Friday, June 11, 2010

Jillian Michaels: The Biggest Winner- Cardio Kickboxing Review


The Biggest Winner- Cardio Kickboxing
Jillian Michaels, 2005

This is a 20+ minute cardio kickboxing workout led by Jillian w/ 6 background exercisers (3 male, 3 female) in a nice gym looking room. The set looks very similar to George Foremans set in his walking w/o's. You wont need any props for this workout.

After a nice active warmup you move into a basic kickboxing workout-nothing fancy, pretty straightforward and athletic but not boring or too repetitive IMO. She does most moves in sets of 10, then moves onto the next move. You will see speedbag, shuffle, side kicks, roundhouse, front & back kicks, jabs, upper cuts, cross, jumping jacks, fast feet, and other "athletic" kick/boxing type cardio moves.

Jillian is a bit giggly in this one, like shes trying to tone down her "tough guy" persona-but it doesnt really work on her. Its not that bad, but it just isnt "her" IMO. She does still try to act tough w/ the background exercisers on occasion.

I bought this dvd after having done her newer workouts (30 DS, BFBM, NMTZ) and was a bit disappointed-while its a good workout-the intensity was nowhere near the same as her newer workouts. Having said that-its a good little basic kickboxing workout. I would rate this workout a lower intermediate workout. Its perfect to tack onto a tough cardio workout or to use on a light day. I wore weighted gloves and still wasnt real challenged by it.

6 comments:

  1. Walk It Out seems to be the biggest Wii hit so far. If I didn't have wrist and elbow problems, I think I would have caved for a Wii after seeing how successful WIO has been.

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  2. Did you see Jillian's app for iPhone/iPod touch yet? I downloaded it but haven't had the chance to play with it yet! Love her on BL and Losing it!

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  3. Barb, Yes WIO seems to be very popular on VF and the price is right, I will get it eventually. Just have to use it once I get it :)

    BG, I havent seen it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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  4. RE: Jillian Michael's iPhone app -I gotta say it's pretty sweet!

    First - It's FREE! So that right there is awesome :) It has a lot of great features too:

    1 - Track your goals. Set goals for your weight, calories in, and calories out. You can then track these numbers. The only drawback is you can only enter calories the day of. At least, I couldn't figure out how to go back a day and add additional calories. The app also provides graphs for easy to see progress. Jillian "talks" to you too (there's a speech bubble on the screen, no audio). For example when I entered today's weight (down 1.8) she said, "I can see you're committed!"

    2 - Running. The app uses your phone's GPS to calculate the distance and time of your run. Afterwards, you can save your route to refer to later.

    3 - Motion. You can wear your iPhone in an armband, shirt pocke or pants pocket and it will calculate how many calories you burn. I guess you could do it all day, but I'm not sure if it continues to count if you exit the app - this feature seems most appropriate for individual activities, and not really for an all day count.

    **For an all day count of steps and calories burned check out the FitBit (http://www.fitbit.com/) - it's tiny and awesome!**

    4 - Exercise. This is the BEST part - FREE VIDEO WORKOUTS! Okay - don't get too excited. Each video is only about 2 minutes. Jillian demos the moves and then says, "Okay remember to do 3 sets of 10 reps. The next move is..." But still... pretty sweet! After you view the video it askes if you performed the exercise and automatically adds it to your calorie burn for the day! You can also create custom routines by choosing activities from the individual list! You can also use the calendar function to schedule your workouts.

    All in all you get a LOT of stuff totally for FREE! If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch you should totally check it out!

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  5. BG thank you for the info!!!! I got a new I phone (old one broke) last night so this is an especially timely comment!!! I am def downloading this. You sold me at free, but the rest sounds fantastic. Thanks!

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