PowerFit Harmony – Stephanie Huckabee – Overview

May 12, 2010 / Sara / 4 comments

pfharmony

Well, since I enjoyed the original PowerFit so much, I was really looking forward to the release of the follow up workouts, starting with PowerFit Harmony! PowerFit Harmony follows the same 20 minute format as the original PowerFit, and offers even more variety. The set includes 10 workout dvds, 3 bands with different levels of resistance, and a nice fitness & nutrition guide. And at the time of this writing, you can purchase the entire set for under $30 – which I think is an excellent value!

The fitness & nutrition guide is well done, and provides a suggested 30 day rotation to get started with workouts. The guide also includes 30 days of recipe ideas and daily motivational tips. The recipes are simple and fast to make, and offer great simple solutions for those days when you don’t want to plan your menu yourself. She also includes some great smoothie recipes! :razz: The rotation is color coded and easy to follow, and laid out so that you’ll be doing the workouts in numerical order the first 15 days, with rest days every 1-2 days. For the second half of the rotation, she switches the workouts around a little bit and puts rests days in every 2-3 days. I thought the rotation was well thought out, and approachable for all fitness levels. Be sure to check out Stephanie’s website for more rotation ideas using these workouts, as well as how to mix them with the other workouts from the PowerFit family.

The dvds include a lot of variety with 4 sculpting workouts, 3 cardio workouts, and 3 core workouts. I always enjoy split workouts, and the way they are designed makes it easy to double or triple up with workouts if you want a longer session. I’ll give a brief description of the 20 minute workouts here, and then, like I did with the ChaLEAN Extreme Overview, I’ll come back to this post and add the links to the full review of each workout as I get them written. :D

Program 1 – Cardio – Move It
A fun and easy to follow cardio workout that uses fun patterns, lateral motion, and a unique cardio-band section.

Program 2 – Sculpt – Strong Push
A sculpting routine for the push muscles – chest, triceps, butt and outer thighs. Some abs work is also included.

Program 3 – Core – Body Balance
An abs & lower back routine that mixes classic and contemporary and graceful moves in a strong and graceful way. Challenges to improve your balance are also included.

Program 4 – Sculpt – Strong Pull
A sculpt routine for the pull muscles – back, biceps, inner thighs and hamstrings. Innovative combinations are used, and abs work is included.

Program 5 – Cardio – Power Up
An exciting aerobic routine that is easy to follow and includes an extra long band step routine.

Program 6 – Core – Pure Power
A core workout that mixes graceful yoga moves with easy transitions to make you stronger and leaner.

Program 7 – Sculpt – Lower Body Blast
A sculpt workout mixed with cardio intervals that focuses on the legs, hips, thighs, and butt.

Program 8 – Cardio – Speed Burn
A cardio interval workout that keeps the impact low and the energy high, using moves like power marches and sambas.

Program 9 – Sculpt – Upper Body Blast
A sculpt workout mixed with cardio intervals that uses compound exercises to focus on the arms, chest, and back.

Program 10 – Core – Core Express
Improve posture, flexibility, and reshape your core using exercises like standing crunches and full body circles.

Category: PowerFit Harmony Overview, Stephanie Huckabee /

30 Minutes to Fitness: Weights – Kelly Coffey Meyer

May 4, 2010 / Sara / 4 comments

30mtfWeightsWell, here’s a good example of a workout that I waited much too long to try! :mrgreen: This was instantly one of my favorites, and that doesn’t happen very often. :lol: This dvd offers two 30 minute workouts – that clock in around 33 minutes when you include the warm up that is chaptered separately. There are also many options to choose from in the menu: Introduction, Warm Up, Workout 1 (Back, Legs, & Chest), Workout 2 (Biceps, Triceps, & Shoulders), Workout Sections, Audio Options (Full Mix or Kelly only), and Premixes. The Premixes include Workout 1 with Abdominal Active Rests (30 min), Workout 1 with Low Cardio Active Rests (30 min), Workout 2 with Abdominal Active Rests (29 min), Workout 2 with Low Cardio Active Rests (29 min), Full Body (1 rotation of each exercise, 38 min), Mixed Full Body Blast (no active rest, 41 min), and Time Saver Full Body (2 exercises each part, no rest, 31 min). Whew! Lots to choose from on this versatile disc!

I chose to do Workout 1 and Workout 2 in their original format, and did them on separate days. These workouts are lower rep (mostly 8 reps per set) with two sets per exercise, and Kelly encourages you to use heavy weights. There is also the fun addition of different active rests, and in the case of the workouts I chose – it was standing abdominal work. Since splits and heavier weights are my favorite way to train, I’m not surprised how much I enjoyed these workouts, I just really should have tried this disc sooner! Kelly suggests that beginners start with 5-7 lb dumbbells, intermediates 7-10 lbs, and that advanced use 10-15 lbs. And of course you can go up from there if you aren’t feeling challenged. ;)

I liked how Kelly had a little variation on each move, like a twist at the top of one arm rows, and the variation on triceps extension by alternating the movement behind and in front of the head. I also thought the music was very good, even excellent in during certain exercises. It was unique, had an awesome beat, and really matched the tempo of the workout well. I normally don’t enjoy standing abs work very much, but I liked the dynamic nature of the moves that Kelly used during the active rest segments. Kelly’s cueing was spot on, making the workout flow very smoothly for me. So, two big thumbs up from me! I’m looking forward to trying some of the premixes on this disc one of these days, too. :D

I’m excited to try more of Kelly’s workouts, especially the two newest releases in the 30 Minutes To Fitness brand once they are complete. They’re available for a special pre-sale price as of this writing!

Back, Legs, & Chest breakdown:

  • Reverse Flyes
  • Lunges
  • Push Ups into a one handed plank
  • Figure Eights with dumbbells
  • Bent Over Row
  • Squats and one legged squats
  • Push ups
  • Standing knee tucks with side crunches
  • One arm row with a twist at the top of the exercise
  • One legged deadlift, with an optional twist at the waist
  • Dive bomber push ups
  • Wide squat, stretching over to each side
  • Cool down & stretch

Biceps, Triceps, and Shoulders breakdown:

  • Hammer curls with squats
  • Triceps kickbacks at a 45 degree angle
  • Palms in front raise, side raise combo
  • Side leg lift, rotating body downward at opposite angle
  • Biceps curls, lifting out at a 45 degree angle
  • One arm overhead triceps extension, behind and in front of head
  • Bent over lateral raise
  • Standing crunches, pivoting and rotating at waist
  • Unilateral biceps curl, twisting palm at the top
  • Unilateral triceps kickbacks
  • Unilateral shoulder press
  • Reach and drop – reach overhead with a towel, drop towel to the side, reach overhead again, pick towel up, repeat rapidly
  • Cool down & stretch

dbs

Category: Weights /

Get Extremely Ripped 1000 – Workout Interval 2 – Jari Love

April 30, 2010 / Sara / No comments

gxr1kSo, here are my thoughts on the second workout from Get Extremely Ripped 1000. I covered the basics of the dvd in my post about Workout Interval 1, so hop on over there for more info on the premixes. Like Workout Interval 1, Workout Interval 2 is about 50 minutes long, when you add in the five minute warm up, 8 minutes of push ups and abs, and a 5 minute stretch at the end. Again, each cardio interval is about 3 minutes long gradually building in intensity, followed by 1 minute of strength training. Jari and the backgrounders offer several options to take the intensity and impact up or down. Equipment required is minimal, with just dumbbells required and an optional step.

I don’t really have much to add to my review of Workout Interval 1 on this disc. Jari’s cueing is good in this one, but she does walk around a bit during the workout. She also doesn’t go very deep in her lunges and squats, but all of her background exercisers use great form. The Charleston lunges were pretty fun, and there were a lot of other variations on cardio moves that I had not seen before. But, they were all easy to follow, which is a big plus for a choreography challenged gal like me. ;) I enjoyed the music in the workout as well. It was fun with a good beat, and a nice change from the generic music that is sometimes recycled in other workout videos. Also, for the most part this workout isn’t a big space hog, which is always nice if you don’t have a lot of open space to spare. So again, this is a good addition to my collection of Jari’s workouts – even if it isn’t my favorite style. 8)

The breakdown:

Warm Up – ~5 minutes of strength training with light weights – biceps curls, squats, reverse lunges, lateral raises, shoulder presses, etc

Cardio 1 – Charleston lunges (reverse lunges with a front kick or knee up hop)

Weights 1 – Straight leg deadlifts with biceps curl

Cardio 2 – Basic step, hop step, football runs

Weights 2 – Pendulum lunge (static lunge, leaning forward into a rear leg lift)

Cardio 3 – Side to side pulse squats, side to side hops or ski jumps

Weights 3 – Wide squats with unilateral raise, with wide pulse squats

Cardio 4 – Toe touches (bring opposite toe to opposite hand), toe touches with a hop, football runs with heels turning in

Weights 4 – Squat lunge combo with triceps kickback, right side

Cardio 5 – Lunge hops (side hops with feet in lunge position), jumping lunges

Weights 5 – Squat lunge combo with triceps kickback, left side

Cardio 6 – Side steps, speed skaters

Weights 6 – Alternating lunge with lateral raise

Push ups and abs – Push ups, planks, side planks, crunches, supermans

Cool down – Full body stretching, just over 5 minutes

Category: Circuit Training, Jari Love /

Get Extremely Ripped 1000 – Workout Interval 1 – Jari Love

April 26, 2010 / Sara / No comments

gxr1kA while back, I tried out one of Jari Love’s newer releases. From the title, Get Extremely Ripped 1000 sounded like it was going to be a cross between two of her other workouts – Get Ripped 1000 and Get Extremely Ripped. And I’d have to say that would be a pretty accurate description. The workout is formatted with two shorter workouts, like Get Extremely Ripped – but also has cardio intervals, like Get Ripped 1000. Get Extremely Ripped 1000 also offers some different premixes in the menu, which I don’t remember Get Extremely Ripped having. The menu contains seven choices – Introductions, Complete Workout, Workout Interval 1, Workout Interval 2, Cardio Only, Weights Only, and Push Ups & Abs. I thought offering the cardio and weights options separately was a nice touch. The box says that the workout is two 30 minute workouts that can be combined into one 60 minute workout. However, that doesn’t include warm up (~5 minutes), push ups & abs (~8 minutes), or the stretch (~6 minutes). If you were to select the Complete Workout which includes all the components, it would actually be closer to 80 minutes. A variety of dumbbells are needed for this workout, and a step is optional.

I decided to do the 30 minute workouts one day at a time, since I remember thinking that’s what I should have done the first time I tried Get Extremely Ripped. ;) Workout Interval 1 is just under 50 minutes with the warm up, abs, and stretch added on. Each cardio interval is about 3 minutes long, followed by 1 minute of strength training. Jari builds the cardio intervals up gradually, with three levels of intensity. Several options to decrease or increase the difficulty of each version are shown between Jari and her 5 background exercisers. The back row uses a step and high impact for the cardio, while the front row does the workout without a step using both high and low impact variations. During the weights segment, each exerciser’s weight used is also shown on the screen to give you a reference point.

Even though I prefer the format of Jari’s earlier workouts, like Get Ripped, I did like this workout more than Get Extremely Ripped. Jari’s cueing is better, and her relaxed demeanor and joking feels more natural than it did in Get Extremely Ripped. There are also lots of fitness tips scrolling on the screen during the workout, in addition to the tips on form and general fitness that Jari offers throughout. I do wish that when you select the Workout Intervals individually that the workout time was really 30 minutes total, instead of 50 minutes when you include the time for the warm up, abs, and stretch. The Weights Only premix appears to be slightly shorter, around 40 minutes, so at least that is another workout option to consider. I liked the count down clock feature, letting you know when each interval was about to end. Overall, this workout has a lot of variety and gets a lot accomplished, and I think it’s also a good value since Jari’s workouts are always reasonably priced.

The workout breaks down like this:

Warm Up – ~5 minutes of strength training with light weights – biceps curls, squats, reverse lunges, lateral raises, shoulder presses, etc

Cardio 1 – Alternating high knees, step touch to the rear with a kick

Weights 1 – Side squat into a reverse lunge and a biceps curl

Cardio 2 – L-hops, left side (a side squat into a rear lunge, with an optional high knee and hop added in)

Weights 2 – Regular and prone back rows

Cardio 3 – L-hops, right side

Weights 3 – Squat with Arnold press, one arm at a time

Cardio 4 – Monkey jumps (squats, into jump squats, touching your shins at the bottom and stretching your arms above your head at the top)

Weights 4 – Triceps overhead extension with leg abduction

Cardio 5 – Jumping Jacks, double jacks & jump squats

Weights 5 – Anterior raise with knee lift

Cardio 6 – Basic step, hop step, football runs

Weights 6 – Chest press & chest flies

Push ups and abs – Push ups, planks, side planks, crunches, supermans

Cool down – Full body stretching, just over 5 minutes

Category: Circuit Training, Jari Love /
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