Review of The Belly Off! Workout -Strength Training

To change things up a bit, I tried a workout DVD tailored for men: Men's Health: The Belly Off! Workout - The Strength Training Routine (2008).

The DVD consists of a warm-up followed by a cardio segment, then 2 supersets, which are 2-3 combination strength exercises which you repeat 3 times. This is followed by a "strength circuit," which is a quicker series of moves, and of course there's a cooldown and stretch. At the end, there's a separate abs section.

David Jack is leading the workout with another man and woman behind him showing the modifications for the workout. He was fine, I didn't find him annoying at all. =) During the workout a message would pop up on the screening telling the viewer what exercise we were doing and for how many reps at the start of each one.

Warm-up is good and a long enough (9 minutes). I liked that since sometimes I don't really feel "warmed up" after only 5 minutes which is typical in workout DVDs.

The cardio segment was good, but it was only 2 minutes long (granted, this is a weight training DVD, but still). The supersets and strength circuits were good, but I should have used heavier weights for them. I started with 5 lb weights and eventually switched to 8 lb weights. I think I prefer the high rep/low weight routines I've done so far over this.

Two things that were really good about this DVD were the cool down and the ab blast. The cool down was 10 minutes long (again, instead of the traditional 5), so it didn't feel rushed at all and there was sufficient time to stretch after the workout. The ab blast was only 5 minutes, but it was very good. My only complaint is that it's after the cool down for some reason. I would have preferred it before.

Would I use this DVD again? Yes, but I would definitely use heavier weights, and I don't think it's one I'd use on a regular basis so I won't be buying it anytime soon.