Hard Body is one of Jillian Michael‘s newer workouts (she just released another one, One Week Shred, which I had on pre-order and just received this weekend. I’ll be reviewing it soon!). Hard Body consists of two cardio + strength workouts that are 45 and 50 minutes. Neither of them are beginner workouts. I would say Level 1, if you use heavy enough dumbbells, is high intermediate… possibly low advanced? I was pretty worn out just after doing Level 1. But she does have beginner modifications that might make it doable for a beginner. It is push up heavy tho–just FYI. Level 2 is pretty advanced–again, heavier dumbbells make it a more challenging workout.
She also structures these workouts differently than any of her other workouts and I love it. In the past, she did a circuit of 4-6 exercises, then repeated the circuit before moving on to the next new circuit. A workout usually consisted of 4-5 of these circuits. In Hard Body she tells you when you start a circuit, but the circuits are not neatly packaged like they are in all her other workouts. To me it just seems like a lot of exercises that are then repeated. But that is ok–I am not complaining. It actually makes the workout more interesting, in my opinion. The only problem with that is that there are 6 “circuits,” which means there are a lot of exercises and by the time you repeat them all, I couldn’t always remember what weights I needed to use. Jillian and crew are using her signature dumbbells that range from 3-8 pounds. I used dumbbells ranging from 3-25 pounds. Also, the first time through all of the exercises I often decided to increase my weight the next time through–but it had been so long since I’d done the exercises that it took me a moment to recall what weight I had planned to use the second time through. But that’s ok. This was my first time doing the workouts and this review is a reminder for me. I actually use the list of exercises at the bottom for my own purposes. I create “workout cards” and I write what weight I used and use an up or down arrow to indicate if I need to increase my weight the next time I do the workout. But I have to do and review a workout once before I have all that information!
Anyway, back to the review! Jillian’s crew consists of 4 women and one of them is doing beginner modifications. There is a lot of plyometrics and body weight training in these workouts. They are tough and they are fun. I really love most of Jillian’s workouts and it’s hard for me to put them in order of favorite since they are all different–but my favorite is still Extreme Shed & Shred, but I would have to say Hard Body is a close second. There is one drawback to this workout and it is minor, but still a bit irritating. For the music, she has a DJ. Now, this in itself is fine. He plays good music. But he gets way too much camera time, which makes no sense. This is a workout; the camera should be on Jillian and crew. We need to see the exercises for form and also to stay on track with the rep tempo. So when I would look up to see what someone was doing and all I see is the DJ nodding his head to the beat… well, that just irritated me. Other than that, these workouts are gold. Love them.
Level 1 is 45 minutes long; 3 minute warm up, 40 minute training time and 2 minute stretch.
Speed squats
Push-ups
Jump rope
Superman/sit-up
Row then lunge w/bicep curl
Suicide runs
Scissor crunches
Chest press/chest fly/tricep head banger combo in bridge position
In plie squat, calf raise with shoulder press
Leg raise in downward dog
Weighted burpees
Bicep curls in crescent pose, alternating with tricep kickbacks in warrior 3
Side lunges with rows alternated with chair poses with front raises
Skiers (actually moguls but she calls them skiers)
3 traveling push-ups with lateral jumps
Push-up w/ renegade rows into mountain climbers
Crab kicks
Lunges w/ punches (weights in hand)
Surrenders and camel
Squat spinners
Side plank crunches
Lat pulls with one legged bridge
Repeat all exercises
I’ve been on the fence about this workout for some time, well not really on the fence, I have a ‘no’ on my Jillian Michaels workout infographic with a note that says “overly creative compound moves, 1 long circuit then repeat, camera pans to dj too much.” (If anything, the camera panning to the dj too much would drive me crazy because I want to see the exercisers.)
However, this is the deal-of-the-day at TFDVD at it’s just $1.99. The price is incredibly enticing, even though this might not be a workout love connection….. I love (love!) NMTZ but, as I’ve said before, I know I’m going to need to move on from that workout soon so my body/muscles can do something new and have a new challenge……
I’ll think about it for a bit, but not for too long, but as of right now, there are only a dozen left and once it’s gone, it’s gone.
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edited to add: purchased 🙂 the $1.99 price was too good to pass up, hopefully the camera panning to the dj won’t be too annoying
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Awesome! I think you’ll like it. There aren’t a lot of perfect workouts but if you like the workout and do it enough the camera thing shouldn’t be a problem for long because you will know all the moves.
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I think you should get it and try it. For $1.99 why not? That’s cheap. And it is a great workout. If you don’t have Extreme Shed & Shred you need it! That is my favorite Jillian workout.
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Exactly what I was thinking, for $1.99 why not? Plus Hard Body is out-of-print so once it’s gone, it’s gone forever, or at least my ability to buy a brand-spanking new copy from a reputable shop and not a 3rd party seller elsewhere online. Unless there are any cache issues on TFDVD, so far, it seems that I am the only one who has bought HB this weekend….
I’ve seen clips for ES&S and I have mixed feelings about it, some of the moves I really like, others that are perhaps more martial arts inspired, not so much, I think I might just feel awkward and self-conscious doing them. Thankfully the TFDVD site has over 300 copies, so at least I don’t have to worry about not being able to get one. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will be a deal-of-day sometime soon.
For me, NMTZ comes pretty close to a perfect workout — I do wish there was a couple of more triceps exercises (that’s my trouble zone) but when it’s time to do the surrenders exercise which is in the triceps & thighs circuit, I use that time to practice doing tricep push-ups — sometimes on my toes, sometimes on my knees, sometimes I push back into a child’s pose to make the move slightly less intense, sometimes not.
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In my opinion that is the beauty of ES&S–it is a fusion of so many fitness modalities, and in this workout Jillian really executes it well. Just thinking about it always makes me want to do it. But there are a lot of plank based moves in that workout so I cannot for a while. )o:
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Well if ES&S is ever as deeply discounted as HB just was, I would definitely scoop it up. I *think* I might have checked it out from the library awhile ago (just for preview purposes) and vaguely recall that I thought workout 2 looked more fun compared to workout 1. I do love planks moves — have you ever done any workouts by Sandra Koulourides? She has a series (and other stuff too) called Horizontal Conditioning. I don’t have any of her workouts because she uses equipment that I don’t have, a step comes to mind, but I’m sure there are other things too.
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I have heard of horizontal conditioning. When I am not rehabbing from something I have no problem with planks or push ups but I do not want to spend an entire workout in plank so I was never interested. If you try it, let me know what you think.
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