Review || Davina Intense DVD

If you've read my previous post on Davina McCall's fitness DVDs you'll know I'm a HUGE fan. They're great for people of all abilities since there's always both an 'easy' and 'harder' technique to follow, they're varied, and (I think anyway) fun! 

I thought it might be useful for those of you who are interested in this type of exercise if I gave my opinions on some of the best DVDs in this series. As I'm in no way a fitness or health expert, these thoughts are purely based on my own experiences and the results I've seen for my own body.

First up is the most recent of the bunch, Davina Intense:

I think this is a great choice for those of us who find it difficult to fit exercise in to their daily routine. It focuses on the principle of High Intensity Training, which means you work out for a shorter amount of time but at a much higher intensity than normal. This type of training is all about getting your heart rate up really high during short bursts of exercise in order to burn lots of fat (yippeee!). 

So, this DVD is split into 3 workout sections, not including the warm up and cool down (which you MUST do every time you work out to avoid injury) - Intense Cardio Box, Intense Toning and Intense Abs. Each lasts no longer than 20-25 minutes, so is great for fitting in to a busy schedule. To get the most out of the sections you'll only need a small amount of floor space and a couple of weights (but bottles of water or tins of food do the job just as well). 

The first two sections work very similarly. They focus on 2-3 minutes of high intensity exercises, such as fast running on the spot, squats, star jumps, and lunges, split up with 2 minute 'rest' periods. This allows you to work out as hard as you can in the 2-3 minutes to get your heart rate up really high and then to bring it back down again to give you energy for the next burst. The final, Abs, section also works on this principle but mixes standing exercises with ones on the floor - definitely the least intense of the 3 sections, but still gets a good sweat on! 

I've had this DVD since Christmas and it's slowly becoming my favourite. I always feel like I've had a brilliant workout every time and I've noticed a real difference in my fitness levels and toned-ness!