Jessica Smith Lift and Shift Reviews and Impressions

[frogribbit]

I had told myself I didn't need these but they are sounding better & better! I need to up my strength game.

[Cher]

Originally Posted by frogribbit

I had told myself I didn't need these but they are sounding better & better! I need to up my strength game.

That is why I ended up getting them. I have been really slacking on strength training and thought this might jumpstart my ambition. I have only tried 3 so far but I do like them and they are tougher than I was expecting.

[Anne29]

I finished the first week, and so far so good. I tried both of the mobility workouts and they're great--definitely easier than the weight workouts but they don't feel like a waste of time either. You test your balance and work smaller stabilizer muscles, while also stretching things out a bit. I like doing some kind of workout six days a week (I work from home these days so I need the movement), but I think I go overboard a bit with Cathe sometimes, so this is a better balance of exertion.

The weight workout for Day 5 was a tough one: Total Body Stamina. She has you do six basic but effective exercises (squats, deadlifts, chest press, lat rows, reverse curls for abs and then a cobra/superman type move). You do 20 reps for each one and then you repeat the sequence three times. Twenty reps is a lot, definitely more than you want to do. But she talks you through it and gets you thinking about your mental resistance to this type of challenge. I told myself I might stop after the second round, but I kept going through the end. She changes the rep patterns in the second and third rounds, so it's the same but different. I liked the other two weight workouts I tried better than this one (20 reps felt *long*), but this one's still really solid. It's still slow and controlled, so you can go pretty heavy, and it works everything. (And there's more core work again, which I'm loving.) This one only comes up once a month in the rotation, so if you don't like endurance-type lifting, you don't have to do it often.

For Day 6, I did a Cathe low impact hiit workout for the optional cardio. I know some people were disappointed that she didn't include cardio workouts in this program, and of course I'd like more workouts from her than less, but I realized that having us do our own thing for this program is kind of genius. Some people like step, some like kickboxing, some dancier cardio, some like spin, some want to run/walk outdoors, some like her indoor walks. Some people are in great cardio shape and "intervals" for them are really intense. For others, like me, it doesn't take as much to get their heart rate up. She's just telling you to do interval cardio (or endurance cardio), but leaving it to you to figure out how you want to do that, which makes the program work for way more people.

One last thing I wanted to say, for anyone who says they don't like Jessica's weight training: I don't always like her weight training either, but this is working for me. I liked her Walk Strong sets because they helped me build my strength back up after taking some time off from exercise, but eventually I wanted more straightforward weight training. I got tired of the moves where you're alternating between deadlifts and rear delt work and you're expected to use the same dumbbells for both. And I know some people don't like going down on the floor, or having trouble getting up and down, but I was disappointed in her Get Strong dvd because she tries to work your chest while standing. She has you do a one-armed standing chest press and it just doesn't work well for me. I feel it more in my shoulder than in my chest.

So I just thought I'd say, there's none of that so far in Lift and Shift. Every move is set up so that you can choose a weight that really works for the muscle group you're working. And you're in a good position for every move as well.

Not trying to enable you all, but just thought I'd share my perspective.

[SFR]

I bought the set and am planning to do this with my reluctant 16 year old daughter. I figure this will be safe and have the latest research behind it.

We're not going to follow the rotation. We'll only do circuit 1 to start. Thank you LeslieM for the timestamps!

Which of these would be the easiest to start with?

Total Body Strength
Total-Body Definition
Total-Body Circuit

[Cher]

Originally Posted by SFR

I bought the set and am planning to do this with my reluctant 16 year old daughter. I figure this will be safe and have the latest research behind it.

We're not going to follow the rotation. We'll only do circuit 1 to start. Thank you LeslieM for the timestamps!

Which of these would be the easiest to start with?

Total Body Strength
Total-Body Definition
Total-Body Circuit

It’s hard to say.

TB strength is easier in terms of convenience for sure because the first half is a total body workout straight through then at about 30 minutes, you repeat it all again.

TB Definition starts with 4 Lower Body exercises, then you repeat so if you’re only doing one set through, you would have to forward through that second set. Then she does the Chest & Back section doing 1 chest exercise, 1 back exercise, a different chest exercise, then a different back exercise, then repeat the 4 exercises so again you would have to forward and so on for the rest of the sections.

I have not tried TB Circuit yet.

In my opinion, of the 2 I have tried, I think TB Definition might be a little easier although the lower body section was tough but there wasn’t any planks or push-ups like there is in TB Strength which I find hard

[frogribbit]

One last thing I wanted to say, for anyone who says they don't like Jessica's weight training: I don't always like her weight training either, but this is working for me. I liked her Walk Strong sets because they helped me build my strength back up after taking some time off from exercise, but eventually I wanted more straightforward weight training. I got tired of the moves where you're alternating between deadlifts and rear delt work and you're expected to use the same dumbbells for both. And I know some people don't like going down on the floor, or having trouble getting up and down, but I was disappointed in her Get Strong dvd because she tries to work your chest while standing. She has you do a one-armed standing chest press and it just doesn't work well for me. I feel it more in my shoulder than in my chest.

So I just thought I'd say, there's none of that so far in Lift and Shift. Every move is set up so that you can choose a weight that really works for the muscle group you're working. And you're in a good position for every move as well.

Yes!! That sounds perfect. I hate when moves are combined where you have to go light with the weight to accommodate the smaller muscle.

[laurajhawk]

Originally Posted by Anne29

The weight workout for Day 5 was a tough one: Total Body Stamina.

I did that one today, and I'll mention that on the rotation I should've done Total Body Definition, but I needed to get done a little quicker this morning. The first week's calendar makes it easy to swap those two; it won't be a problem.

I really liked the very straightforward, non-compound moves in this one (Stamina). Yes, the sets seemed long, and by the third circuit I needed to lower my weights, but that's all fine. Jessica does a bit of a pep-talk about paying attention to your body instead of looking for distractions, and I'm a big believer in that.

I'm really enjoying this program. NOT TO ENABLE OR ANYTHING

[s2546]

These sound amazing and I do.love jessica ! But it's just frustrating because of purple player and never really owning the workouts at that price. Cathe sells downloads and michelle dozois sell downloads that can be kept on USB or hard drive. Wish jessica would! Anyway enjoy. These sound terrific!

sue

[LeslieM]

But Cathe doesn't sell her premixes as downloads and I rarely do one of her workouts because they are too long. Yeah, I could skip around, but I would much prefer premix downloads. I'm aware I can stream then, but I skip around between all kinds of instructors every week.

[s2546]

Lol! I was talking about cathe live downloads! I forgot she offers everything else too!

sue