Turbo Fire: Basic Set

This set includes several different types of workouts - steady state cardio, interval cardio, high intensity interval training (HIIT), sculpting/toning, and stretching, all led by Chalene Johnson. Here's a breakdown of the different workouts (the number you see, 30 or 45 for ex., means how long the workout is:

Fire 30 and Fire 45 - cardio workouts mixing fast paced kickboxing-inspired moves, sometimes dancey, with Fire Drills (short bursts of higher intensity moves, some kickbox-y, mostly plyo-style moves, a few lower impact). You will learn a combination of moves (fairly basic but can be on the longer side), repeat several times, and then move on to a new combination.

Fire 45 EZ and Fire 55 EZ - cardio workouts made up of mostly fast paced kickboxing-inspired moves, sometimes dancey, similar to Fire 30 and Fire 45. I thought that these would not have the Fire Drills that Fire 30 and 45 have, but it turns out that one of these does and one of these doesn't. Not sure why. I am also not sure why these are called EZ. They may be a bit less intense than Fire 30 and Fire 45, but they are nowhere near easy.

HIIT 15, 20, 25 - High intensity interval training cardio workouts. In these, you will do a short high intensity section, followed by a short rest, and repeat the section one or two times. Then you will move on to another section and do the same, etc. The high intensity moves are like the Fire Drills from the above workouts (lots of jumping). The booklet that came with the set says that HIIT 15 has 30 second drills, HIIT 20 has 45 second drills, and HIIT 25 has 1 minute drills.

Sculpt 30/Tone 30 - These are two 30 minute sculpting workouts done with bands. Mostly combination moves (upper and lower body worked at the same time).

Stretch 10/Stretch 40 - Stretch workouts. I really like stretch 10, but I haven't done Stretch 40 yet.

Music - Some of the music does have some goofy lyrics (boom I got your boyfriend), but these DVDs have my favorite music of any set that I have ever tried. The workouts are hard, but the music makes these so much fun and the moves go very well with the music. The music just makes these workouts. Without it, I might even find the workouts a bit repetitive.

Intensity - These are advanced, but not the Insanity kind of super advanced. The pace is very fast, and that's where the intensity comes from. Some do feel that the pace is too fast and have even called it manic. I personally like it, but will admit that you do have to work very hard to maintain good control and punching/kicking form going this fast.

Learning the routines/complexity - There is a "new to class" option on the Fire and Fire EZ workouts. This will insert a section before each combination that teaches the moves slowly, and then you move on to the actual workout. The combinations are fairly basic, but they move fast so can be hard to learn for some.

Impact - In the Fire and Fire EZ workouts, there is some, but not nearly as much as the HIIT's. There is a modifier in all the workouts though, and she is fantastic. She keeps it as high intensity as possible without impact.

Who might not like these - Those who don't like hip/hop/rap kinds of music, those who don't like very fast paced kickboxing, those who like kicking more than punching (there's more punching in these), and those who don't like dancey stuff at all or thrown in with their kickboxing.

I did not like Turbo Jam (the mugging by the cast, the music, and the repetitiveness), but I love these.