Lord of the Abs: Maximum Abs

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

OK. A couple of things about my preferences - because they might help you decide if you would like this workout. I am not a big fan of core workouts (but think I should probably do one once in awhile) and absolutely HATE floor work, including ab work. So, when a standing abs DVD came along that was was a combination abs and cardio workout, I was interested.

There is a very short warm up and then Gilad goes straight into the workout. In it, he focuses on the shoulders because you use your shoulders a LOT in this workout. Then, he goes into a series of combinations where you do several moves on one side, then you repeat the sequence on the other side, and then you do the sequence on one side and then the other without stopping. There is a fair amount of side stepping between combinations. I thought that the workout was intense in places, but the overall intensity was decreased because of the breaks with the side stepping.

I enjoyed large parts of this workout. Other parts were more boring to me because of the repetition of the moves. Overall, I think it is a good workout. However, my shoulders were really, really tired after the workout. It would have been better if the workout were less shoulder intensive.

Gilad is his normal motivating self and he does a good job leading the workout. As usual, the scenery behind the exercisers is beautiful and motivating in its own way. Gilad has several backup exercisers behind him and watching them sometimes helped me figure out how to hold the ball or do the move.I remember nothing about the music; it must have been standard instrumental music.

I I had hoped that using the medicine ball in this video would provide a good upper body workout, but I found (quite quickly) that *I* had to use a VERY light weight or my shoulders fatigued almost immediately. So, for me, this would be classified as a cardio workout with core focus (which is probably how it's intended to be.)

THE WARM-UP:

Very brief. Gilad focuses on warming up the shoulders (since you'll be using them A LOT). Simple moves: arm reaches, arm circles, shoulder rolls, clasping elbows and circling, shoulder stretch, soldier march with arm lift

THE WORKOUT:

This workout mixes so many moves that I LOVED with so many that I HATED. And since these dvds are infamously lacking CHAPTER POINTS, then there's no skipping around.

MOVES I LOVED: twists with the weight (a la TaeBo), figure 8/rowing, pushing the ball away from the body (often with a lower body move), lifting the ball up and down while squatting, the lunge series with ball extension/lift/twist, knee ups/repeaters with ball movement, segments that included a balance challenge (he throws them in here and there).

MOVES I HATED: endless ball circles in front of the body (sensitive shoulders), lots and lots of pivots and their variations (hammer throw, discus...sensitive knees)

MOVES I LIKED BUT GOT TIRED OF BECAUSE WE DID THEM A LOT: side-stepping with the ball

THE STRETCH:

Pure awesomeness. Gilad uses the med ball to go deeper into a stretch (as it rolls away). He also uses it as a prop, almost like a yoga block (for balance and to avoid going too deep into a pose). There was also a long stretch for upper body/shoulders. I really liked this and thought it was a nice ending to the workout.

OVERALL:

I liked this, but can't do it without modifications. (Gilad does like his pivoting!)

This workout feels nicely functional...but unfortunately very shoulder-intensive. Several moves reminded me of Michael Carson's Get Sexy (but with a Gilad-feel and a safer pace -- Get Sexy hurt my back, this did not at all). Maybe it's all the repetition, or the fact that I can't/don't do about half the moves, but this workout felt long to me.