Most people know that inflammation is what makes arthritis and headaches hurt. That’s why many people use NSAIDS — Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs — like Ibuprophen to treat pain. Many people also know that conditions like Heart Disease also have an inflammatory component. That’s one of several reasons why aspirin therapy is recommended for many people at risk of a heart attack. We have talked several times about inflammation, but can you control it without popping pills daily?

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This review is a little longer in coming than many of the reviews of Shaun T’s Insanity that you’ll find online. Why? We actually worked all the way through this routine before commenting at all.

Beachbody instructor Shaun T, the mastermind behind Hip Hop Abs, has produced what the company claims “may be the hardest workout ever put on video.” The principle was simple: build a 60-day workout plan around the hardest, most demanding interval workout routine they had ever offered. To be commercial the program had to be approachable, to be effective it had to be hard.

We have written about interval training before. The idea is that short periods of high intensity exercise followed by a period of recovery increasing the efficiency of the overall exercise. That’s the science, what about the program? Read the rest of this entry »

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Chalene Johnson is one of the hardest working people in fitness. She created the TurboKick gym programs, turned those into TurboJam DVDs, has a clothing line, started a production company and so many other projects springing from her training that keeping track is impossible. Her presentation style is bubbly and warm. She comes across as knowledgeable and approachable.

Unlike prior Chalene Johnson videos, ChaLEAN Extreme puts all the emphasis on free weights. The routines are all about technique and for this reason alone can make an excellent starting point for people looking to move beyond the treadmill and elliptical machines they have been working out with. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer

There has been a lot of medical and exercise research recently that reveals the benefits of interval training. Interval training is quite simply engaging in short periods of highly intense exercise broken up with less intense exercise. It turns out that interval exercise is much more efficient than traditional exercise by several times.

10 Minute Trainer leverages this principle to create a series of 5 compact workouts spread across 2 DVDs. The kit from BeachBody comes with the DVDs, a set of reference cards detailing the individual exercise moves in the routines, a short “kick start” type eating plan, and a single resistance band with door attachment loop. In short, the kit is complete with everything needed to get started exercising. Read the rest of this entry »

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