Firm Bootcamp: Maximum Calorie Burn (Review)

I'm not a huge fan of The Firm workouts, as I've said before.  The choreography is often poorly explained and, in general, none of the workouts are very advanced.  When I read good things about The Firm Bootcamp: Maximum Calorie Burn (2007), though, I was tempted.  I bought a copy.

Allison Davis, the instructor, is not unknown to me; I've seen her in other Firm videos.  Her Southern accent is always quite distinctive.  

Allison guides you through an overly thorough warm-up that includes light cardio and push-ups.  Ugh.  I hate it when instructors put push-ups in warm-ups.  The workout begins with a short toning section with weights followed by a plyometric move to get your heart rate up.  You do this about three times, weights and cardio, before you get to the first of three cardio interval sections.  

The plyometric moves interspersed with weights are good and challenging - lunges to jumping lunges, burpees, etc.  The cardio in the three cardio sections (each about 5 minutes) is more dance like but still high impact.  Your heart rate gets up there and barely has time to recover with the weights before you're on to your next plyometric move.   For the less advanced, there is a girl in the back who always does the beginner/low-impact modification.

There's a nice cool down - again, overly long - followed by some stretching. 

Weights are a sure fire way to get my blood pumping and it definitely pumps here.  I liked that some of the moves were different than the ones on other videos - variety is good!  The cardio was less innovative but still effective.  Allison falls into the same Firm trap - assuming you know what a star step is before explaining it.  There are better instructors - and better series than the Firm. 

But I will continue to keep this video in my rotation since it is different than the others. 

Bottom Line: This is a good introduction to HIT - high intensity intervals.  You'll need weights and a towel to dry off with.  Ha!