Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Amanda Takes On Jackie

In our quest to find the best DVD workouts... guest blogger Amanda has taken on everyone's favorite drama queen/fitness instructor Jackie Warner. 

Here Amanda takes on Warner's workout DVD- Jackie Warner – Power Circuit Training

If you enjoy trash TV like me, you’ve probably watched Jackie Warner on “Workout” and “Thintervention”. J Thank you Bravo, for wasting hours of my life with these shows. {Kate note-Yes, I love this show and I would have Bravo's babies to keep things like it on the air.}

However, the redeeming value is that Jackie Warner actually inspires you to work out! When I see her body, I’m embarrassed to be sitting on the couch eating ice cream.

So if you need to get off the couch, I would recommend this DVD. The workout is all strength – circuit training style. There are three 15 minute body-part specific workouts (abs, upper body, and lower body) or you can combine them all for a 40 minute total body workout.

The abs circuit includes three exercises each for the upper abs, lower abs, and obliques. And then comes the “Power Burn”, where we repeat all three exercises again quickly. Jackie says this really burns out our muscles – “This is where the change happens”.

The lower body circuit focuses on quads, hamstrings and glutes. I wasn’t a big fan of the glutes circuit – lots of squats. But the hamstring circuit was great. I’ve never consciously worked this muscle group before, and I feel like I’m developing all new muscles!

The upper body circuit works chest, back and biceps/triceps/shoulders. Again, I don’t think I’ve ever consciously worked my back or chest, but Jackie says these are big fat-burning muscles, so that makes me excited!

I like to do the entire 40 minute workout because it makes me feel like I really worked hard. However the first time I tried this DVD, I found it very difficult. So you may want to start out with shorter intervals and gradually work up to the longer workout.

I’ve also just started training for my first 5k, and this will be a great video to pop in on my cross-training days. {Kate Note- I just re-started C25K to boost my time.  So we'll have to run together sometime.}

Coming soon: Cardio DVD review – Jillian Michael’s “Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism”

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