Over the years the FIRM workouts have evolved and expanded. The workouts in this set incorporate new variations on well-know moves that keep the heart rate elevated, help burn fat and build muscle efficiently and quickly.

The package includes a 4 pound textured power ball, The FIRM Slim and Trim DVD with 3 workout options, a 20 minute express workout and a bonus 8 minute twisting abdominal routine.

Some of the unique moves like side squats and twisting should be done with caution and built up gradually to avoid strain or injuries.

Based on the FIRM’s reputation for mostly excellent home workout systems, this set is worth a look.

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• Find The FIRM Power Ball Kit with Slim and Trim DVD
• See all FIRM DVDs and fitness products

After a decade of happy customers and more than 1.5 million units sold, the updated program again uses Debbie Siebers’ exclusive “Science of Slim Training” technique. New features include workouts filmed in HD, new music, new routines,  more extras,  a Spanish audio track and redesigned packaging.

Slim in 6 Rapid Results is predominantly marketed toward women who want to lose weight without bulking up. The 6 week program combines fat-burning cardio with light resistance training to slim and sculpt, shrink the midsection and firm thighs, buttocks, arms and abdominal muscles.

The core program includes 3 progressively difficult body slimming workouts

• Start It Up! (25 min.) Introduces the basic Slim Training moves for burning calories and reshaping your body
• Ramp It Up! (48 min.) Helps you burn more calories each day to accelerate results
• Burn It Up! (60 min.) Takes slimming and toning to the next level to complete your body reshaping

Plus tools for tracking your progress

• Simple Steps to Success Guidebook
• Step-by-Step Nutrition Guide
• Tape measure and motivational calendar to chart your progress
• Free online access to diet and fitness tips and amazing peer support
• Bonus Workouts – Slim & 6-Pack Advanced abs routine (11 min.), Slim & Limber flexibility routine (14 min.)
• 6-Day Express Diet Plan with measurement card helps you lose up to 6 pounds and 6 inches in your first 6 days
• Slim Training Band to burn fat and tone muscle even faster
• Cardio Core! Express (35 min.) New moves to burn fat while tightening and strengthening your core

Slim in 6 Rapid Results comes with a 6-Week Money-Back Guarantee.

More Info & Price Comparisons

• Get Slim in 6® Rapid Results from TeamBeachody.com (BEST PRICE)
  (Includes free access to online workout tools and community support)

If you’re interested in learning about traditional zen Yoga, breathing and meditative elements, this is not the DVD for you. If you like the high-energy style of Jillian’s other workouts and want to incorporate more Yoga into your routine, give this a try.

While this is not traditional Yoga it does involve many common poses including the downward and upward dog, warrior series, plank, and triangle while using your body weight to burn fat and build lean muscle.

Yoga Meltdown includes two complete 30-minute workouts — Level 1 focuses on quickly flowing Yoga sequences to burn mega calories and Level 2 adds twists and balance poses for an even greater burn.

More Info & Price Comparisons

• Get Jillian Michaels: Yoga Meltdown on Amazon
• See all bestselling Jillian Michaels DVDs

P90X stresses the importance of “muscle confusion” — switching up the order of routines and adding new movements during each phase, forcing the body to continuously adapt to new stresses so that it never plateaus.

A growing list of celebrities have reported using P90X. Film/TV: Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Jennie Garth. Music: Sheryl Crow, Pink. Professional Athletes: Ray Lewis, David Akers, David Garrard, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo.

Find out how P90X has become a household name in the world of fitness. Read our review or Visit the manufacturer’s site.

While this DVD is a valuable supplement to the Perfect Pushup, we’d like to see it come standard with the regular package.

The DVD teaches proper technique and form while adding variety to your workouts with 10 challenging pushup styles demonstrated by Navy SEALS, Yoga and other experts. It also includes pushup calisthenics that add variety and an aerobic element to your workouts.

This DVD is strictly demonstrational; it doesn’t provide an actual routine. The user is left to combine the different styles into their own workout progam.

More Info & Price Comparisons

• The Perfect Pushup Power 10 Workout DVD
• Get the Perfect Pushup – Original

Google and Dell have installed SurfShelfs into all of their fitness facilities. Jason Chen, Editor of Gizmodo.com called it “one of my favorite inventions ever.”

The SurfShelf securely attaches any laptop or portable DVD player to your treadmill, elliptical trainer, exercise bike or stairmaster. It fits 99% of existing stationary exercise machine models. It also works great as a book holder.

Regular laptop computing tasks using a mouse and keyboard are possible but awkward. The SurfShelf is best suited for watching video — either a DVD or on YouTube, Hulu etc. It’s also good for games that only use the directional keys or a game pad.

The product consists of a 100% Polycarbonate tray that will not break, nylon belts and a Velcro strap to hold everything rigidly in place. The secure mount is important because you don’t want your laptop falling to the ground during a workout.

The SurfShelf also comes with a free membership to In-Gym.com, a video entertainment site built specifically for SurfShelf users. The interface allows you to locate and launch a wide variety of online video feeds, all from one place. By using the arrow keys only and not pausing your workout you can choose from Sports, News, Hollywood Entertainment, Health & Lifestyle videos, Music videos, Online TV and Teen Stuff.

More Info & Price Comparisons

• Find the SurfShelf Treadmill Laptop Holder on Amazon

Perfect Fitness has now released a series of accessories for owners of the original Perfect Pushup or the Perfect Pushup V2.

Our first thought was that some or all of these could have been included in the Perfect Pushup package. But the original unit is affordable and the accessories are downright cheap and can help users who have lost interest in their Perfect Pushup workouts.

Power 10 Workout Cards

Derived from Yoga techniques and Navy Seal workouts, these full color cards feature 10 new exercises to add variety to your Perfect Pushup routines. The thickly laminated cards demonstrate proper form on the front and detailed explanations and workouts on the back.

Power 10 Workout DVD

The DVD demonstrates proper technique and form for 10 different pushup styles to help vary your workouts. It also includes pushup calisthenics for an added aerobic element. All the exercises focus on building muscle and improving strength and coordination.

Perfect Pushup Counter

If you don’t feel like counting reps or timing your workouts this clever accessory will do the work for you. It accurately tracks repetitions and time and ensures proper form and full muscle engagement. The timer can be set for up to 99 minutes to record cumulative pushup progress during the the course of the day and can be adjusted for specific time intervals such as the SEAL two-minute pushup test. The  innovative design includes a flexible base and a foam cushion top for a safe landing pad in the event your arms give way during a set.

More Info & Price Comparisons

• Perfect Pushup Power 10 Workout Cards
• Perfect Pushup Power 10 Workout DVD
• Perfect Pushup Counter

• Click here for the original Perfect Pushup on Amazon

The 8 DVD program employs an “Abcentrics” method that targets the abs from six different angles — upper flexion, lower flexion, side flexion, double flexion, twising and extension.

Situps and crunches alone cannot give you the ab-defining results provided by RevAbs. The system “fires” the abs and burns the fat that’s covering them with systematic intervals of ab training, cardiovascular training and strength training.

You probably already know about Beachbody, producers of P90X and INSANITY, but who is Brett Hoebel? Regarded as an international fitness expert, Brett is a celebrity trainer and certified Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach with expertise in C.H.E.K. Holistic Exercise Kinesiology, Hatha Yoga, Prenatal and postpartum fitness and Biomedical research. He’s also a Martial Artist and incorporates Capoeira, Jeet Kune Do, and Thai Boxing into the RevAbs system.

Among the unique features of Revbs is the “Rev Zone” split screen option that shows the trainers from multiple angles. It helps you push to the max for the duration of each particular move and get optimal results.

RevAbs is only sold through Team Beachbody. This company produces high quality exercise programs and is dedicated to meeting the health and fitness needs of all of it’s customers, no matter the age or physical ability.

Base RevAbs Package

• 8 DVD’s with 10 workouts
• Jumpstart calendar, a pre-workout 2 week nutrition cleanse
• Rotation Calendar (Training Calendar)
• Body Fat Tester
• Fitness Guide
• Anytime, Anywhere Travel Workout Routine
• Nutrition Guide
• Abs workout pamphlet
• Transformation tracker and measuring tape

DELUXE RevAbs Package

• 10 DVD’s
• 2 Resistance Bands
• Deluxe Training Calendar
• Jumpstart Calendar
• Portable Calendar
• Abs Workout Pamphlet
• Fitness Guide
• Nutrition Guide
• Body Fat Tester
• Transformation tracker and tape

• Get RevAbs with Brett Hoebel from TeamBeachody.com (Choose BASE or DELUXE Kit)
  (Includes free access to online workout tools and community support)

RevAbs Video

As always, Jillian is tough and serious-minded about getting in shape. The moves in this DVD are similar to 30 Day Shred but the routine is about twice as long at over 40 minutes. The workout is relatively low impact while still managing to keep the heart rate consistently elevated.

The DVD is broken down into 7 six-minute circuits and requires no weights or equipment. The intensity of each circuit is varied to help you get through the full workout. Jillian offers repeated reminders that when you can’t afford a gym membership, you can always use your own body weight as resistance.

This is a challenging workout DVD but appropriate for a wide range of fitness levels as beginners can work up one circuit at a time.

More Info & Price Comparisons

• Click here for Jillian Michaels: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism on Amazon
• See all bestselling Jillian Michaels DVDs
• More Jillian Michaels DVDs
  

Jillian Michaels - No More Trouble Zones (DVD, 2009) US $4.99 (1 Bid) Auction Ends: Monday Sep-06-2010 3:02:00 PDT   | Watch this Item

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INSANITY with Shaun T. now rivals rivals P90X in popularity, media buzz and most importantly — results. P90X is a 90 day program (hence the name), while INSANITY aims to put you in the best shape of your life in just 60 days. It’s also differs in that it requires no weights, resistance bands or extra equipment.

Related: The latest program from Beachbody was released on 6/16/2010.  Read the Turbo Fire Workout with Chalene Johnson HIIT Review.

INSANITY is touted as perhaps the most difficult and effective workout program ever put on DVD. That may or may not be true, but if you’re already in decent shape, mentally focused and ready to sweat, Insanity won’t disappoint.

• Click here to try INSANITY
  (Includes free access to online workout tools and community support)

This is a radical program, in the best sense of the word. It centers around the concept of “MAX Interval Training” which alters traditional interval training by incorporating long bursts of maximum-intensity exercises with short periods of rest, rather than the reverse. Each routine is a non-stop challenge of alternating between aerobic and anaerobic intervals performed at or near your maximum level of output, pushing past previous barriers. The result is up to 1,000 calories burned per workout and a lean, muscular body after 60 days.

The unique approach incorporates some unconventional routines that include ski moves, football drills, basketball drills, jacks, “suicide drills”, jogging, butt kicks, mountain climbers, high knees, ski-abs and more, all with Shaun T.’s expert guidance and no exercise equipment of any kind. See the video below to get an idea of how this is accomplished.

Insanity includes 10 separate workout discs with plyometric drills and nonstop intervals of strength, power, resistance, and ab and core training.

Update 7/27/2010: As an incentive to those who are still considering trying INSANITY,  Beachbody is now including an additional, never before seen workout with all purchases of either the base or deluxe INSANITY package. Fast and Furious is a new DVD from Shaun T. and cannot be purchased separately.

1. Dig Deeper & Fit Test: Shaun T. puts your body through an initial test to see what you’re made of
2. Plyometric Cardio Circuit: Burn fat with intervals of intense lower-body plyo and sweat-inducing cardio
3. Cardio Power & Resistance: Build lean muscle and upper-body definition with strength-training and Insanity workout power moves.
4. Cardio Recovery: Shaun T goes easier on you once a week so you’re ready for the next Insanity workout round
5. Pure Cardio & Abs: Skip the intervals…this nonstop cardio workout is all extreme
6. Cardio Abs: Do explosive intervals of cardio and core moves for rock-hard abs
7. Core Cardio & Balance: Take a break after month 1 of the Insanity program and gear up for month 2 with this workout
8. Max Interval Circuit: The interval circuit that’s more intense than anything you’ve ever done before
9. Max Interval Plyo: Push your legs until they beg for mercy with power and plyo, all at your MAX
10. Max Cardio Conditioning & Abs: Get pushed to your limit with this extreme cardio workout

The package comes with four additional support tools including the Elite Nutrition Plan, a Fitness Guide with just the information you need so you spend your time working out rather than reading, the Insanity Calendar and Online Support Tools to help you stay motivated.

Beachbody believes Shaun T’s Insanity may be the best workout program of its kind. If you’re not completely satisfied for any reason, or just lack the requisite will power, you can return the product within 30 days for a full refund.

More Info & Price Comparisons

• Try INSANITY 10-DVD Base Package
• Try INSANITY 13-DVD Deluxe Package
  (Both include “Fast and Furious” – FREE, exclusive 20-minute workout DVD)
  

Video Demonstration