Vh1 Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp Workout

I used to be an intermediate/advanced exerciser but I haven't worked out in several months so I consider myself beginner/intermediate...at least until I get back up to speed.

I liked this workout a lot. I liked that you didn't need any additional equipment (dumbells, steps, etc.) You can just put the DVD in and get going. You also don't need a lot of room to do this workout.

It's very effective and got my heart rate up expecially when he went into second and third gear. I was sweating! I did the workout twice. The first time I did the 30 minute workout and the second time I did the 50 minute.

I only had two complaints. The 50 minute workout basically repeats the same exercises in the 30 minute version with some changes. I get bored easily and I would have liked different exercises. Also, the pace is sometimes too fast for good form.

But overall I liked the workout and I'll definately keep it in my rotation.

Workout: A

Instructor: C

First of all, I hate that you can't forward past the beginning stuff. At least, I couldn't. And it annoyed me. I will try it in my other DVD players to see if I can figure out a way to skip it. It is not as tedious as sitting through Natural Journey's Bar Method dvd startup sequence.

You are given a choice of music options. I enjoyed the rock/alternative over the 'pop' (I gave pop a chance, but it was boring instrumentals that put me to sleep). The rock/alternative was motivating.

Unfortunately as I said - there is no way to mute just the instructor. I think Beach Body did it great with P90X - giving us a chance to turn off the music, or just the instructor.

You can choose your workout - 30 minutes and 50. I chose the 50.

The background exercisers are in great shape. One of them demonstrates a lower intensity workout. Harvey insults them all a lot. He also seems to flirt with some of them (in a staged way)

The workout starts off kind of easy. You alternate 30 seconds of marching in place with 30 seconds of harder moves (i.e. jumping jacks, squats, lunges, upper body boxing moves)

He then goes into second gear, as he calls it, and instead of marching, you jog in place. The intervals also seemed to be harder. My favorite was the one legged burpees. He also has you do pushups and ab works during the various intervals.

Then he moves to third gear, which uses jumping jacks.

Sometimes while in third gear, you use jogging in place, and sometimes you use jumping jacks as the in between interval work.

When in third gear, he runs through a lot of the old moves again, but he calls the squats "Suicide squats", the side leaps (skaters) "Suicide leaps". The burpees are two legged, and the ab work involves plank work.

I did not do the last 20 minutes of the workout because life got in the way, but in the end, I was left with a favorable impression of the workout.

Harvey's instruction style: F (With the disclaimer that I expected him to be this way, so it's not like he didn't deliver as 'promised')

The workout itself: A

Form Pointers: D

I consider this a workout for people who are well versed in working out and feel confident in their form.