It’s fitness DVD season and we love a home workout as much as the next woman. So – we’ve decided to do ten new workout DVDs in the next ten days to help you decide which ones to spend your money on. Today, we kick off with 7 Day Shed Fat Burning Workout Plan from trainer Joey Bull
Joey Bull is a quiet achiever when it comes to workouts that get results. Her fitness CV is impressive: she’s four time UK fitness champion, an adventure athlete and classically trained dancer and choreographer. This mix of skills means that Bull’s workouts deliver an all-round conditioning that really pushes your muscles, cardiovascular system and helps improve posture and agility. Bull is not a shouter and instead speaks in crisp, posh Queen’s English rather like a voiceover for a wildlife documentary – this lulls you into a false sense that what you’re about to do might in some way be easy and comfortable; a breeze. It won’t.
This DVD is designed for people wanting to shape up fast for an event – like, 7 day fast. You get a couple of segments in which Bull advises you on eating for weight loss and one ‘prep’ in which she advocates the drinking of Epsom salts in water before bed (that, I didn’t sign up to, I’m afraid) to help cleanse the body.
Then there are six workouts, a couple of all over cardio conditioning ones and four that work various parts of the body on different days including the legs, core and upper body. Sometimes, when I review short workout DVDs I tend to do all the workouts on the DVD at once to get an idea of what they’re all like. Well, that was virtually impossible to do with this DVD as the workouts are all short, sharp and really tough from both a cardio and resistance perspective – in other words, you’ll be huffing, puffing, sweating and certainly in my case, cursing about five minutes in.
There’s plenty of dynamic, high-low activity in which your heart rate is elevated from jumping, jogging on the spot, burpees and kicks. This is alternated with multi-stage resistance exercises (you can use hand weights if you like) that incorporate ‘compound’ moves that work lots of tiny muscles that gym classes often forget. In Joey’s workouts, you’ll make a small change to the way you do a move, say a squat done with one foot turned out, and that change increases the number of muscles you work to include the outer thighs instead of only the hamstrings. The moves are also unusual and challenging so you won’t be bored. It helps that Joey, who I am assuming is in her early 40s, has a lean and slim, graceful yet powerful body that’s properly inspiring.
Each workout ranges from eight to 15 minutes and is a mini workout in itself so you don’t have to keep clicking on different parts of the menu to warm up, workout etc (my pet hate). But they’re also great to mix and match into longer sessions when you have more time.
You may or may not know what a fitness DVD addict I am from my other blogs on this site. This means I am fusseeee and often disappointed by DVDs that claim to be short workouts but don’t challenge me and end up being a lazy person’s way out. If you want to do a short workout, it has to be challenging and done daily to get real results. This one fits that bill. It’s quick but it makes you earn the workout with sweat and next-day soreness. If you really are short on time but want to make a change, I would put my money on this.
Time investment: 8-14 minutes six times a week
You’ll need: a set of hand weights from 2-4kg (I use different weights for different moves but try and stick to 4kg wherever I can – I like the ones from Fitness-Mad as they’re covered in a rough material so won’t slip). A couple of pieces of paper for the tough leg and arm sliding moves Joey does while you’re in exercises such as plank (they hurt). A step or coffee table to jump up and down off.
You’ll like it if you prefer a little and often workout – this one will get results
Healthista rating 4/5
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Other fitness DVD reviews from Healthista:
2014 Fitness DVD Best to Worst Charts
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