Body Revolution: Cardio 1

A short, sweaty cardio routine used for the first month of the Body Revolution rotation. Jillian and a cast of fit backgrounders (a nice mix of men, women, different races/nationalities, ages 20s to maybe 40s) do a mixed-impact HiiT-type cardio workout to burn fat and accelerate metabolism. No equipment is needed for this workout. The cardio portion is 24 minutes with a 2-minute ending stretch. There is no warmup. Music is good upbeat dance/club-type instrumental and Jillian coordinates the moves to the beat.

This workout is made up of a circuit of eight cardio moves, each performed for one minute. You do the circuit three times through. The moves are:

1 - march with high knees (some participants do high and wide knees)

2 - fast feet/football runs/hot feet

3 - jabs while in a moderate squat

4 - jog in place

5 - scissors/running man

6 - speed bag arms

7 - straight leg front kickouts with arm circles

8 - suicides (run from one end of your workout area to the other, touching your hands down at each end)

I'd classify the workout as moderate level, though Jillian has the backgrounders demonstrate ways to make the workout harder: lifting legs/knees higher, doing a 360-degree turn with the fast feet, etc. None of the modifications are easier, so if you want to take out impact, you'll have to substitute your own moves. Jillian lets you know when you have 5-10 seconds left to go for each exercise, and often counts down the last reps. She does very little yelling in this one, and seems to enjoy bantering with her backgrounders. I was surprised at how fast the time passed with this workout.