Slim & Lean

I’m reviewing this workout after previewing and doing it once.

General workout breakdown: The previous reviewers have already broken this down and described it well. I’ll just add that this runs 66 min., with about 5 min. at the beginning for a warm-up and about 5 min. at the end for a final stretch.

Level: I’d recommend this to intermediates + through mid-advanced exercisers with previous weight lifting experience and some preexisting cardio and muscular endurance. You can lighten your weights to make it more intermediate, or you can increase them and even add equipment like a balance disc or Bosu to make this more advanced. I was probably at the mid-intermediate level when I tried this, and let me tell you that it nearly wiped me out!

Class: 2 women and 1 man join Jari. Often several different versions of the same exercise and/or at least one alternative will be shown.

Music: mostly instrumental upbeat stuff with a driving beat. I’ve heard a number of songs before.

Set: somewhat dark interior set with living room furniture off to one side and motivational words (e.g. “results”) on one wall and pictures of muscled body parts on another.

Production: clear picture and sound. The camera angles are usually helpful rather than distracting.

Equipment: Jari presents options both for those using barbells with plates and dumbbells. She and most of her crew use a full-sized step with 2 risers (primarily as a weight bench), but if you don’t have a step or don’t want to drag yours out, just do it all on the floor. You may want to have an exercise mat handy, too.

Space Requirements: You should be able to do lunges in each direction and lie down with arms and legs extended plus have room to set aside equipment for some of the exercises.

DVD Notes: See Beth’s (toaster) review.

Comments: If you found the original Ripped too easy, not enough reps, etc., then Slim & Lean is for you! I agree with Beth on why S&L is harder than the original, and I also agree about the lateness of the cuing and on-screen information. But then I’m just one of those who prefers the original Ripped to the rest (primarily because I like to lift a little heavier).

This one seems to have made more than a few knees cranky. I personally chose to do static reverse lunges instead of the in and out stuff, and that kept mine happy.

I recently discovered Jari Love and am greatly enjoying her workouts. Although her original Get Ripped is my favorite so far, Slim & Lean, the second in the series, is also an excellent workout. As with all of the Ripped workouts, Jari and her three background exercisers vary not only in the equipment they use (eg, dumbbells, barbells, and weight plates, plus optional equipment like a stability ball) but also in their individual weight loads, which are helpfully shown on screen at the start of every new exercise. Slim & Lean also has a couple of new features: 1) in addition to the weight loads, rep totals are also show on screen, and 2) Jari adds pulsing repetitions.

For every exercise, Jari performs a high number of repetitions, but her varied counts (eg, 4-4, 3-1, 1-3, 2-2, pulsing, etc.) keep things interesting. As with the other Ripped workouts, the Slim & Lean DVD is chaptered so that each exercise is its own individual track. The 12 total tracks, each about 5-6 minutes in length, are as follows: warm-up (5-minute overview of various exercises using light weights), squats, front-back lunges, chest presses, bent leg deadlifts/deadrows, push-ups/rotator cuff, tricep dips/overhead extension, biceps/hammer curls, single leg squats/wide squats, overhead press/lateral raise, abs (5-minute series of 4 exercises repeated once), cool-down.

The Main Menu of the Slim & Lean DVD offers the following options: Introduction-Full Workout-Exercises (chapters)-Interview with Angela (a registered dietitian)-Credits-Preview "To the Core"-More Ripped Workouts. I found Slim & Lean to be more challenging than the original Get Ripped for several reasons, including the pulsing repetitions, the increased repetitions of more challenging exercises (such as many more squats and push-ups), and the longer overall length (Slim & Lean comes in just over an hour). Also, I didn't think Jari's cueing was quite as good as in the original, as she sometimes cues a bit late (similarly, the screen showing the weight loads is sometimes a bit late as well). Still, this is definitely an excellent full-body endurance workout for intermediate-to-advanced exercisers, and it is likely to appeal particularly to those who are looking for a greater challenge than the original Get Ripped.

This video is broken down into segments which is good because you can skip over the segments you don't want to do. I believe it's squats, lunges, bi's/tri's, chest, back, rotator cuff, shoulders. She definitely covers everything and it's all about high reps low weight and BURN. It definitely does achieve that objective. I didn't find it spectuacular but I'm sure it will work if you do it regularly. Both beginners and advanced can do this workout if you adjust the weight and reps. All that being said, I have to comment that the abdominal part left much to be desired. Throughout the entire workout I was saying to myself, "wow, if she burns us like this, the abs must be killer". So not the case! The abs were a huge disappointment - no high reps, no burn - EASY - so it was not consistent with the rest of the workout. All in all - a B and MAYBE a keeper.

Denise

The previous reviewer gave a good general breakdown of the workout. One body part per song - there are no compound exercises here. High rep format, and Jari encourages you to go as heavy on the weights as you can manage. I found myself using 5, 8 and 10 lb. weights, although I did use 3 pounders at the end of the shoulder section. I tended to start out heavier and then download halfway or farther into each section for the upper body stuff. Good, thorough workout. There are three exercisers working with Jari, who show different modifications of the exercises. This workout is one you can certainly grow with by upping the weights used. Ab section is very brief, and I found it too easy. I will add ankle weights and/or a barbell plate on my chest next time. Thorough stretch at the end, although the stretches aren't held very long. Jari also does brief stretching for the body part worked after each section. This workout would be great if you were in a time crunch. The whole thing is about 60 min., but you can pick and choose the exercises you want to do, so you can customize it to the body part(s) you want to work and adjust it to the amount of time you have. The workout is certainly not "rah rah" exciting and a ton of fun, but the time does go by quickly because although you work one body part per track, you do several different exercises for that body part so you are often switching what you are doing. Music was fine - nothing to write home about, but it had a good, steady beat which is needed for the workout.

Just finished this workout. I haven't read other reviews on it and I don't know if it's been broken down. I won't do that, cuz I know I won't be able to remember everything.

It's an endurance workout that's in the style of Body Pump. You work 1 body part per song track. Lots of pulses and rhythm changes. The music is nothing to write home about, but I hardly noticed. In this workout, the beat of the music dictates the rep rate and it did it's job. I want to say this was harder than Jari's original 'Ripped' workout. Not just in length, but I came away from this one pretty shaky...unlike the original. (I'm sure my weights were too light, tho.) She has a plie'& one-legged squat track somewhere around the middle of this workout. I couldn't do it. My legs were fried from the first 2 tracks, which were regular squats and lunges, and my legs were too tired for it. I tried to do the one-legged squats and they were shaking like crazy. LOVED IT! Something to work up to. My shoulders, biceps, tri's...really everything got cooked with light weights. During the back track, however, I'll probably change things a bit next time. My arms were worked harder than my back, IMO, so I'll go heavier and slower next time, but that's just me. The ab section is the last section before the stretch/cooldown and even tho it was brief, I was burning when it stopped. Your abs are pre-exhausted becuz you use them to stabilze yourself during the workout, so the brevity works here.

Anyway, it was a really good workout. Can't wait to do 'Ripped to the Core'. Good one, Jari!!!!!