Customer Reviews

Janis Saffell Brand New Butt and More

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think Janis is selling herself short with the title - this is really an all-over body toner, not just a glute workout. She does work the glutes though (really works them!) but also includes some great upper body work too.
You begin with the 7 min warm-up, then into 30 min standing sculpting. This is almost aerobic with lunges, squats, plies and deadlift "combos" - but Janis also ads in some great upper body work so you are working upper/lower at the same time.
TIP: to do the deadlifts properly place a weight plate or 1/2" plank under the ball of your foot (just under the toes) and this will force your glutes to do all the work, not your back. If you don't want to put something under your toes, make sure all your weight is IN YOUR HEELS (like when doing a squat). If you learn to place weight on your heels rather than the ball of the foot you shift the emphasis into the glutes rather than lower back and quads.
After the standing work there is 18 mins of floor toning. I love this part - and it is great for those who have bad knees. It is almost a pilates workout but does effectively tone. I recommend newer exercisers just do this section after the warm-up then add the standing sculpting when this no longer leaves you sore. Ends with a 5 min stretch.

I am an advanced level home workout person and have narrowed my rotation to both of Minna Lessig's DVDs (Optimizer and Emergency Workout), the Denise Austin Personal Training DVD and Tamilee Webb Science of Fitness. I really like a combination cardio and strenth workout and Janis Saffell really delivered! She does an excellent job with her cues, she's not annoying at all, production is great, she explains the moves before doing it or changing to a new combo and has an effective number of reps. Her approach is more functional fitness, which even for the more advanced, puts a different spin on the workout, gives you a good 60 minute sweat with some new muscle aches! This is my new favorite addition to the rotation, highly recommended!

Janis is one of my favorite home fitness instructors. She's very personable, has a fantastic body (and great form) and comes up with fun and effective DVDs. This DVD is no different.

This DVD suggests use of light handweights, ankle weights or a belt weight. None are absolutely required but none of the crew show modifications without weights. You won't need too much room to do this one, I have a 5 by 10 foot mat and used about 3/4 of it for this workout. You should be able to take 3 big steps to the side and 1 big step forward and back.

This DVD starts with a short 7 minute warm up that includes some functional squats and step touches and minimal stretching. After this you'll grab your handweights/belt/ankle weights and do a 30 minute standing floor routine with lots of squats, lunges and dead lifts. It is very different from the traditional bun work you may be used to. There are very few regular bun moves done and when they are they tend to be modified. There is also some light upper body work thrown in to increase intensity. After the standing work you'll move to the floor for 18 minutes of buns and ab work but you'll also work your arms and chest with some of the core work. Afterwards there is a 5 minute stretch with some more ab work. The strech isn't particularily effective after all the leg and bun work done here so you'll probably want to stretch some more (if you have any energy left!).

Your legs, hips and buns will be screaming during parts of this workout but I have found that I'm really not that sore, just fatigued, afterwards.

Overall this is a great lower body workout with the added bonus of upper and core body work. You'll be covered in sweat but feel fantastic at the end. After a few workouts you'll notice some improvement in the lower body:)

I love this DVD. Everytime I'm done, I'm sore for a few days after, which makes me feel like I really did workout my butt. Also, I can never finish the whole DVD because it is just that intense.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this workout does more than just work your backside. Although the emphasis is certainly on the legs and glutes (and there are definitely a lot of dead lifts), you'll also work your back, chest, biceps, and triceps. Adding ankle weights and using handweights also really increases the intensity of this workout. Your heartrate does go up while doing the exercises, but it's more of a toning and strength workout than a cardio workout. That being said, it's a great workout! I consider myself to be an intermediate-level exerciser, and this one really challenges me and I can feel it the next day.

Another commendable aspect of the DVD is Janis herself. While one reviewer called her annoying, I don't think she is at all. She's upbeat and positive, and not overly chatty, as some other instructors can be. What I especially love is her focus on form and proper technique; she spends a few seconds before doing each exercise making sure that your body is properly aligned so that you are doing each exercise correctly. While doing the exercises, Janis also points out exactly where you should be feeling each one, another great way to make sure that you're doing the exercise as it should be done.

This is one workout that gets results! Highly recommended!

This is an entire body workout that concentrates on the butt. It works the butt from a variety of angles, so it is very thorough. If you have trouble with your lower back, be cautious about this one. It has a lot of military dead-lifts. That many dead lifts is hard on my back. If you've had problems with military dead lifts in the past, you probably don't want to get this item.

I am so pleased with this workout, it is a refreshing change from the lunge and squat approach that pervades so many lower body workouts. There are some great effective new moves that I haven't found in my somewhat extensive workout collection. The cardio was stimulating and easy to follow (I can get lost pretty easily)- Janis does a great job of leading you through. I prefer smooth dance oriented exercise versus jarring high-impact and this delivers. It really takes your whole body through a balanced journey--I appreciate that Janis does some upper body work which I'm told is often wrongly neglected when people are focused on exercising this target area. I have Janis' original "BNB" and had always thought it was fairly good, but not great. This one pretty much wows me. I'm surprised this dvd has so few reviews- I've seen the gamut and this made me feel really fantastic.

This is a good workout and you do work up a sweat even though this isn't really cardio (I do this with 5 pound weights). There is minimal jumping- only when switching directly from a left-leg lung to a right-leg lung so this would also be suited to people who want an effective workout but are uninterested in high-impact exercise. I really like a lot of the exercises- particularly the 'bow and arrow'. She has great exercises that you do feel quite quickly and there aren't loads of repetitions so this also keeps it intersting. Most of the time I don't specifically feel the exercises in my butt though. That is, I think this is more of a general workout, and not so much 'brand new butt'- the day after doing this I'm not particularly sore anywhere, but overall tired. Janis Saffel has 'cute California charm'- some people like this, some don't. Some things I don't like about this workout are a) the music includes elevator music of familiar songs- such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stevie Wonder; b) she shifts her angle a good bit and does several exercises in quick succession at times (warm up, etc.). I find the and speed increases the risk of having poor alignment so I focus on keeping feet facing forward so the exercise is properly done- not rushed and poorly aligned. I'm sure if you're familiar with these exercises this is not a problem; c) some floor stretches and ab work take the place of a cool down section.

Overall though, this is a good workout and one you can build on easily by increasing weights in your hands and adding weights on your ankles and waist.

This is a brilliant workout - the results are there and the instructor is great and you do get an all over workout too. The exercises are unique - great variations on a classic sculpting move (like a plank move with a knee movement that will not only get your abs but your legs too). You don't need a lot of repetition with this workout because the reps you do actually do are intense.
She is friendly and encouraging and to me, that is always helpful because if you aren't geared up for working out or really in the mood to carry on, an encouraging and motivating instructor can make all the difference and give you the boost you need to keep going. I really enjoy this (and you will be sore for a day or two later) and recommend you give it a go.

This is definitely a great overall workout - I mean, I even felt my lower arm muscles after a couple of the functional abs exercises in the floor part of the program.
There are two great pros to this DVD. One of them is the kind of exercises that I hadn't seen on any home workout DVD's before I purchased this one. The other one is the way she combines well-known (and - admit it - sometimes real boring) old favorites to end up with the sweating exerciser (and by sweating exerciser I mean ME) actually enjoying them again. You will love these if you don't only do home workout programs just to clear your conscience, but you want to feel like you have done serious work for your body. (Okay, it helps if you enjoy the pain that often comes with it, I literally screetched my teeth when doing this workout the first few times.)
Trying to avoid just repeating what the other reviewers have already said (which I couldn't agree more with), I'll just say that the only con I found was the fact that the standing routine, which uses hand weights, is too fast to let you change weights, so you'll end up using the same ones for your biceps and triceps, for example, which is - for most of us - either too light or too heavy. Also, ankle weights would be real useful with some of the standing exercises, but I don't seem to be able to bend my ankles at the right angle when doing things like squats and plies with them on and I keep wondering how some of the background exercisers are able to do that. (Again, the routine is too fast for one to be able to keep putting ankle weights on and then taking them off.) Talking about background exercisers, there are five of them, they differ in ages and body types. Janis herself is kinda chatty (she keeps talking even when I'm at the stage of being unable to breathe at all), but not annoying - well, not extremely.
And well, she has put together a great workout for us, which she definitely deserves 5 stars for.