Extreme Burn

I am a 45 year old male high intermediate to advanced level exerciser. Level usually depends on what day it is and what exerecise program I did the day before.lol. I really enjoy this dvd and put into my workout rotation quite often. I really liked the variety of the combo moves, and the with cardio intervels. I found the ab workout at the end challenging. I would rate it a high intermediate to advanced level.

Extreme Burn is a primarily strength workout with cardio intervals and abs. Workout 1 is 42 minutes (including warm up/stretch) and Workout 2 is 46 minutes, or they can be combined into a longer workout, which the DVD menu allows for. The workout has already been broken down, so I'm just going to add my opinions.

Mike leads (maybe 75% working with you and 25% pointing out form on his two women background exercisers) and there is a countdown timer, not for the entire workout but for each :60 or :30 interval (and the title of the exercise you are doing), which I found motivating.

W1: After a 3 minute warm up, you spend about 10 minutes on the first strength circuit, about 7 minutes on the cardio circuit (all cardio was 30 seconds each, the entire circuit is then repeated once), about another 10 minutes on strength, and about 7 minutes on abs (like cardio, the ab exercises were all 30 seconds each, the entire circuit is then repeated once), and a 4 minute stretch. I especially liked the renegade row/jump up/overhead press/windmill move in the second strength set! A lot of the moves were functional and fun and really worked the core, and he did a great job at hitting all the muscle groups (biceps/triceps/shoulders/legs/core/back-chest not hit so much, triceps hit the hardest). Some of the strength moves were :60 on each side while some were :30 and he had you switch sides halfway through the :60 countdown. I would say the workout is high intermediate.

W2: The structure of W2 is the same as W1 but as Mike points out (several times) the exercises themselves are much more challenging. I felt the need to go a little lighter on some of the exercises because Mike would incorporate hops side to side or functional twisting, or full range of motion moves, but it still really kept the heart rate up. I would say my favorites were the tricep pushup/squat thrust/clean and press, snatch/cross/press, and the spiderman pushups/reverse T raise-those were really tough! The cardio was especially fun and harder than in W1 for sure, with mountain climbers, explosive donkey kicks (a new one to me), and bear crawl/star jump (and all repeated). The abs were also significantly more challenging and I was wiped by the end! I would rate this workout as low-mid advanced.

I enjoyed both of these workouts and would use them for a strength day (with some cardio mixed in) and will likely use W2 more than W1, because it was simply more challenging and fun to me, although they are both well thought out and Mike is great! I can see myself picking up his second workout at some point, I think he really has a talent for developing and instructing workout DVDs. Overall grade A!

MIKE DONAVANIK EXTREME BURN

I liked but didn't love this workout. It has a lot of pivot/rotations, and I found a few of the moves to be a little awkward on puzzle mats. I ended up using several different weights depending on the move, and you have just enough time between moves to switch weights if you have them lined up and ready.

WORKOUT #3 "EXTREME" (COMBINES 1 AND 2)

WARM UP

WORKOUT 1

STRENGTH INTERVAL

1 minute each:

SQUAT ; SQUAT W SHOULDER PRESS 1 min

REVERSE/LATERA STEPS; W/ TRICEP KICKBACKS

SIDE LUNGE/TWISTING ROW/OBLIQUE CROSS - RIGHT SIDE

SIDE LUNGE/TWISTING ROW/OBLIQUE CROSS -LEFT SIDE

ALTERNATING CURL/PRESS

WOODCHOPS

REVERSE LUNGE/CROSS JAB/PRESS - RIGHT SIDE

REVERSE LUNGE/CROSS JAB/PRESS -LEFT SIDE

CARDIO BLAST

30 seconds each move

SIDE HOP/DOWNWARD PUNCH

HIGH KNEE PULLS (30 Secs. Each side)

SIDE SHUFFLE PUNCH

SPEED SKATERS

DYNAMO LUNGES

*REPEAT CARDIO BLAST*

STRENGTH INTERVAL #2

1 minute each

DUMBELL SWINGS UP TO "Y"

RENEGADE ROWS

FRONT LUNGE/ ALT RAISE/ TRICEP KICKBACK - RIGHT LEG

FRONT LUNGE/ALT RAISE/TRICEP KICKBACK–LEFT LEG

OVERHEAD TRICEP EXTENSIONS–END WITH PULSES

GRAPPLER THROWS

RENEGADE ROW/SQUAT THRUST/ MODIFIED WINDMILL-LEFT SIDE

RENEGADE ROW/SQUAT THRUST/ MODIFIED WINDMILL-RIGHT SIDE

ABS

30 secs each

CRUNCHES W/ LEGS ELEVATED

SCISSOR CRUNCHES - ONE SIDE

SCISSOR CRUNCHES- OTHER SIDE

REVERSE CRUNCHES

BICYCLE CRUNCHES

BOAT POSE

*REPEAT ALL AB MOVES*

WORKOUT #2

STRENGTH INTERVAL

1 minute each

TRICEP PUSHUP/SQUAT THRUST/CLEAN AND PRESS

LATERAL HOPS WITH TRICEP KICKBACK

TOSSING THE HAY (SIDE LUNGE/POWER HOP/DOUBLE ARM SIDE PUNCH)

TOSSING THE HAY–OTHER SIDE

WINDSHIELD WIPER CURLS

DUMBELL CIRCLES (CORE MOVE)

SNATCH/CROSS/ADD TWISTING PRESS-ONE SIDE

SNATCH/CROSS-OTHER SIDE

CARDIO BLAST

30 seconds each

MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS

DONKEY KICKS

HEISMAN DRILL

5-POINT JUMPING DRILL

BOW TIE DRILL

BEAR CRAWL TO STAR JUMP

*REPEAT ALL MOVES*

STRENGTH INTERVAL #2

1 minute each

LATERAL SQUAT WITH SHOULDER PULL PRESS

STAGGARD SQUAT/TWISTING CURL/CROSS JAB

FORWARD LUNGE/ROW/REVERSE CURTSY-ONE SIDE

FORWARD LUNGE/ROW/REVERSE CURTSY-OTHER SIDE

SHOULDER TRICEP SEQUENCE

DUMBELL TORSO ROTATION

SPIDERMAN PUSH-UP/REVERSE T-RAISE–RIGHT SIDE

SPIDERMAN PUSH-UP/REVERSE T-RAISE-LEFT SIDE

ABS

30 seconds each

LEG LIFTS

CRUNCHES W/ LEGS ELEVATED

V-UPS

CROSSOVER PUNCHES–ONE SIDE

CROSOVER PUNCES-OTHER SIDE

RUSSIAN TWISTS

*REPEAT ALL MOVES*

COOL DOWN

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

Just to let you know a little about me, I'm a 48 year old intermediate and long term exerciser who has bad hands, wrists, and feet (psoriatic arthritis) and bad knees (osteo arthritis). Consequently, I look for low-impact workouts - or workouts that I can modify easily - that don't require body weight to be supported on my hands/wrists.

For some reason, this workout grabbed my attention and I really wanted to try it. As a committed intermediate exerciser, I knew this workout would probably be more advanced than I would want to do, but I still was intrigued by it.

The DVD has two workouts on it that you can play separately and then a third option that combines the two workouts - for the "extreme" option. Each workout has a warm up and then he does sections of strength moves and cardio blasts. Each strength move is done for one minute and each move in the cardio blast is done for 30 seconds and then he repeats the cardio blast. He sometimes switches things up midway through the time given for a move and that makes it more interesting to me. It's a good mix of strength and cardio and abs - and you are always moving.

Mike Donavanik leads the workout with two background exercisers behind him. Both his backgrounders are fit with different body types: one is very slim, almost lanky, and the other is more curvy and muscular. They look like real fit women, not backgrounder models. Much of the time, he does the workout as he leads it, but he does go back by his background exercisers to coach them and emphasize form pointers. Personally, I thought it was a good thing because I found what he emphasized motivated me to work harder. However, for those that want their instructors to do the entire workout, it could be distracsting. He talks A LOT - and most of his talk is encouraging and motivating to try harder and pointing out what a move will do and giving form pointers. I found his talk motivating and there didn't seem to be much, if any, talk about what you'll look like. He focused more on strength and functionality. Don't ask me about the music - I have no memory of it, for what that's worth.

I ended up deciding that I enjoyed trying this workout, but it makes me work harder than I want to. It would be hard on my body long term. People who are higher intermediate exercisers than me (without bad hands and knees) and advanced exercisers would be likely to enjoy this workout because he does push you to work hard and work on strength and cardio endurance. It's a workout I like that I just would have a hard time doing.

This dvd has two 40 minute C+S interval workouts on it, that you can play individually or together for one total kick butt workout! Mike works out in an open gym style set with 2 background exercisers. This is a fantastic hard-core interval workout that will burn tons of calories and work your muscles. You will only need dumbbells for this dvd.

Each cardio move is performed for 30 seconds & each strength move is performed for 60 seconds and Mike provides variations within the minute to keep things interesting and to keep your muscles guessing. You perform a block of strength exercises that really get your heartrate up and then a shorter block of cardio exercises that will get your heart pumping even harder.

Workout #1 (42 minutes) exercises include: squat & overhead press, side lunges w/ a twisting row, woodchops, dip- punch- knee up, cardio lunges, knee pulls, shuffle & punhc, skater, swings to a Y raise, overhead tri extension, tri kickbacks, lunge & extensions, grappler throws, renegade rows- hop up- windmill, crunch variations, boat pose, & finishes w/ a cooldown.

Workout #2 (45 minutes) exercises include: squat burpee- puhnsup- hop to overhead press, cardio lunges add tricep kickback, wiper curls, dumbbell circles, snatch with a cross knee pull add overhead press, mt climbers, donkey jump kicks, heisman drill, diagonal skater, crawl to plank then X jumps, lunge & row to curtsy, torso twist, spiderman pushups to reverse planks, toe drops (core), Russian twists, double crunches, toe reaches, and finishes w/ a cooldown.

These workouts are both advanced in my opinion, with number 2 being even more challenging. Mike is a great lead- lots of great form pointers & good cuing. These workouts are right up my ally- tough but fun, lots of compound movements, and nice athletic exercises that get & keep your heart PUMPING! I would consider this a medium weight - faster paced workout that is pretty much nonstop. I know I burned a TON of calories with these workouts and can not wait for more from Mike! I received this workout to review.