Get Extremely Ripped: Boot Camp

Although I've used several of instructor Jari Love's early Ripped workouts and still own and love her original Get Ripped, this is the first DVD I have tried from Love's newer "Extremely Ripped" series. Get Extremely Ripped Boot Camp features a more stage-like set in which Love and her four background exercisers (3 women, 1 man) are spotlighted. In her Introduction, Love explains that Boot Camp contains six 10-minute segments, each consisting of abs, weights, and cardio (basically broken down as 2 minutes abs, 5 minutes weights, and 3 minutes cardio). Thus the DVD offers a variety of workout options: all segments can be played together for a 60-minute workout, the segments can be broken up into two complete 30-minute workouts, or the segments can be selected individually as complete 10-minute workouts when one is short on time.

The Main Menu of the DVD reads as follows: Introduction--Complete Boot Camp--Workout 1--Workout 2--Warm-Up--Workout Segments--Cool Down. Workouts 1 and 2 are complete 30-minute workouts consisting of the Warm-Up, Cool-Down, and 3 segments each. The Workout Segments submenu breaks down each of the six workout segments by naming the abs, weights, and cardio exercises; I have done this in greater detail below. This submenu also offers the option of playing all abs sequences, all cardio sequences, or all weights sequences, further enhancing the number of workout choices. Please note that for the Warm-Up as well as the cardio segments, the male exerciser, Dean, rides an exercise bike as a modification; Love states that if you have an exercise bike, treadmill, or another type of cardio equipment at home, you should feel free to make your own substitutions as well.

Warm-Up (5 minutes)
Although Love suggests that the warm-up involves "cardio intervals," the moves are very basic (toe taps, etc.), and really do not significantly raise the heart rate. She uses the second half of the warm-up for some basic stretches.

Interval 1
Abs=knee isolation holds
Weights=lunge forward and back with knee raise; still-leg side dead lift in-between sets
Cardio=skier lunge

Interval 2
Abs=roll down to 1-leg push-up
Weights=single back rows from plank/double back rows from kneeling (5 sets!)
Cardio=jack tucks

Interval 3
Abs=crab (works abs/triceps/shoulders)
Weights=forward lunge with biceps curl/Arnold press; alternating front lunges in-between sets
Cardio=jump squats

Interval 4
Abs=shoulder push-up
Weights=lunges with shoulder press/knee-up; pulsing lunge in-between sets
Cardio=speed skater with hop

Interval 5
Abs=reverse curl with pike
Weights=anterior with alternating reverse lunge and side squat
Cardio="Super Stars" (quick-quick-slow scissor lunge)

Interval 6
Abs=rowing (led by background exerciser Lesley)
Weights=chest press/triceps (led by background exerciser Laurie)
Cardio=skipping (rope optional)

Cool-Down (4.5 minutes)
Love starts lying on back for hamstring and outer hip stretches; comes to standing for calf, hip flexor, and hamstring stretches.

In completing the entire workout, I encountered a few problems. First, prior to the start of each new exercise, the name of the move and "tips" appear on screen. However, the weights that the crew are using do not appear until later, making setup difficult. Furthermore, for the weights segments, sometimes Love has already started the first few repetitions by the time the viewer gets to that screen. I was also dismayed to see that the weights breakdowns are listed as "Dean" (the male exerciser) and "Girls"; this was especially disheartening when it was these same women who were showing the advanced versions of the exercises!

Despite these issues, overall, this is a well-done workout DVD which offers many options to the intermediate to advanced home exerciser. If you want high impact, high intensity circuit training, Get Extremely Ripped Boot Camp may be a good fit.

Instructor Comments:
I don't think Jari's personality clicks with everyone, but I like her. She is more on the serious side, but she makes little jokes here and there. She is also very encouraging, frequently saying that although you need to push yourself, you should go only to your own limits and do only what you can do today. There is really no problem following her cuing because the cardio sequences are very simple; they are high impact, but she provides lower impact modifications AND also gives you the option of doing something else entirely, like riding an exercise bike, which I liked (I did take this option for a few of the segments and chose to ride my recumbent).

Beth C (aka toaster)