After doing Jessica Smith‘s Gentle Yoga workouts I decided to try some of her other offerings on YouTube. She has her own Channel–JessicaSmithTV with lots of free workouts on it. I’ve been following Jessica on YouTube for a while, but I’d never tried any of her workouts (though I saved a lot of them to playlists). I chose this as my first workout to try but after the Gentle Yoga review posted I got comments from other Jessica Smith fans along with recommendations for 4 great YouTube workouts. This is not one of them. But I already had this one scheduled into my rotation so I decided to do it anyway–then try the others even if I ended up not liking this one. But that was not the case. I loved this workout! For several reasons–one of those reasons is her super cute French Bully. OMG–what a sweetie! His presence made the workout better. I am not even exaggerating. He laid there like he was dead most of the time, but changed his death pose occasionally. Precious, precious puppy. Anyway….
The workout was great, too! It is an interval workout just as the title indicates. There are ten 30 second intervals. Each interval is alternated with standing core work. The beauty of this workout is that Jessica shows all levels–beginner, intermediate and advanced. So you can make this workout whatever level works best for you. It can be a cardio workout, an intense cardio workout, or a HIIT level cardio workout. You choose. I did the advanced level and I got an excellent workout. And just as important as the excellent workout is Jessica herself. I enjoyed her in the Gentle Yoga workout, but this is the first intense workout of hers I did and I really loved her as a trainer. In fact, I might be forming a hasty opinion here, but I feel like she might actually rank up there with Cathe and Kelly Coffey-Meyer for me. I obviously will have to do more of her workouts to determine that but I really, really want to now! I enjoyed this workout as much as I enjoy a Cathe or Kelly workout. I liked everything about this workout–Jessica, the workout, her dog–even the setting and the music were great. Not the best music, but better than the music on many of the other free YouTube workouts I’ve done. Overall, a winner that I will return to.
High Intensity Interval Cardio + Abs is 27:30 minutes long; intro 1 minute, warm up 4 minutes and stretch 4 minutes. Equipment needed: chair for modifications; if you don’t need modifications then no chair required. The chair is for your hands when you do any plank move–which is the majority of the cardio intervals. As mentioned above, Jessica shows various levels for all of the cardio intervals. So this can be a super intense workout if you want.
- Interval: Mountain Climber; Active Recovery: alternating cross crunch (standing, bring knee to opposite elbow); repeat
- Interval: Lizard leap (wide mountain climbers); Active Recovery: Opposite leg/arm reach (reach arm forward while reaching leg behind you); repeat
- Interval: Flying jacks; Active Recovery: cross-over knees (raise knee toward opposite side of body bringing arms to tap knee–15 each side); repeat
- Interval: Mountain climbers w/ knee to opposite elbow; Active Recovery: tap crunch (lift bent knee and tap toe w/ opposite arm then raise straight arm overhead and tap foot behind you–10 each side); repeat
- Interval: Skier hop while in plank; Active Recovery: Deadlift twist (arms cross and hands on opposite shoulder, hinge torso forward and when you stand twist to side–alternate sides); repeat
For more info on JessicaSmithTV and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
I just discovered Jessica Smith too and love her. Do you have 5 favorite of hers that you love? So many to choose from.
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I probably have more than 5! It’s hard to choose just 5. And YouTube or DVD? I love the majority of her metabolic strength workouts–Met Con 5, HIIT Mash Up, Leg Day, Kickboxing Circuit Workout, Strength Training for Women, Total Body Toning–I think that’s more than 5! Plus I love all of her free yoga workouts–especially the dynamic cardio/toning yoga workouts–Yoga Sculpt, Yoga Tone, Cardio Yoga Flow. But she has some awesome DVD workouts I love, too!
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thanks!! Glad you are feeling better.
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I’m echoing everyone above but I’m thrilled that you like Jessica! Before I discovered Cathe I only did Jessica’s workouts – Jessica doesn’t lift as heavy as Cathe but she’s still a doll! Add her pup Peanut and her Mom into the mix and you just can’t NOT love her… 🙂
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It is surprising how much Peanut added to the workout, but he did! Made me feel even better while working out. And tho I love intense workouts, I don’t always want to be beat up every time I workout. Jessica gave me an excellent workout that was intense without beating me into the ground. I felt really good afterward–not wrung out. I hope most of her workouts are like that.
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I think Cardio Abs is Jessica’s toughest DVD – no Peanut, though! Jessica’s workouts are mainly ballet-inspired or focused on “walking” (she always shows modifications) and while she isn’t as intense as Cathe she does do a lot of HIIT. I only stopped following her when I wanted to use heavier weights but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a great instructor! 🙂
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I’m so glad you liked Jessica and her sidekick Peanut. 🙂 She’s the reason I got back into fitness. I was a diehard Cathe-only exerciser, and then I think I just got burned out. Jessica slowly and gently built me back up, and now I workout with Jessica and Cathe.
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I can definitely see Jessica becoming a favorite for me. I have a lot of trainers I love (too many some might say…) but Cathe and Kelly rank at the top for me and they are the ones I gravitate to the most. I can see Jessica being the same way. I already have 5 more of her workouts worked into my rotation in the next month! And I am definitely buying her workout DVD that has been sitting on my Amazon wishlist forever!
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So glad you liked the workout! Yes, Jessica is wonderful, so encouraging. And Peanut, her dog, is adorable. Love them both!
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