern behind you (quick, quick, slow). Side lunge with side kicks in the same pattern while also balancing on one leg. Next you will step back then do the wide hurdle leg, bringing leg to front into a narrow split stance then do 2 jump lunges before stepping back again. Now you get into a low but still narrow split lunge with finger tips on the ground; do 4 low jump lunges, do the hurdle leg again, 4 more low jump lunges then, with fingertips still on the floor, bring back leg out and in, in the “quick, quick slow” tempo. This section ends by grabbing the dowel stick for balance and doing a sort of standing hydrant kick.

Sliding Ankle Weighted Hips is 10 minutes. For this section you will need one ankle weight, the sliders and the dowel. Put ankle weight on right leg. You also need one slider and the dowel. Put the dowel over your shoulders and your left toe on the slider. Two sliding side lunges then on the third, when you slide back in, bring the foot behind the other into a shallow curtsy lunge. Next you will do a “quick-quick-slow” side lunge then circle the foot forward then back (toe is still on slider). Get rid of slider and take dowel off shoulders. Hold dowel in left hand for balance. Your right foot still has the ankle weight on it; you will point it in front of you (in a ballet stance) and circle it around behind you. Add side squat and abduct (raise leg to side). Then do squats only (stepping to side, squatting, and stepping back in and squatting but never straightening fully). More squat abductions and ballet circles. Put ankle weight on other leg and repeat everything in this section on the other side of the body. Get on floor and do butterfly stretch. Put your legs into a sort of Z position with one knee in front and one knee behind (she calls it 90-90–referring to degrees I assume) and raise the back foot/leg, with knee bent, off the floor. Raise and lower, then pulse, then push heel out. Grab sliders and put them under both feet, sit on bottom with hands on floor behind you, knees bent and feet in 3rd position; lift hips while sliding both feet out so you are in reverse plank, then slide feet back in, lowering hips.

Stretch is 5 minutes. Runners lunge w/ rotation on both sides. While in runners lunge rotate hip (of leg behind you) into floor (kind of an awkward move). Put legs back in the Z or 90/90 or pretzel position and side reach, then roll shoulder forward and back. Down dog into 3 legged down dog, bending raised leg and rotating out to stretch hip. Do a cobra, but bring knee up to side while in cobra. End with some standing side stretches.

Trying out Element: Daily Yoga is an experiment of mine. First, I want to try more yoga and barre workouts, but since I have yet to fall in love with either practice, I don’t like spending money just to sample them (and then not like them). Enter the library. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before. I have browsed the library’s workout DVD offerings but since I already owned everything they had that remotely interested me (Jari Love and Jillian Michaels), I lost interest quickly. But previously I wasn’t interested in yoga and barre–and they have a lot of both types of workouts. I’m kind of excited by the huge variety I now have to choose from.

Element: Daily Yoga, led by Mia Togo, is awesome! What a find! I actually plan to buy it now. It contains two yoga workouts: Morning and Evening and they are both approximately 40 minutes long. They are intermediate level and exactly what I am looking for in a yoga workout–the length, the type and variety of poses as well as the sequencing of exercises, all seemed prefect to me. The DVD starts with a 3 minute intro by Mia Togo that explains her concept of the two different kinds of workouts and their purpose. I found them both intermediate level and very doable. Morning is the more “energetic” of the two workouts–but neither of them are fast-paced; you hold poses for a good length of time in both of them, but in Morning the poses are more challenging and I worked up a mild perspiration. Evening was more relaxing, tho there were some fairly challenging poses (for me at least) but for the most part it was easier and I never did break a sweat during Evening. I enjoyed them both and they both did a great job stretching and lengthening.

Morning is 43 minutes long. It begins with breathing exercises then cat and cow. Next, you will spend some time in plank, then in downdog. You will do a few shallow chatarungas before lowering to the ground and going up into cobra, then into upward facing dog. Go back to downdog, then to forward fold, then into a chair pose where you are leaning forward with arms straight behind you. Return to forward fold, then to downdog. From 3 legged dog bring raised leg under you into low lunge (with knee on ground; she called it crescent moon pose). Slowly raise arms overhead while in this pose; it will turn into a side stretch. Move into high lunge with torso still bent over front leg and straight arms behind you then bring them in front of you; hold this pose. Do chatarunga and repeat on other side (starting at 3 legged dog). Chatarunga to updog to down dog. Forward fold to standing. Next you will do a basic sun salutation two times. Face the long side of the mat and open legs wide; go into warrior 2, then into side angle. You will both poses for a while. Repeat warrior 2 and side angle on other side of body. Get into horse stance and stretch shoulders by alternating leaning them forward. Get deep in horse stance (sumo) with arms overhead. You will hold this pose for a long time. Raise onto toes while still in horse stance and slowly straighten legs. Straighten feet and do wide-leg forward fold; you will stay in this pose for a while. Return to front of mat and do a chatarunga into updog, then into downdog then into 3 legged dog into warrior 1. While in warrior one, interlace your fingers behind you back and stretch your shoulders/chest while folding torso forward beside front leg while stretching arms toward ceiling. Straighten torso and legs, bringing legs closer together, but same warrior 1 stance. Bring arms behind back to grip elbows and hinge forward at hips into “intense side stretch pose.” Hold this pose for a while. Go to chair pose then to one leg chair pose. Bend leg into canon ball shape then move into warrior 3; hold for a while then return to warrior 1. Chatarunga, updog, down dog and repeat from warrior 1 on the other side of the body. End in child’s pose. Next you do core work in a series of boat poses. You will finish this workout with some stretching. The first is bridge pose then “resting pigeon” (which I call a figure 4 hip/glute stretch). The workout ends with corpse pose for about 4 minutes. Then she has you sit up for the final minute and “ohm.”

Evening is 40 minutes long. You begin sitting cross-leg and stretch both arms overhead; this will turn into a one arm side stretch. Lower the arms/hands to the ground on the same side you are leaning toward, stretching the back/lat now; move hands to the front of your body, leaning forward and folding over, head toward the ground. Repeat on other side. She has you bring your hands to hearts center and “ohm.” Pedal heels in down dog. Next is a crescent pose series during which you stretch your shoulders. Place one hand on the ground and twist toward front leg, raising other arm to sky. Straighten front leg to stretch hamstring. Repeat on other side them come to forward fold. Come back to mountain pose. Next is chair pose/chair twist. End in forward fold. Come to standing and separate feet 3-4 feet for triangle pose on both sides. Next is dolphin pose. Get on all 4s and raise and straighten one leg and opposite arm; bring them both in/under you (elbow and knee touch). Do this 3 times and on the third time reach arm behind you to grasp foot, stretching leg and shoulder. Repeat on other side of body. Lay on your stomach and do locust pose.  Do cobra into downdog. Sit cross-leg again for cow-face pose (tricep stretch). Next go to staff pose and into “half lord of the fish” pose (spinal twist). Return to staff pose then do head to knee pose. Lay on back and do a bent knee spinal twist. The final pose is 5 minutes of corpse pose. Sit into cross-leg and end with “ohm.”

I came across The Firm: Power Yoga while investigating all of my old workout DVDs I’ve stored in boxes in my closet. I was actually looking for a different yoga DVD I remembered owning (but now cannot find, so I must have gotten rid of it). I had forgotten even buying a Firm yoga workout, but now that I’ve done it, I remember it. And I have come a long way! I did this workout many years ago back when I not only hated yoga but found this workout too challenging for me. That seems amusing now. I’m not going to say I am a yoga-lover or an advanced yogi but I do like yoga and do it every week. And this is not a hard yoga workout. It is a very good workout in my opinion, but it is intermediate level. The trainer is Kirsten Strohecker and she covers most of the basic yoga poses in this short but effective workout.

Power Yoga is 34:30 minutes long (with a 2:30 minute intro–so 32 minutes of actual yoga time). It is little short for my liking, at least for a morning workout. It is the perfect length for a doubles workout or an add on after another workout. There is a modifier doing easier versions of every pose, plus, when Kirsten introduces a pose, she frequently starts the pose in the beginner modified version then moves to a more advanced version. So this workout is appropriate to most levels. I personally am not an advanced yogi nor do I care to become one (at least at his point in my life; my exercise goals are always changing), so the more “advanced” versions (actually normal versions of the pose) are just right level for me. Kirsten does not actually name a single pose, which I found kind of weird. She uses basic terminology to give you instructions on how to get into a pose but you never hear a single yoga pose name–not the Sanskrit or the English version of the pose. For instance, instead of telling you that you are doing a chair pose, she just tells you to squat and bring your arms overhead. I will be giving the actual English name of the pose when giving the break down (if I know the name, that is). Most of the poses are held for a good length of time (30-60 seconds) and many of the poses, particularly in the beginning, are repeated multiple times in a dynamic flowing series. I broke a mild sweat near the middle of this workout but nothing major. I was completely cooled down, relaxed and stretched out by the end. So, in summary, thumbs up! Excellent short but sweet yoga workout.

You will start with deep breathes and then some side stretches. Chair pose. Bend over to flat back and clasp hands behind you, stretching the chest. Plie squats w/ deep breaths. Standing runners lunge (crescent). Cat and Cow. Pointer dog. Child’s pose. Forward fold. Flat back. Chaturanga into up dog into down dog. **Series starts here: Crescent. Warrior 2. Triangle. Side angle. Pyramid. Revolved triangle. Chaturanga into up dog into down dog. Child’s pose. Half boat pose. Side plank. Chaturanga into up dog into down dog. **Repeat series on other side of body starting at Crescent pose. End series in child’s pose. Camel. Thread the needle. Down dog. Pigeon (both sides). Down dog to child’s pose. Seated forward bend. Butterfly stretch. Crab into reverse plank. Happy baby. Supine spinal twist. It ends with corpse pose.

I loved Element: Daily Yoga so much that I wanted to try more of Element‘s offerings. I went to the library and checked out AM & PM Yoga plus two more Element workouts (a barre and a ballet conditioning workout). First, though this workout was filmed very similarly to Daily Yoga, I did not like it nearly as much. The trainer is different and I didn’t like her as much as Mia Togo. Second, some of the exercises in this workout were actually too beginner for me and others were modified for beginners but the modification was awkward. Finally, as I have mentioned before in other reviews, I have plates and screws in my feet; there is a long series in the AM workout in which you do warrior poses. After doing a series on one side, you simple shift the placement of your feet to do the same warrior series on the other side of the body. This shifting of your feet from side to side was not something my rotten heels liked at all. So, unlike Daily Yoga, I will not be purchasing this DVD.

But lets start at the beginning. AM & PM Yoga contains two approx. 30 minute yoga routines. The trainer is Elena Brower. As you would expect, the more strenuous, standing poses are in the AM practice and the more relaxing, sitting/laying poses are in the PM practice. I never broke a sweat once in either sequence btw. That isn’t exactly a negative if I felt I got something beneficial out of a yoga or stretching workout but I didn’t feel like I got a lot out of these workouts. On the main screen you have the option of playing either just AM Yoga or just PM Yoga or both combined–AM followed by PM. When I did this workout I did the the combined mix which is 63 minutes long.

Just like Element: Daily Yoga the setting for the workout is beautiful. The trainer is by herself outside and the scenery is gorgeous–green with flowers and trees and an ocean or lake behind her. I don’t love these workouts, won’t be buying AM & PM Yoga and therefore will never do them again, so I am going to keep my reviews very brief. Almost every pose is held for several breaths. When you are holding the poses, she focuses on the breathing, having you round your back when inhaling and then extending your spine and moving deeper in the move with the exhale. For some reason my spine didn’t particularly care for the repeated rounding in sometimes awkward positions.

AM Yoga is 35:30 minutes long. You start doing deep breathing in mountain pose, bringing arms over head. Forward fold and flat back. Cat and cow. Down dog. Child’s pose. Plank to down dog (flow between the two). Twisted lunge. She next has you do a very basic and modified sun salutation. Next is the long warrior series mentioned above; you will do modified versions of warrior 1, 2, 3 and side angle (not in that order btw); she also inserts a wide leg forward fold in the middle of the warrior series. Next is a modified side balance pose. Sphinx pose. Locus pose. Boat pose. Bridge pose. Supine bent knee spine twist. It ends with about 1:30 minutes of sitting cross-leg with eyes closed.

PM Yoga is 27 minutes. This workout starts sitting cross-leg and doing breathing exercises in which you round and straighten your spine. Down dog, plank, chatarunga, cobra, down dog to child’s pose. Pigeon. Down dog. Child’s pose. Thunderbolt pose (sitting on knees). You will do an odd, modified spine twist (seated twist). Next you do stick pose (sit on bottom with legs straight out in front of you, feet flexed, spine straight and hands at hips). You will spend a lot of time in stick pose and also return to it between other poses. Do another seated spine twist but this one is the non-awkward one I am accustomed to. Bound ankle pose (butterfly). Head to knee pose. Lay on back and bring knees to chest then straighten legs to floor with feet flexed. Next you do approx. 2:30 minutes of corpse pose. The workout ends with approx. 1 minute of sitting cross-leg with eyes closed.

I have read a lot about Tracy Anderson over the past year and none of it has been good. I don’t mean I haven’t read reviews by people who love her workouts. I have; but it seems you either love her or hate her. There are some strong feelings associated with this trainer. Plus, it is hard to get any real information/description on the actual workouts. Either people say they are the most amazing, life-changing workouts ever or they are stupidest, biggest waste of time ever. I initially wasn’t interested because they just didn’t seem like my kind of workouts (based on the scant amount of info I could discern), but I have been wanting to branch out with my workouts recently and when I discovered the library carried quite a few Tracy Anderson workouts, I thought—Why not? So I checked out The Perfect Design: Level II Intermediate and her Method: Mat Workout (which I am doing tomorrow).

I have a lot to say about this workout so bear with me. It is definitely a mixed bag. It has a tagline after the title that states: “includes warm up, abs, arms, legs, butt + thighs workout” but having done the workout, all of the body parts it claims to work are not covered in the actual workout. It is primarily a lower body/glute workout with a challenging core segment. The very end is possibly the “arm” section. She calls it “standing abs and rib isolations” but only in the very beginning does she appear to be doing anything that engages the core. After that it is a lot of weird arm/hand movements that are seizure-like. There is no cueing–you are just supposed to copy her even tho what she is doing is constantly changing. She even tells you that you should “get good at my cueing” and talks about a lot of odd things during this segment–I guess because she isn’t actually cueing anything. She says she is making “flinging” and “flicking” motions with her hands to “activate her beauty muscles” and it will “make a real difference in your results.” Honestly, it is one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.

The DVD also contains a 6 minute interview with Tracy in which she talks about how she “designed this method of fitness because there was a severe hole in the fitness world in terms of a strategy to achieve the mastery of perfection.” (huh?) She also says she is not a “trend” and that you need to continue to do her workouts but that you should change them up–just like her clients. They do a new program/workouts every 10 days. In addition to these workouts she also has dance aerobics and mat workouts; she feels you have to do all 3.

First off, there were many very weird aspects to this workout. First is Tracy. She is wearing the most bizarre workout attire I have ever seen. A satiny bra with some kind of very short satin loose tunic type thing over it and long satin shorts with elastic above the knee (bloomers?). Was it underwear? A night club outfit? She was very serious and her face looked nothing like it did on the cover of the DVD. In the workout her mouth looked very swollen like someone had punched her in the face. (Botox?) Her mouth doesn’t look like that at all on the front of the DVD. The entire workout is done via voice-over and the cueing is horrid. Luckily, the majority of the workout is lower body and the poor cuing doesn’t really affect that portion of the workout. It is very high rep and the moves are generally easy to copy. The cuing however is non-existent in the warm up and the weird, afore mentioned arm seizure section. For the warm up, she doesn’t do a lot of reps and doesn’t cue at all, so you are on your own—following as you watch then losing your place as she quickly changes the move somehow or moves onto something new and different. She does cue in the core section but her cuing comes after the move has already changed. And some of the core moves she doesn’t do a lot of reps so this is problematic.

The real gold of this workout is the main 30 minute segment—lower body. I was challenged and I felt it! I am still feeling it in muscles I didn’t even know I had! So I will be buying this workout and in the future I’ll only do the lower body and core sections. I will warm myself up some other way as well as stretch out some other way. Since the legs/glutes and core combined only equal 37:30 minutes, it works well as an add on.

The Perfect Design: Level II Intermediate is 47 minutes long; 4 warm up, 30:30 minutes leg/glute work, 7 minutes of core, 5 minutes of arm spasms and a 30 second cool down? Not sure if it is actually a cool down; I really don’t know what it is, but it’s super short. You will need a chair and a mat.

Lower Body (30:30 minutes)

For all of the standing moves you will be raising the leg to at least hip level; you do a lot of reps of every exercise.

1. chair in front of you and hands on back of chair (seat facing away from you); place foot on chair seat then bring leg around behind you, raising it hip level;

2. (this is a very odd move and hard to explain) leave leg straight behind you, lean torso over back of chair putting one hand on seat then raise leg incrementally two times while moving it to the other side of the body (while still behind you and straight), then bend knee and kick in a diagonal behind you, still raising leg above hip, until leg is straight;

3. step foot out to side (she calls this a slight demi-plie) then bring that foot up and back behind you, kicking it again in a diagonal behind you (she calls this rotate and extend hip behind you);

4. do a ball change then kick to side with toe pointed and leg straight (like a roundhouse); hands will stay on back of chair the whole time;

5. keep hands on back of chair and bring knee in in an inverted fashion across other leg then kick it back behind you;

6. face front of chair and place both hands on seat, legs wide and straight so that you are in a plank; dip hips down toward seat then when you push hips back, you kick one leg out behind you, high in the air, crossing it over the opposite hip (upward diagonal);

7. (this move is hard) kneel beside chair on one knee, with one hand on the ground, raise other leg out straight and lay on chair seat (think of a straight arm side plank but you are on one knee w/ top foot rested on chair); raise leg then bend knee and kick leg out straight in front of you;

8. get on all 4s; you will go up into 3 leg down dog then back down onto knees

Repeat all moves on other side of body.

Abs is 7 minutes (you need a chair); lay on back with hands behind head and heels on chair; you do a long series in this position that gets progressively more challenging until you using the chair more as a prop to move your legs around.

I am not going to explain the final 5:30 minutes of this workout because I don’t know she is doing. It is impossible to follow, uncued and looks ridiculous. I will definitely be skipping it in the future.

The Tracy Anderson Method: Mat Workout ‏is the second workout I have done by Tracy Anderson. And this one is different from The Perfect Design. Just like with Perfect Design I have a lot to say about this workout. I actually like it more than Perfect Design. Mat Workout is a total body workout (though it barely works your back or chest but it does give your arms and shoulders a good run) and like Perfect Design it hits the legs hard. Again—that is where the gold is in this workout, the lower body. However I felt it everywhere. This workout is not done with voice over (unlike Perfect Design). The set is a very nice room with a winter evening visible through the window behind her. She is dressed in normal workout clothes and she cues better. Let me add that “better” doesn’t equal good cueing. She still doesn’t cue well and frequently doesn’t bother cueing at all. However, even those segments she doesn’t cue are generally easy to follow and copy. The standing ab section has no cueing and is still very difficult to follow. It’s stupid anyway and I’ll always skip it in the future. Actually, her cueing sucks in the mat abs, too—but in all the leg work it is better, plus, just like in Perfect Design, the leg work itself is simply easier to copy and follow, so good cueing isn’t as essential as it is in other areas.

The menu for this workout states that the workout is chaptered—but it isn’t. There is a one minute intro to the workout in which Tracy instructs you to do this workout 4-6 times a week in order to get “amazing results.” There is a one minute interview with Gwyneth Paltrow in which she discusses how challenging Tracy’s workouts are, how sore she was after doing them the first time and how everyone needs to find time to exercise. And finally, there is a 3 minute interview with Tracy. According to Tracy, her program can take “any woman from any genetic background” and turn her into a “teeny-tiny dancer-type.” She states that she has tried everything–pilates, spinning, step aerobics, cardio, even diet and nothing worked for her (she doesn’t mention actual strength training btw). In order to see results you have to do the mat work and the cardio work (her dance aerobics) and she doesn’t want you to do any other workouts.

I have so many thoughts about this workout. First, let me say that I haven’t been brainwashed and now think Tracy Anderson is the fitness guru she thinks she is. I do not. But I do think I’d like to find a place for workouts like this in my rotations. She works the lower body really well. Even if I do nothing else except the lower body portions of her workouts (well, the two I’ve done so far–I cannot speak for the rest of her DVDs) it is money well spent. Her standing abs is stupid IMHO. I will always skip that. However her mat based ab work in both Perfect Design and this workout is very good. It is unique and challenging. In Perfect Design the arm flinging she was doing was ridiculous and impossible to follow. Apparently that was some form of what she presents in the arm portion of this workout, except in the Mat Workout she does it in a manner you can easily follow. Now, it is obviously nothing like the type of upper body work I am accustomed to doing but that doesn’t mean it has no value. I would never abandon dumbbells for Tracy’s method, but I won’t lie—I felt her arm work. If you can actually follow her arm choreography (which you can in this workout), 16 minutes of it really burned my arms and shoulders out big time. She went through all ranges of motion, too. So I don’t think it was worthless. Will I ever actually do the arm segments of this workout again? I honestly don’t know. Part of me wonders if alternating this type of work with the heavier lifting I normally do would enhance my fitness.

On to the breakdown. I will give a very brief summary and segment break down for the workout, then for some of them (the lower body segments) I will break it down further below. Unfortunately, this workout truly isn’t chaptered. By that I mean, some workouts, even if they don’t have a chapter menu, are still chaptered so it is easier to skip forward to segments. Not this one. To skip unwanted segments you will have to utilize fast-forward. The lower body is really the best part of this workout but the warm up and cool down is good too (tho you have to keep your eyes on the tv–difficult to do when she frequently has you bent over), so if you want to do a lower body workout (both segments), with warm up and cool down, it is 32 minutes total.

Mat Workout is 57 minutes; you need a chair, a mat and 1-3 pound dumbbells.

5:30 minute stretch warm up is dynamic and easy to follow

Standing leg/barre: 15:30 minutes (see below)

Standing abs is 3:30 minutes; this consists of rib/hip shifting dancing type moves—according to Tracy her ab work doesn’t give the 6 pack abs which she doesn’t like–it gives you “sexy lines.”

Unweighted arms is 8 minutes; according to Tracy, her standing unweighted arms will make them “as tiny as possible with great definition” and give you “beautiful ballet arms.”

Weighted arms is 8 minutes; Tracy says you should never use heavier than 3 pound weights because then you will just bulk and bulking creates “more space for loose skin later on.”

Mat lower body: 7 minutes (see below)

Mat abs is 5:30 minutes; you are laying supine with legs straight and wide in a V for almost all of crunch variations.

Cool down/stretch: 4 minutes of dynamic, flowing stretching that is similar to the warm up.

Standing/Barre Legs (15:30 minutes) (you need a chair):

1. stand behind chair with both hands on back of chair; raise knee up to shoulder;
2. lift leg to side with “attitude” (this means leg is bent);
3. lift leg behind you with attitude;
4. keep leg lifted behind you, bring knee out to side of body (keeping it high) and then push leg/foot out straight behind you;
5. hold leg straight behind you and pulse.

Repeat all 5 moves on other leg.

1. lift straight leg to side (no attitude), point when lifting, flex when lowering;
2. hold leg out to side and bend with attitude; rotate at hip, lifting knee up then twisting it back down;
3. pulse bent knee up at side of body;
4. turn to the side so you are no longer facing the chair back but it is beside you; bring knee in the kick leg/foot behind you.

Repeat all 4 moves on other leg.

Mat Lower Body (7 Minutes) (you need a mat):

1. lay on your side, leaning on elbow and bottom leg bent, top leg out straight; bring knee to shoulder and straighten;
2. move your torso forward so weight is partially resting on hands in front of you, bottom leg still bent; bring top knee to side and push out straight behind you;
3. hold leg out straight behind you and pulse to ceiling;
4. rotate so you are lying on your side, weight on elbow; you are going to a scissor type move with your legs; bring your top knee in then straighten it while pushing it back behind you, while you are pushing your top leg back you are bringing your bottom leg forward slightly and straightening it;
5. lay almost on stomach/chest (torso weight supported by hands), bottom leg still bent; raise and lower top leg to ceiling;
6. lay completely on your stomach, knees wide and bent, heels pressed together; raise and lower feet/knees toward ceiling.

Repeat all moves on other side of body.

My barre adventures continue with Pure Barre: 16th Street 2. The library had several Pure Barre workouts but I chose this one because it had the most 5 star reviews on Amazon. Of course, I was checking Amazon on my iphone while at the library so I didn’t actually read the reviews. I read them later and they aren’t very useful–not even sure they are referring to this workout specifically or Pure Barre workouts in general. Nevertheless, this is the Pure Barre I checked out. And it is hard! A lot is packed into 36 minutes. I do think it is an excellent workout, but I didn’t enjoy it. It had some great (but painful) lower body work and I feel it hit the quads, glutes and hips very well. Plus it’s chaptered–yay! So this is going on my wishlist–I can definitely use the lower body segments as add ons. Another great part is that after each lower body segment she stretches the muscle group worked out completely. As it turns out the numbers–1 or 2–refer to the level of the workout. A “1” is beginner/intermediate and “2” is intermediate/advanced. So no wonder this one hurt so bad! But the good hurt.

The trainer is Carrie Rezabeck. She has a background in dance and created the Pure Barre Technique. In 36 minutes you will get a total body workout using only a chair (or barre), some tubing (I used a firewalker) and a mat. Keep in mind the only muscle groups that will be hit hard is your lower body and abs, but she still hits everything. The technique used in this workout that burns your muscles out is the combination of a looped band with isometric pulsing movements. The band used in this workout looks like a regular resistance tube that is been looped then secured in the middle so there are two loops that look almost like handles. I just used a firewalker and it worked very well.

The main menu lists The Workout, Body Positioning, Equipment Tips, About Pure Barre, and About this DVD. If you click on The Workout it takes you to another menu where you can choose to play the entire workout or just specific sections (chaptering). Body Positioning is a 5 minute tutorial that demonstrates the positioning for all of the barre work. Equipment Tips has a sub-menu in which you can learn about different equipment: the Pure Barre mat, the Pure Bar tubing and Pure Bar socks. About Pure Barre takes you to a sub-menu which lists: about the technique, about the founder, about “pure give”, franchise opportunities and other available DVDs.

Pure Barre: 16th Street 2 is 36:30 minutes long; 30 second intro, 9 minute warm up, 10 minute thigh work, 8:30 minute seat (glute) work, 5 minutes of ab work and 3 minutes of back work & a stretch.

The 9 minute warm up is a workout in itself and is actually the part of the workout that hits the upper body. You start with knee raises. Then you sit on mat and put tubing around ankles. Lift legs to ceiling and pump straight arms. Continue with arms while raising and lowering straight legs. With straight legs at 45 degrees and arms behind head, twist elbow to side and pulse. Bring arms overhead while legs straighten a few inches off the floor, then bring knees in while arms lower beside hips. Start laying flat on the ground and roll up into straight leg boat pose. Hold in straight leg boat while pressing out on tube (still around your ankles). Elbow plank. Straight arm plank with leg raise and pulse. Straight arm side plank with little elbow bends. Push ups. Hold in halfway point and pulse. Tricep push ups. Hold at halfway point and pulse. Get onto bottom with hands behind hips and heels rested on ground–do tricep dips. Remove band from ankles and stand. Hold band behind back; hinge at hips and press arms back, then pull and raise arms. Raise band over head with straight arms and pull band down behind head. Hold band in front of body with palms facing ceiling; straighten and bend arms while keeping tension on tube; pull out on band. Put band around wrists and bring bent arms up in front of face, palms facing each other; press elbows/arms/hands out. This ends with a brief upper body stretch.

Thigh Work (10 minutes): you need the firewalker/tubing and a chair or barre. Bring firewalker up just above knees, bring heels together, toes apart in a narrow V and raise up on toes, bend knees. Lower and raise into squat. Hold at halfway point and tuck hips and push knees/band apart. Remove tube from knees. Step on tube with right foot and wrap the tube around the ankle of the left foot. Hold left foot out in front of you with foot flexed; lift left foot and pulse, then hold and circle toe, return to pulsing. Repeat on right leg. Put tube around both ankles and get into plie squat. Pulse in plie. Hold low and tuck hips and press knees out. Stay in low plie and turn torso and arms (which are now held out in front of you) to the right while raising right heel; pulse in this position, then do hip tucks and knee presses. Repeat this plie series with left heel raised. Return to forward facing plie with arms overhead and pulse down. Hold at low point and press knees out. End with a long thigh stretch on mat.

Seat (glute) Work (8:30 minutes): you need the firewalker/tubing, a chair or barre and a mat. Step on tube with right foot and put tube around bottom of left foot. Bring left foot behind you so you are on your left “toe knuckle.” Lift left foot and press back. Make small circles with left foot. Flex left foot and press straight back. Remove tube from ankles and bring it to the mat. This move is call the pretzel. Sit on mat with right knee bent in front of you and flat on mat, left left is straight to side with knee bent or it can be further behind you (it is also flat on mat); however left hip must be rotated forward. Hold band in both hands and hold over head; squeeze/push left glute forward (your hip will be rotating slightly forward). If you can, lift left foot off floor and continue the squeeze/rotate. Lower arms and flex left foot and raise leg/knee off floor; press heel back. Stretch glute/hip/leg. Repeat on other side of body.

Ab Work (5 minutes): you need the firewalker/tubing and a mat. Come to mat and put firewalker just above knees. Get into C sit and do small raise and lowers, never sitting up fully (so always in C sit). Hold in low C sit and press knees out/open. While in C sit, rotate to right and squeeze glutes while raising and lowering (while always staying in twisted C sit). While still in this position press knees out away from each other. Rotate to left and repeat. Return to forward facing C sit and do small raise and lowers again. Lay on back and bring tubing up higher on thighs then open legs into a wide V, toes to ceiling. Raise upper body and do small curls in. You start with hands holding thighs then change to pushing hands between thighs, pushing against band. Lower hands and torso to floor but keep legs in same position and do hip raises. Add pressing the legs out against band while raising hips.

Back & Stretch (3 minutes): cobra stretch. Next you will do back extensions; lay on stomach and hold firewalker w/ both hands behind back; raise torso, arms and legs and hold; add pulling on the band. Cat & cow. End with leg stretches.

I love Element workouts—even when I don’t love the actual workout. Does that makes sense? Element creates beautiful, well produced workout DVDs, even when the actual workout doesn’t appeal to me. Element: Ballet Conditioning is one of those workouts. It is not a bad workout. Some of it actually challenged me, but overall it is not a workout I am interested in returning to. I checked it out from the library as part of my barre week.

The trainer for this Element workout is Elise Gulan, a ballet dancer and dance teacher. The workout is primarily ballet leg drills with some core work. You also work your arms isometrically. For every single lower body move, you also do ballet arms and hold them—so it does fatigue your arms. Like all of the Element workouts I have done thus far, this workout is done with a voice over and it is cued well. For everything done in this workout Elise uses ballet terminology. I don’t know how to spell most of the terms so for the most part I will just describe the move. Elise is barefoot and she recommends doing the workout barefoot. The only equipment you will need is a chair. The setting is gorgeous, as usual. Trees and flowers in front of the Pacific Ocean.

The menu has two selections—play the entire workout, or go to the chapters. I will describe the workout by chapters but here are the basics: the workout is 50 minutes, 1 minute intro, 3 minute warm up and 3:30 minute cool down/stretch. I really expected to like this workout more. I have been enjoying my barre workout week and, in fact, I am enjoying the Element: Barre Conditioning workout DVD (it contains two barre workouts and I’ve only done one so far, so that review has not been posted yet), so I expected to enjoy this one more than I did. I found the actual ballet aspect that this workout incorporates to be somewhat off-putting. For one, I am not graceful so my attempts at being ballerina-like feel (and probably look) absurd. Also, this workout calls attention to posture. I don’t think I have poor posture (I don’t think I have superior posture either), but I frequently found it hard to keep my spine as straight as it should be for some of the leg work. I have not experienced this problem with other barre workouts so that is another reason I didn’t care for this workout as much as the others I have been doing. So this workout will not get moved to my wishlist (unlike most of the library workouts I’ve sampled so far).

Chapters:

Stretches and Thigh Work (8:30 minutes): this begins the workout, so the stretches at the beginning are a sort of warm up with forward folds, side bends and lots of graceful ballet arm movements. The warm up stretching lasts about 3 minutes. Then you need the chair. It begins with releve (raising onto toes) and demi-plié. These plies are narrow ones, with heels touching. This moves into lots of fast releves. Then you move in and out of demi-plies; first shallow then very deep. Come up onto your toes while in plié then lower to halfway; from this position you go deep into the plié and only raise halfway. Pulse in plié. Next you move your feet to second position (or wide plié stance). Plié squats. Hold low in wide plié and pulse. Lift heels while in wide plié and pulse.

Streamlining Extension and Gluteal Work (21 minutes): this starts with a lot of toe pointing drills–front, side, back, side. Next is leg raises in which you bend your knee, sliding toe up inside of other leg then straighten–first to the front, then the side, then the back, then the side. Next is circling of the leg; this begins with the toe on the ground. You point it forward then rotate it in a half circle around behind you. Next you raise the leg to the side and bend the knee, circling the calf/foot while keeping thigh/hip stationary. You return to the pointing half circles but this time, after your toe taps in the front you, raise your leg to circle it around behind you then back to front. Hold your leg straight out in front of you and pulse. Repeat to the side, then again to the back. Next is “attitude” leg lifts (knee bent and leg slightly tilted so inside of foot is toward ceiling) from front to back. Raise your leg in attitude to the front and do small presses–inward and upward. Do the same thing with leg lifted in attitude to the back.

Cardio Boost Kicks and Jumps (6:30 minutes): She doesn’t use the chair for the rest of the workout but if your balance is poor, you may need it for a few of the exercises at the beginning of this segment. You start with double kicks to the front, to the side, to the back, to the side. These aren’t kickboxing kicks but very graceful pointed-toe ballet type kicks. The first two minutes of this segment are the kicks. Next is jumps with feet in first position (heels together, toes facing outward). Move feet to second position (wide plié) and do jumps in this position. Next you jump from first position to second position. Next is 5th position which is heel to toe; jumps in this position, except you are alternating the front foot on each jump. You will go through all of the jumps again but quicker. End with standing splits and spine twists. While in standing split (hands on ground and one leg raised high in the air and toward ceiling), you will do pulsing leg lifts.

Core Work and Final Stretches (9:30 minutes): The first 6 minutes of this section is core work and the final 3:30 minutes is your stretch. You start laying flat on your back, arms and feet stretching away from you; the first exercise is to roll up and reach hands over feet, then roll back down. Raise head and shoulders and one straight leg, the other leg is a few inches off floor; hold raised thigh with hands and pulse twice then switch legs. Continue this, eventually no longer holding thigh. Lay head and shoulders on floor with both legs raised to ceiling and do hip lifts. Raise shoulders and head again and this time bring in bent leg, grabbing the thigh; switch legs (so bicycle legs), eventually no longer holding thigh. Scissor straight legs. The workout ends with 3:30 minutes of lower body stretches.

This is my Barre week. I checked out a bunch of barre workouts from the library to sample and this was my first. It will not be the first barre review to post, but that is because there are two workouts on this DVD and at the time of this writing, I have only done one of the workouts so far. I also did a Tracy Anderson workout this morning but I am not sure that was actually barre—so maybe this wasn’t my first. Not sure. Prior to this morning the only barre work I’ve ever done are those done by Cathe. Well, Element‘s barre workout was different from both Cathe and Tracy. And painful! My legs were stinging. Keep in mind, I am new to barre and working my muscles this way, so this may seem harder to me than to someone who does barre workouts frequently. **Having done several barre workouts this week (including the second one on this DVD) I am really impressed by how barre works my lower body in completely new ways. I will definitely be incorporating barre into my rotations to round out my lower body training.**

The Element: Barre Conditioning contains two approx. 30 minute barre workouts. They are created by Sadie Lincoln, the founder of Barre3 brand. I have never heard of Barre3 but I plan to discover more! A quick Amazon search shows quite a few Barre3 workouts. Like all of the Element workouts, this workout is in a beautiful setting–green with flowered trees, a reflecting pool, the Pacific Ocean. Just the setting is gorgeous and relaxing. The workouts are done with voice overs but after sampling other voice over workouts (like Tracy Anderson), Element does theirs very well.

Burn & Firm is 34 minutes; 2:30 minute warm up and 6 minute stretch. A chair is needed. The entire workout is done standing. This workout is a lower body workout and it is tough! There is some core work and Sadie says you are working your arms several times but you are not. All you are doing is lifting and raising your arms. Hardly an upper body workout. Each move that is done, is done for a long time. The basic pattern is pulsing low in the pose–so isometric. It burns. And a few hours later–my legs were still burning, hamstrings, calves and quads. Workout: You start with plie squats that turn into plie squats with leg lifts. Next come the plie pulses. After doing that for a long time raise your heels and continue to pulse. You will do a standing diamond; you’ll be on one leg (knee bent) with the other raised behind you and bent; bend and straighten both legs simultaneously. Next you will stay on one leg but bring elbow to knee. Position your feet in V with heels raised and pressed together and do more pulsing squats. Sumo Squats. Move chair to other side of body. Do the plie squats that turn into plie squats with leg lifts again. Plie pulses; raise heels and pulse some more. Do the standing diamonds and elbow to knee. You do something called power leg which is a squat but on toes (pulsing of course). You end with chair pose, first doing pulses in chair then full squats (you go from standing to chair pose). The workout ends with a long and much needed stretch.

Lengthen & Strengthen is 31:30 minutes; warm up is 3:30 minutes and 4:30 minutes stretch. You need a chair, a mat and a rolled up towel. Just like in Burn & Firm, you do a lot of isometric pulsing to burn the muscles out. This was also a good workout. Not as challenging as Burn & Firm and I didn’t enjoy it as much, but I did enjoy it. Workout: You start by facing the back of the chair and getting into a lunge with hands on back of chair. Lift front heel up and hold; add small pulses. Lower front heel and hinge forward; pulse down and up, working glutes now. Next lower into deeper lunge but when you lift up, you raise the back leg and one arm. On the last one you hold at the top, raise up onto toe and hold. You are done with the chair. Get on all 4s on the mat. Extend one leg straight behind you and extend opposite arm to the side. Bring knee in while bringing hand in to knee. For final rep hold leg out and bringing arm straight in front of you; pulse the leg. Lay on your side for diamond. Your knees are bent; raise top knee, toes touching then raise other calf/foot off ground, creating a raised diamond with your legs. Hold for a while then open and close top knee. Hold position again, then pulse top knee back. Hold position again. Stretch your hip and spine. Lay on back with knees bent, heels touching and toes 4 inches apart. Pushing through feet, raise hips slightly. Raise and lower hips slightly. Place rolled up towel under hips, raise straight legs, toes to ceiling, heels touching, toes a few inches apart. Draw one leg down along the inner thigh of the other while slowly lowering the leg toward the floor; alternate sides. Bring heels together into plie position and bend and straighten knees, pushing feet to ceiling; flex feet while knees are bent and point them when straight. Next you will place your legs/feet into 4th position; bend and straighten legs; while doing this you will also be tilting the belly/hips. Next is plank work. Get into straight arm plank; bend and straight knees; add bending elbows slightly while bending the knees to work triceps.  End with a nice long stretch.