First off, let me say that I knew going in that I wasn't coming out with six pack abs. I was too heavy to have this video be that successful. I felt like if I came out of this six weeks with a better defined waist, that I'd be doing OK. And I feel like I did that. So I was pretty realistic about my expectations going in. I did not assume that I'd come out looking like Jillian. :)
With level one, the soreness factor was immediate and severe. For the first week, I could barely move! I had to add in stretching every morning, just so I could go on about my day. Nicely enough, after that eased up, I didn't experience it again. There was enough of a change of effort going from level one to two - level one is alot of work on the floor, level two is largely standing work - that I didn't experience the same soreness. Of course, I'll grant the point that I had a hard time with the transition to level two that I spent alot of time panting and trying to catch up, so that might have helped with the soreness.
None of the exercises seemed overly complicated or unsafe. There are some that space became a concern for - I don't have a ton of spare space in my living room, so the Moguls on level 2 for example, were very challenging for me. Not in that I couldn't do it, just in that I flat don't have the space to do them to the "advanced" level.
You go through all of the exercises that she gives you twice in the space of one "workout". The first time you go through them (and this goes for level one and two), she goes through them slowly, and explains what's happening. The second time, you go through faster. Although I was initally worried about what "faster" meant for a few of the exercises (like the dumbell swings, or chops), they weren't that bad, as long as you were smart about it.
She does offer a "modifier", showing more basic moves of each exercise, although admittedly, for much of the workout, the "modifier" and the person doing the advanced version were doing pretty much the exact same thing. So...get it? There is no modifier, get with the program! (And that "there is no modifier" thing is a direct quote from the video...)
My beef, I guess, with the video is that it gets really tedious. I did an even split - level one for three weeks, and level two for three weeks. By the end of the three weeks, you've started to build up a pretty good muscle memory for the exercises, and it's not quite as challenging as it was when you started, and it gets really tough to convince yourself to keep going. KEEP GOING! DON'T YOU DARE STOP! (Sorry. Again, with the quoting...) Keep going! That last time she says "We'll see you next time!" and you know there IS no "next time" is really, really satisfying!
As is a common complaint with Jillians videos, the warm up and cool down feel like they were almost an afterthought. I'd like to see those be far more thorough. But I like to stretch, so maybe that's why I leave out of the stretching wanting more. She says at the end of level 2 that you could probably walk away without doing a cool down, and still be OK, so that seems to indicate that the stretching isn't a real necessity. But still - it feels good. It's nice to just be mellow for a second, you know?
I didn't think to take my inch measurements, so I can't give you that, but I will say that pants that were tight when I started are now to the loose side of being comfortable, so that's something. My final weight loss for the six weeks is 5 pounds, with no marked changes to my diet over the course of the six weeks.
Equipment you need; A good pair of running shoes, and a single dumb bell. If you're aiming for a beginner level workout, you can even skip the dumb bell. Jillian recommends one between 3 and 8 pounds. I have a 3 pound set, and a 5 pound set, and every so often will alternate between the two, just to make things interesting. I have no idea if it affects anything, but it does challenge me in a whole new way, so I'll keep doing it. :) If you tend to be a sweater, grab a towel to wipe your face and hands - you do some moves where you really fling the barbell around, and it'd be terrible if you were flinging with a bad grip!
Final verdict; Go, baby, go! I know that in some of the other reviews I've read, people do 6W6P as a suppliment to other workouts, but while I was writing this review, I wanted to get the truest results possible, so I stuck to this one and this one only. I have a better defined core than I've probably ever had, and I'm a dancer and dance instructor, and have already noticed a crazy difference in my leaps and turns from the added strength. It's 35 minutes from start of the warmup to the end of the cool down, and there's nothing about it that can be defined as "easy", but come on - anyone can do anything for 35 minutes! :) Plus as a bonus, it cut my "mom pooch" down by half, and if you've ever had to try to lose your own mom pooch, then you know that that's worth the price of admission all by itself.
Picture key; Solid blue shorts are the before, black shorts with the pink stripe are halfway through, solid black shorts are the after.
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
Video originally released November 30, 2010
