This workout is part of the Masters series, intended as an intermediary between P90 and P90X. This is a cardio circuit workout. It has three rounds, each consisting of 3 exercises done for 30 seconds each, with each round done three times before moving on to the next one. The workout is about 45 minutes, but I was able to easily get it down to 30 (to fit my morning workout time) by cutting out the yoga section which follows the warm-up and stretch, and by doing each round only twice; each exercise is chaptered so you can easily skip ahead.

Tony works out with two background exercisers, but each section is done for such a short duration that I do not recall them chatting about modifying or anything. There is a water break after you have finished all three repetitions of every round. The warm-up and cool-down sections felt a little long to me, but other than that, I was happy with the format. I love circuit workouts!

I was less happy with the specific mix of exercises Tony used. Some of them felt a little light for something we only had 30 seconds for. I was expecting everything to be plyo-ish, I guess. And a few of them were just weird (for example, there was this move where you go into a sort of sumo squat and then just stomp your feet; it was very effective in Ten-Minute Trainer when done plyo-style, but when you remove the impact and just walk, it was kind of silly and not all that effective). If I did this again, I might pick other exercises and just follow along for the timers, and the camaraderie. It would be extremely easy to sub in your own exercises and get a killer workout. I have been thinking of making a cardio deck with all my favourite moves put onto cue cards, and I could just pick 9 of them, plug this dvd in and go.

So, as it is, I would say this is not my favourite routine from the Masters series. But it's such an easy one to modify because most of Tony's 'cueing' in a workout like this is just telling you when the 30 seconds are up. So you could plug your own moves in here without feeling like there's no point. I do like the format a lot. With a bit of tweaking, I think I could get some good use out of this routine. Bit if it were not part of a set, I would not buy it on its own. Tony has done better!

Joanna