Today's workout: Yoga Meltdown by Jillian Michaels
Difficulty: intermediate
Length: 30 mins
Concept: If yoga is too woo-woo for you -- and you hate to waste a workout day on stretching -- this yoga routine will get your heart rate up and stretch your hamstrings, but it won't get you in touch with your inner yogini.
I have to admit I am not a huge fan of The Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels. Her tough-love schtick, aggressive snarl, and militaristic gym-class instructor style don't motivate me. But she does have an awesome body, and many of my hardcore fitness friends say her workouts are really hard, so I thought I'd give Yoga Meltdown a try.
The workout includes a lot of yoga poses familiar to those who've done power yoga -- repeated sun salutations, down dog, and warrior poses. For each pose, you'd repeat it a few times using the weight of your own body, which Jillian claims is a great way to get strong. Unfortunately, you don't actually hold the pose that long -- only 15 seconds -- which didn't really tax my stamina or give me enough stretch. All of this is performed while Jillian barks at you to "rep it out" (meaning do it over and over). Every time she said it, I could hear 1,000 yogini's silent screams.
Yoga Meltdown has a good mix of strength and balance and it works every muscle group. I did work up a sweat, but I didn't feel totally stretched out after doing it like I would have after a thorough yoga routine. The workout is sold on a DVD with another 30-minute workout. Doing them back-to-back might do the trick.
Pros: Easy to follow, minorly sweat-producing; no woo-woo yoga speak; gets the job done so you can cross a stretch routine off your list.
Cons: Poses aren't held long enough. If you have any reverence for the practice of yoga, this routine will rub you the wrong way.
Appreciate the thorough review. Sounds like this one is for teens and twenty-somethings, who theoretically don't need as much stretch as people in their thirties and up. (And maybe bore easily?)
ReplyDelete