SELF Magazine's Body Bonus Fitness Series

SELF Magazine's Body Bonus Series

SELF Magazine's Body Bonus Series includes 4 videos: Slim and Sleek, Your Best Butt, Bikini Ready and Firm Flat Abs. Each video is about 30-45 minutes long and incorporates a variety of cardio, strength training, yoga/pilates and ab exercises. Each video follows the same format: an intro with a description of the muscle groups targeted, a warm up, the workout and a cool down. Each video also includes several annoying (but skippable) commercials at the beginning.

The 30-minute Ab video begins with the instructor, Violet Zaki, describing the muscles of the core (the rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis and internal/external obliques) with a few tips for keeping good form and using the abs. The workout itself includes a variety of standing and floor moves, as well as moves on an exercise ball. The warm up is about 6-7 minutes long and includes standing moves like woodchops, twists and knee lifts. The first section uses a stability ball and includes moves like lunges with a ball swing, crunches, side lifts and reverse crunches. The Pilates-inspired section includes a version one hundreds, hip circles, one-leg stretch and supermans. The yoga section is my favorite and includes planks, planks with leg lifts, side planks, seated oblique crunches, back extensions, rolldowns and more. The workout is about 30 minutes long, including warm up. The video also includes a 5-minute hi/lo cardio workout.

For intensity, I would rate this workout at low-medium...there's plenty of variety, but she only does, on average, 1 set of 4-8 reps of each exercise. Still, this would be a good choice for learning a variety of ways to work the core and to target balance and stability.

This video targets the lower body (duh) and includes a basic 7-minute warm up followed by a short, 8-minute kickboxing segment. The kickboxing gets your heart ate up with simple combinations (e.g., front kick, lunge, front kicks and jumprope) and keeps you at about a medium intensity, depending on whether you do high or low impact. There's a mixture of high impact moves like jumping jacks and moves to target the glutes (front, side and back kicks with squats). The strength section is about 15 minutes long and includes exercises like squats, pulsing squats, front lunges, reverse lunges with a leg extension, squat jumps and side lunges with leg lifts. There's only 1 set of each exercise following a general pattern of 8 regular and 8 pulses, some exercises using 3-5 pound weights. The workout ends with a simple and enjoyable yoga cooldown.

Overall, this video has some nice variety with interesting lower body moves that incorporate both endurance and stability. It moves fast and you rarely spend much time on each move (which can be good or bad depending on your goals and what you like). My only real problem is with the light weights, which may be fine for beginners but too easy for more advanced exercisers.

This video also moves quickly in a circuit format targeting the entire body. Again, the recommendation is for 3-5 lb weights which fits some of the more dynamic exercises, but might be light for other moves unless you're a beginner. After the 7-minute warm up, you start with the First Series (7 minutes), repeated 3 times, which includes bicep curls, lateral raises and squats, each for 12 reps followed by 8 pulses.

The Second Series includes a more intense circuit plie squats with arm circles, ribcage reaches, reverse flies, torso circles, tricep extensions, squats with lateral raises and upright rows with calf raises. The series is repeated twice and lasts about 8 minutes.

The third series (6 minutes) has figure 8's, squats with butterfly arms, a version of shoulder presses, lunges and pushups. The workout ends with power moves that include plyometric jumps and single leg squats and a cooldown/stretch. There's also a short segment that provides some basic tips about exercise and nutrition for weight loss.

This workout includes some interesting moves that target multiple muscle groups and challenge the core and stabilizer muscles. Like the other videos, I love the variety but the intensity would be best for beginners.

This video focuses a bit more on cardio, but includes some weight training as well. After the warm up, the Ballet Section follows which, as the name implies, includes ballet-inspired moves (e.g., center plies, tiptoe plies and leg lifts) targeting the lower body. The moves are repeated in a circuit before moving onto the next section, which is cardio.

The cardio sections (a total of 16 minutes) include some basic hi/lo aerobics that keeps you at about a medium intensity, depending on your fitness level. Some of the moves include jumping jacks, step kicks with hops, v-steps with hops back, jump ropes and plyometric-type jumps. The choreography is simple and modifications are shown.

The weight training series is very short (about 5 minutes) and focuses on compound moves like lunges with bicep curls and squats with lateral raises. There's also a bonus Body Turnaround, a 6-minute total body workout with more compound movements with light weights.

The video ends with a cool down as well as tips for exercise and strength training workouts. Overall, this workout moves quickly and contains plenty of variety for beginner/intermediate exercisers.