Weider Ruthless

Weider Ruthless was discovered by accident. Actually, Amazon’s practice of “recommending” things they think I might be interested in buying, based on my past purchases, things on my wishlist, things I browse, etc. is a pretty good method to get me to spend $$ as I have purchased several things because of their recommendations. This is one of them. The price was right ($20) and when I saw that I got TWENTY 20 minute high intensity interval workouts, well–I decided the price made it worth giving it a try. Just FYI–the program on the Weider website costs more than twice as much as what you can get it for on Amazon and if you read the reviews, you can get it even cheaper than that at places like Walmart. I also bought copies for my daughters on Ebay for $20 each. So shop around and you’ll find it at a decent price. **FYI–the price has dropped every where since I started writing this review over a month ago. When I purchased it, I got it for $20 on Amazon through a Marketplace seller; however, Amazon was selling it for nearly $30. Currently,  Amazon themselves is selling it for $19.76 and so is Walmart.com. Although obviously these prices could change as they have been changing since I purchased it.**

Weider Ruthless is 10 DVDs in a plastic case. It comes with a workout calendar, a fitness test and a nutrition guide. However, they are all digital. You have to pop disk 1 into your computer and there they all are. There isn’t a great deal of information about this program other than the basics. It contains twenty 20 minute intense interval workouts: “Revolutionizing interval training, Ruthless™ demands controlled, functional movements and tough mental focus—with a total-body payoff.” Trainer is Steve Uria; he has a military, martial arts and sports background. That’s about all the info you get. The “materials” included on disk 1 do not give you anymore info. The reason why a fitness test and nutrition guide are included are obvious but there is no rationale to the calendar. I have no clue why it is structured the way it is. I didn’t follow it. The first time I did the workouts, I did them 1-19, in that order (I didn’t do workout 20, but more on that below).

Before I go into reviewing each workout, I want to talk a little bit about the trainer. Steve is South American. He seems to have an accent; but I’m not certain because he is yelling most of the time. And he runs his workouts like a drill sergeant! I found him incredibly motivating. Maybe it is my own military background, but his yelling truly motivated me and made me push harder–not just push harder but really want to push harder and give it that extra effort to eke another rep if I possibly can. I can’t explain it. There are a lot of trainers clogging my workout shelves that I respect and enjoy doing their workouts, but none have motivated me quite like Steve. I will say he becomes a bit repetitive in the things he yells says as you do more workouts. He says “ruthless” a lot–but that is to be expected. He refers to our bodies as houses and uses that metaphor a lot. Plus he reminds you that it is only 20 minutes a day–a lot. But that is part of what motivates you. Just 20 minutes. I can do just 20 minutes! Sometimes I needed something like that to keep pushing through.

Now, on to the workouts. No equipment necessary for these workouts. These are short, very intense workouts with very little warm up and cool down. So if you need more, then you are on your own–but do what you need to prepare yourself. I did these while doing Body Beast. I started it while I was still in the Build Block of Body Beast (first of 3 phases), so the first week that I did Ruthless I did it as a doubles workout (second workout of the day after I got home from work). However, afterwards I continued it during the Bulk Block of Body Beast (2nd of 3 phases). In the Bulk Block the workouts are shorter, so I was able to use Ruthless as an add on afterwards, so my strength workout functioned as a warm up. I actually really loved using it this way. The Ruthless workouts are the perfect length and intensity to give you that intense cardio burn after a tough strength workout.

The set is an empty warehouse with mats for the exercisers. I really like the austerity of it. Steve is always shirtless and wearing simple black shorts; that’s a nice view as well. Even though each workout has a timer that starts at 20 minutes in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, that doesn’t mean the workouts are exactly 20 minutes. Let me explain. They are all approx. 20 minutes, but sometimes during the cool down/stretch the timer zeros out and you continue with your stretch for another 30-90 seconds. Not a big deal. Finally, Workout 20 is called Partner Training and you literally need a partner to complete this workout. I watched the first few exercises after the warm up and I didn’t see any way to modify it if you don’t have a partner, so I will not be reviewing that workout.

Workout 1: Hardcore Circuit 20:30 minutes; 2 minute warm up and 1 minute cool down. Since I did these workouts in order, this was the first one I did. It definitely set the tone for this collection. It was very intense! OMG–20 minutes of all out intervals with no rest except what you take on your own–and Steve’s crew took some rests of their own. For which they got yelled at for. This workout is set up in one minute intervals. There are 3 circuits, each circuit contains 3 exercises that are each done for one minute. The circuit is repeated before you move on to the next circuit. As I noted above, I find Steve very motivating. As this was my first workout with the series, I was pushing, pushing, pushing to keep up and take no breaks. It’s only 20 minutes, I told myself. My face was beet red and I was breathing hard by the end. I found it an incredibly intense 20 minutes. And Steve yelled and pushed you and his crew members hard throughout the entire workout. Circuit 1: deep skaters (touch the floor); mountain climber push ups (do push up, bring one knee in, push up, bring other knee in); V-ups; repeat circuit. Circuit 2: drop squat (deep squat jump forward and back); squat with side punch; standing side crunch (knees to elbow); repeat circuit (second time though add a squat to standing side crunch). Circuit 3: low squat jump (meaning you stay in squat–never standing straight); push up jacks; bicycles to the count of 4; repeat circuit.

Workout 2: Lunatic Intervals 20 minutes; 2 minute warm up and 30 second cool down. This was the second workout I did and I found it easier than the first (Hardcore Circuit). But do not misunderstand! It was not easy! I wasn’t as wasted afterwards as I was after Hardcore Circuit–I was hot and sweaty but not beet red and having a problem lowering my body temperature! Hardcore Circuit really kicked my butt. Lunatic Intervals gave me a great workout, but not as crazy intense as its predecessor. Steve also wasn’t such a drill sergeant in this one. I think it was due to the set up. In Lunatic Intervals you do each exercise for 45 seconds then you get a 15 second recovery. He pushed you, but he wasn’t yelling like he was in Hardcore Circuit. Here are the moves: Burpees, jump lunges, half burpees (you keep your legs straight and don’t come to standing–like squat thrusts except the legs are straight), high knee runs clapping under the knees, reverse lunge into a front kick, push up into side plank, mountain climber, one leg burpee, jump squat in square pattern, Heisman, 4 count Heisman, repeater knees, reverse crunch with legs straight toward the ceiling, jackknife crunch.

Workout 3: Killer 100s 20 minutes; 2 minute warm up & 2 minute cool down. The title of this workout scared me and when I did some research on it and found a description of it on a forum, I began to dread it even more. 5 exercises, 100 reps of each. One of those exercises is a burpee. 100 burpees. The horror. Another intense, tough workout. But again (and oddly) Hardcore Circuit is still the hardest of the 3 I’ve done so far. And again, that does not mean this is an easy workout. It’s not–but Hardcore Intervals is still holding onto first place as the most intense of the 3. But that is because the first 100 rep exercise was not terribly difficult–kind of extended the warm up. But then things got serious! Here are the exercises: squat punch (50 punches to the right and 50 to the left), burpee with jab-cross punches at the top, cross jacks with chest press arms, alternating squat kicks, push ups (25 wide arms, 25 normal, 25 narrow, then hold plank last 25 seconds).

Workout 4: Wicked Lower Body; 20 minutes 2 minute warm up & 2 minute cool down/stretch. I was looking forward to this workout because I always like an effective and short lower body add on. This one fit the bill excellently! All body weight, all challenging. It is mostly endurance level strength with some cardio bursts (that require endurance and strength as well). It is an excellent little workout. Tough, but in a different way than the first three. It consists of 8 exercises that are repeated. You do each for approx. one minute. If the exercise focuses on one side of the body (they all don’t) then when you run through the exercises the second time, you do it on the other side. 1. sumo squat with alternating side knee raise (touch knees to elbows held at side of head). 2. stationary pulsing lunge (get into a low lunge and lower upper body until chest touches thigh and fingers touch the floor, then raise up about 6 inches). 3. sumo squat into jump lunge. 4. warrior 3 into knee raise (balance move). 5. squat with calve raises at the low end of the squat. 6. side plank with leg lift. 7. fast shuffle with knee raise (you stay low in a squat while shuffling). 8. 180 jump lunges, pulsing for 4 counts in stationary lunge before you jump lunge 180 degrees.

Work 5: Fast Slow Burn Circuit; 20:30 minutes: 1:30 minute warm up & 2 minute cool down/stretch. This workout was tougher than I expected. It is made up of 6 exercises; each exercise is done fast for one minute then immediately, with no break, slow for one minute. Then you get a short active recovery of jogging in pace, or jog-stepping side-to-side. Every single time I was burning out near the end of the first fast minute–but once you see what the moves are, the slow minute does not give you a break as you might initially expect it to (or at least I expected it to!)–it burns your muscles out worse! 1. 180 degree jump squat; 2. repeater knees; 3. mountain climbers; 4. burpees; 5. push ups, touching opposite shoulder at top of move; 6. jump lunges.

Workout 6: Ruthless Ringside; 21:30, 30 second warm up and 1:30 minute stretch. Compared to the other workouts Ringside isn’t as intense. It is still great steady state cardio work. However, I do have to mention that when I did this workout, I did it as an add on immediately after completing Body Beast Arms–so I had just burned out my biceps and triceps. In addition, I used one pound weighted gloves when doing this. So it felt like a pretty good workout to me! The warm up is just a side to side boxer shuffle which you will be doing through the entire workout unless it is stated otherwise (or impossible to do with the particular move, like a knee lift). The first series is done on one side of the body then repeated on the other: side jab, high elbow block, low block, combine all three of these moves, stop shuffling and do side punches, shuffle again while doing high punch, front punch, then high punch/front punch combo. Repeat all of these on the other side. Alternating overhead punches, alternating front punches, alternating overhead/front punches. Stop shuffling and step-tap side to side while circling arms held straight out to the side. Reverse the circles. With arms still straight out to sides, rotate shoulders back and forward. Knee drives, knee drives with jab cross, repeat on other side of body. High knee runs. Squat up and down with fast alternating front punches, hold in low squat and keep punching. Shuffling again, do 45 degree alternating punches overhead, alternating front punches, alternating low punches toward the floor. Stop shuffling and just do alternating front punches as fast as you can until the 20 minute counter in the bottom right hand corner of the screen zeros out. Then stretch.

Workout 7: Tabata Sweat: 21:30, 2 minute warm up and 2 minute stretch. This is a tough little workout. It is done traditional tabata format: Tabatas are very intense HIITs—20 seconds of all-out intense cardio followed by 10 seconds of recovery; one tabata circuit consists of 8 of these 20/10 intervals. Tabata sweat contains 4 tabatas. The intensity of the tabatas varies–in fact, the workout starts with the most difficult and ends with the easiest. In fact, the last tabata doesn’t really fit the classification of an intense HIIT; nevertheless, with the 3 that come before it, this is a great little workout. 1. burpee twist: for this you do a burpee and do a 180 degree jump, then do another burpee and just keep going, back and forth. 2. Squat thrusts into low/deep squat with arms extended in front of you. 3. Jacks with clasped hands raising and lowering above head. 4. Side-to-side deep lunges with body pressed forward while in lunge–these are slower and controlled. The actual tabatas are finished when the clock zeros out, but you still have 2 minutes of cool down and stretch left.

Workout 8: Core and Flex: 20 minutes, 2 minute warm up, 12 minutes core work, 6 minute stretch. I really like this workout. It is exactly what the name implies. It works your core hard then stretches you out very nicely. And, of course, in the Ruthless tradition of all of the others I’ve done so far, the core portion is very challenging and intense. It starts out as standing abs, then takes you the floor. My abs were burning by the time we got to the stretch. But the stretch is very nice and relaxing. Each ab move is done for one minute. Though the stretch is only 6 minutes, Steve tries to stretch your whole body and does a decent job. It naturally focuses mostly on the lower body, but he hits the core and the upper body and even the neck. I won’t break down the stretches, but here are the core exercises in the order they appear. 1. Standing knee crunch. 2. Kick/raise leg to the front and clap hands underneath. 3. Mountain climbers to 1-2-3 hold count. 4. Standing twisting crunch–elbows to outside of knees. 5. Side plank rotation. 6. Russian twist. 7. In V-sit, bring knees in and out. 8. Bicycle. 9. Lie on back and raise hips/legs to sky. 10. Still on back, straight leg scissors. 11. Basic crunches.

Workout 9: Ruthless Gives Back: 20 minutes, 2 minute warm up and 1 minute cool down. I didn’t know what to expect from this workout by looking at the title, but as it turns out, it’s kind of cool. Now, in all of the workouts he has basically the same team members, but they rotate–mixing and matching them in each workout. Well, in this one, he has every one of them (so a crowd) and the “gives back” is that he allows each of them to choose their favorite exercise and we do it for 90 seconds. It is not the hardest workout in the collection, but it is challenging enough and gets the job done. It focuses primarily on lower body, but there is upper body and core work, too. And of course, cardio. 1. 5 push ups/5 mountain climbers. 2. Alternating front straight leg raise–touch your hand to your opposite toe. 3. Get in plank and do alternating shoulder touches. 4. Lay on your back and raise and lower hips (bridge). 5. one leg squat–each leg 45 seconds. 6. Hop side to side on one foot–each foot 45 seconds. 7. Side to side deep lunges with body pressed forward while in lunge. 8. Reverse lunge into front knee raise –each side 45 seconds. 9. Go from high plank (on hands) to low plank; alternate lead hand. 10. Get on elbows and knees and donkey kick–each leg 45 seconds.

Workout 10: Willpower: 21:30, 2 minute warm up and 1:30 cool down. This is the first workout in the series I didn’t like. It is very tough, btw, but ZERO fun. I also felt like the camera spent too much time on Steve and not enough time on the exercisers–which is important considering the way this workout is structured. It is done in a “ladder” format. What this means is each exercise is done in a ladder series going up–for instance, you do one rep, take a very brief pause, do it again 2 reps, very brief pause, do it again 3 times–and so on until you do each exercise 10 times. That explains the title–Willpower. It is a hardcore endurance workout that you need some willpower to get through. The pauses are so short that it just seems like you are doing 55 reps–bam, bam, bam. And as you will see when we get to the exercises, it can be exhausting and painful. Especially when frequently one rep is doing the exercise on both sides of the body. This is also a reason why the camera focusing so frequently on just Steve is annoying. He is not doing any of the exercises! So we need to see the exercisers to keep track of what rung of the ladder we are on! BTW–in this workout his crew members are failing constantly, and some have horrible form by the time we are on the 8th, 9th and 10 rungs. I am not criticizing them as I was suffering right along with them. It was very hard and it was not fun. I like intense and challenging workouts, but this one just sucked and I don’t know if I will ever return to it. Here are the exercises. 1. Power knee, 2. low squat jumps, 3. push up with a row (one rep is doing the row on each side of the body), 4. rock star jump (plyo jump where your heels come up to your butt), 5. low jack (Cathe calls these plyo jacks), 6. tricep dips with alternating kick (one rep is kicking with both feet).

Workout 11: Super Strength & Power: 22:30, 2 minute warm up and 2:30 minute cool down. Unlike most of the others I have done so far, this one really didn’t have much of a cardio component to it. It was a pretty straightforward endurance strength workout. It hits the legs pretty hard, too. My quads were burning by the end! Steve uses a system for this workout that he calls “positive/negative.” What this refers to is tempos. You are basically doing static moves with pulses–however the pulses are actually moving you deeper into the move rather than a static pulse up and down. A positive pulse is to the count of 1-2-3 deeper into the move and 1 back to baseline. A negative pulse is 1 to the deepest level and 1-2-3 back up to baseline. You do each exercise for one minute–30 seconds positive and 30 seconds negative. For any exercise you do on one side of you body, you will do the full minute on the both sides. 1. pistol squat (one leg squat). 2. diamond push ups. 3. static lunge. 4. runners lunge (hands on the ground). 5. standard crunch. 6. pistol squat. 7. diamond push ups. 8. static lunge. 9. standard crunch.

Workout 12: Horizontal Circuit: 22 minutes, 2 minute warm up and 2 minute cool down/stretch. This is another workout that is not as cardio heavy as the others. The title means that you are doing everything in a horizontal position–on the floor. So either in plank or supine. It is primarily core focused though there is one upper body exercise. Each exercise is done for approx. one minute and because it is circuit training and Steve is your trainer–you are moving fast. There is no rest, so the muscles start burning and you are breathing hard from effort. I saw lots of personal breaks going on among Steve’s crew. 1. In plank, walk feet in and out. 2. Hold boat pose. 3. Still in boat, put hands on ground beside hips and bring knees in and out. 4. In side plank, raise and lower hips. 5. Mountain climber twists. 6. Windshield wipers. 7. Alternate wide push up with tricep push up. 8. Scissor claps–laying supine, scissor legs while clapping hands under leg at top of move. Repeat all of the exercises.

Workout 13: Nitro Bun: 21:30 minutes, 2 minute warm up and 2:30 stretch. This workout is straight high intensity cardio–not HIIT level, but it still gets the heart rate up there. I really liked it. There is one active recovery half way through and the workout ends with the same active recovery. Each exercise is done for approx 1 minute. Sometimes it is less then a minute sometimes a little more than a minute, but I’m pretty sure he was shooting for a minute for each exercise because he actually says something about doing one of the exercises for a minute, then several times he counts down the last 20 seconds or so and you’ve been doing the move for at least 30 seconds. Through the first 5 moves he has you doing “jump rope” arms–most of the time the arms are kept low, but once during each move he makes you hold them out straight to the side, still rotating your wrists, for a short amount of time. One of the moves is called karaoke–and I cannot explain it. It is like a line dancing step but with high knees and twisting hips. He encourages you to do your best and not worry about getting the footing right. So I didn’t–I just tried to lift my knees, twist the hips and move fast to keep the heart rate up. Finally, high knees are done twice (well technically 4 times because the series of exercises is repeated). The first time with jump rope arms and the second time just with regular running arms. 1. Jump rope. 2. High knee run. 3. Criss Cross feet. 4. Hop on one foot. 5. Hop on the other foot. 6. Karaoke. 7. High knee runs. 8. Double side-to-side (two hops and one lateral jump). 9. Squats (active recovery). Repeat all of the exercises; the only difference is that 7 & 8 are swapped the second time through.

Workout 14: Hardcore Arms & Abs: 22:30 minutes; 2 minute warm up and 2:30 cool down/stretch. Another winner! I really liked this one more than I expected to. You get a little bit of everything in this workout. Cardio, boxing, strength, core work and, as always, Steve makes it tough. Each move is done for approx one minute; some a little less than a minute and at the very end, some of the core work is only done for 30 seconds. 1. Elbow strike (boxing move). 2. Side-to-side push ups. 3. a sort of tricep extension/push up: get in elbow plank with hands touching, palms further in front of you than for a regular push up and push up from elbows to palms. 4. Lateral ski jumps, pulling arms down from overhead to in front of you (squeezing biceps). 5. Alternating front punches. 6. Dragon: get into plank, step right hand forward and bring left knee to left elbow; step hand back as you bring leg back so you are in plank again (30 seconds each side). 7. Right upper cut, left upper cut, right hook, left hook. 8. Deep squat, pivot and cross punch; alternate sides. 9. Deep squat with forceful/thrust punch with both hands in front of you at top of move. 10. In elbow plank, rotate hips side-to-side, touching hip to floor. 11. Side toe touches; sit on one hip and one elbow with legs straight; touch feet to fingers, bringing legs up from the ground to fingertips; when legs go back down, stretch arm behind you (30 seconds each side). 12. In V-sit (with feet on floor or raised) bring knees in, then twist torso side-to-side. 13. Plank walk out: in plank step right arm out and back in, step left arm out and back in, step right foot out and back in, step left foot out and back in. 14. Lay supine, body straight, hands clasped overhead with arms straight and do crunches. 15. Still on back with hands under small of back, thrust feet overhead, then straight in front of you (approx 6 inches from floor); keep alternating–overhead, front, overhead, front. 16. In elbow plank raise opposite arm and opposite leg at same time and hold form approx 4 seconds; keep alternating. 17. Lay on back again and do flutter kicks. 18. Still on back with legs straight, rotate legs side to side. Cool down/stretch.

Workout 15: Drip: 21:30, 1 minute warm up and 1:30 cool down. Yet another winner! I know I say that a lot, but this is a gold mine of workouts. This one is another super tough cardio workout–it will definitely makes you drip with sweat! Drip consists of 1 circuit of 10 exercises that is repeated 3 times. Each exercise is done for 30 seconds. Then, at the end of this, you have 3 minutes of core work and 10 push ups before the stretch. And in Ruthless fashion, Steve keeps this workout moving non-stop, no rest periods. You go-go-go. Steve is also in full drill sergeant mode as well–shouting and motivating you to keep going. 1. high knees, 2. side-to-side ski jumps, 3. butt kick runs, 4. low squat jumps, 5. shuffle to side for 4 and touch back with foot and touch floor with hand, 6. alternating squat kicks, 7. alternating reverse lunge with front kick, 8. pull knee up to the side and when it goes back you do a hop (he calls this a Muay Thai move), 9. burpee push ups, 10. squat thrust alternated with plank jack. Repeat this circuit 2 more times. Three minutes left on the clock: 1. lay on back and cross one knee over the other: jackknife crunch (each side 30 seconds), 2. get in side plank with top arm straight to sky; curve forward, tucking top arm under body, bring arm back to top and raise top leg (each side 30 seconds), 3. hold plank for 30 seconds, 4. 10 push ups. Cool down/stretch.

Work 16: Rip 10s: 21 minutes, 2 minute warm up and 1:30 minute cool down. This system is full of awesome workouts and here is yet another one–super intense non-stop cardio. The idea behind the title of this workout is every exercise is done for 10 reps. There are 11 exercises, but they build. For example, you do exercise 1 + 2. Then start over but do exercise 1 + 2 + 3. Start over but add on 4–so exercise 1 + 2 + 3 + 4. And so on until you get to exercise 11. And that final run through of all 11 is done twice. Every time you go through, you do every exercise 10 reps. So for exercise 1 and 2, you will do a total of 120 reps. For exercise 3 you will do a total of 110 reps. For exercise 4 a total of 100 reps–and so on. You get the picture. This is a very intense and exhausting workout. As usual Steve gives you no breaks and pushes you to the max. Luckily, the intensity of the exercises varies. Some are very tough, others (thankfully) serve as active recovery. Here are the exercises in the order they appear: 1. Jumping jacks. 2. Speed skaters. 3. Drop down to low (elbow) plank and rotate hips side to side. 4. Jump up for “snowboaders” (180 jump squats). 5. Squat and when you stand, bring elbow to opposite knee. 6. Scissor jumps (jump lunges). 7.  Push ups. 8. Standing, bring knees to elbows on same side of body–working obliques. 9. Spidermans–in plank, bring knee to elbow same side of body, doing push up when bringing knee in. 10. Train burpees–at bottom of burpee you will lay on the ground, at top of burpee you will tuck jump. 11. low jump squats.

Workout 17: Speed, Power, Sweat: 22 minutes, 2 minute warm up and 3 minute cool down and stretch. Another awesome workout from Steve. This one is another intense cardio workout and, as usual, Steven keeps it interesting. Different moves, same intensity. There is a little bit of strength and core in this one, but overall, primarily cardio. You do each exercise for 1 minute. 1. Fast feet forward and backward. 2. Shuffle right to left, 4 steps each way. 3. High knee runs. 4. Single leg hops in figure 8 shape. 5 Single leg hops other leg. 6. Long jump forward and back. 7. Alternate straight leg kicks to the front (touching fingers to toes). 8. Push up, rotate into side plank, lift arm to sky then tuck it under body, lift it back up to sky then back into plank for another push up–keep repeating but alternating sides for side plank each time. Repeat all 8 exercises. The final exercise is holding boat pose for one minute. Cool down and stretch.

Workout 18: Performance Stretch & Yoga: 20 minutes. There is no warm up/cool down for obvious reasons–this workout is all about flexibility–no cardio or strength work involved. This workout is not led by Steve. He turns it over to a woman and then disappears. The woman’s name is Lorraina (I think). Overall, it was a very good and effective yoga workout in just 20 minutes and I did really like it. However, Lorraina’s voice was annoying and she frequently spoke so fast she ran her instructions together. Nevertheless, it was a great yoga/stretching workout. She does go pretty deep into some of the poses and that felt very nice. Since the workout is made up of basic yoga poses, I am not going to break this down move by move. You will do down dogs, warrior poses, pigeon, runners lunge, triangle and butterfly; in addition, when you are in these poses you will do variations on most of them.

Workout 19: Total Body Circuit: 21 minutes, 2:30 minute warm up and 2 minute cool down/stretch. This was the final “new” Weider Ruthless workout for me and I really liked it. It is a strength focused workout with no intense cardio but it is a great workout. He does an excellent job giving you a full body workout in only 20 minutes. It is quite varied and stays insteresting the whole way through. After the warm up, the first circuit is push ups and squats; you do 10 push ups and 1 squat, 9 push ups and 2 squats, 8 push ups and 3 squats and so on until the final set is 1 push up and 10 squats. Next you will do a  series of exercises for approx one minute each. 1. Get on floor and do tricep dips with on leg raised–30 seconds each leg. 2. Pulse squats, side-to-side. 3. Multi-plane lunges–front lunge, diagonal lunge and side squat; alternate sides (you will do this one for nearly 2 minutes). 4. Get into plank, alternate bringing knees in under body, then out to the sides of your body. For the next series, you will do all 4 exercises on one leg then repeat them on the other leg (completely burning your glutes out!): 1. Get on all 4s and do donkey kicks to the ceiling for nearly a minute. 2. Fire hydrants for approx 30 seconds. 3. Keep leg in hydrant position but bring knee to shoulder then press behind you–your leg will be raised to the side of your body the entire time (approx 30 seconds). 4. Rotate your leg–hydrant to shoulder to side then all the way back; just keep rotating for about 30 seconds. Repeat these 4 exercises on the other leg. The workout ends with crunches: lay on back with legs raised from floor but bent and do basic crunches; after about 15 seconds, change so that you are bringing knees in and then pushing them out while still crunching with upper body; do this for about 30 seconds. Finally, keep legs stationary (but raised off floor, knees bent) and bring elbows side-to-side for last 15 seconds. For this last variation, the crew members are all doing something different–so do whatever version you prefer! Cool down/stretch.

Workout 20: Partner Training: as mentioned above, this workout requires a partner to complete and I workout alone, so this one will not be reviewed.

Summary: Now that I have done all 19 of the workouts, I am going to summarize the program. Weider Ruthless is a no equipment cardio, core and strength workout system. You even get one yoga workout to increase your flexibility. The workouts are all pretty intense and if you are short on time, you can do nothing but one of these workouts every day. If you use the descriptions to map them out, you can cover your bases pretty well in a weeks time. The calendar that comes with the program may do this but I have not gone back and reviewed it since the beginning. I use these workouts as doubles workouts or add ons to other workouts and I love them for that function–they are perfect. In the entire system there are only two workouts I will not do. Partner Training  (Workout 20) because I workout alone and a partner is necessary for this workout and Willpower (Workout 10) because it sucked a$$. I hated it. Who knows–maybe one day when I want to torture myself I will try it again. So in total, I got 18 awesome and intense 20 minute workouts. Of the 19 workouts that do not require a partner, you get 9 workouts that are primarily intense cardio, 5 workouts that are primarily strength workouts (one of those is all core/stretching), 4 workouts that are a mix of cardio and strength, and one yoga/flexibility workout. Within those 19 workouts there is a lot of core work. Pretty well rounded and lots to chose from. Plus a motivating trainer! Money well spent.