RKS Kettlebell Workout

I purchased the Reinhardt Kettlebell System because I am active duty military and recently had my third child. Of course they give us some time off before we actually NEED to be back in shape - but I wanted to get a head start with something low impact. These DVDs are absolutely awesome for strength training and way more interesting for cardio than just 15-30 minutes on an elliptical or stationary bike!The Discs: Each disk has a warm up, two days worth of exercises, and a cool down. So there is no disc shuffling halfway through a workout which I have had to deal with in the past. This is by far, one of the biggest pluses in my opinion! Also, it comes with a DVD that gives you step by step instructions on how to perform every exercise properly so that you don't hurt yourself, which is also very important!The Warm Up: Yes, it is the same warm up every single day, but they tell you right from the start that if you would rather jump rope or do some other form of warm up to feel free to. That being said, the warm up they walk you through is perfect and gets your entire body warmed up in only a few minutes so I don't mind doing the same thing before every workout because it is effective!The Work Outs: I absolutely love the variety. Yes, some days it is just the same exercise for a full 15 minutes but rather than seeing that as monotonous, I just look at it as an opportunity to concentrate on my form or try to get my reps done as quick as I can to try to beat my own record. Have fun with it! I love that there are sixteen different days worth of workouts. Some at home training DVDs only give you five workouts total and you are expected to do different combinations of the same thing over and over. I am starting my third month and am still not sick of the workouts. There is a lot of variety from day to do and you do everything from pushups to kettlebell swings, to burpies and snatches. I love it and end every workout flushed so I must be doing something right. My favorite part is that the trainer gives awesome commentary. He's not jabbering about whatever while he's running around someone else that is working out like in most DVDs, he's on camera doing the exercises in silence so you have the background music going and then every once in a while you'll hear his voice cut in like it was recorded after the fact and he'll give you tips, tricks and motivation. It's non-intrusive and always comes at the perfect moment. When I'm feeling super tired and want to sit down, it's like he knows and will cut in like, "I know you're getting tired, but concentrate on your form and remind yourself of why you're doing this." I love it!The Challenge Days: So there are four workouts a week so I chose Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday because it just makes sense. Who doesn't want to have hump day and the entire weekend off to relax? Every Friday (with the exception of the last week of discs) is a challenge day. So basically they give you a group of exercises to complete and the goal is to get through as many sets as you can without stopping until the clock runs out. Usually about fifteen minutes. Yes, the girls are always super lazy and you catch them standing around and fixing their hair most of the time, but that's why I focus on the main dude in the middle and try to keep up with him because boy can he crank through some sets! I also jot down how far into which set I got each week so I can see what an improvement I have made as the months go on.The Cool Down: It sucks and I hate it. It is the same cool down every time just like it is the same warm up. Yes it will auto play at the end of every work out, but I don't know... I just can't get into it like I do the warm up. It is a lot of floor stretches and I don't see how doing cobra and down dog over and over and over is going to cool me down. I much prefer to do some basic stretches on my own.The Results: Not only have I dropped about fifteen pounds in just over a couple months, but I have lost inches and toned my everything! Even though there are only a handful of ab specific workouts, my waistline has shrunk significantly as well as my thighs, arms, hips, you name it! I would highly recommend these discs to anyone looking to workout at home and get results without boring themselves out of their mind.

Well, this really probably be a 3.5 star rated product, but given the number of work outs you get for the current discount price, I'll bump it up to 4.This series is best used by intermediate kettbellers, someone who has held a KB before and knows basic lifts and moves. I did do all 16 work outs over a 4 week period and I will do the series again as I think it was beneficial and easy to use.VISUAL - The visuals of these videos are simply awful. Poor technique (never follow Doug!) and poor filming. I really don't give a rats ass about your killer smoggy view of LA at various times of day and night. The videos show the same exact view of 3 people doing the workouts from a distance. There is no different angles, no close ups, nothing to ever show you what the lift and move should look like to give you and idea of proper form. But, if you are familiar with KB's and the lifts, then all is good because you don't really need to look at the screen and will be too involved with your own workout to watch theirs. I will give one nod to the "visual" filming is on a smaller screen and then the list of what your work out consists of is next to it. This is nice to keep track of what you are doing, what's next, and just how long you need to keep pushing for.AUDIO - this is where the video shines. The audio cueing is fantastic. Good tips on form that come right on time. Reminders about posture and technique as you get fatigued. Good pushes throughout each workout to keep you motivated throughout without being overly cheerleady and annoying. My one complaint about the audio is there are no timer cues or beeps and these workouts rely heavily on a timer. I'd be happy to look at the screen only rarely, but need to do so to watch the timer to know when to go to the next move or rest.WARM UP - I've read a few complaints about the warm up being the same every time. I actually like it, and is similar to what we do at my KB gym. The warm up video is a separate menu item and is on each disk. It's easy to choose not to do it if you want warm up on your own and come in going straight to the work out. I like the warm up and I use it more of a timer. I'll do the stretches shown, but may cut the reps short and add some of my own. But I'm not here to stretch, I'm here to work, so when the warm up video is over, then it's time to get to work. Same with the COOL DOWN.WEIGHT and FORM - this is where I deduct a full star, maybe two. There is no talk of what weight of KB to use. None. No talk of what you are working towards, how the KB should feel (easy, difficult, barely lift...). I know they are trying to sell this as "one kettlebell" work out. But you really need to be talking about what weight to use safely and what is effective. You really should be swinging and deadlifting a much heavier weight than you would be pressing. If you are trying to be a one stop shop, then discuss that. Again, this makes the video really not for beginners.It also drives me absolutely crazy that the participants on the video are using such light KB's! Did they think "pink is for girls and blue is for boys" would be visually appealing? The girls are using a whole 8 kilograms and Doug and Owen use a 12 kilogram bell. Please! Swing a 12? Every time Doug beats me on number of rounds for a challenge, I remind myself that I am lifting at least as much, and usually more, weight than big buff manly Doug. I also think this is the source of some of the poor form we see from Doug. The bell is just too light and he's throwing it around too easily and isn't able to keep good form if he tried.LIFTS- I love the amount of swings this series does. It's a dynamic movement that works your body in so many different ways, really a perfect exercise. I do think the video relies too heavily on presses. It's not so much that there are too many presses, but that there are many lifts that are left out or not done often enough in comparison to how often they have you pressing. I'd like to have done more goblet squats and tactical lunges and added the movements of overhead squat and turkish get-up into a few of the days.