Jillian Michaels 10-Minute Body Transformation

Let me start this off by saying that I absolutely love Jillian Michaels. She was my first DVD trainer and has always been my favorite. I love her style of work out DVDs and I have yet to select a DVD of hers that I find to be a total dud. I lost over one hundred pounds using her DVDs along with Bob Harper and Jackie Warner, but she was the one who really motivated me. She helped me go from unhappy couch potato to an intermediate exerciser!This is a good DVD, but it's definitely not my favorite of hers. I'll explain my caveats as this review goes on. The workout begins with a very short warm up (possibly too short, only five moves, one being a lunge which I always find makes my thighs cramp up) and a very short cool down (more may be needed). Let me go through each of the work outs:1. Calisthenics -- This is a very interesting workout, the likes of which I have never done before. Some of the moves are very fun--I had a lot of fun with the rolling bear, the jumping lunges and the side kicks. However, I found two moves completely impossible--the jump into the goddess squat and the final wheel bridge. I always find it really discouraging, especially because I am in pretty good shape. You would need to be a top notch, incredibly well-conditioned athlete to do every move without modification.2. Kickboxing -- I really enjoyed this workout the first few times I did it. I especially liked the kicks and the encouragement to imagine someone I was mad at it as I punched the air! For me, this workout got very boring after the first five or so times I completed it. It didn't really get my heart rate up and didn't have enough variation to keep me interested.3. Booty Bootcamp -- This one is pretty solid, but if you want to sculpt your buns and thighs with Jillian, get Killer Buns and Thighs. This is the baby version of that. It really did not leave my butt burning or make me sore at all and I did it all without modification.4. Pilates -- This is my favorite of all five workouts. Very well-balanced pilates workout that's even more fun that the actual pilates DVDs I have. Shannon is UNBELIEVABLE and holy cow I want her body--it was also cool to me that I recognized her from one of Mari Winsor's DVDs! The only slight complaint I have that is barely even a complaint is that Jillian seems to not know what she's doing with pilates, constantly commenting that she is not an expert and not demonstrating really any moves. It makes me hope that Shannon got paid extra since it seems like she was instrumental in creating this workout. Again, not REALLY a complaint, just something I noticed.5. Cardio -- Yeah, if you want to feel like your lungs are going to crap out and die on you, go for this workout. Some of the moves are really fun (I love the karaokes, the high knees with the heel slap and the fast feet to rockstars--come to think of it, I like the speedbag too!) but this workout is INCREDIBLY punishing. I found myself conveniently being "too tired" to do this workout when I would get to it. I always noticed if I had been cheating on my diet, this workout became absolutely 100% impossible. I really find it frustrating when I have to quit and stop and wait, but there were times that I was actually experiencing total muscular failure.I would do on an average about four workouts--a few times I did five. Four was actually pretty doable. My biggest complaint is one that I've seen on here--there is no way to play workouts consecutively. I didn't think this would bother me, but I found myself taking long breaks between each workouts which would then frustrate me. Once I stop, it's hard for me to pick it up again. It's also frustrating to warm up for two minutes and then have to grab the DVD remote and switch to the next workout when your heart is already pumping and you're ready to go! This seems like it would be a minor problem, but it actually ended up with me losing a lot of momentum. Maybe it would be okay if you only did one workout, but I'm sorry, just doing one of these workouts isn't going to do much for your health if that's all you do in a day. They are intense, but ten minutes just isn't enough.The other complaint I have is that I have never had a DVD leave me as tight as this one did. I ended up getting a TON of very painful knots in my back (which I get a lot anyways, but never this bad). The cool down is simply not sufficient.This is a solid DVD, but it's not my favorite. However, if you love Jillian and you own a lot of her DVDs, this is a fun addition. I definitely saw results with it. Just please make sure to add a bit of an extra cool down and have your DVD remote ready so you don't bum around between workouts.

I use these workouts when I find I have an extra 10 minutes after another Jillian Michael's workout, and just want to keep on shredding it. My favorites on this DVD are Booty Boot Camp (the most like her traditional HIIT workouts), and Pilates Power (great for flexibility and targeting some easy-to-miss muscles).Now, how does this compare to her Killer Series or Bodyshred Series? No, these aren't as awesome. I don't recommend using these to create a total workout. Instead, tack these onto your other Jillian Michaels workouts when you have extra time, or do one of these quickly when you just don't have time. These are AWESOME if used this way, but otherwise, they just aren't going to give you the best well-rounded workout if you try to combine them alone. Plus, I don't know about you, but it's really easy to skip the warm-up and cool-down when doing these because they're separate, which, of course, just isn't smart.A few of these workouts are a bit awkward; I don't enjoy the Cardio Blast because it feels like Jillian just let one of her backup trainers take over and create something that doesn't feel like Jillian's awesome cardio workouts. I know she doesn't like making cardio, but she's so good at it—I wish she'd just do her thing more.Personally, I hate doing yoga and stretching, so having the Pilates Power one from here and Yoga S&S from Part 2 = AWESOME when I've gotten too tight from my other workouts. I can get some very effective stretching out of the way in 10 minutes and get on with my HIIT. ;)If you're getting just one 10-Minute Body Transformation DVD, I recommend checking out the names and seeing which seems to have more that jive with your favorite kinds of workouts. I love both equally, for different reasons.There is something for EVERYONE on Part 1 and Part 2. Jillian did a great job of making some wildly different options. I can't imagine there are many people who would agree on their favorites. But I also wouldn't be shocked if most people only like 2 or 3 workouts from each DVD. Why? Because they're just so varied. For me, having just a few I love to rotate in as add-ons is so worth it. After all, this DVD is $8.