Bob Harper's Inside Out Method : Body Rev, Cardio Conditioning Review

There's no 10 minute workout. You know what a 10 minute workout is? It's a warmup.

- Bob Harper

I have also reviewed the other dvds in the series - "Pure Burn, Super Strength", "Yoga for the Warrior" and "Bob's Workout".

This is the second of four dvds in Bob Harper's "Inside Out Method" series that I've reviewed. "Pure Burn, Super Strength" was hard, and I wasn't expecting this one to be any different. The back of the box claims "if you've got heart, you can get results". Let's see how true that is.


Overview
The menu system is identical to Pure Burn - clean, simple and straightforward. The options are the 1 hour cardio workout, a 25 minute "Butt and balance" workout and two trailers.

Once more we have the great feature of a "progress bar" and countdown timer on both workouts, plus it flashes up the exercises you're about to transition into. These are great features and I don't understand why more exercise dvds don't have them.

I could get spoiled with all this.

Equipment needed for the workout is again very minimal. One heavy weight (or kettlebell), a pair of lighter weights and a workout mat.


Introduction
This time Bob is already on set - prowling around like a caged lion. It flashes arty-farty onto subliminal clips of him slamming minions, then we're into it. There is a short cheesy speech before the hour workout, but you're into the shorter one almost immediately.

One thing I really noticed in these workouts (it probably applies to Pure Strength too, but it was more noticeable here) is that Bob and his minions perform the mirror action of his instructions. For example, when he tells you to do something with your right arm only, all the minions do it with their left. I can see why they would do that (to match the same side you're doing as you look at them), but it was really confusing at first.


We Who are About to Die Salute You (the minions)
A different set of minions on this dvd. They still look super fit, and while not as entertaining as "mouth breather", slacker and "feisty momma" they still do a great job. One of them does give Bob some sass (though she regrets it pretty quickly as he hammers on her thereafter).

Again, you only find out who they are when they're being yelled at, so in case you missed it:

Roxy - looks like she's about 12, but she's an absolute workout machine and at several points is using weights that are almost as big as she is.

Zach - the spitting image of former Wales and British Lions rugby player Dafydd James. Tall and lanky he really tries to keep going. I kept an eye on him because he seemed to flag at all the same points I did.

Becky - aka the feisty one. She does all the modifications and is picked on by Bob quite a lot after giving him a bit of verbal.


20 minute Butt and Balance
The box says 25 minutes, the menu says 20 minutes, it's actually 23:30 minutes and is a lot harder than the beginner's workout from the strength dvd. What I liked about this one is that after a quick warmup almost everything is done using one leg only which isolates that leg and engages the core by forcing you to concentrate on balance. From stationary lunges we move on to weighted deadlifts and modulate into single leg deadlifts, then single leg bentover rows and on to front leg lifts. Then we repeat with the other leg. Other exercises such as lateral raises and front shoulder raises are also done while balancing on one leg.

Then just to be sure we get our money's worth we finish off with chair pose. Bob tells us that we're only going to have to hold it for 30 seconds and promises relief, but with 5 seconds to go he tells us we're going to go straight into pulses. Bastard!! After the thigh burning pulsing is complete we get to (agonisingly) hold it again while Bob laughs at us. Double bastard!!! The minions are just about collapsing at this point. I am good at chair pose, but I was yelling at Bob along with them.

A great little workout if you're short of time (or need to work on your balance like I do).


1 Hour cardio
Billed at one hour, the workout runs for just over 61 minutes. We start out with some nice relaxed dynamic stretching and some punch and uppercut combos which warmed me up nicely.

Hmm, nothing too hard so far. Little did I know. As Bob says when the minions troop on stage "they have no idea what's in store for them".

The workout gets going with deadlifts using a single heavy weight, and it becomes obvious real soon that this is a kettlebell workout in disguise. The deadlifts transition into deadlifts with rows, and then into single arm rows. Then we continue the squats with double arm swings, single arm swings, then alternating swings. It was fun swapping the weight from hand to hand by letting go at the top of the swing and catching it with the other hand (Nancy might have had something to say if I'd dropped it though). By the time we get through another lot of double arm swings, more deadlifts, suitcase swings (then more switching and alternating, all with squats of course) I'm starting to feel it.

Then we move into weighted squats and weighted squat jumps, and I realize this is an hour-long workout based almost entirely on squats. I'm not ashamed to say I was taking water breaks here and I lost count of the number of times I yelled "you've got to be kidding" (or words to that effect) at the screen.

Then we held squat position while pushing the weight out in front and back, then pushing it overhead and back, then holding it up (while still in squat position). My legs were really shaking by this point.

"Now put that weight down" may be the nicest thing anyone's said to me all year.

But no, we're immediately into handwalks, plank, pushups, mountain climbers (as fast as you can) and scorpion pushups. The best I can say about that lot was that it was at least a break from squats!!!

Ah, little did I know. After a "rest" (otherwise known as jumping jacks) we're straight back into more sets of squats. And there's still over 40 minutes to go. The minions are absolutely dying, and so am I.

When Bob asks Becky if her legs are burning and she says "no" I could have strangled her!!! Luckily I didn't need to as within minutes Bob takes his revenge and has her near collapse. When he asks again a few minutes later, she's obviously learned her lesson and mumbles "yes".

Show those minions who's boss Bob!!!

Like the strength dvd, there is absolutely no rest in this workout. There is a short waterbreak late on when the minions stage an uprising, but that's about it. And I love it that the minions are struggling along with me. All three of them have to break position at numerous points. And so did I because Bob is relentless.


Summary
By the time we got to the cooldown I was completely spent, drooling, lying in a pool of sweat and muttering "terrible things I have seen" to myself. Bob is an absolute beast - a cold blooded merciless torturer who will push you to your limit and beyond, then laugh and get you to do a few more. This is an absolutely awesome tough workout. An hour of squats? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much that can improve your hill running?

When I recover from the workout I'll let you know. I do notice my back is very tight today, maybe from losing a bit of form on the last set of swings and deadlifts when I was tired near the end.

Maybe I'll give the yoga workout a go tonight to stretch it out a bit.