With the Turbo Jam DVD set you get five workouts. Learn and Burn, 20 Minute, Turbo Sculpt, Cardio Party, and Ab Jam.
With the Ab Jam you get the jacket saying the workout is 20 minutes. Timer starts it out at 18:53.
Chalene Johnson says it is 10 minutes standing and 10 minutes on the ground. First there is a tiny warm up then the exercise consist of ab movements. Basically you are bending from side to side and bending forward. But if you are just doing the motion and not actually putting the effort of contracting your abs then it is just movement and you won’t get any contraction type of benefit. As Chalene says it is not “leaning to the side, it is crunching”. So you have to bend but make sure you are getting in the isometric contraction.
The movement includes some of the moves that Chalene calls her “Elite Eleven”. The Turbo Tuck and the row are examples. She also gets some squats and balance exercises in there.
I originally purchased this set of DVDs because it claimed to have standing ab work and it does!
With 9:20 left you’re on the floor. She moves the first exercise from standing to the floor, so you are doing the tuck, then traditional crunches. Here you can clearly see the different intensity levels.
The music has changed from dance music to a more middle-eastern flair. Even though the style has changed Chalene manages to get some grooving in there. I am convinced she loves to dance.
Some on the advanced ab work is done with your feet off the floor. Legs straight in the air or legs in “tabletop” (bent at the knee) as they call it in Pilates.
At the 4:00 minutes mark the routine changes and she has the punches included with the crunch.
When the routine has the ol’ hands-behind-your-head-elbows-out-to-the side cross over crunches she reminds you that you are actually leading with your shoulder and NOT your elbow because that is how you really work the abs.
With a little over a minute and a half left you are sitting up and working your abs with your feet off the ground and your knees going to one side then the other.
At about 20 seconds left you do down dog and child pose.
That is the Ab Jam routine in the five workout series of Turbo Jam.
So here in San Jose, where we normally have nice mild weather it has been cold and doing a workout DVD might be an alternative to going out and doing the regular walk, jog, or run. This DVD was not a cardio workout, but, it still gets your blood pumping and has a variety of ab exercises in it.
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