I had my experience with Everlast Cardio Strike Bag and returned the bag and the gloves, which I bought separately. I bought Billy Blanks PT 24/7 in a store for $80.00 I thought it might be fun.

I got:

Training gloves

Two cardio bands

Billy’s Nutrition Guide

A Rotation Calendar

7 DVD sets

You will get a 30-day money back guarantee but no warranty. There is also no maximum weight of the user. This is the same answer about nutrition: one plan for everyone – one calorie amount for everyone (1200 calories/day for women; 1500 calories a day for men).

I am going to take these one at a time and then go from there.

Gloves: There is a picture of a woman on the box so this isn’t just meant for big people like Billy Blanks. Billy Blanks by the way invented the Tae Bo exercise program, which has been hugely successful. The gloves are made of 40% Polyester, 30% Polyurethane, and 30% Polyvinyl Chlorine. They are the cheapest, plastic smelling things I’ve seen in a long time. Granted they are padded, they have a wrist strap with Velcro, breathing holes below the openings for my fingers, and a strap, which I will get into momentarily. However, if you look at the box or picture somewhere, the boxing glove look Billy Blanks has on is not what these gloves look like on me. They are huge! They are 8 inches long by 5 inches wide. I did use them several times for the purpose of this review but be aware – one size does not fit all!

Cardio bands: These turquoise resistance band type things are about 50 inches long. In fact one is a little longer, which could pose a problem. On each end is a cheap plastic hook. These hooks attach to metal rings on the gloves. Then there is a piece of material (foot straps) on each glove that I take off. It has Velcro and is adjustable. Those straps go around my sneakers. I thread the material through the metal hook and attach one of the hooks from the blue band onto that. I do that on the other side but I have to crisscross it so the band that is hooked onto my right hand is then hooked to the metal ring on my left foot. There is latex in the bands – just in case you are allergic to latex, you should know that. Each time I have used Billy Blanks PT 24/7 I have been afraid that the bands would snap. I am used to well-made bands, and these are not well-made.

The nutrition guide: Billy gives me his top 5 lean PT 24/7 principles, which include the obvious such as drinking enough water and getting enough sleep. He also is a journal advocate and has a small food journal in his guide with six meals/snacks a day and what and how much I eat. There is a four-week menu guide and a couple of recipes. Like any nutrition guide that comes with workout equipment, if you follow his meal plan you will lose weight. Add some cardio vascular movement which you may not be doing enough of through his DVDs and you will lose more weight - with or without gloves; with or without bands.

Rotation calendar: The calendar is a poster-sized calendar that you can put on your wall. It gives me a four-week plan and then after four-weeks I am to repeat weeks two to four. The calendar has places for my weight, body mass, and inches. One day says “Ripped Core: Today’s focus is on trimming inches off the midsection. Visualize yourself with that six-pack! You can do it.”

The DVDs:

I got:

Basics, which is more or less a beginner’s guide to Tae Bo.

Cardio, which includes aerobic, and muscle toning.

Cardio Burn, which ups the cardio and adds a lower bocdy work.

Ripped Core, which works the abdominal area.

Boot Camp Power works the upper body.

Combo Sculp is a whole body workout and cardio workout.

Body Blast is a fast-paced workout.


Jo’s Experience:

When I went to write the review I called the ordering number and asked if the gloves were for a certain-sized person. I was told they weren’t and that they were for everyone, which is the same answer as when I asked if there was a maximun user weight. I have no idea how they can say a 120 pound 5 foot 3 inch woman can use the same gloves as a 5 foot 8 inch 180 pound woman. I am 5 feet 4 inches and they are too big as I said above.

I don’t know if you have every used resistance bands before but if you have and you have put them under or around you feet, you know they move around. The PT 24/7 bands have the added strap around my ankle but they still move around and loosen up. Also if you have used bands you know that they are color coded by “weight.” Billy just thinks that everyone is fine with his pretty blue bands and that just isn’t so. The workouts are good if you are new to working out. In general they aren’t as challenging as his Tae Bo workouts. He should have stopped when he was ahead.

Bands and DVDs are a great way to exercise at home. There are just too many flaws in Billy Blanks PT 24/7 product for me to recommend it.

You can find all my fitness equipment reviews http://www.epinion.com/user-jo.com


Recommended: No