30 Minutes to Fitness: Shape Up

The all weights pre-mix is my favorite - tough tabata style 20-second on, 10-second off format that fries the muscles with a cardio effect. The other pre-mixes are pretty good, however. If you like basic choreography, but interesting, challenging workouts -- but this is the one to try.

It is clear that Kelly is having fun in this workout. She even says "Don't know why I love this so much, but I do" -- a sentiment that I share. Kelly's fun and joy in this workout is infectious.

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

30 Minute To Fitness Shape Up is Kelly's version of a tabata-style workout; you work for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. You do each exercise for 8 rounds and she alternates cardio and weight exercises. You might think, "EIGHT times?" and assume that it has to get long and boring. Most of the time, this was not true for me. She helps pass the time and reps by alternating a couple of variations of the move. Also, if you do the move on one side and then switch, each side counts as a round, so it actually felt like 4 rounds to me in those cases.

Kelly is solo again in this workout as she was in Trim Down. The workout uses the same set as that previous workout as well. She uses a step, but stresses that you don't have to, if you don't want to. I didn't use it and thought the workout flowed fine without it. She uses two sets of weights, heavy and light (8s and 10s). She said to go light until you figure things out because the intensity of these rounds can sneak up on you. I found that to be true, so I went pretty light so far. She stresses that you can either go light with the weights you choose and get in as many reps as you can or go heavier and do less reps to build strength. I will probably do the former with this workout. She also suggests options or modifications for moves throughout the workout and stresses that you do what works for you.

Instead of a workout timer, the soundtrack includes a man's voice that comes on at the end of a round and at the end of a rest period that says something like, "Round X in 4, 3, 2, 1" or "4, 3, 2, 1 Rest". It really helped in keeping me on track as to where we were in a round. The music was instrumental and I thought it fit the workout well.

The premixes all include a warm up and cool down. They include:

Weights Only-Both Workouts (32 min)

Cardio Only-Both Workouts (32 min)

Combined Workouts (54 min)

Mix it Up #1 (32 min)

Mix it Up #2 (32 min)

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this workout. The time went quickly and I felt like I was well worked out without being wiped out. Realize that I did it on the easier side - no step and low impact and modifications that made sense for my wonky knees, back, and hands/wrists. But, there were not that many modifications that I had to come up with because of the options she suggests. I think that this workout is at the intermediate/advanced level. Hardcore advanced people wanting a super hard tabata workout might not opt for this workout. And, it's definitely not a beginner workout. But, a fairly wide range of exercisers in the middle should be able to use and enjoy this workout.