This has already been broken down super nicely by Acescholar so I am just going to add my impressions. I do not have his original workout (Max 30) to compare with. Toby uses a set of heavy weights, a set of light weights, and a step (I used the top step of my Transfirmer step). I was wary of using the step too much as I work out barefoot and have mostly eliminated the step from my workouts, and therefore did some of the cardio without the step, but in general Toby’s exercises were controlled enough for me to still use the step. The step is mostly used for cardio but is also used for I three or four rounds, such as the pushup sequence, split lunge with back foot on step, and a squat series with one foot on the end of the step.

As noted in the other reviews, I found the cardio to (sometimes) be easier than the strength, but that worked out great for me – I wanted to use this workout as a strength routine with a cardio impact and therefore pushed myself harder during the resistance exercises. I really enjoyed both the cardio and strength portions and the time flew by! Which is great for a 70 minute workout! I like that it was carefully organized into 10 blocks, and I could count them down. I also appreciated the countdown timer. And as there were three levels (progressing from easier to hardest) for each it was easy to take it down a notch if need be (and for future use easy to kick it up a notch from the get-go). So lots of functionality there.

My main complaint is that because of the separate ab workout – which is 20 minutes (and I’m glad it’s included but if combined, who has 90 minutes to work out?!) there was not really any ab emphasis in the main workout, it was upper/lower with some secondary core work in some of the functional or twisting type moves. I would have preferred if just one of the blocks focused on abs so you could feel like you got a total body workout.

My second complaint (very minor) is that Toby really hits the legs hard, which certainly adds to the cardio impact, and it seems lighter on the upper body, which is OK, but then from the upper body, he did not work the triceps at all. There was some bicep (curls with some squat variations), chest (pushup series), shoulder (lateral arm raises with split lunges/reverse flies in a later set/lots of overhead combinations), and back (twisting row to an overhead press/renegade rows), but no tricep work! I realized this by the 10th block and was able to work in some triceps (in lieu of other arm work) in the last block.

On the whole though this is an excellent (advanced) workout which is flexible due to the three levels, and the brief rests between exercises helped me to push through all 70 minutes too. I did not do the ab workout. Production quality is high and Toby and the girls are pleasant to work out with. The music was somewhat hard to hear at times but was good. I will be using this work out a lot in the future, I think that it really challenges your endurance! Overall grade A-!

Instructor Comments:
Toby is enthusiastic and professional and gives good form pointers. One of the things I REALLY appreciated is that he mirror cues, a lot of instructors don’t seem to do that anymore. He mostly does the workout with you but sometimes goes to point out what the girls are doing, and he is very complimentary of them. Another plus, Toby didn’t seem to do or say anything overly redundant (i.e., no annoying mannerisms) which is great!

Emily B.