Get Ripped & Chiseled

I'm fairly new to Jari's workouts but have really been enjoying them--I love how she pushes you to work hard yet doesn't kill you. I was thrilled to be able to preview her newest video, Ripped & Chiseled. I found it to be most similar to her Get Ripped Slim & Lean in that it is a long workout (just over an hour) which really challenges your endurance. However, Ripped & Chiseled is different in that Jari uses 2-3 consecutive exercises per muscle group, so each area really gets hit hard! (Which also means that you'll probably have to go with lighter weights for this one.)

Jari's background exercisers here include Gaylene from Ripped 1000 (who amazingly is 57 years old!), Judy, and Mike. As with the other Ripped workouts, you have your choice of using different types of equipment, including dumbbells, a barbell, and weight plates. Also, the weight loads for each exerciser are shown (this time BEFORE the exercise starts, which is great because it gives you time to set up) as well as the total number of repetitions. The music sounds pretty similar to the other Ripped workouts, and Jari actually makes several comments about it here, even swaying to the music a little during the biceps work!

Again Jari uses a high number of repetitions with varied counts (singles, 2-2, 4-4, 3-1, 1-3, and pulses), but she adds some new twists here, such as high/low pulses on the squats and 1-7/7-1 counts on the triceps work. There are a total of 15 exercise tracks as follows:

1. Warm-Up
This is Jari's standard warm-up where she leads you through the various muscles groups using light weights.

2. Lunges
These are static lunges performed with your back foot on the step.

3. Squats
Jari adds high and low end pulsing to these; she also specifically states that those who are advanced should NOT be coming up all the way.

4. Stiff Leg Deadlift/Bent Knee Deadlift
Unlike her previous videos, Jari clearly distinguishes between these two exercises here. I tried 15# DBs and was REALLY feeling it by the end.

5. Chest Press
Jari and crew do these on an incline step; I tried them on my stability ball using 10# DBs and found the segment VERY challenging.

6. Push Ups
You "only" do 36 reps here using the following pattern: 8 singles, 4 reps of 3 pulses, repeat series 3 more times. Very doable compared to S&L, RTTC, and Ripped 1000. Also, Jari does them on her toes (Judy & Gaylene are on the floor, and Mike is doing them off the step).

7. Chest Fly
Okay, your chest muscles are going to be QUITE tired by this point, so you'll probably need to keep the weights low; performed on bench.

8. Back Track
Here the crew does standing double-arm bent-over rows. You start with your palms facing in (working more lower back), take a brief stretch, and then continue with palms facing down (working more mid-back)

9. Triceps Dips
Jari says that Judy and Mike "lost a bet," so they do triceps push-ups off their toes, while Jari and Gaylene do dips off the step, Gaylene with her legs straight.

10. Skull Crushers
Jari adds a new slow count here; I used only 5# DBs, but my tris felt it the next day!

11. Pull Overs
Again, your triceps will be tried, so you'll probably need to go light.

12. Overhead Press
This segment actually includes two exercises. The first is the overhead press, with the entire crew actually dropping down in weights halfway through. The other exercise is a front raise, moving arms out to the side in a T position, then lowering, and then doing it in reverse.

13. Biceps
Standard bicep curl work; includes both high and low 1/2 curls.

14. Hammer Curls
Again, a standard double hammer curl, but Jari also has you do single hammer curls to the inside.

15. Cool Down
During the floor stretches, Jari chats with Gaylene and Mike, who are students from here classes (this is where we learn that Gaylene is 57). She continues with her standard standing stretches to finish.

With the exception of the triceps dips segment, which is a bit shorter, each track averages around 4.5-5 minutes, and the total workout time is right around 63 minutes. As you can see, Ripped & Chiseled does not include abs work, but the abs section from Slim & Lean (a nice quick abs routine consisting of 4 exercises performed in 2 sets), can be found under the bonus section of the DVD. The DVD Bonus menu is as follows: Abs Workout-Talking Nutrition-Healthy Recipes-Other Programs-Previews.

Although this workout is similar to Slim & Lean (which I wound up getting rid of), I enjoyed it much more! It just seemed to flow more smoothly, making the time, although lengthy, go by more quickly. I do miss having the abs included, although others will probably like the option of doing them or not. Also, the abs work that is included, from S&L, is actually my favorite of all of Jari's abs segments: she performs dead bug, pike crunches, butterfly crunches, and oblique crunches, running through the entire series twice.

Although not as intense overall as Ripped 1000, which includes cardio, I believe that Ripped & Chiseled is Jari's most intense ENDURANCE workout to date. Since you are working each muscle group several times before moving on, you will probably need to use lighter weights than with Jari's other workouts. Furthermore, this would not be a good workout to use as part of a heavy lifting routine.

The best thing about this workout was that I felt great after I was done! Definitely an excellent endurance workout for intermediate to advanced exercisers; highly recommended.

Instructor Comments:
Jari is very straight-forward and business-like. Some might find her dry, but I like her--her no-nonsense manner reminds me a bit of Karen Voight. It though she did a better job of giving form pointers here than in some of her other workouts. She cues well, using mirrored cueing, and I particularly liked the the weight/rep totals appear on screen BEFORE the exercises begin.

Beth C (aka toaster)

This has to be my favorite of the ripped DVDs by far! It has all the workings of a good, hard challenge that left me feeling sore the next day and made me feel like I had accomplished something. I am just thrilled with the results so far. The excersises completely fatigued my muscles and continually made me challenge myself to push it just a little bit farther. It is also awesome to see that there were some older participants in this DVD as I myself am in my 40s and yet am still able to do all the repetitions.
I was also very thankful that the nutritional information was included in this DVD.I now realize that Jari's goals for her participants encompass the entire body and lifestyle one needs to embrace to become completely healthy and fit. Good music, great motivation, and so far awesome results!

Instructor Comments:
I absolutely love to excercise to a video with an instructor/creator who is obviously fit and healthy. It inspires me and certainly motivates me to achieve my fitness goals. Jari's genuine personality once again shines in this Ripped and Chiseled DVD.

sheryl

I generally like the Ripped workouts, really enjoy the high reps and different rep count. I was excited that the full work out came in right at 60 (well, 64) minutes, as most of Jari's are longer than an hour and I have a hard time eeking out the extra time in my schedule.

This one, however, disappointed me. Even though it is a "total body" workout, I didn't feel worked evenly - three sets of chest to one set of back. Also, there is substantially more upper body work than lower. And no dedicated ab work.

With so many other offerings in the Ripped series, I don't expect I'll be reaching for this one often.

Instructor Comments:
I appreciate Jari's no-fluff style. She gives some good form pointers in this workout.

Victoria

I am 42, prefer advanced strength workouts, and I must put my weights away after working out, so I also prefer high rep lighter weights. I have a barbell but I never get it out, I just make do with 25 lb. dumbbells, they are easier to put in a closet.

All my strength tapes were from Cathe, but earlier in the month I asked for advice on trying a few new instructors, and ended up buying Jari Love, Tracy Effinger, and Ilaria. I previewed the Ilaria Bodystrikes Vol. 2, and decided that the fast pace and high reps combined with directional changes in the hips were going to do me more harm than good – my hip flexors tighten up if I overwork them, usually one side tighter than the other, and it takes a long while to recover and get my muscles back in balance, usually missing about 3-4 weeks of working out. So, that workout scared me and I decided to try Jari first.

I’m glad I did, I liked Jari as an instructor and her workout was very do-able – tough little segments, but the segments were so short that I always felt I could finish the set with great form and a really good pump in the working (burning) muscles.

I bought a “get ripped” tape instead of a “get extremely ripped” tape because a couple reviewers said that she changed her teaching to a more enthusiastic style in the extremelys, and I thought I would prefer someone more grounded. She was great, very calm demeanour, very trustworthy, focused on your workout, not hers.

The filming of her workout was also excellent, it was easy to follow Jari, and just as easy to follow her two background exercisers, they all had beautiful form and muscles that you could see working. Actually there were 3 background exercisers, the third one being a man, but I rarely look at the men’s form in a video, their range of motion is different, they are less flexible, and I don’t feel especially motivated watching them.

Now for my impressions of the workout. I got a good burn and pump in my upper body muscles, not so much for the lower body. Remember, my other tapes are all Cathe workouts. Cathe has me gasping and sweating doing her leg work, and Cathe has leg work sparsed throughout to keep your heart rate elevated, giving you a circuit workout effect. In contrast, Jari’s tape had 15 segments, and only the first 4 segments had leg work.

So, I did Jari’s workout, using heavier or the same weights for most exercises, until I got to shoulders. I toughed out the shoulder press with 12 lb dumbbells and then found out she was going straight on into side lateral raise with the same weight! So I took a time out to get my preschooler some raisins. Thankfully, only some bicep work remained after that.

I really liked Jari’s rep counts and pulses, and her rep speed was perfect for me. It was tough on the working muscles, but not too tough. It didn’t raise my heart rate and I didn’t bother to take a shower afterwards, but I was really feeling it in my arms for a while after finishing. I did the bonus situps afterwards, and they were not challenging. There were not enough reps to really fatigue the muscles, and too many rest breaks. The cool down was the most mellow cool down I have ever seen on tape. She was very relaxed, not really teaching any more, just talking to her crew and going through a few stretches.

I have to say it was a great workout, felt very effective and yet I’m not suffering from exhaustion afterwards. The only thing is, because the moves were so basic (vertical up-down lifting), I think my workout schedule has to be rounded out with other tapes that challenge your body laterally or in an arcing motion, to hit the different muscles. I give ‘get ripped and chiseled’ an ‘A’ and because it feels so effective but is not intimidating, I think I will choose this workout regularly.

Desie

This is a great workout for me. Not perfect, but close. It's tough but fun, the music is good, and it never gets boring. I happen to be one of those who does not mind that it doesn't have a "real" core section. With my lower back problems, I go my own way with core exercises (no crunches or bending of the spine). The music fits the exercises perfectly on this one, and Jari is very relaxed and pleasant, even more so than usual. If you're an advanced exerciser who likes endurance training that gets your heart beating, give this one a try. I have a lot of workout DVDs, but this one is definitely up there in my top 5, and I've been using it for years.

FancyNancy

Instructor: Jari Love
Length: 60 minutes
Type: Strength training; high rep/low weight

This is the fifth DVD in the Jari Love Ripped series. This is a high rep/low weight workout. Jari is joined by two females and one male exerciser. Everyone is in their forties and fifties, which is an amazing motivator. Everyone is very toned, but not so much as they look like an impossible ideal. Everyone is a participant in Jari's Get Ripped class, which she teaches at her studio in Calgary Canada.

For those that are new to Jari, she is very straight forward. Some people would call her unmotivating, but I disagree. She's just not a cheerleader, perky type, but more mellow and serious. She's more outgoing in this DVD though.

For those concerned with aesthetics, the set is gray with some splashes of color here and there. Jari and the females wear bright outfits, while the guy is in black.

Here are the exercises and number of reps:

Static lunges off the step 56
Squats 88
Stiff Leg Deadlift 28
Bent Leg Deadlift 28
Inclined chest press 62
Chest flies 62
Push ups (only 36 though!)
Double arm bent over rows 32
Tricep Dips 24
Skull crushers w/dumbbells 38
Pullovers 52
Overhead press 66
Bicep Curls, including high ad low end 1/2 curls 120
Hammer Curls 88


The Good: Much better music. I recognized maybe three songs that she might have recycled from her old workouts. Jari is much more relaxed. Better lighting as well, even though the set is the same. The participants are angled differently from the furniture though. The furniture is on the right now instead of the left and back. Included one of my favorite lower body workouts: static lunges off the step. Works the glutes like no other. Liked the chat session during the stretch at the end. Workout ran much smoother than Slim and Lean.

The So-So: Doesn't detract (much) from the workout, but they took away the sexy guy who poses, I mean, demonstrates the upcoming moves between exercises. Okay, so technically they took him away in Ripped 1000, but that workout moved so fast I hardly noticed.

The Bad: Very light on the lower body exercises. This is coming from someone who doesn't like working lower body due to hip issues, but I realize I need it. Only two exercises, three if you count deadlifts. Used ab routine from Slim and Lean rather than putting on a new abs segment. Needs longer stretches between exercises.

Extra segments: I haven't viewed the extra Talking Nutrition segment. Healthy Recipes shows several different recipes, which sound pretty tasty. Other Programs is just advertisements for her other Ripped programs. As you know, Abs Section is straight copied from Slim and Lean.

Overall: B-. It didn't really distinguish itself like the others did. This one was just...there. Good only for variety, but I would definitely wait until you could get it for cheap.

Instructor Comments:
Jari is her usual serious, but motivating self.

bubbles76