Body Revolution: Phase 1 Workout 2

Jillian works out in a gym set with a group of toned background exercisers. Each dvd is in one folder as pictured above. You will need dumbbells and tubing for some of the exercises. Each workout is in Jillians favored circuit format with each exercise being performed for about 1 minute and then repeating the circuits. Each workout contains a built in warmup and cooldown.

Workout 2 Back Body: (36 min) Exercises include bird dog, single leg bridge, superman, side knee pulls, static lunge & torso twist, rows, bicep drags, lo impact ham curls, dead & curl, donkey kicks, crunches, cable row, good mornings, weighted step knee up, hammer curl, and semi-squat & upper cut.

Phase 1 are low intermediate workouts, 1 & 2 being less intense than the 3 & 4 . Jillian wastes little time and gets right to work. You can easily modify these up or down by adding weights or using no weights. Jillian offers modifications up & down for some exercises. The strength workouts also include some cardio exercises to keep the heart rate up. These are athletic style workouts that easy to follow. I received these dvds to review.

I am a BIG Jillian fan and have most of her workouts, so was naturally very excited to get her Body Revolution system! This is a progressive system and she does a great job of upping the intensity not just with each phase but with every two weeks (for instance, Phase 1 workouts 1 and 2 are easier than Phase 1 workouts 3 and 4). She leads with a big group of men and women in a clean, uncluttered studio setting and they seem to have a lot of comraderie between them. She uses 3, 5, and 8# dumbbells (I think you can go heavier at times) and the band that comes with the set. The band is made out of a bungee-cord (rather than rubber tubing) but is nothing special, you can use your own band.

Each workout is about 35 minutes long with a 3-4 minute warm up and maybe 2 minute stretch (I tend to spend more time on the stretch) and the circuits generally have 3-4 strength moves, a cardio move, repeat strength moves, then move on to next circuit. The strength moves have a good cardio impact, but I would say the workouts are more strength-oriented (hence the additional cardio workouts). The odd-numbered workouts focus on the "front side" - abs, quads, shoulders, chest, triceps, and the even-numbered workouts focus on the "back side" - back, hamstrings, glutes, biceps. So they all sort of feel like total body workouts, but would still be considered split routines, and you would need to pair both even/odd days to hit all the body parts. For that reason, they are somewhat difficult to use as standalone workouts, unless you did two at once. But they are well balanced within the system.

The P1W2 workout has bird/dog (is that right? Table pose with opposite arms and legs out), bridge presses (optional one leg in air, optional resistance with band), supermans, alternate repeater knees (cardio), (repeat strength), unweighted lunge with torso twist (optional weights), chair pose with back row (working upper back), back squeeze/bicep curl combination, hamstring curls (cardio), (repeat strength), deadlift and bicep curl, leg lift in table pose (to work the glutes), ab crunches, repeater knees (cardio), (repeat strength), sitting back row with band (band is looped around feet, optional lean back to engage abs), good mornings (optional weight), hammer curls, alternating knee ups while holding weights (cardio), (repeat strength). Cool down.

I would rate the Phase 1 workouts (especially W1 and W2) as intermediate routines. I skipped over them after doing them once as they were too easy for me, but she gives a lot of form pointers and instruction and they would be a great foundation for someone following the system as designed. I would compare them to Ripped in 30 or 30 Day Shred, level 1, in terms of intensity.

I think Jillian does a great job at mixing a lot of tried and true exercises (pushups, planks, traditional weight work) but also tweaking them to make them more difficult as the system progresses, so they do not feel repetitive. She also mixes in some yoga-inspired exercises (like she has in Yoga Meltdown) with the traditional strength and a lot of balance challenges, especially towards the end of the system.