Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

Just to let you know a little about me, I'm a 48 year old intermediate and long term exerciser who has bad hands, wrists, and feet (psoriatic arthritis) and bad knees (osteo arthritis). Consequently, I look for low-impact workouts - or workouts that I can modify easily - that don't require body weight to be supported on my hands/wrists.

This workout is really well designed. It is comprised of sets of intervals and you do each interval twice, once on each side. Each interval, except for the first one*, is comprised of the following sections:

> Ascent - Moderate exercise - Strength
> Climb - Increasing intensity - Cardio
> Peak intensity - The highest intensity - Cardio
> Basecamp - Recovery - Strength base move

*The first round, or circuit, has no Peak intensity because it is designated as the official warm up.

Michelle is in a big, open room with multiple modifiers behind her. I think it's the same set as Kari Anderson's recent workouts as well as others. Throughout the workout, there was a lot of energy with both Michelle and the exercisers. I did not see many modifications being demonstrated. Michelle does give specific recommendations for weights to use and really encourages the home exerciser to increase their weights where possible.

I found this workout to be hard for me. The weight work was tough - fun, but tough. I kept dropping the weight of my dumbbells, so although I enjoyed many of the moves, they didn't feel as efficient as I would like because I was using lighter weights than recommended. There were also a good number of moves with weight supported on the hands and high impact moves I had a hard time modifying.

I would rate this workout as advanced. For those who are advanced, it is probably a really fun workout. For those that have less high level of fitness, check out the clips before you order it. It could be a good workout for you - just try to be as sure as possible before ordering.

Instructor Comments:
I always find Michelle to be fun, motivating, professional, and a really organized fitness leader. She's all that and more in this workout.

Laura S.