Jillian Body Revolution vs Firm Express

[beospenser]

How would you compare both systems to each other? They seem similar in that they are both short 20 minute workout systems.

[txhsmom]

I've only made it to workout 3 in Phase 1 of the Jillian workouts, but they don't seem as scattered or frantic as the Firms do. I like these workouts, even though I've never been a big Jillian fan. The Jillian workouts clock in at 30 minutes or a little more each.

[ramonam]

Jillian's are actually 30 minutes, if that makes a difference to the time-crunched.

I'm midway through JMBR and LOVE it. I feel that the movements are deliberate, that I can go as heavy as I'd like without worrying I'll hurt myself.

I do use the FE workouts occasionally when I have to have something short. Because they have always seemed so frantic to me, I use only light weights.

With FE, I've always felt they are trying to make the workouts seem more intense by talking really fast, some leads more than others. I found it really annoying at times.

[saffron]

I'm biased towards Body Rev - I'm on Workout 4 and loving it. I have the Firm Express but only sampled a few of the workouts and didn't feel motivated enough to do a rotation.

Body Revolution:
- about 30mins each
- rotation is 6 days/week (for 13 weeks) - 4 weight workouts, 2 cardio
- weight workouts are designed as splits - front body/back body
- in the weight workouts there are 4 cardio intervals at 1min each
- straight-up athletic moves
- no choreography, nothing to remember, no chance of tripping over your feet
- she does 12-15 reps of most moves at a deliberate pace - no throwing or swinging the weights, you can go heavier and slower.
- there's a great cast of amazingly fit and good looking people ... eye-candy galore (helloooo David )
- the cast is mostly in sync but it doesn't feel overly choreographed
- Jillian will show modifications by having someone go faster (on cardio moves) or use heavier weights. Sometimes she'll show or tell you how to modify down
- Jillian walks around giving form pointers, joking with her peeps and motivating you - she's unscripted and natural
- there's a bit of whooping by the cast, sometimes they count down the last 10secs, but it's not annoying at all .....

Firm Express workouts are:
- 20 mins each
- choreographed routines, scripted lines
- fast moving almost frantic
- difficult to go heavy on some combination moves
- cardio intervals are 8secs with 12secs recovery
- designated modifier doesn't always modify
- whooping is high-pitched (hello Rebekah)
- rotation is one month 3x/week - 3 types of workouts - cardio / cardio-sculpt / sculpt ... all have cardio intervals

hth

[LCC]

I think BR is what FE was supposed to be. It is a well rounded system with logical sequencing and a logical progression. FE is just a bunch of frantic workouts with no real
Logic or purpose.

I like a few of them, but I don't see a "system" in them.

LCC (Laura)

[ebianco]

I agree with what others said, but to give a more positive spin to Firm Express (not that I disagree with what everybody said, cause it's all true ), I feel like JMBR is a strength-based circuit style system (supplemented by cardio workouts), while Firm Express is cardio-based and is supposed to be HIIT style. Even the "strength" workouts in FE are very cardio-based. I know it's scripted and all that (they are Firm workouts after all!) but I think they go by quickly, are fun, and they always get my heart rate WAY up.

So I think you could lose weight with either system; your cardio endurance would improve with FE while your metabolic rate and toning aesthetics would improve with JMBR.

I am currently about a third through JMBR and have never used FE as a system but have done a sampling of workouts (actually I think the two systems would work nicely together). I probably wouldn't do FE alone because my body simply requires heavier lifting on a regular basis.

[3ks]

I have both programs. I was only able to get through the first two FE dvds.

After Jillian's program, I will attempt to do FE in its entirety to see how it is. I like the concept, its just that the execution is kind of "not there."

Kiddy