Tag Archives: Fitness Blender

My Review of Fitness Blender’s Toned, Lean Arms Workout

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and this post is in no way intended to give out medical advice. Please seek the advice of a qualified medical professional before beginning this or any other type of workout routine. 

In addition, I’m not receiving any kind of compensation for this post, I’m not affiliated with anyone at Fitness Blender, and there is never affiliate marketing of any sort on my site in general. I’m reviewing this workout simply because I loved it and think some of you might, too.

About the Toned, Lean Arm Workout

This is a 20-minute upper body workout that exercises your rhomboids, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and chest. There is no warmup or cool down included in it, so be sure to get those routines in before and after completing it. 

I’m brand new to this routine, and I find it challenging. Unless your upper body strength is much more developed than mine, I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners. 

You will need a pair of hand weights for this workout. A yoga mat is helpful, too, although it is not strictly necessary. 

Fitness Blender’s Toned, Lean Arms Workout

My Review

I’ve been having such a great time sharing my thoughts on various workouts with you over the past nine months. While I do plan on writing further instalments in this series as I try new videos, it will probably be a while before I update it again. The Brutal Butt & Thigh, Ab Blasting, and Toned, Lean Arm workouts are part of my current routine, and I don’t see that changing in the near future. 

What I enjoy the most about the Toned, Lean Arm workout is the diversity of moves in it. My weightlifting sessions didn’t happen as regularly as usual over the past few months for various reasons, so I have lost a bit of my former strength. 

While this does make this routine more challenging, the fact that it includes easier moves between the more difficult ones keeps me motivated. I probably would have moved back to a different, lighter workout if not for this fact. 

This is something I’d recommend using a lighter set of weights for than you would normally choose. I scale back to the lightest set of weights I currently own (at 7 pounds each…maybe I should buy smaller ones for this routine?), and I still have trouble doing some of the moves because of how many different muscle groups they work at once. It does give me the motivation to keep plugging away at it, though! 

There were some nice modifications offered for a few of the moves. For example, Kelly (the instructor and demonstrator) recommended doing standing pushups against a wall if you weren’t yet strong enough to do a traditional one on the floor. I appreciated that, and I would have liked to see more of those alternatives offered for other sections of the workout. Fitness Blender has done this more often in the past than they did in this particular video. It’s one of the reasons why I generally recommend them so highly. Hopefully, they’ll go back to their old patterns in the future. 

In general, this is something I’d recommend. I was pretty pleased with the way it was set up and how much effort I had to put into keeping up with the pace of it. 

Every time I review a Fitness Blender video, I comment on the lack of music in them and how much I appreciate that. The only thing I will say on that topic this time is that I’m once again pleased to see such a distraction-free routine. 

Previous Reviews of Free Youtube Workout Routines:

The Challenging Chair Workout 

Bipasha Basu’s 30-Minute Aerobic Dance Workout

Fitness Blender’s Brutal Butt & Thigh Workout

Fitness Blender’s Ab Blasting Interval Workout

 

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My Review of Fitness Blender’s Ab Blasting Interval Workout

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and this post is in no way intended to give out medical advice. Please seek the advice of a qualified medical professional before beginning this or any other type of workout routine. 

In addition, I’m not receiving any kind of compensation for this post, I’m not affiliated with anyone at Fitness Blender, and there is never affiliate marketing of any sort on my site in general. I’m reviewing this workout simply because I loved it and think some of you might, too.

About the Ab-Blasting Interval Workout

This is a 24-minute bodyweight workout that does not include a warmup or cool down. It can be broken down into three groups, each of which includes four different exercises that are repeated once. Each exercise is done for 45 seconds, and there is a 10 second rest period between exercises.

I’m still pretty new to this routine, so it’s nice to have natural stopping point at various points throughout it if necessary.

The only equipment required for this video is a yoga mat.

It’s hard to know what fitness level it was intended for. I wouldn’t recommend it to an absolute beginner, but you might want to check it out after you’ve been doing ab exercises for a while and want to try something new. It’s neither the easiest nor the more difficult workout I’ve ever done.

Ab Blasting Interval Workout

My Review

If you’d like to know what workout is currently keeping me on my toes, you’re in the right place. I recently moved up to this routine after growing strong enough to stop using the previous ab video I’d been following. (I’ll write a review for that routine in the near future!)

As I’ve mentioned when reviewing the Brutal Butt & Thigh Workout, I love the fact that the owners of this channel don’t have any background music in their videos. It makes it so much easier for me to concentrate on the moves I’m supposed to be copying. I hope they never change that.

The variety of exercises in this routine is nice, too. I find some of them  challenging, so it’s helpful to switch things up so often as I work on improving my flexibility and strength.

As usual, the hosts gave suggestions of alternate moves for viewers who don’t have the strength or flexibility to do the same exercises that are recommended for the audience. This is something I really like about these videos in general, and it’s a big part of the reason why I use them so often.

Since there wasn’t a warmup or cool down included in this workout, I also like the fact that not every exercise is intended to be equally difficult. Some of them are clearly meant to focus on our flexibility and range of motion, and I find those portions a bit of a relief after the tougher moves.

I also appreciate the calm demeanours of the couple who runs this site. No matter what they’re encouraging their audience to do, they always explain it in a soothing tone of voice. I am not the kind of person who find being yelled at motivating in any way, so it’s nice to find exercise enthusiasts who take a more mellow approach to the topic.

Honestly, there isn’t anything I’d change about this routine. Everything about it was well done, and I’m planning to continue using this video for quite a while yet. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

Previous Reviews of Free Youtube Workout Routines:

The Challenging Chair Workout 

Bipasha Basu’s 30-Minute Aerobic Dance Workout

Fitness Blender’s Brutal Butt & Thigh Workout

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My Review of Fitness Blender’s Brutal Butt & Thigh Workout

From the Brutal Butt and Thigh Workout


Disclaimer: 
I am not a doctor, and this post is in no way intended to give out medical advice. Please seek the advice of a qualified medical professional before beginning this or any other type of workout routine. 

In addition, I’m not receiving any kind of compensation for this post, I’m not affiliated with anyone at Fitness Blender, and there is never affiliate marketing of any sort on my site in general. I’m reviewing this workout simply because I loved it and think some of you might, too.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed a workout video here. it’s time to change that.

Fitness Blender creates the videos I use for the vast majority for my weightlifting workouts. Kelli and Daniel are the couple who created and own this brand.  Their Youtube channel and website offer free workouts for every fitness level.

About the 30 Minute Brutal Butt & Thigh Workout

This workout consists of 5 groups of 2 different exercises. There are ten repetitions of each exercise before you move onto the next one, and all of the exercises are done in the AB/AB format. For example, Kelli’s movements looked like this in the first section:

  • Traditional Squats
  • Deadlifts
  • Traditional Squats
  • Deadlifts

Between each muscle-building exercise, she spent 20 seconds jogging in place.

This is a good routine for more experienced weight lifters. I would not recommend it to beginners due to the intensity of the moves.

All of the videos from Fitness Blender that I use require a minimal amount of equipment. For this particular one, you’ll need a barbell or dumbbell. If you happen to own a yoga mat, that extra cushioning can be useful for the cardio portions of this routine. It’s not strictly necessary, however.

The last five minutes of this video are dedicated to cool-down exercises, but it doesn’t have any warm-up activities. I’d recommend warming up on your own before beginning it.

 

Brutal Butt and Thigh Workout

My Review

This is one of my all-time favourite workouts, so you’re going to hear a lot of complimentary things about it today.

The lack of background music was one of the first things I noticed about it. While I like background music when I’m doing a dance video, I find it distracting for most other types of exercise. It was nice to not have to think about it during this video.

Instead of instruments or the sound of people singing, the only noises you hear on this video are of the narrator explaining which moves are coming up and discussing how they affect your body. There were alternatives suggested for people who couldn’t do the full range of motion for certain moves which was helpful. It was also interesting to hear Daniel talk about how your muscles will react if you’re able to do the moves the way Kelli was in this workout. I only ever felt encouraged by his descriptions. It was fascinating to hear how the human body works and how it can adapt to new challenges over time.

While Kelli did jog in place between all of the exercises, I appreciated the fact that participants were encouraged to find their own level of activity between sets if they weren’t able to jog every time. Honestly, I can’t jog in place for the entire workout every single session. There are times when I need to walk instead, especially at the end, and that’s perfectly okay.

The Cool Down Portion of This Workout

One of the unique features of the Fitness Blender brand is an icon on the right hand side of the screen that shows you how much of the workout you’ve currently completed as well as how much of it you still have to go.

It looks sort of like a thermometer, and the color of it changes from green to yellow to red as you progress further into the routine. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used this feature to see how long I have left to go and to find another burst of energy when I know we’re getting close to the end.

The weightlifting exercises themselves are challenging for me in a good way. When I first began using this video, I was a little sore the next day. While my body has grown stronger and adjusted since then, this routine is by no means an easy one for me. I enjoy being challenged in this way, and I can see myself going back to it over and over again for quite a while yet to come.

I also enjoy the cool down portion during the last five minutes. By the time it comes up, I’m usually covered in perspiration and totally ready to take a break from exercising. All of the stretches in the last few minutes are a nice bridge between weightlifting and the quieter portions of my day that are soon to follow.

Honestly, the thing I’d change about it if I could would be to include a short warm-up at the beginning. I find that I am more diligent about warming up properly when I have someone else telling me which body parts to stretch and for what period of time. Going to the trouble of actually warming up for it is well worth the effort, though!

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