Bone-Building Body-Shaping Workout

This is one of my favourite Joyce tapes. It is a bit longer than the 20 minutes she says it is---the lower body section is about 35 minutes, and the upper is much shorter. But the time goes by really quickly.

You begin day 1 with a very brief warm-up (an innovation mysteriously lacking in workout two) and do some chest and back work, then some lower body and abs. With two exceptions, you do each exercise one at a time, i.e. one set with your lightest weight, short rest, one set with your middle weight, short rest, one set with your heaviest weight. This made the time appear to go by quickly---you knew you just had those three sets and you were done with that activity. There were a few quirks in this section: you do leg work, then you do abs, then you go back to legs again, for example. I would rather have kept all of that together. I also felt that some of Joyce’s lower body work was strange. The lunges were too fast to be comfortable, so I substituted tall box work there. And I could not figure out how to hold weights between my ankles, so I skipped the leg curls and substituted bridge work there instead, allowing me to skip that exercise when it came up later and stop the workout after the abs section. With these two modifications, I really felt I got a good workout and was pleased with it.

Day 2 works the remainder of the upper body. The big omission here was a warm-up. I can’t figure out why she didn’t have one, or why she didn’t chapter the DVD so you could play the warm-up from yesterday. But the workout was very enjoyable. It was slightly shorter than the day 1 workout, and had a comfortable lifting pace. I could go fairly heavy with this section as compared to Joyce’s other programs.

The dvd includes the “Joyce explains” video, which I didn’t feel was very helpful. She basically stands there and recites various explanations from her books. The topics include how to raise your weights, how to ‘cheat’ (she goes on far, far too long with a demo of this) and some very hurried examples of various exercises for each body part. I suppose it was good for one viewing, but I certainly would not have wanted to pay extra money for it.

The video appears easy on first glance, but I found for me, the slower lifting speed allowed me to get a very good workout from it because I could concentrate and lift heavier than I can with her other programs. And I found the structure of only doing one exercise at a time a nice change of pace from Joyce’s other programs. Overall I think this tape is a keeper.

Joanna

As a fan of Joyce's workouts, I found this one to be a big disappointment. I like Joyce's workouts because they're short, efficient, and incredibly intense. There's usually very little rest between sets in a Joyce tape, and she does a lot with super sets and giant sets, so there's often no rest between exercises.

Bone-Building Body-Shaping Workout is, sadly, an exception to these rules. Most of the exercises are done singly, and there are fifteen-second rests after every set. Joyce lifts a bit more slowly than usual here, but that isn't the problem. The problem is that this workout takes about 50 minutes for a total-body workout, but doesn't really make me feel as if I've worked my muscles. I can't help but wonder, based on some of Joyce's comments and on the title of this workout, if she aimed this workout at "older" women. Well, I'm 48, and this workout doesn't do it for me at all.

Joyce does use the pyramid system here, and the workout is split into two days, although there is no warm-up for the second day. Joyce's warm-up for the first day is minimal, however, so you don't really miss it on the second day. Since you're lifting light weights and pyramiding, the first set acts as a warm-up, so I don't feel as if the warm-up or lack thereof is a problem.

However, for me the problem is the amount of time this tape takes to deliver so little. I expect better from Joyce, based on all the other tapes of hers that I own and appreciate. I no longer own this one; I traded it away.

Instructor Comments:
I get a big kick out of Joyce. She has a heavy Long Island accent, and makes wonderfully goofy comments throughout the workout, yet she manages to come across as completely sincere.

Mollie F.

This is one of my favorite workouts by Joyce. This workout she goes at a slower than usual speed and takes slightly longer rests so I can lift heavier weights. I usually do the entire workout at once since it is about 50 or so minutes long.

The workout begins doing 3 back exercises, but the 3rd I often see as a chest exercise, too, where you pull the weight over your head while on the bench. The workout goes into standing leg work. Joyce had knee surgery and can't do lunges, so she does an inner thigh sweep while Marthe does alternating lunges. Joyce switches legs during Marthe's mid count and is even. I like to do static lunges and switch legs when Joyce does. This works out perfect for me! Also, Joyce did frog leg lifts when Marthe did squats. There was only 1 set of squats, compared to other Joyce tapes that usually have 3 variations.

There is calf & ab work, plus two for the hip/butt area. These weren't my favorites being the prone butt lift and the squeezes she has in most of her workouts. They weren't on the knees (which those are the butt exercises I feel more) but I'm sure they weren't included because this workout is knee friendly and geared toward older women concered about bone loss.

The workout continues with only 2 exercises for biceps, triceps, shoulders, and chest. Most doing 1 arm at a time, so you can really concentrate on your muscle, also probably making it easier on those women who found they needed to do something for bone loss and was found her workout.

Overall, I really liked this workout and highly recommend it to those wanting to add another Joyce workout to their rotation.

SavvyChic