Review Jari Love's Body Rock

[acey]

I just finished this workout. It is not nearly as tough as some of her other workouts -- but that's not necessary a bad thing!

There is a "hi-lo" workout which is can be separated out into just dance and just aerobics. Jari leads the aerobic segments and another girl, who looks a bit like Tila Tequila, leads the dance segments. But if you play "complete workout" you get the segments alternating with each other.

The segments are very short, about 3 minutes each, but with half a dozen from each instructor, it adds up to a half hour of cardio. Due to the swiftly changing segments, I have to admit the time just flew by, although 30 minutes of easy-to-intermediate cardio isn't quite enough for this cardio junkie.

Very simple stuff. The dance instructor does very basic cha chas, jazz moves, disco, funk, etc., teaching you maybe 2 or 3 basic moves for a simple combination in each segment. Jari does traditional hi-lo moves -- knee ups, jacks, skis, heels, low kicks (not kickboxing), and even a "guitar" move that Giladiators may remember from his old BIM episodes.

Then there is a weight workout that hews more closely to familiar Jari, about half an hour long including abs. Surprisingly, the triceps get nothing more than a set of pushups. But the biceps and shoulders track was typical Jari tough.

The set is dark and Evolution-like. Everyone wears lacy black workout bras and black tights.

Jari is much less ditzy-ish in this workout, and no talk of calorie burns. I don't remember a single "good on you" or "chest proud." I like her in any case but I think she's really polished her performance. The Tila-like gal is also very good, although teaching the most rudimentary of dance moves (and some of them are pretty difficult for non-dancers like me when speeded up to double-time).

The abs are old school tried and true stuff: oblique crunches, reverse crunches and bicycles.

[CarlaShanti]

Sounds dull to me. I may give this one a miss...Do you think you'll end up keeping it? Is it something you see yourself doing much?

[mommy2]

I've recently discovered Jari and her. I have to be in the mood to do a dancing workout though. Are there premixes that exclude the dancing segments? The hi-lo portion looks more up my alley.

If you have Get Ripped 1000, how do you compare the two in terms of intensity?

Thanks!

[acey]

Oh, I'll keep it, but then, I'm a hoarder. I don't see it as being as intense as any of her other ones except maybe the original Get Ripped.

[cataddict]

Thanks so much for the review, Acey. I'd been wondering about this one, knew it was out but hadn't heard any opinions yet. I've been on the fence and I'm teetering toward maybe not after reading your review. I don't need all teeth rattling intensity, but I still want to feel like I'm getting a decent cardio workout if that's what I'm focusing on that day. I'm thinking this one may not be for me, although I really like Jari.

P.S. I'm a hoarder too. That's why I'm trying not to buy more workouts that may not get much use!

[bzar]

i got this on saturday and did the Dance pre-mix option.

the warm-up was done by Jari all by herself. i can't remember how long the warm-up is, but it's pretty basic aerobic-style, with no weights. recall that Jari likes to use weights in her warm-ups of all of her previous workouts. this one is just an empty-handed, gadget free, old-school warm-up.

then there's a title screen that appears and the dance part begins. the instructor, Angie, leads about 5-6 other women. none of them are from any of the previous get ripped workouts. not even Jari appears in this segment as a cast member.

i have done lots of dance workouts, and this one is basic but flowing. lots of extended arm movements. the music is all latin, even when they change to Jazz . i only got to the end of the Jazz segment, and next was disco. i had to stop to get ready for work.

i haven't done or viewed any of the other segments. one thing is that in Jari's warm-up, it just seemed weird seeing her alone and doing cardio. her movements seemed a little less fluid than i had expected.

to clarify, i've seen better cardio warm-ups led by kathy smith, denise austin, and chris freytag, as a comparison.

[mommy2]

What are the premixes?

[Fitstick]

Originally Posted by mommy2

What are the premixes?

Premixes are the stand alone dance workout, the stand alone hi/low routine and the stand alone weights/abs section - you can do them each separately with the warmup and cooldown on each. I thought there were supposed to be other premixes to shorten the total workout but will have to check my DVD again.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by mommy2

What are the premixes?

Complete, Dance, Hi-Lo, strength + abs. i'm not using the correct titles, and i still haven't checked to see how long each pre-mix is.

amazon has some very thorough reviews, if you want to read them.

by the way, the collage description shows the bar chart with around 30 for aerobics, and 30 for toning. then the narrative says 2 addl premixes are around 50 min apiece. that doesn't sound right to me. for example, if the bar chart has 30 min for cardio, then that means 15 min apiece for hi/lo and dance. you'd think that the 2 addl premixes would only be 20 min each, which includes warm up and cool down?

i'll try to do as much of the premixes as i can and report back.

[mommy2]

Thank you! Good to know that you could do just the weights. I wondered if the DVD would be worthwhile just for the weights portion alone. I'll head over to Amazon to see what others are saying. I just bought the 4-Pack (Original GR, GR1000, Slim and Lean, GRTTC) and wonder what other video she has that's the closest in terms of the toning section?