Jillian Michaels 6 Week 6 Pack

Well, I have an Amazon Prime membership and I LOVE it. Of course, I didn't initially get it to watch free videos and stuff (NetFlix style) but rather for faster and free shipping (I shop online quite a bit). But, bonus is that I get access to movies and TV! And, Jillian Michaels has several workouts free on Prime streaming. So, I decided to give this one a try on my laptop-- Jillian Michaels 6 Week 6 Pack. 

First, let me say that I will never have visible abs. I have a terrible mid-section and I am under no illusion that even doing this every day and eating lettuce that I would have abs pop out. But, she does state some obvious things like that you can't target fat burn the abs. You can TONE the abs and you can do cardio intervals at times to help burn fat (which will burn wherever you body sees fit) and if you burn enough on top of the hopefully well toned abs, then... 6 PACK TIME. Yeah, I never had a six pack. But, one can dream...

Anyway, it was a good workout. I was disappointed with my heart rate. I mean, I do lots of aerobic exercise and I believe my heart works pretty efficiently. I recover quickly, too. But, my average was only 115 bpm... for a 32 minute workout. SAD FACE. Only... that 115 bpm average heart rate is super misleading.  I was sweating like crazy. Seriously. SWEATING. Only 10 minutes of the 32 was I in my Polar monitor's "suggested range" for exercise, but she had cardio intervals interspersed and hopefully that will lend towards better metabolic burn despite the lower heart rate and increased emphasis on toning.

She has some modifications for those who need it. I went with the advanced gal most of the time, but I only did the first workout in the session, which is Level 1. It was (if you include the cool down at the end) around 35 minutes. I turned my HR monitor off when I realized we were sitting still during the cool down (I was at 79 before it was over). Active workout was around 32 minutes and that included a 3 minute warm-up that started pretty quickly. 

There wasn't much high impact. There was the option of a jump at the end of a burpee and there were mountain climbers. But, most of it wasn't much impact. She suggested a 3 to 8 pound weight. I used a 10 pound weight, but you use it only for maybe 8 minutes or so of the workout. Not much really at all.  You essentially just do a set of exercises and then repeat the entire set an additional time. So, it keeps changing and that's good.

I do suggest this as a workout if you have the time, though it's not going to give you great calorie burn (I think mine was just over 160 calories... and I can burn double that in 25 minutes on the treadmill). But, I think it was a good workout.