Extreme Burn

Mike Donavanik
Year Released: 2011

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance , Total Body Workouts



Video Fitness reviews may not be copied, quoted, or posted elsewhere without the permission of the reviewer

Show oldest reviews first


I am a 45 year old male high intermediate to advanced level exerciser. Level usually depends on what day it is and what exerecise program I did the day before.lol. I really enjoy this dvd and put into my workout rotation quite often. I really liked the variety of the combo moves, and the with cardio intervels. I found the ab workout at the end challenging. I would rate it a high intermediate to advanced level.

Instructor Comments:
I enjoy Mike as an instructor, solid instructor who I found motivading. Not over the top (like Jillian).

homedvdguy

01/10/2013

Extreme Burn is a primarily strength workout with cardio intervals and abs. Workout 1 is 42 minutes (including warm up/stretch) and Workout 2 is 46 minutes, or they can be combined into a longer workout, which the DVD menu allows for. The workout has already been broken down, so I’m just going to add my opinions.

Mike leads (maybe 75% working with you and 25% pointing out form on his two women background exercisers) and there is a countdown timer, not for the entire workout but for each :60 or :30 interval (and the title of the exercise you are doing), which I found motivating.

W1: After a 3 minute warm up, you spend about 10 minutes on the first strength circuit, about 7 minutes on the cardio circuit (all cardio was 30 seconds each, the entire circuit is then repeated once), about another 10 minutes on strength, and about 7 minutes on abs (like cardio, the ab exercises were all 30 seconds each, the entire circuit is then repeated once), and a 4 minute stretch. I especially liked the renegade row/jump up/overhead press/windmill move in the second strength set! A lot of the moves were functional and fun and really worked the core, and he did a great job at hitting all the muscle groups (biceps/triceps/shoulders/legs/core/back-chest not hit so much, triceps hit the hardest). Some of the strength moves were :60 on each side while some were :30 and he had you switch sides halfway through the :60 countdown. I would say the workout is high intermediate.

W2: The structure of W2 is the same as W1 but as Mike points out (several times) the exercises themselves are much more challenging. I felt the need to go a little lighter on some of the exercises because Mike would incorporate hops side to side or functional twisting, or full range of motion moves, but it still really kept the heart rate up. I would say my favorites were the tricep pushup/squat thrust/clean and press, snatch/cross/press, and the spiderman pushups/reverse T raise-those were really tough! The cardio was especially fun and harder than in W1 for sure, with mountain climbers, explosive donkey kicks (a new one to me), and bear crawl/star jump (and all repeated). The abs were also significantly more challenging and I was wiped by the end! I would rate this workout as low-mid advanced.

I enjoyed both of these workouts and would use them for a strength day (with some cardio mixed in) and will likely use W2 more than W1, because it was simply more challenging and fun to me, although they are both well thought out and Mike is great! I can see myself picking up his second workout at some point, I think he really has a talent for developing and instructing workout DVDs. Overall grade A!

Instructor Comments:
Mike is a nice instructor. He does say “don’t stop now” “you know me better than that” and “let’s keep going” a LOT but wasn’t really annoying-I think he was just enthusiastic about working you out hard and providing a challenging workout routine to the viewer. He did push his backgrounders hard while not sounding critical towards them at all. I would definitely consider buying more of his workouts.

Emily B.

08/28/2012

MIKE DONAVANIK EXTREME BURN

I liked but didn't love this workout. It has a lot of pivot/rotations, and I found a few of the moves to be a little awkward on puzzle mats. I ended up using several different weights depending on the move, and you have just enough time between moves to switch weights if you have them lined up and ready.


WORKOUT #3 “EXTREME” (COMBINES 1 AND 2)

WARM UP
WORKOUT 1
STRENGTH INTERVAL
1 minute each:
SQUAT ; SQUAT W SHOULDER PRESS 1 min
REVERSE/LATERA STEPS; W/ TRICEP KICKBACKS
SIDE LUNGE/TWISTING ROW/OBLIQUE CROSS – RIGHT SIDE
SIDE LUNGE/TWISTING ROW/OBLIQUE CROSS –LEFT SIDE
ALTERNATING CURL/PRESS
WOODCHOPS
REVERSE LUNGE/CROSS JAB/PRESS – RIGHT SIDE
REVERSE LUNGE/CROSS JAB/PRESS –LEFT SIDE
CARDIO BLAST
30 seconds each move
SIDE HOP/DOWNWARD PUNCH
HIGH KNEE PULLS (30 Secs. Each side)
SIDE SHUFFLE PUNCH
SPEED SKATERS
DYNAMO LUNGES
*REPEAT CARDIO BLAST*
STRENGTH INTERVAL #2
1 minute each
DUMBELL SWINGS UP TO “Y”
RENEGADE ROWS
FRONT LUNGE/ ALT RAISE/ TRICEP KICKBACK – RIGHT LEG
FRONT LUNGE/ALT RAISE/TRICEP KICKBACK—LEFT LEG
OVERHEAD TRICEP EXTENSIONS—END WITH PULSES
GRAPPLER THROWS
RENEGADE ROW/SQUAT THRUST/ MODIFIED WINDMILL-LEFT SIDE
RENEGADE ROW/SQUAT THRUST/ MODIFIED WINDMILL-RIGHT SIDE
ABS
30 secs each
CRUNCHES W/ LEGS ELEVATED
SCISSOR CRUNCHES – ONE SIDE
SCISSOR CRUNCHES- OTHER SIDE
REVERSE CRUNCHES
BICYCLE CRUNCHES
BOAT POSE
*REPEAT ALL AB MOVES*
WORKOUT #2
STRENGTH INTERVAL
1 minute each
TRICEP PUSHUP/SQUAT THRUST/CLEAN AND PRESS
LATERAL HOPS WITH TRICEP KICKBACK
TOSSING THE HAY (SIDE LUNGE/POWER HOP/DOUBLE ARM SIDE PUNCH)
TOSSING THE HAY—OTHER SIDE
WINDSHIELD WIPER CURLS
DUMBELL CIRCLES (CORE MOVE)
SNATCH/CROSS/ADD TWISTING PRESS-ONE SIDE
SNATCH/CROSS-OTHER SIDE
CARDIO BLAST
30 seconds each
MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS
DONKEY KICKS
HEISMAN DRILL
5-POINT JUMPING DRILL
BOW TIE DRILL
BEAR CRAWL TO STAR JUMP
*REPEAT ALL MOVES*
STRENGTH INTERVAL #2
1 minute each
LATERAL SQUAT WITH SHOULDER PULL PRESS
STAGGARD SQUAT/TWISTING CURL/CROSS JAB
FORWARD LUNGE/ROW/REVERSE CURTSY-ONE SIDE
FORWARD LUNGE/ROW/REVERSE CURTSY-OTHER SIDE
SHOULDER TRICEP SEQUENCE
DUMBELL TORSO ROTATION
SPIDERMAN PUSH-UP/REVERSE T-RAISE—RIGHT SIDE
SPIDERMAN PUSH-UP/REVERSE T-RAISE-LEFT SIDE
ABS
30 seconds each
LEG LIFTS
CRUNCHES W/ LEGS ELEVATED
V-UPS
CROSSOVER PUNCHES—ONE SIDE
CROSOVER PUNCES-OTHER SIDE
RUSSIAN TWISTS
*REPEAT ALL MOVES*
COOL DOWN

Acescholar

02/28/2012

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

Just to let you know a little about me, I'm a 48 year old intermediate and long term exerciser who has bad hands, wrists, and feet (psoriatic arthritis) and bad knees (osteo arthritis). Consequently, I look for low-impact workouts - or workouts that I can modify easily - that don't require body weight to be supported on my hands/wrists.

For some reason, this workout grabbed my attention and I really wanted to try it. As a committed intermediate exerciser, I knew this workout would probably be more advanced than I would want to do, but I still was intrigued by it.

The DVD has two workouts on it that you can play separately and then a third option that combines the two workouts - for the "extreme" option. Each workout has a warm up and then he does sections of strength moves and cardio blasts. Each strength move is done for one minute and each move in the cardio blast is done for 30 seconds and then he repeats the cardio blast. He sometimes switches things up midway through the time given for a move and that makes it more interesting to me. It's a good mix of strength and cardio and abs - and you are always moving.

Mike Donavanik leads the workout with two background exercisers behind him. Both his backgrounders are fit with different body types: one is very slim, almost lanky, and the other is more curvy and muscular. They look like real fit women, not backgrounder models. Much of the time, he does the workout as he leads it, but he does go back by his background exercisers to coach them and emphasize form pointers. Personally, I thought it was a good thing because I found what he emphasized motivated me to work harder. However, for those that want their instructors to do the entire workout, it could be distracsting. He talks A LOT - and most of his talk is encouraging and motivating to try harder and pointing out what a move will do and giving form pointers. I found his talk motivating and there didn't seem to be much, if any, talk about what you'll look like. He focused more on strength and functionality. Don't ask me about the music - I have no memory of it, for what that's worth.

I ended up deciding that I enjoyed trying this workout, but it makes me work harder than I want to. It would be hard on my body long term. People who are higher intermediate exercisers than me (without bad hands and knees) and advanced exercisers would be likely to enjoy this workout because he does push you to work hard and work on strength and cardio endurance. It's a workout I like that I just would have a hard time doing.

Instructor Comments:
I found him really motivating. He seemed to understand the advanced home exerciser, which I thought was pretty good for his first try at an exercise video.

Laura S.

12/31/2011

This dvd has two 40 minute C+S interval workouts on it, that you can play individually or together for one total kick butt workout! Mike works out in an open gym style set with 2 background exercisers. This is a fantastic hard-core interval workout that will burn tons of calories and work your muscles. You will only need dumbbells for this dvd.

Each cardio move is performed for 30 seconds & each strength move is performed for 60 seconds and Mike provides variations within the minute to keep things interesting and to keep your muscles guessing. You perform a block of strength exercises that really get your heartrate up and then a shorter block of cardio exercises that will get your heart pumping even harder.

Workout #1 (42 minutes) exercises include: squat & overhead press, side lunges w/ a twisting row, woodchops, dip- punch- knee up, cardio lunges, knee pulls, shuffle & punhc, skater, swings to a Y raise, overhead tri extension, tri kickbacks, lunge & extensions, grappler throws, renegade rows- hop up- windmill, crunch variations, boat pose, & finishes w/ a cooldown.

Workout #2 (45 minutes) exercises include: squat burpee- puhnsup- hop to overhead press, cardio lunges add tricep kickback, wiper curls, dumbbell circles, snatch with a cross knee pull add overhead press, mt climbers, donkey jump kicks, heisman drill, diagonal skater, crawl to plank then X jumps, lunge & row to curtsy, torso twist, spiderman pushups to reverse planks, toe drops (core), Russian twists, double crunches, toe reaches, and finishes w/ a cooldown.

These workouts are both advanced in my opinion, with number 2 being even more challenging. Mike is a great lead- lots of great form pointers & good cuing. These workouts are right up my ally- tough but fun, lots of compound movements, and nice athletic exercises that get & keep your heart PUMPING! I would consider this a medium weight - faster paced workout that is pretty much nonstop. I know I burned a TON of calories with these workouts and can not wait for more from Mike! I received this workout to review.

lindseylu8

12/27/2011