Biggest Loser: Cardio Max

[Guest guest]

Wow! That's because I logged into get my mail (I download it all) and the board has been super busy all of a sudden, looks like lots of interesting workouts to read about too! The wow is also because this workout was so much tougher than I'd expected!! I watched it once so I knew it definitely wasn't easy but wow, it was tough! I do not know how those big people get through all of it! The workout, for those not familiar, is from the trainers of the TV show The Biggest Loser and the exercisers are competitors from the show (I didn't watch a lot of it but apparently was watching when those people were on because I recognized most of them). It is broken into 3 levels plus a warmup and cooldown. Bob does the warmup (5 minutes) and first workout (20 minutes), Jillian does the level 2 workout (10 minutes) and the 3rd trainer, whose name I don't remember, does level 3 (10 minutes). Bob comes back to do the cooldown/stretch (5 minutes). I did all 50 minutes. I thought level 1 was actually quite challenging and definitely not what I expected from level 1. It was fun but I worked really hard. Jillian's level 2 workout was, I think, the toughest. 10 minutes of nearly non-stop plyometrics. Oh wow!! I was already tired from Bob (and I realized, as I started it that although I wasn't very sore, my muscles felt fatigued from yesterday's Jari Love fest) and my heart rate was way up and then this... I had to pause the workout at one point, because I was very hot and could hardly breathe. I took a break to go upstairs and turn on my air conditioner then was going to start again and hit the wrong button on the remote and ended up skipping to the last workout, then tried to back it up and, well, let's just say, my break ended up being a whole lot longer than I'd planned but I finally figured out how to fast forward instead of just skip with this remote!

Anyway, when I finally got workout 2 done I needed another break so I took about a minute and a half (actually pressed pause this time). Level 3 was all kickboxing drills and was kind of boring. She keeps you doing the same thing for too long. It also seemed easier than the 1 & 2!! It still was not necessarily easy though, especially not when you're already tired, the last 5 minutes of it were pretty intense. The cooldown/stretch was really just a stretch, you have to cooldown on your own. Jillian actually encourages you to let your heart rate come down after her workout but after level 3 there's no such reminder (or after level 1). I'm finding I recover fairly quickly now so it wasn't a problem, just a bit of an annoyance. The stretch was weird. It was all yoga moves and it felt really weird doing yoga with shoes on plus I didn't find it a very good stretch. After my shower, I was starting to really tighten up so I put on Tamilee's stretch DVD and did the 10 minute standing routine, that felt better.

Now for the calorie burn... drum roll please... this workout, despite my pauses and at times not pushing as hard as I could have because I wasn't sure what was coming up next and didn't want to pass out... burned 336 calories for little ole me!!! WOW!!! That alone makes me want to buy it (I got it from netflix)! On a scale of 1-10 I give it an 8 though because level 3 wasn't the hardest (and was a bit monotonous plus I have to say, I really don't like that trainer a whole lot, I prefer Jillian or Bob), there was a low impact modifier for level 1 but not the other levels, none of the trainers talk much about proper form and a lot of the exercisers aren't showing good form at times, there was no cooldown and the yoga stretch was pretty advanced especially for people who don't do yoga. Despite those flaws, I really enjoyed it, I worked my tail off and then some. It is definitely intermediate to advanced. All the moves in all 3 levels, by the way, were very athletic, no dancing, no combinations. AWESOME for people like me (but possibly boring for people who like to dance) and the DVD is programmable so you can do just the warmup, a particular level workout and the stretch if you don't have time for all 50 minutes. This is definitely going on my gotta get this workout list.

Off to make dinner, spinach and chicken skillet something or other...