Jillian Review: Kickbox FastFix

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I know I'm a little late to the party on this one (it was released early 2012) buuuut I finally bought the Jillian Michaels: Kickbox FastFix DVD!  This one has three 20 minute kickboxing workouts.  I assume you can do all three at once if you really want a hard core workout, but since I do these during my lunch hour at our office gym, I'm doing one at a time. 

Naturally I couldn't wait to try my shiny new Jillian DVD, so I squeezed Workout 1 in today even with a crazy schedule.  Coincidentally, this workout is legitimately 20 minutes including the warm up and cool down so it's perfect for those days when you want to get your heart rate going but you don't want to be sweating for hours.  With that said, even though it is a mere 20 minutes, it's definitely a great total body workout - arms incorporated with punching sequences, legs used with lots of great kicking motions, and core continuously engaged.  Let's be serious - Jillian even managed to throw suicide sprints into the mix...did you expect anything less?!

I can't wait to try Workout 2 & 3; this seems like it will climb to one of my top favorite JM DVDs.  Do you love it too?!

Jillian Love

Let's talk about my love for Jillian Michaels for a quick sec, okay.  Uh, I swear, swear, swear by her DVDs.  Seriously, I love them.  I mostly obsess over them because: A) they are fast, like 20-30 minutes fast and B) you get results, quickly.  Who doesn't like that?! 

Today I tried Jillian Michaels: Shred-It with Weights (aka a kettlebell.)  It was good for strength training, but not one of my absolute favorites so far.  But hey, I'm sure that could all change.  Another one I like (but don't love just yet) is Jillian Michaels: 6 Week Six Pack.  Don't get me wrong - it's a great cardio and ab workout that makes you sweat, but as I've previously blogged about, I have a really bad right knee (ugh) and some of the moves in that DVD just really irritate it.

Onto bigger and better things.  These are my favorites:

Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred - Again, swear by it.  The DVD has three different levels of intensity, each about 20 minutes long.  This is the only workout I used to get fit and toned for my wedding.  And it worked wonders.  Actually, I should really start doing it again routinely because personally it's the best shape I think my arms have been in.  Ever.  And that's only staying on level 2!!

Jillian Michaels: Yoga Meltdown - Love it.  I've tried just the regular yoga class at your everyday gym (not a specialized yoga studio) and that was not for me...just a bit too low key for the exercises I typically chose.  But the Meltdown is basically power yoga, so you're never doing only one pose for an extended period of time.  Jillian instructs you to come in and out of the pose several times and then eventually you hold the pose for under a minute.  I've achieved great arm and ab results with this one!

Jillian Michaels: Ripped in 30 - This is hard.  It's four 24 minute workouts, so to me it's like an amped up version of 30 Day Shred.  I used this to prepare for the Wintergreen Adventure Challenge since it combined cardio and weights and I needed both for 7 miles of obstacles.  [Side note: let's be real, nothing prepared me for how hard this 'challenge' was, but we completed it with wonderful 2/6 friends so I wouldn't change it for the world.]  Also, I'm pretty sure that one of my bridesmaids used this to tone up for her wedding.  It's a winner!

I really want to try Jillian Michaels: Kickbox FastFix.  It's 20 minute segments of kickboxing.  Um, a quick kickboxing session - yes, please.  And the Jillian Michaels: Extreme Shed & Shred looks intense, but the workouts are 45 minutes.  I was originally drawn to her workouts because they're less than 30 minutes, I love that.  Anyhow, I'll be putting those on the workout bucket list.   

How much do you love Jillian??  Or are there other quick workout DVDs I should add to my collection??  I'm always on the lookout for a quick way to squeeze in a good workout so let me know!