Simply Circuit

This is a 63 minute workout led by Gin, who works out alone in a nice space w/ hardwood floors and some glass & pillars in the background. You will need dumbbells and a step for this workout. The workout is mostly cardio but includes some short toning segments. The dvd is broken down in to two 30ish minute workouts-one floor and one step.

All the moves in this dvd are straight forward, no brainers. No-one should have any real problems catching on to this one. The workout is built using add-on style, so you learn a move and then add on. She will introduce a move and have you watch first and then join in later- which is a bit odd, but not a huge deal.

Some of the cardio moves include: punches, bunny hops, step touches, shuffle, over the top, L-step, jogging in place, running onto the step. Some of the strength moves include: military press, tricep dips off the step, V sit variations, and some other upper body work. There really isnt much lower body weight work.

I would rate this workout an intermediate. It can easily be done back to back for an hour long cardio workoutor broken down into two 30 minute workouts. Gins cueing is very good and she is an upbeat and cheerful lead. The strength work really isnt enough to count for much so I would probably use this a cardio w/o and use the strength segments as little breaks by using lighter poundage.

I received a copy of this from a Advanced Workouts DVDs to review & giveaway.

This workout is called "Simply Circuit", but I didn't really feel it was a true circuit style workout. The workout was mainly cardio, with a few short weight segments interspersed. After the warm-up, the first section is hi/lo cardio. The cardio was basic steps, easy to follow, but got the heart rate up. Gin builds the hi/lo section by adding on various movements, and it goes on for a while before there is a pushup segment done on the step. I do not like having my heart rate up and then coming down to the floor and jumping back up for more cardio. This happened several times during the workout, for example, to do the triceps dips on the bench. The section cardio section is step aerobics. I liked this section more than the hi/lo; it was more fun. The movements are simple, but they move along and Gin adds on moves until you finally take it from the top and do the entire hi/lo plus the step aerobics. I enjoyed that, even though I am not usually a fan of TIFTT. I felt that by the end of the entire cardio (which took about an hour), I had worked hard, my heartrate was up, and I worked up a good sweat. The abdominal section is done seated on the step, and is unique and pretty tough, especially doing the V-sit with no hands. There is also a nice segment of planks using the step. All in all, I liked this workout a lot.

The only criticisms I have are first, the way Gin starts some of the segments by telling you to watch her, and then has you join in later; I thought it felt awkward and I wanted to start in with her right away. Second, Gin's hair is in her face and dripping, and she points it out repeatedly.

This is an intermediate to advanced workout. It is not complex, but it gives you a nice cardio workout with some variety of hi/lo and step. I am partial to Gin, so that might influence me in terms of liking the workout. I would not use this workout for strength improvement, although it would help improve cardio capacity. I rate it an A-.

I'm usually a big fan of Gin Miller's workouts, but I did not care for this one. The production qaulity is not good (including the beginning of the video where they tell you that you will need a mat and then they spell it on the screen "matt". At one point Gin mentions her hair flopping in her eyes which I had already noticed because it was distracting. The aerobics section was basically taking the same combination from the top over and over with no variety and I thought the toning segments seemed very disjointed. All in all, it is my least favorite of her workouts that I own.