3 January 2010
Burn It [Review]: Jackie Warner’s Ab Circuit and Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders’ Boot Camp
Today was, in no uncertain terms, effing freezing! The thought of walking to my cold car, driving 15 minutes (in the cold), and then walking from the parking lot to the gym was enough to give me hypothermia of the mind. Okay, hush, I know I’m a baby about the cold. I went to college in Minnesota, and I got all the cold I could handle in those four years. So kill me if I avoid it like the plague now.
Luckily, my lovely friend Kaitlyn agreed to do a workout video with me, so I didn’t have to weather the freezing temps. We get a variety of Exercise TV workout vids through our standard cable. They change the videos once in awhile, too, so there’s plenty of variety. For many of the workouts, all you need are a couple of light weights. For some, you don’t need any props at all. When I’m resorting to an at-home workout, I usually do one of my tried-and-true Jillian Michaels’ workouts (because they kick my booty!), but I wanted some variety.
First, we tried a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders’ boot camp workout with this guy:
Verdict? Boooooo. Two thumbs down. I never even broke a sweat during the 30-minute workout, partially because the trainer had us rest after EVERY. SINGLE. MOVE. Totally unnecessary! I don’t need a 20 second break after doing 15 bicep curls with 5 lb. weights. I’ll admit it was comprehensive in terms of full-body strength training, but nothing was even remotely strenuous. There was also no cardio at all. The buff cheerleaders that do the workout along with you MUST do something else the majority of the time, because there’s absolutely no way they look like that by doing this workout. Uh-uh. Also, Mr. Trainer Man sounded a whole lot like South Park’s Mr. Garrison (“Mmmmmk?”). That got annoying. Anyway, I firmly don’t recommend this.
After our non-exertion, Kaitlyn and I wanted to try something else, so we chose a Jackie Warner ab circuit workout.
Uh, yes. Girl does have abs.
This one was much better! In this 20-minute core workout, I actually broke a sweat (and we weren’t even doing much cardio!). I consider myself to have a pretty darn strong core, and I had to modify some of the moves to make them easier by the end of the video. Jackie is tough, but fair. She says you’re going to do some moves for a minute, but I don’t think they were full minutes. Though I might get annoyed with that kind of short-changing during an easier workout, I was happy to stop early during this one. I’d do this ab circuit as an addition to another cardio or strength workout any day.
