Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Jillian Michaels: 6 Week Six-Pack (Review)

As I've said before, I'm not a fan of Jillian Michaels - for many reasons.  Her attitude during her workouts really annoys me - that bad ass, rip it until you die philosophy.  I will never turn to her for cardio because her workouts are too stilted and slow-moving, in my opinion.  But when I needed a new ab workout and her 6 Week Six-Pack (2010) was on sale, I snatched it up.


This video consists of two workouts - an intermediate and an advanced.  In both workouts, you're given a beginner modification and an extreme (kill yourself) modification. 

Jillian gives you a quick warm-up to get your blood pumping, which is much appreciated.  She then moves into both standing and floor ab work.  Interspersed with the ab excercises are short high interval bursts to keep your heartrate up.  I like this, though I loathe burpees and mountain-climbers (actually, who likes these torturous excercises!).  Once you go through all the exercises, you repeat them, this time at a faster pace.  At the end, you have a quick cool down.

You will need a weight for this video, though the beginner modification in the first workout can be done without one.  Jillian uses this to really make you ache. 

This video will get you results, I have no doubt.  I like the variety within it - the standing work is innovative and the floor work is a killer. 

I have a few gripes, though.  When the pace quickens, it's sometimes hard to keep your balance and do everything at once.  I'm pretty advanced and I can't do quick static lunges while twisting vigorously with a weight in hand.  Also, the thing that always bothers me about Jillian is that she doesn't seem to count out the repeats and her girls are never together or on the same beat.  So.....how many repeats should I do?  How do I know I'll do the same on the opposite side?  This is just a little too disorganized for my OCD self.  For a clip, go here.

But when you're in the right mind-set, Jillian is a nice change.  Let's face it - there are a lot of bad workout videos and bad instructors.  Jillian isn't bad, she just doesn't have a style that works for me.....all the time.

Bottom Line: For some seriously challenging core work, Jillian's ab video is definitely a good option.

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