This is one of the 10 DVDs in the Supreme 90 set, led by Tom Holland. This is a tabata-style cardio routine, with several circuits performed with a 20 second work / 10 second rest, and 60 seconds rest between each circuit. See the other reviews for a breakdown of the exercises. Tom leads with two women and one male backgrounder actually doing the work. The workout (as with all S90 workouts) was filmed in a darkish gym set, and the music is quieter and more background music. The music in this one was mostly a driving rock tune, which seemed appropriate. The DVD menu only allows you to select the workout – the warm up is not chaptered separately like it appears to be in the other DVDs in the set. The total length is about 45 minutes.

I’ve never done any other tabata workouts, so do not know how to compare – but I certainly felt like I was working at full capacity by the end! I can appreciate PeakFitness’s complaint on the bicycle exercise, it wasn’t really a cardio move. However, by the end I did appreciate it as a breather between more strenuous work. I certainly felt like my time was spent well, however I am not completely in love with the workout. My main complaint is that Tom repeated moves twice or sometimes three times, including bicycle, plyo squat, mountain climbers, high knees, standard pushups, a weighted squat with overhead press move, and plyo lunges. There are so many variations on exercises, and I wish Tom would have taken a little extra effort to be more creative. He could have incorporated fast feet, shuffling, any number of various pushup and plank variations, shadow boxing, anything to make it different each time. With that said, the workout did go by very quickly, and I was feeling it by the end. He didn’t include very much weighted work, but for what he did, I used my 4# pair, and a 6 and 8 pound weight, and thought that was appropriate. You can’t go too heavy because it is intended for you to move very quickly, also, if you follow the S90 rotation, this is really meant to be a cardio workout. There was a minor toning aspect, for the core especially, and also arms and legs in different exercises.

I really like the shorter workouts in this set, especially an intense workout like this. I think the dread factor for me would have been too high to commit to a full hour of tabata cardio! As an intermediate exerciser, I felt this was an advanced routine – but still doable, which is a great combination. I can already see how this workout, and many in the set, are going to improve my endurance and core strength. I have enjoyed these workouts so much I have committed to an actual S90 rotation, which is rare for me. I think this workout is good as a standalone or as part of the S90 rotation, and see myself using it even after I am done with the set, especially as an aid to improve my jogging endurance. Overall grade B+ (would have been an A if he didn’t repeat exercises over different circuits).

Instructor Comments:
Tom leads the workout personal trainer style, like in all S90 workouts, and has a timer in his hand to keep him on track with the 20 second circuits. He does say the words “twenty seconds” about 100 times during the workout, which annoyed me at first but I was too tired by the end to care. He was encouraging and supportive of his exercisers, and remarked at how much they were working hard. There was a timer which showed up marking the last five seconds of each 20 second exercise, and he encouraged you to push yourself, but to also stop if you are feeling dizzy or light headed, and get a drink of water. And that the folks on screen might be going faster than you, but you can/will work up to that if you persist with it. On the whole I enjoy Tom.

Emily B.