An hour's worth of toning, divided into 10 highly-targeted, 5-minute segments. You can mix and match them any way you want, or use the pre-programmed workouts. Denise Austin instructs.

Beginning through intermediate exercisers — the difficulty often relies on the weight of dumbbells you choose. You will need at least one pair of them, 2 to 8 pounds, plus a sturdy chair for one of the lower body segments and the cool-down segment. Plus, of course, a mat.

These short workout segments are built around the concept of supersetting each muscle group and working it to fatigue. Depending on your schedule and energy, you can do just a couple, use the pre-programmed upper or lower body workouts (a half hour each), or you can do all the exercises for an hour-long routine. Being ambitious and wanting to get this DVD done so I could write a review of it this week, I did the whole thing. The upper body segments are divided into chest, arms, shoulders and back, while the lower body is divided into glutes, legs, and inner and outer thighs. There are two ab routines, the first of which includes oblique work, the second of which includes more core exercises. The upper body exercises are the better segments, because you can change the level of weight to make the exercises more challenging; although these moves are done fairly quickly, I had enough time to grab heavier or lighter weights as I needed them. Many of the lower body exercises only use body weight for resistance, no dumbbells, and if you've been working out for a while (like I have), then you might not find this challenging enough. As for Austin, if you are familiar with her, you know what to expect. If you've never seen one of her workouts, let me warn you — you will feel like you're working out with a quirky combination of a 12-year-old cheerleader and somebody's mom. You get lots of bubbly encouragement and Austin has a habit of saying cringe-worthy things like, "Let me see that smiling face!" She is not as bad as she was in her older videos, but she may still be an acquired taste for some. But if you're fairly new to working out and you can handle being talked to like you're her kid, this DVD will give you a pretty decent workout... or rather, a programmable series of them.

 

 

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