Interval Training

This workout was originally titled "Interval Training for Men" and the class is all guys, working out on black mats with Gilad on the beach with the ocean in the background. I love Gilad for his beautiful settings!

I was interested in this workout because I have become a fan of Gilad's cardio but so far have not found a good strength workout from him that used weights. The format of this routine is a warm-up for about 7 minutes, high-impact cardio for about 20 minutes, a toning section with weights for about 10 minutes, a floor toning section for chest/core for about 10 minutes and a short cool-down. I was excited to finally use some weights!

The warm-up is straightforward and features a few stretches and some movement to warm up the rest of the body. Then we go right into the cardio, which is nearly all high-impact (with short breaks for walking). You do circuits of various moves for sets of 8. For example one circuit is marches and jump-ropes, so you would rotate between them, doing 8 marches, then 8 jump-ropes. There are also jumping jacks, kicks, and a boxing section. It is very similar to Gilad's other cardio and is all athletic moves with no choreography to speak of. Gilad and his men count out every rep Billy Blanks style continuously, so if hearing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8! over and over again as in Tae Bo will bother you, be warned.

The toning section features 8 moves done for ten reps each. The circuit of 8 moves is repeated 3 times. There are squats, lunges, a chest move, biceps, triceps and shoulders. The rep speed is a little fast!

The floor section features a push-up, back extension and crunch circuit done various ways. I skipped this part and finished the workout at the 40-minute mark.

I enjoyed this routine. I am not sure how much progress one could make from a strength standpoint considering he goes so fast with the rep speed, but for a day where I wanted a bit of strength but felt I needed cardio too, it was fine. Just be warned that the cardio is very high-impact and not the kind of impact that is easy to modify down!

If you like Gilad's cardio and can handle a bit of impact, this will be another enjoyable routine for your collection. I am sure I will use it again.

Gilad Janklowicz

Interval Training

DVD version

Total run time 57:11

- Setting: beautiful beach without anyone swimming in the background (I believe its on the west shore of Oahu at ¡§Yokohama¡¨ beach) with 4-5 foot waves crashing on rocks in the background.

- Level: solid intermediate; can intensify by using weighted gloves, doing push-up on toes, using heavier weights

- Music: usual upbeat music that Gilad used (drum beats, bass, synthesizers, no vocals)

- equipment needed: weights ¡V they use one set (maybe around 10#); I used 5 and 8#

- style: high rep, low weights; difficult to switch weights without losing reps
- cueing: occasionally mirror cues. Workout is easy to follow, though. The men count out loud, military style, but it isn't annoying

intro 0-2:15

[rambo 2:07-2:15]

Number in parenthesis are the approximate length of the segment; numbers written in time format represent start of the section; section titles are verbatim from onscreen.

Warm up (7) 2:15

Cardiovascular Interval Training (17) 9:19

Standing Circuit Strength Training (11) 25:51

Circuit Training on the Floor (12.5) 36:57

Stretch & Cooldown (7) 49:23

Workout ends at 55:41

Actual workout length: ~53 minutes

This is more of a circuit training workout divided into 2 parts: cardio then toning with weights. The cardio portion is not totally interval style in the true sense of the word. He does alternate between marches/leg-ups and high impact (imaginary jump ropes, jumping jacks).

The workout goes by really fast despite its 'no-nonsense' style. There's 6 other men of various ages ranging from 20's to maybe mid 50. There's a nice comraderie/rapport between all of them.

The standing circuits with weights consist of (can't recall exact order) rows, triceps kickbacks, squats, back lunges, lateral raises, chest squeezes. Floor circuits consist of pushups, back extensions (variations between circuits), crunches, obliques. In each circuit set for both standing and floor, he does about 3-4 circuits for each. The standing circuits don't really change between sets. The next time I do this I'll probably do forward lunges, side lunges, and maybe curtsy lunges, and static lunges for variety.

This workout was originally released on VHS in the mid-late 80's, and may appear dated due to Gilad's 'big hair' but for me it doesn¡¦t detract from the workout. The men wear long pants and tank tops and LA Gear crosstrainers.

I like this workout as a high-rep, low weight workout since it¡¦s solid intermediate, goes by fast, and I feel like I got a nice workout to start my day!