Exercise TV: (Ultimate Body Series) Slim Down Fast Review

Exercise TV: (Ultimate Body Series) Slim Down Fast
Cindy Whitmarsh, Jessica Smith, Michael Carson, 2008 


I did all 3 20 min w/o's this morning. I ABSOLUTELY loved all of them!!! All 3 are cardio/strength intervals. There is a small countdown timer at the top of the screen that counts down the 20 or so minutes for each w/o. My only complaint about the dumbbell w/o's is they only use 1 set of weigths. I really like the old Firm style of light, med, heavy but I figured it out. The dvds do allow you to "play all" but this is play all 3 20 minute segments or play all 5 2 minute segments. Only in the order they are presented-there is no mix & match option.

Cindys is first and if you are a fan of Cindy's w/o's you wont be dissapointed-this keeps in her norm of rotating between athletic cardio & (dumbbell) strength moves. In the cardio she shows a lower impact version in the middle of the segment-not at the beginning of the move. More cardio than strength IMO. Theres a lunge sequence, cardio ski moves, no ab work.

Jessica Smith does the next segment. This one is just about 1 min strength/ 1 min cardio. The cardio is super basic and just enough the get/keep your heartrate up between the strength moves. There are jumping jacks, Mt. climbers, ab work, squats w/ overhead press, etc.

I think Michael Carson's was the most challenging and it was very unique. He uses a med ball-he says 2 lbs or less but I used my 8# Firm med ball and was fine. I was sweating  and my heart rate really got up there in this section! This had (to me) a functional feel. It was pretty low impact but very intense-which is always a bonus for the joints. You swing the med ball around to work your core, squat while twisting, hooks w/ the ball, ab work with and w/out the ball. Very core-centric.

I did a few of the 2 minute "bonus" segments. Cindy's lower body w/o is unweighted bridge work, Jessica's tank top arms is bicep, shoulder, tricep dumbbell work. Jessica has a quick 2 min cardio segment. And there are 2 more I didnt get to do that Michael leads.

Overall I felt like this was a great w/o! Probably a bit more cardio than strength but still some good strength work. I would rate this maybe a little more intense than Cindy's Results w/o because they dont do the low impact and then lead into the high impact. Overall high intermediate probably.