Looking for short, but intense workout DVDs
Challenge sent in by Debbie
I was wondering if you guys could put together a list of good exercise DVDs? I usually hate that stuff but with a young one around and shorter days I am doing this more often. I’ve done the Shred now for a year and it still kicks my ass. But, I was hoping to add another one or two to the mix that are still short but intense. I’ve heard good things about the Px90 but also heard it is an hour long and I don’t normally have that kind of time (only so long the kid will watch a dvd on his own so I can workout in the other room). I wanted to put some dvd suggestions on my Christmas list and was wondering if you could do a post for the holidays, pretty please?
I can only speak for myself, but here’s a list of DVDs I’ve found to be useful:
P90X Interval X Plus. Yes, it’s an hour long. Your choices are: suck it up and get an hour’s worth of exercise after the kiddo goes to bed or early in the morning or during naptime or during some other time of day when you can scrape together an hour, even though yes, you’d MUCH rather do something else, ANYTHING else, and there’s a pile of laundry and the dishes and etc, etc, etc . . . or do, say, half the video at a time.
The Interval X DVD goes through a series of exercises, then repeats them all in reverse. You could totally stop after the first set, maybe skip ahead to the cooldown at the end.
Turbo Jam 5 Rockin’ Workouts. Turbo Jam feels pretty old school to me now, with the music and all, but I used to LOVE it. The instructor does a good job of being motivating and chipper without being too annoying, and you will definitely sweat. This particular DVD set has a 20 minute workout, in addition to the other selections.
Crunch: Boot Camp Training. This is another video that feels kind of dated and a little corny, but it’s 35 solid minutes of butt-kicking moves.
Jillian Michaels: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism. If you like 30 Shred you’ll probably like this DVD, which is a 40-minute circuit workout. No weights needed. Her No More Trouble Zones DVD is good too, and even though it’s an hour long it’s broken into body-specific segments — you could do lower body one day, upper the next, etc.
Okay, those are my top picks. Readers, do you have any DVD suggestions for someone who like short, but intense workouts?
December 10th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Jari Love’s “Get Extremely Ripped 1000.” The name is ridiculous, but the workout is terrific. It’s intervals, same as 30 DS. The entire DVD is 75 minutes, but there are options to do one of two 30-minute workouts, an all cardio option, and an all weights option. The cardio is intense and plyometric and the weight work is primarily compound exercises, but the backup folks behind Jari do demonstrate different levels of difficulty for all the moves.
Jari’s entire DVD line is fantastic, but this is the first one with several options for shorter workouts.
http://www.amazon.com/Jari-Love-Extremely-Ripped-1000/dp/B002G4ZZZ8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
December 10th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I love anything by Cathe Friedrich — she is awesome. Both her cardio and her weight training are challenging and interesting, I love her. I found her on FitTv, you may be able to catch some of her workouts there to see if you like her. Her web site is cathe.com and she also has a site where you can download workouts to your PC at cathedownloads.com.
Also if you have OnDemand on cable, most workouts there are 30 minutes or under and you can try several different workouts to find one you like.
December 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I’ll second the recommendation for Jillian Michael’s Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism and No More Trouble Zones DVDs. They are great workouts and super-intense. If I don’t have enough time for the full workout I just go through each circuit once instead of twice and I’ll use a slightly heavier weight. I LOVE these DVDs.
December 11th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Thanks for the column and the responses! I should have added I try and run around 20 miles a week so that is part of the time constraint. It never occurred to me to do half of the dvd or not repeat. I will have to check out some of these. Thank you so much!!
December 11th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I am so glad Debbie asked this question – I was actually thinking of sending in almost the exact same request (minus the “working around the kids schedule” part, since I don’t have any of them yet…)
Anyway, my point is thank you for answering my question too, even though you didn’t know I had it.
December 11th, 2009 at 10:18 am
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December 11th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Calanetics by Calan Pinkney I think. Its old but amazing. The slightest of movements and stretches are very hardcore. I have a hard time doing it for ten days straight!
December 12th, 2009 at 6:40 am
My husband and I just ordered the new Insanity workout from Beachbody. Looks like a super intense cardio workout. The workouts for month 1 (it is a 60 day program) are about 30 minutes each. The other workouts (month 2) are about 45 min. to an hour. We like the beachbody workouts because we have used them before and we know they are effective
December 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I really like the workout that comes with THE FIRM brand fitness ball. It is a 30 minute workout that focuses on your core on the ball but does get your heart rate up, too. I always feel sore the next day, which is a good sign!
December 12th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
The Jillian workouts do it for me. I recently returned to 30DS after focusing on her hour-long workouts, and two of those 20-minute workouts, back to back, left me more exhausted than the hour long ones, I think because she has longer reps and keeps the intensity of each exercise up. By the time you’ve finished level 1 & 2, you’ve pretty much done 55 minutes anyway. In the hour long ones, there are a few exercises that serve as a breather between the more strenuous ones. Not so in the Shred video.
December 20th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Want to add this to the pot:
I got the SWAT Workout: Ultimate Body Definition (2008) with Tom Stroup. (For what it’s worth, Stroup is described as a “real S.W.A.T. Commander” with “over 23 years of training experience. Tom is a 5 Time World Champion and Gold Medal Recipient for “Toughest Cop Alive”.”)
This video isn’t bad, actually. He’s very good about explaining and modeling proper form and I learned a few things from this video. (His warm up at 11 minutes is very good and a bit of a workout on its own.) It moves at a moderate pace and beginners would probably find this video difficult.
The main 20 minute workout alternates endurance weight training (I used 5 lb weights), pushups, bicycle crunches, and lunges. It’s done circuit style.
Beyond the 20 minutes is a ten minute intense resistance-cardio workout for those constrained by time. I did the whole video: warm up, the 20 minute main workout, the ten minute intense cardio, and the cool down for a relatively effective 45 minutes.
Some of the women in the workout have terrible posture, and questionable form (one lady is hunched over while doing weight work).
December 30th, 2009 at 8:31 am
I just wanted to post back that I ended up getting Denise Austin Boot Camp. I thought it would be good because it is two 20-minute workouts (strength and cardio) and 10 minutes of stretching so I would have an option of doing part of it or all of it.
This dvd kind of sucks. I don’t know if I am just spoiled by starting with Jillian but it never hit anywhere near the intensity of the 30DS. Denise Austin also did a crappy job of calling out what she was doing — to the point some of the people in the video with her are doing the wrong thing — and she has CRAZY eyes through it all. However, if I don’t look at her it does do a fairly decent job of getting my heartrate up, which is what I am looking for on days I don’t get out for a run.
I’m planning to try and get some of the other DVDs suggested on here. Thanks again!!
December 3rd, 2011 at 7:02 pm
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