Customer Reviews

Results Fitness: Boost Your Metabolism

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a daily exerciser who does a range of workouts, from taebo, kickboxing, yoga, salsa, step etc. I guess you could say that I have a boredom problem, so keeping it fresh with many workouts to choose from is important to me. As I get older I also look to add in resistance training to keep my bones healthy, which is really important at any age. I found the workout to be challenging (in a good way). The workout is 52 minutes long and led by Tracey Staehle, who is a certified trainer with both the AFAA (Aerobic & Fitness Association of America) & NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine). She also carries a Master's Degree in nutrition.

The workout is 52 minutes long and consists of 5 minutes of warm-up, 31 minutes of Aerobic & Toning with Weights, that alternates, 12 minutes of additional toning and 4 minutes of cool down. You will use a lighter set of weights for some of the exercises (3 lb is what I used) and heavier set (I used 5 to start, but realized 4 was already kicking my butt, so I'll work up to heavier). As you get stronger, you have the option to up your weights for a challenge when you become accustomed to it.

The routines start with an easier exercise and then you progress to a more challenging variation, which usually includes deeper squats, more body parts being active in the exercise, or in the aerobic segments, more jumping.

I would caution, that this is a higher impact routine in the aerobic section and you will be doing some jumps, which rev up the metabolism and heart-rate, but may not be especially kind to those that have any knee issues.

The routine is a one-on-one, and it is a straight up workout-Tracey is excellent on the cuing, has great form and keeps the workout at a good pace (I especially like when she tells me only a couple more to go!).

All and all a good work-out. Is it fun? Well, I do have ones that I enjoy more, but for a sheer kick-butt workout that had me in a sweat, I'd say this one was the ticket. Oh, as a bonus....there is a booklet for meal planning to boost the metabolism as well. I have not tried this, as I am happy with my diet at this point, but looked through it and the meals and recipes noted were definitely things that could assist you. As someone who has lost over 45 lbs and kept it off for 4 years I can tell you the best eating program is the one you will stick with, so if this does it for you, great. If not, or you just use the work out and some of the good ideas, you are well on your way!

I don't know why Amazon won't release this yet, when you can already buy it online elsewhere ... so that's what I did and I like this alot.
I already have another workout of Tracey's and that's why I decided to give this a go. It's pretty good and definately more geared toward the intermediate to advanced exerciser. It is interval training with good cardio and intense toning. There are modifications if you find some moves too hard; she'll start with a base move that you can stay with, and then shows ways to add more intensity if you are feeling that way inclined. All you really need are some dumbbells and you are good to go. The dvd even comes with a little booklet about planning out healthy meals.
It's about 50 minutes all up and when you are done, you feel great. You will feel this the next day or two and work up a big sweat. I enjoyed it and will try and use this at least once a week or so along with all the other workouts I do. This is fun and Tracey is a good instructor. Give it a go.

Just want to make sure people realize they have just changed the package and it's the same workout with the dark hair girl on it, not a different workout. It also cost more for this new package then if you buy the same workout with the dark haired girl on it. Don't be fooled.

I was surprised at how much I like this workout. I'm not a fan of Staehle, but this well-cued workout is nicely advanced at the level of Kelly Coffey or Cathe Friedrich. It is chaptered into cardio and weights and each section is long enough to make a difference (about 10 minutes alternating). Unlike '10 Days to a Better Body', this one allows you to do just weights or just cardio if you wish, or switch the order. It includes lots of balancing and compound moves. It also allows you to go heavy with the weights. The pace is just right and the music is pretty good as well. It is not at all the same as the other Results workout (with Cindy Whitmarsh). I really find the negative reviews here ignorant. If you're torn between the two DVDs, this one is the better one.

I have a friend over twice a week to do DVD workouts in my livingroom. This week, we tried Boost Your Metabolism, which is a sequence of alternating strength and cardio segments and also includes a warmup and cooldown.

Before I continue with my review, I find that it helps readers to know what my age and fitness level are so they can tell whether they may have a similar experience with the DVD. I am in my late 50s and my friend is in her late 60s. I walk daily and have gone to the gym 2-3 times a week for the past year. She walks regularly and has gone to the gym 1-2 times a week for the past year. I am overweight by about 60 pounds; she has maintained a weight loss for years. We both have bad knees, so anything high impact is a problem for us.

After the workout, I asked my friend what rating she would give it if she was doing the review. She said 3 stars and that's what I was thinking as well. Here are some issues with the workout from our perspective.

1. Too high impact/knee punishing: Lots of jumping up in the air and very deep lunges. We know our limits so we just did our own moves during the jumping portions and did a modified lunge vs. the very deep lunge.

2. Instructor issues: The instructor is cheerful and has a good sense of humor, but while she may TELL you what's coming next verbally, she doesn't SHOW you, and often she doesn't tell you what direction you're going or on which leg to start. This caused confusion and frustration for both of us. Granted, it was our first time doing the DVD, but I have done scores of DVD workouts in the past 7 years and I have not found most of them this confusing to follow at the start.

3. Weight level: As an FYI, you'll want to start with a lighter set of weights than you usually use for your upper body workout when you do this DVD. I usually use 5s at home for most DVD workouts and 8s, 10s or 12s at the gym and I know I couldn't have gotten through the weight portions of this workout with any of those. Both my friend and I used a set of 2 pounders and even that was a struggle at times because of the repetition and pulses, and because you're always working lower body at the same time, so it is a more intense workout than just standing still and doing bicep curls.

4. Cardio level: Both of us definitely felt this workout while we were doing it and we were both sweating by the 2nd cardio segment but, interestingly, I'm not feeling it much at all today (the day after) and I expected that I would.

5. Not for beginners or those who have poor balance or coordination: My friend and I agreed that we would not recommend this workout to people who are just starting a workout regime. While I am quite coordinated and usually pick up dance and workout moves quite easily, my friend says she is not as coordinated and has always struggled with workouts that have both upper and lower body going at the same time. So if *I* was frustrated with the complexity and lack of adequate queueing in this workout, you can imagine how SHE felt. I could tell she was exasperated.

6. There IS a cooldown segment, I felt that it was inadequate for the intensity and breadth of the workout.

In summary, if you are at a moderate or advanced level with aerobics/cardio and are in good health, you may quite enjoy this workout, but I do not recommend it if you are a beginner or have issues with your knees/hips or high impact workouts.

Results Fitness: Boost Your Metabolism

A new workout from NASM certified trainer Tracey Staehle designed to boost metabolism by working core muscles and building endurance.

As mentioned, this is not a beginner's workout DVD, however, it's a great adjunct to your fitness program, especially when an hour at the gym isn't possible. All that's required is a little space, a mat, hand weights ranging from 3 to 10 pounds (I recommend both three and ten pound weights) and a chair.

This is a one-on-one workout--almost like having your own personal trainer. The routine is divided into different activity level segments--a 5 minute warm-up, then a half hour of aerobic and toning (using weights), another 12 minutes of toning and a four-minute cool-down. Each segment has at least two levels and you can modify--or skip--the second level if you need a less strenuous workout.

Tracey combines moves so that more than one area is worked together, for example, upper and lower body moves as in the lunge where you're also working back and shoulders.

I'm a certified water fitness trainer and I found myself working hard at the halfway point, evidence that this is a challenging workout for anyone not in shape. For maximum results, an eating plan is included. I'd suggest you try it or something similar.

I would recommend this workout with one caveat: little to no instruction for modifying exercises to compensate for knee or hip issues is addressed, so you need to use a little discretion on how vigorously you attempt each routine.

If you've taken group cardio and sculpting classes, this will be an excellent home workout to use when you can't get to the gym. If you have not had at least a half dozen or so classes of sculpting with small weights and modern cardio, this is probably not the right product to start your exercise routine with.

The instructor provides very little modification for those with knee or other problems, so you should also be in good general condition for this dvd to be a good fit for you. Several of the exercises build up to either a second or third degree of difficulty.

Other than that, I love the workout. She really mixes it up and does a great job of working the legs, back, abs, and arms. I did not get bored even once, and the workout seemed to fly by. After warm-up she alternates weights and cardio, with each segment being quite different than the last. The dvd allows for direct chapter access if you want to shorten your workout. I would deem this to be an intermediate level workout.

The included diet plan is nothing revolutionary, but it's a good solid whole foods program that won't break your budget. A few included foods are pears, turkey breast, egg whites, salad, oatmeal, almonds, apples, tuna, cottage cheese, and more. All of the items are commonly found inexpensively in any grocery store. The 1400 calorie per day menu also includes 3 snacks and 3 meals.

My comments are designed to supplement the workout specifics delineated in the other reviews.

While I agree this would be difficult for a beginner, many of the other reviewers classify this workout as intermediate to advanced, I would not consider it advanced, unless one is using really heavy weights during the resistance training sections. Even the move modifications that Tracey says are level 2, are mostly not really that advanced for serious fitness enthusiasts who have been working out hard for a while (although several are). The cardio moves change frequently, are mostly on the lower impact size, and don't really go on long enough to really be considered high intensity, although you will get a sweat going. You'll do some jump moves, but not enough to consider this a plyometric workout. The resistance training segments have some original moves which is a plus, but most are standard. The level 2 resistance moves are compound moves, so if you are like me, that makes it much harder than single focused moves, and you'll have to lower your weight. I like to use noncompound moves to really focus hard on a single muscle group and feel the pump, this is of course, a personal preference.

Just be aware, with a full body workout like this, because you are doing resistance training on the full body (legs, back, shoulders [front delts, side delts), arms (biceps and triceps), etc., and are doing generally one set of high reps, and... compound moves tend to call for exercisers to lower their weights, this type of workout is not really designed to build muscle. You will build cardio endurance and build muscle endurance, but not strength or size.

Additionally, while I agreeing the cueing is good, I just find the trainer's voice annoying, and she talks NONSTOP throughout the workout. There is another workout in the same Results series, "Ten Days to A Better Body", which is similar in that it is a full body workout combining cardio and resistance training segments, but I like it much more. The trainer is Cindy Whitmarsh, and she has more original moves (and incorporates more core training in all moves.)

By the way, be careful when buying either DVD in this Results series, each of them have at least two covers (neither of which is of the actual trainer in the video), so don't accidentally buy the dvd twice!

This video is pretty much a clone of Results Fitness' 10 Days to a Better Body. The woman performing the workout is different, but honestly, the workout is so similar to "10 Days" that there is really no point in purchasing this product if you have the other.

There is a 30 second lecture to open the DVD about how weight lifting benefits your metabolism, but then the DVD proceeds to mislead viewers about what actually brings results.

Using light weights in a cardio environment does very little, if nothing to build muscle for most, if not all trainees. At one point the women performs a lunge and then does a dumbbell row. The weight is so light that it doesn't produce a strain in any way.

Progressively harder weight training is effective, but performing weight lifting exercises with weights that are so light that you barely notice they are there, is an utter waste of time.

Outside of the weight training realm, this is just another average cardio DVD with nothing that really separates it from anything else on the shelf. Save your money, buy some adjustable dumbbells instead.

One final note...most of the weight training exercises are performed improperly, or with little to know instruction about proper form. There is also frequent bouncing during weight training exercises...not a good idea, but since the weight is negligible, I guess it doesn't matter much.

This dvd turned out to be an excellent buy. I am 17 years old and would consider myself to be just on the brink of an intermediate exerciser and I found this dvd to be easy to follow and get through. Not once did I think that I couldn't get through the exercises. The instructor has very good cuing (but I did watch it one time through before actually doing it) and if you are a beginner she shows the moves in a lower level, level one, before she increases the intensity of the moves. Don't be swayed and think that you can't do this dvd because you are a beginner because I found it very beginner friendly. I do have to say that while you are doing the moves you can definitly feel the burn. I suggest doing this 2 or 3 times a week and doing more of a cardio based dvd in between the days.