Jillian Michaels, Part 2

Back in March, I wrote a post talking about three of the Jillian Michaels workout dvds that I had been using up to that point. Since then, however, I've acquired three more and wanted to make my first post a little more comprehensive.

Yoga Meltdown consists of two workouts, each 30 minutes long. Level 1 is a little easier and involves yoga moves that are traditionally done lying on a mat... camel, that impossible pushup, downward dog. True yoga gurus aren't going to like this dvd because, as Jillian puts it, it is a "hybrid yoga." Instead of only holding static poses, Jillian incorporates cardio with the moves. I enjoy it. When I need a quieter, more relaxed workout, I use this dvd. It's still a workout. The static poses really work your legs, shoulders and abs. I do think that it is more effective if you already know yoga and understand the breathing techniques.

Shred -It with Weights is Jillian's kettlebell workout. The tutorial is very important here. Kettlebells are to weight lifting what sprint workouts are to running. Instead of slowly lifting weights, you use your own body weight, the speed of the moves, and the momentum of that speed to lift heavier weights. The effect is that you introduce more cardio to the action. This workout also consists of two workouts, each thirty minutes, and each of different difficulty levels. The second level introduces more jump-training (plyometric) moves to the workout, upping the intensity. The caveat is that an adjustable kettlebell such as JM uses is expensive. The good news is that you can use a 3 to 8 lb. weight and get pretty much the same effect. Because you use momentum to lift the weight, you can start with a weight heavier than what you would normally curl. I typically use 5 lbs. for all the workouts, but for this one, I use 8 lbs.

6 Week Six-Pack follows the same format as the above two. I like this one a lot. My crazily athletic sister also does, too, and if you know how crazily intense she is about running and soccer, you'll know this is a compliment to this workout. This dvd aims at shredding weight and toning your mid-section. There is a lot cardio, which consists of plyometrics and plank-style moves. These are interspersed with ab-specific moves, like bicycles, crunches, leg lifts.