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Get Your Sweat on With Sara Haley’s Sweat Unlimited Workout DVD

sweat unlimited DVD

Why would I choose to do an at-home workout when I live a stone’s throw from a beautiful park with tons of bike/running trails, have two workout facilities and one yoga studio within walking distance, and could drive to another handful in a matter of 10 minutes? Well let’s see — there could be crappy weather, I might not have a vehicle, perhaps I’m in dire need of my own personal motivational coach, or maybe some days I want to dance like no one’s watching (and really have no one watching).

It all boils down to choices, and that is exactly what you get with Sara Haley’s latest workout, Sweat Unlimited Volume I; cardio, strength training and flexibility all rolled up in one handy DVD. With five equipment-free workouts of varying lengths, it gives you plenty of options: an extremely short full-body workout (we’re talking five minutes here), a 15-minute strength segment, a 30-minute cardio dance workout or the Tabata-inspired 45-minute cardio blast. And it all has the option to mix and match to create your own non-stop personalized workout.

Haley’s attitude is uplifting and fun but not so overly bubbly as to be a turn off.  She talks throughout the DVD, giving spot-on queuing and helpful reminders (engage the core, keep your chest high, for example) but you do have the music-only option if the constant chatter bugs you. The music, however, is not exactly the sing-a-long type and more of a background beat.

The Workouts

Sweat Extreme 5: A quick full-body workout using old-fashioned calisthenics with interesting twists like the way-fun surfer burpee. In only five minutes you move through lunges, burpees, pushups, hamstring work and planks in quick procession.

With optional power moves, it’s a tough enough weight-bearing workout, but in my opinion, it would be unwise to do without a previous warm-up. Personally, I’d walk or do a short run and then use this as a lightening-fast full-body workout to squeeze a bit of muscle work in a tight schedule.

Sweat Strength 15: A no-nonsense, military-style, full-body muscle workout that moves steadily enough to get your blood pumping — especially with the addition of the next level modifications. Five minutes of abs and lower back work followed by lower body, finishing up with another five minutes of upper body. Sarah relies on variations of standard exercises (like the booty-lifting curtsy lunge or squat/twist combo) to keep it fresh, and challenges balance with the one-legged dead lifts and optional knee up. However, the upper-body push-up variations, shoulder shrugs and California bicep curls was not nearly as challenging and almost felt like a cool down.

Without the addition of weights I’d consider it a lighter full-body workout. It would be great to use during a recovery period or to alternate with tougher weight-work. Just like Sweat Extreme 5 it would be a nice fill-in workout for the time pressed.

Sweat Cardio 30: Unlike the shorter workouts, this cardio segment starts with a warm-up (and ends with a cool down), but the official on-screen clock doesn’t start ticking right away, which means you do get the full 30 minutes. Haley takes inspiration from the music with moves well-suited for the dance floor in three continuous sections dedicated to pop, rock and finally break dancing.

Haley and her small entourage start with swaying hips and hip-hoppy fist pumps before moving into a funky version of the electric slide. After ten minutes of getting our “sweat on,” the music shifts to electric guitars and drums for the hard rock portion. There are a lot of forward and backward moves with “rock on” arms and knee lifts to keep your heart rate elevated, but at this point I was still only breathing through my nose. After another music change, the next component moves to the floor for heart-rate-elevating burpees and a few somewhat awkward, but more difficult break dance moves. The last few minutes are spent on abdominal work.

The choreography is basic so even the most un-hip can follow along; this workout is intermediate level at best and was my least favorite on the DVD.

Sweat Box 45: This boxing-style workout starts with a three-minute warm-up and stretch (while on the clock) and believe me, you will be grateful you’ve already burned through three of the 45 minutes! Performed Tabata style, the workout consists of eight rounds of two different exercises — 20 seconds of traditional boxing moves, with ten seconds to recover and transition to the floor for twenty seconds of core work. Each set of exercises is performed four times to give you approximately forty minutes of a high-intensity workout.

Twenty-second bursts might seem like a breeze, especially with the transition to the floor, but I guarantee after you finish your first round you’ll be rethinking that notion. While round one starts with a doable squat jump/punch and crunch, by round five you are doing roundhouse kicks with optional plyometrics and balancing back-extending bird dogs. Round eight, with its front hitch kick/lunge and push-up combo, had me begging for mercy. Luckily the last three minutes are spent cooling down and stretching.

Unlike Sweat Cardio 30, this workout looks like it is kicking everyone’s ass — including Haley, who is soaked with sweat by the end of the session. Some of the moves may take a little while to master, but once you have the technique down, Sweat Box 45 can’t be beat for calorie burning and core strengthening.

Sweat Stretch 5: A five-minute yoga inspired stretch to tack on after any of the previous workouts or to use on its own as a body-calming intro for self guided meditation.

FBG Rating (Out of 5)

Instruction: ★★★★★
Long-Term Likeability: ★★★★
Music:
Fun Factor: ★★★★
Difficulty: ★★★
Overall: ★★★

Fit Bottomed Line: With easy-to-follow workouts for every schedule and modifications for every level, Sara Haley’s Sweat Unlimited covers the gamut. I highly recommend Sweat Box 45 alone for a killer at-home workout.

Is time your biggest workout enemy? —Karen

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