Jillian Michaels
I liked this video much more than I thought I would! I was a little leery after hearing how "giggly" she was but I didn't find her to really be that "giggly" here (no more than in her other videos).
It is only about 20 minutes of actual workout, but it's a lively little workout and great for an add-on for intermediate/advanced exercisers. The kickboxing is drill-style--30 reps of this, 10 reps of that.
You regularly do 30 sets of punches (or high uppercuts) in a horse stance, sandwhiched between other drills like squat front kicks (not truly deep quats), "sumo squat" roundhouses, sidekicks, front-back kicks and basic aerobic moves like jacks, fast feet and knee raises.
If you liked drill-style, no frills workouts like Tae Fit or P90X's Kenpo, this might fit the 20-minute bill. I like the array of young but non-glamorous background exercisers (shades of P90X) and the brightly lit but not fancy gym setting. Jillian wears a red bra and low-slung (but not obnoxiously so, IMO) sweatpants cut off below the knees. One girl does beginner modifications. Jillian certainly screams and giggles a bit but I didn't find it distracting or annoying.
Instructor comments:
Jillian is cute, competent and charismatic, and after doing her Maximize and Shape Up videos, I'm getting used to her style. She's kinda growing on me. I still think there's a bit of the "tough girl" TV persona with the yelling at exercisers (in a faux-tough way) but nevertheless she is engaging and comes across as sincere in her motivational "yelling" to me. In this particular video, I was not impressed with her kickboxing form on a lot of the kicks.
acey
cheeena@aol.com
3/9/06
