Turbo Jam: Total Body Blast

I've tried to like this workout, really I have. I just can't seem to get into it. I'll do it a few times, put it aside, and try it months later, thinking eventually it'll click with me, but after a few years, it just hasn't. This is almost hour long workout using a stability ball, mostly either holding it or sitting/laying on it. Between the warm up and cool down, the workout cycles between seated/reclining ab exercises, standing leg work, and cardio. The intervals vary in length but are usually in the 90 seconds to 4 minutes range. If you like doing something for a very short period and then moving on to something else, you might like this and short each segment is before you move on. I typically felt cheated-- I couldn't get into the cardio because the sections were so brief.And the leg segments were somewhat bothersome. I never really feel it in my legs, but because the moves are so repetitive and often done at a brisk tempo, I DO feel it in my knees. For the lower body moves, there's lots of lunges and many, many very narrow stance squats. Chalene usually uses the narrow squat as a transition between segments and within as well. The ab work is fairly standard ball ab work, for the most part. But being Chalene, there are also some segments where she has you sit and do some dancey kind of wiggles or hip pumps. I get that you're supposed to engage your core, but given how she and most of the gang mug and ape for the camera, it just seems more like "look at us! Being fun and sexay!" rather than seeming like trying to add to the workout.

For intensity, Chalene generates much of it by moving the ball overhead. If you have low ceilings or a ceiling fan, you might not be able to do this or not feel comfortable with it. If you follow the modifier and hold the ball at the center body, you might not be able to see the screen very well. I get that she's trying to use the ball for the whole workout, but holding it doesn't seem like a very interesting use. I've seen other instructors find far more interesting ways t employ the ball or interesting moves to do with in the standard sitting/ laying upon positions, but Chalene really uses it in typical ways for typical moves. The one exception is some of the standing work very early in the work out, where you have the ball between the legs and do squats and some leg kicks, working the ball with the kick.

One thing about how she's structured the workout is that you do a sequence on one side and repeat it on the other. Because the standing-- cardio or legs-- sections are so repetitive it often felt to me that I was just doing the same moves over and over again, just breaking them up with ab work. Oh, the packaging says total body, but there really is no upperbody work. A few push ups in one segment is not upper body work.

Overall, I just never get into this workout. I find it repetitive and never really find my groove as the segments are so brief. Not my thing, but I keep trying to like it because I do like ball workouts.

Turbo Jam Total Body Blast is the newest turbo jam workout in the series. It uses a stability ball throughout the entire workout and is 60 min long. She starts off with a great warm up, which includes squats with the ball between your legs, and then adds in some punches and a stretch. A little different from the usual TJ warm up. Then she goes into a circuit style workout which is includes a cardio blast - only lasts a few minutes. It gets your heart rate up, but doesnt last very long. She also includes numerous ab workout out the ball, legs and upper body. Its very dynamic and has a lot of fun moves in it, and after a while your arms tire out because of holding the ball. It moves very quickly and is very fun, just like the last Turbo Jam series. There is a lot of use of the ball but it just adds variety into my rotation. Its not the toughest workout i've done, but for days where I want to go lighter and have a good time, this is the perfect workout.