Jillian Michaels: No More Trouble Zones

Comment: The first Jillian Michaels workout I did was her 30 Day Shred. I liked it so much, I went on to purchase "Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism" as well as this DVD. I love all three DVDs and rotate between them each day.

This is a sculpting workout as opposed to a straight cardio workout, like in Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism or the cardio circuits in 30 Day Shred. But, I wear a heart rate monitor, and I find I burn just as many calories doing this workout even though there is no cardio involved. That means I'm getting a GREAT workout.

What I LOVE about this DVD: it is a whole body sculpting DVD. You're working legs and arms simultaneously (similar to 30 Day Shred, in fact, a few of the moves are the same or similar), and there are two great ab circuits. The plank moves are killer. But when I'm done, I feel I've worked every muscle in my body. I also like that the time spent doing each exercise is shorter because you do each exercise twice, so I find I can get through them more easily without wanting to stop. For example, in 30 Day Shred I will start to lose my steam and motivation because I'll feel like we've been doing squats or lunges FOREVER, and Jillian will say, "halfway there, don't quit on me now!" and I'm like, aaagh how many are left?! But with this DVD, because the circuits are set up differently, you'll do a set of four to five exercises twice. So, you'll do each exercise for a little bit of time, twice instead of doing a whole bunch at once. Make sense? This helps me psychologically because just when I'm starting to lose my steam on a certain move, Jillian switches to another move.

I also like the menu option of picking one circuit. Sometimes I'll want to jog, and come in and do the ab circuit. Or the triceps circuit, etc. It's a great supplemental tool if someone doesn't want to do the entire workout, or if they want to focus on cardio and just do a little bit of sculpting.

Jillian is very motivational, she's a great instructor, and shows you how to do the exercises properly. I feel confident in my form when doing each exercise (some exercise videos go too fast and I'm not sure I've got the proper form down and worry about injury). I highly recommend this DVD.

Comment: If you've done the 30 day shred, you'll recognize some of the moves in this DVD, though not so many that it makes this DVD not worth buying. As with her other videos, I could see this being tough on someone with bad knees. I have bad wrists, and there's a lot of stuff in this video that requires you to be in plank pose--she doesn't really give a useful modification, but I found I was able to modify those moves myself to make them doable.

This is basically a longer version of the strength and ab portions of the 30 day shred. That being said, this workout is still a good way to get your heart pumping. If you're like me and the cardio circuits are your least favorite part of the 30 day shred, this is a great option. I still feel like I got a good cardio workout after doing this DVD, and it has the added bonus of targeting even more areas with strength training. You will definitely feel the burn the next day, though I wasn't as sore as I was after the first time I did the 30 day shred. I recommend adding some additional stretching on your own both before and after the video, that seems to help a lot with the next day soreness--with this DVD especially, the stretching in the warm up and cool down doesn't really target all the muscles that the DVD works. This is a great addition to my workout DVD collection--as much as I love to hate Jillian Michaels, her DVDs are some of the most effective I've tried.

I would recommend this DVD to anyone who is looking for a good, interesting workout that is effective and not too time-consuming (the workout runs about 40 minutes).

Comment: This is a great sculpting workout. It lasts approximately 50 minutes with warm up and cool down. I consider myself to be in pretty decent shape and I had to take a break about 25 minutes in because my muscles started shaking. So don't feel bad if if takes you a few times of doing the video to make it all the way through. She combines legs and arms a lot which really elevates the heart rate so you get some cardio effect from the workout as well. I especially love how she devotes time to the inner and outer thighs since those are definitely my trouble zones. I plan on combining this workout with her "Burn fat, boost metabolism" DVD so I can be ripped for the summer. Also, it seems like Jillian knows when i'm about to give up during the workout and she does a good job of motivating me and reminding me while I'm doing this. My only thing about the DVD is the backup girls. I did the 30 day shred and I loved the personality that those girls showed and the fact that they were sweating and struggling right along with me. The girls on this DVD just smile and don't really seem to struggle which is fine I guess, I'm just used to the other ones. All in all, great sculpting DVD and a great follow up for those of you who have already done 30 day shred. Not sure how beginners will do with this DVD, but if your up for a challenge then give it a try!

Comment: This is a great workout. Very difficult but you feel like you got a good workout.

Comment: I am out of shape, and started her 20 minute workouts a few weeks ago. This one kicked my butt, and I deviated a bit at times, and did slightly less strenuous movements for some of them. Even so, a great workout; works different muscles. I love her theory of never stop moving, no rest breaks until you are done