Power Half Hour or Gym Styles

[MeKaren]

I am in a rut and need something new to shake things up a bit. I ordered P90X; but do not have the time to devote 1 whole hour to working out; and I think I might need to work up to it. I can get in 30-40 minutes in the am and am going to try to squeeze another 30-40 minutes in the pm. I have become addicted to Turbo Jam to start my day and would like to find something to make me look forward to hitting the weights again.

I have been lifting weights consistently for the last 7 years; starting with the Firm and then Cathe. I have dumbbells and barbells; but thought about some workouts with bands might help me shake things up.

Thanks for any suggestions or ideas,
Karen

 

[ldy_solana]

i have the power dvd and the workouts are an hour or more so they may not be what you are looking for. in fact two of the workouts on that dvd clock at 70mins and the other almost 90mins while power hour is of course 60 mins. i know some of the gym styles are a bit shorter. i believe one is 45mins(chest/triceps),50-60 mins(back/shoulder/biceps and legs) while her total body muscle max is 72-78mins. i don't have the gym styles but familiar with them through other folks. the gym styles use the bands while power does not.

kassia

http://www.picturetrail.com/ldy_solana

"And do what thee wilt as long as ye harm none"

 

[mtnmom99]

The Gym Styles are a bit overkill on each body part, IMO. And I'm ho-hum about PHH.

With what you've suggested and said, it looks like you want to do some sort of split routine. Have you considered the Pyramids? Or purchase the Muscle Endurance/Bootcamp DVD or Muscle Max and do the upper body premix one day, lower the next day.

You can also do half of the P90X workouts you already have. Most of the strength workouts repeat the sequences and you can just chapter forward to the next set of exercises.

Jari Love's Ripped Slim and Lean is getting great reviews. It's slightly over an hour, but it's chaptered and you could do half one day, half the next (and it's an inexpensive DVD!)

Just some thoughts. If I think of others, I'll let you know!

Diane

 

[SRP]

Yes, if you're looking for half-hour workouts, go with the Pyramids, Muscle Endurance and Leaner Legs.

The Pyramids are about 1 hour each, for upper body and lower body, but they offer some great premixes that are a half hour each, along with a bonus combo that's 1 hr for a full body workout.

Muscle Endurance is a 1hr total body workout with excellent half-hour premixes for the upper body and lower body.

Leaner Legs is a killer lower body workout that takes about 35-40 minutes total. I only have the VHS, so I don't know if there are any premixes on the DVD version.

 

[MeKaren]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have the Pyramids and Muscle Endurance on vhs, but my VCR had died. I love the Pryamids and probably should get the dvd.

How would you describe Jari Love's style?

 

[Juliebeth]

Do you have CTX?
You could do the weights in the am, and the cardio in the pm...(or vice versa?) Well, that would give you an hour each day, but split in half.
Don't think you would be using bands, though....sorry. Wish I could help. I used bands for P90X sometimes, but liked the weights better.

Julie

 

[kathryn]

Power Half Hour (the Beach Body workout) is a good set of workouts, and very time efficient. It is less intense than P90X, but moreso than Power 90. I particularly like the 'Arms" workout (which is really an upper body workout). BUT, since you already have P90X, you can use that, but just do 1/2 of the workout.

The strength workouts have repeated segments. For example, chest/back has you alternate a chest move with a back move, doing several cycles, then you repeat the cycles. It is easily broken in half. Shoulders and arms has you do a shoulder exercise, then a bicep exercise, then a tricep exercise, then repeat before taking a stretch break. You can easily skip the second repetition.

Gym Styles are good workouts, but they are about an hour long and not as easily broken up (and less time efficient than Tony's because of the way he sets up the exercises).

Muscle Max would actually be a good workout to split into two parts, since you do the lower body, then move on to the upper body. If you do the warm-up, then the upper OR lower body, then the stretch, that would make a workout that fits your time constraints.