Review: Jillian Michaels Kickbox FastFix

Kickboxing is by far my favorite cardio workout. It's lower impact than running, more convenient than swimming (I'm also terrible at swimming), and it's a ton of fun. I usually hate cardio. So, when my sister asked me what I wanted for a graduation present, I said this: Jillian Michaels' Kickbox FastFix, which I believe only came out a couple of months ago. Long story short, I love it.



The DVD is divided into three workouts and a tutorial, which I recommend watching before you start, even if you've kickboxed before (it teaches you the proper stances, etc., since the actual workouts move pretty quickly). The description on the back of the case says that workout one targets upper body, workout two targets lower body, and workout three targets the core. This is a lie: every workout targets everything. Sure, you get a little more fatigued in each area for each workout (and the third one is much more abs-heavy than the others), but realistically you're going to kick and punch and burn calories all over when you do any of the workouts.


Things I like:

1. Each workout is 20 minutes long. Not 35 minutes like Yoga Meltdown, not 28 minutes like the 30 Day Shred. This is counting the warm up (there isn't much of one) and the cool down (about a minute of light stretches). I don't feel like I'm wasting my time.
2. This will give you killer tone on your legs. Just make every single movement forceful and full of intention; think about kicking something, not about raising your leg. I find it helpful, after I've gotten the jist of what I'm supposed to be doing, to stop looking at the screen and just do the workout until I hear that I'm supposed to stop.
3. This is fun. It's fast-paced, and there's not a lot of standing around. There are a lot of different motions and combinations, so it doesn't get boring. You do each exercise for about thirty seconds, between two and five exercises per circuit, four circuits per workout.
4. There are a lot of demonstrators. You can recognize Anita and Natalie from the 30 Day Shred, but I don't know the others yet (there are still a few JM DVDs I haven't tried yet). I like that there are a lot of people because they show different intensities and modifications.
5. In the abs level, you do bicycle crunches, which are my absolute favorite ab exercise. This will always be a plus for any workout DVD I do.

Things I don't like:

1. The combinations are kind of tricky to figure out if you haven't done the workout before or you don't know the terms or if you have an awful memory. I take my time at first until I figure out what I'm supposed to do (e.g. jab-jab-cross-front step-roundhouse), and then kick up the speed.
2. As much as I like that it's only 20 minutes, I'm also kind of disappointed because I love doing this DVD. It's definitely one of my favorites.

I absolutely recommend this DVD to people of all fitness levels, as long as you have the motivation to put in your all. Since it's only 20 minutes long, I think this will be my new morning workout (every morning before class I'll do one workout). Today, I did all three and I really enjoyed it, but I love that it's broken up into manageable times and if I want to combine them, I don't waste my time on yet another warm-up.

And as always with these DVDs, once you hit play, make it so there's no turning back. Do not hit pause. Time will fly, and you won't regret it.