Body Revolution: Cardio 2
Reviews from VideoFitness
This is the cardio workout that accompanies Phase 2 of the three-phase Body Revolution program. Like Cardio 1, this is a no-equipment workout of drill-type cardio moves. Jillian leads the workout with a diverse cast - age, body type, gender, ethnicity - and she often focuses on one backgrounder to either lead the move or to show off their (great) form. There is generic upbeat electronic dance-y music in the background but it stays in the background. Only a couple of moves are coordinated with the music.
The format: one round of 16 exercises, each done for 30 seconds, then repeat the round two times. Total workout time is 28 minutes, plus there's a 3-minute cooldown/stretch. There is no warmup; you start with the first exercise and warm yourself up by increasing your effort/intensity/range of motion as the round progresses.
In order the exercises are:
1 - jump rope
2 - butt kicks
3 - high knees
4 - alternating knee strikes (I find this too torque-y on my knees since I exercise on carpet, so I face forward and twist my torso when doing the strike)
5 - jumping jacks
6 - fast feet
7 - skiers (keeping torso straight, jump to one side, then center, then other side, then center, like you're skiing moguls)
8 - skaters
9 - plie jumps
10 - cross jacks (jumping jacks with feet alternating in front, right and left, arms swinging open and closed on the jumps)
11 - upper cuts, lower body in mid-squat
12 - towel runs one way
13 - towel runs the other way
14 - cross/hooks, one arm
15 - cross/hooks, other arm
16 - burpees
There are more impact moves in this workout than in Cardio 1, but I didn't find it to be more intense at all, maybe because there are more breaks. I am dripping with sweat at the end of Cardio 1 but am pleasantly winded at the end of Cardio 2. Except for the burpees, the exercises are no more advanced in Phase 2 than Phase 1, so you could alternate the workouts to alleviate boredom if you're doing a Body Revolution rotation.
Jillian cues moves clearly, demonstrates the first time through, then spends most of the workout encouraging her backgrounders or using them for form pointers and motivation. She does make a couple of body comments: the tall dark-haired backgrounder David is called something like "man candy", and she talks about fitting into skinny jeans. No swearing - she says "ass" and "having sex with the lights on" in other Body Revolution workouts, but we are spared that in this one. There is a LOT of her yelling "go!" in the backgrounders' faces.
This is a very straight-forward, athletic style cardio routine that is one circuit repeated 3 times through. Each cardio move is repeated for about 30 seconds per round. The moves include jump rope, butt kickers, jumping jacks, skaters, uppercuts with static squats, plie hops, cross jacks, towel runs and burpees. The workout starts right up with no warm-up, just right to it. It starts out feeling pretty easy but builds in intensity--by the end I had really worked up a sweat! I don't recall any modifications shown/discussed. This was a fun workout for me that went by quickly. I would say it is intermediate to high intermediate depending on how much you put into it. Thumbs up from me!
I like Jillian here. She made me laugh out loud with a few of her comments. She made me roll my eyes a few times too. I didn't like some of her comments about enjoying exercise because I LOVE it and coming from a fitness instructor that seems odd. I think though the idea is that it makes her seem relatable. Also there is a fair bit of objectifying the participants (one guy is called a hunk of a man or maybe a hunk of man candy?) If this sort of thing bothers you, be aware of this. No swearing here. Also she looks fantastic!