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Review: Jari Love’s Get Extremely Ripped! 1000 Hardcore (And If It Burns 1,000 Calories!)

extremely ripped hardcoreLet’s put it this way. There is a reason I avoid step classes—they mentally and physically kick my butt. If it wasn’t hard enough to do every repetition to the best of my ability, they throw in an “up-down-hop-back-forth”…then another “up-down-two-hops-back-forth.” I mean, tell me this isn’t as mentally tough as it is physically challenging? But with that being said, doesn’t the saying go: “What puts us out of our comfort zone helps us grow?” Well, it’s something like that. And Jari Love’s Get Extremely Ripped! 1000 Hardcore DVD is all about getting our fit bottoms moving and pushing us all to the next level.

Jari consistently encourages you to work hard, and—as a girl whose mother was part of the aerobic scene of the 1980s—I was thrilled to have great exercise cues. It makes a huge difference. What I liked most about this DVD though is Jari’s ability to modify each exercise for every fitness level. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or advanced, coming off an injury or are just plain scared of the raised step like I am, you can get a solid (and exhausting) workout with each modification. That being said, if your knees aren’t the strongest, be aware that jumping, squatting and lunging make up most of the cardio. The DVD incorporates lots of leg exercises, such as deadlifts, squats and lunges, and it balances the body out by performing rows, tricep kickbacks, shoulder presses and bicep curls. Personally, I would have loved to see more chest exercises besides push-ups, but the DVD gets a lot of fit-busting moves in in a short period of time.

The DVD can be broken up into 30-minute segments—one intense cardio session, a “Feel the Burn” segment (yes, it burns), a weight-training session, or two workouts containing cardio and strength training. BUT, if you are up for the challenge, you can do an 80-minute GET EXTREMELY RIPPED workout, which combines all the segments together. Each session begins with a 5-minute warm-up and ends with a 6-minute abdominal routine, which is so challenging it feels like any keg could split into a six-pack. (Get your mind out of the junk gutter—we drink water during our workouts, not beer.) Each workout alternates cardio and weight training, while giving you a moment to catch your breath and recover.

Now, if you are like me, you probably read “1000” in the workout DVD title and thought, “Is it really possible to burn up to 1,000 calories in one workout?” So, I put it to the heart-rate monitor test! After the full 80-minute session, I had burned 745 calories. Okay, so it isn’t the proclaimed 1,000, but all bodies and fitness levels are different. So if you are looking for a new challenge, the mixture of plyometric exercises and strength training will mostly likely give you a “step” in the right direction and a pretty impressive calorie burn.

FBG Rating (Out of 5):
Instruction: ★★★★
Long-Term Likeability: ★★★
Music: ★★★
Fun Factor: ★★★
Meets Expectations: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★1/2

Fit Bottomed Line: One of Jari Love’s hardest workout DVDs to date, Get Extremely Ripped! 1000 Hardcore is, in fact, hardcore for those wanting a cardio and strength workout that is a serious challenge.

Have you tried this DVD? Or another with Jari Love? Agree with my thoughts? —Raquel

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