Denise Austin is a famous fitness instructor who has put together a DVD to increase metabolism and burn fat. This workout seems to focus on a woman’s physique and the words she uses encourage you think of this a weigh-reducing workout.

About the instructor
Denise Austin has been in the fitness industry for more than 25 years. She has sold over 20 million exercise tapes and DVD’s. She has written some exercise books, and has several popular fitness shows on television.

Equipment needed
A very important item needed for this workout is the lightweight resistance band. The band is a piece of thin rubber that when pulled correctly create resistance and works the muscles harder. The resistance band is included in the DVD. This particular resistance band can be purchased at stores for $3 or less if needed.

The abdominal section is done on the ground so an exercise mat can be used if desired but not required.

Denise Austin’s recommendations
At the beginning of the workout Denise gives an overview of what to expect from the workout and what purpose the parts serve. She guarantees results in 10 days if following her recommend usage of:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – Cardio Segments
Tuesday and Thursday – Upper, lower, and abs strength training
Saturday – All 4 segments

The workout

Cardio
The total cardio workout is about 24 minutes. It starts with a 3 minute warm-up using the stretchy bands performing things such as stretching arms, back, and legs.

The first 3 minutes of the workout included walking to the sides and back, Moving forward quickly while pumping the arms and raising the knee up. We then proceeded to strength training which began with 2 minutes of squats, outer thigh lift which is quickly modified to exercise the inner and outer thighs.

The next step is cardio kickboxing. While bouncing a little do jab and cross hand movements with the resistance band. Another move is pretending to jump rope emphasizing movement in the thighs. We did knee strikes with a kick, hooks using the arms, and shifting weight of your body while using the resistance of the bands for the arms.

The next 4 minute series of moves include things called chasses to the side, mombo, a scoot, and pony back, and power skater.

The next 5 minute strength training series of moves include the plissé squats while criss-crossing the bands to work the chest. Marching in place, rock step, cha-cha.

The next 1 minute segment is toning for strength training starting out with drop-down lunges while also working the arms.

The 2 minute cool down includes a warrior stretch and full body stretch. Reach and holds hamstring and calve stretch, triceps stretch, with final focus on breathing.

Upper Body Workout
The 10 minute upper body workout starts with a quick breathing stretch. The emphasis is on slow momentum to work the muscles, upper back. Each movement will be about 8 slow, 8 fast. We start out with a chest press, triceps pull behind your head for the underarms, biceps curls, pull down to firm upper back, lateral raise, and front raise.

Lower Body
The 10 minute lower body workout is supposed to tone the hips, thighs, and buttocks. There are lunges, squats, and side lifts for outer thigh. We proceed to the ground for the next set of exercises. On all fours and stretching the leg back. Rolling over to the back lifting the hips off the ground with the resistance band, then stretching the leg.

Abdominals
The final 10 minute workout group is the abdominals and waistline. The first exercise begins with our body face down in a plank pose then holding your body up. From there we roll over and lift and lower the hips off of the ground using the lower ab muscles. The next move is an isometric hold on the side. From the side biometrical hold do side crunches. Rolling to the back, pulling the knees into the chest. Crunch, legs up and crunch, and finally a full body crunch. The criss-cross bicycle, from plank position pull knees in. lifting back, erector spine muscles, and saw stretch.

How did the instructor do?
I don’t think that this is Denise Austin’s best work. Denise talked non-stop in this workout and most of it was just motivational chatter reminding us constantly that we were shedding unwanted pounds, boosting metabolism, and burning fat. Although her constant motivational chatter may be helpful to some I felt that is was totally rehearsed and insincere. I felt like she was just picking words from her motivational database and spewing them out. I didn’t see any genuine character in this workout which leaves me less likely to want to do this workout 6 times a week.

She took time at the beginning of the DVD to introduce the workout and explain how the parts worked together yet nothing was mentioned about the resistance band or how to use it. She never mentioned in the cardio section the correct form for doing the exercises so if you hadn’t learned to correct form to use from other workouts you’re either going to hurt yourself or risk effectiveness of the move.

Her cardio workout was pretty easy and the heart rate may not even be elevated enough for some to reach the fat burning zone because the repetitions were so short. You don’t see the instructor or her helpers break a sweat or become out of breath.

Denise spent a little more time talking about the correct way to do the moves in the upper, lower, and abdominals.

Denise’s voice gets on my nerves. She talks at what seems like a higher pitch than she needs to. She emphasizes with a higher pitch the first word of each sentence. Every single move seems to be her favorite move or so she says.

Who would like this?
This is suitable for females and I wouldn’t recommend it for men at all because her exercises are geared to shape a female’s body.

I think this is also more suitable for ladies who like to bop around a lot. Some of the moves seemed like dance moves and a little more carefree than I’m use to.

I’m not sure who the target market is for this workout. The moves aren’t explained and it’s too fast-moving for a beginner yet it’s too easy and cheesy for an advanced user. The exercise band can help intensify the workout and help you see results if used correctly. The workout is way too easy without the resistance band so if you get this used make sure you are getting the resistance band or already have one.

Replay value
This routine is designed for repeat play. Denise has anticipated the viewer to reuse this workout each day of the week with a full week being 6 days. Indeed the sessions that she recommends are fairly short so individuals should be able to fit them into their schedule.

The moves themselves are not challenging however by using an exercise band it really bumps up the workout and definitely adds to the effectiveness. The bands put resistance on the muscles which is ideal for muscle building and seeing quick results.

I’m not sure how long a person is going to be able to watch the same workout over and over.

Overall
I suppose you get a lot for the money in this workout. You get a $3 exercise resistance band and a 56 minute DVD. Denise intends for the routine to be used for 6 days a week so if you’re a Denise Austin fan (which I’m not) you will probably get a great deal out of this. She indicates that you will see results from this workout after 10 days which I think can be said about many workouts. This is a lower intensity workout than many that I have seen. The cardio is really short, the upper toning seemed to be good, the lower was average, and the abs were good for results however common exercises. The repetitions are very short so I’m not sure that everyone’s muscles will be exerted during the workout. You typically have a set of 8 slow and 8 quick and then you move on to something else. All of these moves are ones that we have done a hundred times before; there wasn’t anything new or exciting. The music was just a beat and not even noticeable so you’re left with only Denise to entertain you. 99% of this workout is done with the exercise band. If you don’t feel like fooling with the resistance band then you should pass on this DVD. This workout just doesn’t inspire me. I recommend it, but not very much.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV