Air humping (a.k.a. Turbo Jam) review

Woo! We're having fun!!

If you find my review helpful in anyway, please leave me a comment or ask me more questions if you have them. Also, if you want me to reply to your comment, please go here to find out how to make that possible. Thanks!

Other reviews:
Here's my ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Phase Review.
Here's my ChaLEAN Extreme Push Phase Review.
Here's my ChaLEAN Extreme Lean Phase Review (includes final results).

Those of you following me on Twitter might have seen me recently tweeting about air humping in the early morning hours (you'll see what I mean in the video below).

In the past four weeks or so I've endeavored to get my life in gear (read: healthier) and that includes exercise and my diet. Since simply watching what I eat gets me zero results I've finally admitted I gotta get my biscuit moving, too. What luck I had to turn on the TV one quiet Sunday afternoon and see Chalene Johnson stumping (and humping) for her Turbo Jam program!

I'm not exactly sure what it was about the infomercial, but I was mesmerized.


And then minute 5:25 happened. And still, I was mesmerized. And undeterred.

Instead of calling the number on the screen I went directly to the website. As I navigated through countless additional offers I finally saw where they make their money. Not on the $60 program, but on the additional monthly recurring things I could have signed up for. I was steadfast in my buying control and managed to leave the site with just the program advertised. And I felt good to be doing something about my health.

When you buy Turbo Jam you get a nifty little guidebook which includes an overview, an intro to "your crew," one month schedule of workouts, Elite 11 Turbo Jam moves flash cards, an eating plan and calculator, and a dining out guide. Also included are these cool weighted gloves for "sculpting." As I understand it they are not for beginners. There are 6 different workouts including a bonus "Punch, Kick, and Jam" DVD. This is all only $60 (or 3 [easy] payments of $20 - which is what I opted for).

:: Mine arrived last Friday and I started the following Monday with Learn & Burn. Learn is where Chalene goes through her Elite 11 Moves one by one, followed by Burn where the biscuit gets worked for 15 minutes. I did that for two days, per the schedule, then did two days of the 20 Minute DVD. I can honestly say it was the fastest 20 minutes of jumping around and flailing my arms I've ever experienced. I'm not sure at what minute mark it was, but she includes a nuclear-bomb-warning-like siren to signify an anaerobic period where you run in place and bounce around frantically. I rather liked it.

:: Now here's the thing: I'm not a dancer. I'm horrible at it. I've also never done martial arts of any kind. My dance history includes my Jane Fonda and Kathy Smith videos and my kickboxing is limited to my Tae Bo DVD. I think I can say with some authority then, that Turbo Jam is doable for anyone. It's better than my aerobics videos because I can actually keep up with the moves. Chalene gives great direction and there's enough repetition that if you miss one set you can still get back in the groove and it's not too "dancey." Nary a peep is uttered about a "grapevine," "box-step," or "ball change."

(Even Anthony joined me on one of the days and he said he was sore the next day.)

Of course, I've only done two routines. I'll keep posting on this until I've done the full month of routines.

It also claims to be able to burn up to 1000 calories in a single workout. I don't really give a shit about that, I just want to get toned up and stop my constant back pain. If you're really into burning 1000 calories, then they might be bullshitting you, I don't know.

I've read a bunch of reviews on this workout and they're mostly all positive. There are a couple that are disparaging, but for whatever reason it was mostly due to the music (which I find leagues better than most digital soundtracks on workout DVDs). But I like dance music.

:: So far what I like most about this program is that it's honest about it being hard work, yet it somehow makes it fun. We'll see if my tune changes once I hit the 45 minute long Cardio Party DVD.

By the way, I've totally lost count on my 21 Day makeover. I think I'll just restart and say I'm on Day 5. I'm LOVING the recipes, too. It's my goal to stick with this. I'm Queen Quitter-of-Things. I always start out strong then peter out - don't we all?

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can....

:: 4/16/09 Update: I'm about done with week 3 and I have done all the routines (all 5 basic ones). The Ab Jam routine consists of 10 minutes standing and 10 laying down. It's a fast 20 minutes and you really feel it the next day without feeling absolutely TORTURED during it. I'm still trying to figure out the "tuck" position. I'm thinking that with more muscle development it will come more easily to me.

:: The Cardio Party is 45 minutes long and, again, is fast. I don't know how this woman does it, but she makes tedious jumping around in your living room actually bearable. She has a counter on the bottom of the screen and the time is broken up into several different segments. Both cardio routines (the 20 Minute and Cardio Party) have an anaerobic set a little bit past the half-way point. The remainder of the workout is recovery and it feels really, REALLY good.

:: Turbo Sculpt requires small weights (which you don't find out about until you push "play," and I found that irritating) and is all about slow control. It's also 45 minutes long, with a brief time spent laying down at the very end. Despite the slow movements, it also went quickly.

:: I haven't seen any visible results and I've been religiously doing routines for 3 weeks. But I'm not all that surprised. It usually takes at least 5 weeks of consistent work for anything to happen to me. I DO feel stronger and my back is waaaaay better. So despite not losing weight or anything, I'm still motivated to work out because this seems to be helping me be pain free - yay!

I'll update again in a week. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do after the month of suggested workouts and I don't want to have to pay for more...

:: 5/30/09 Update: It's been several weeks since I started this program and my back pain is virtually gone. HOWEVER, I haven't lost a pound. My mother insists that I look more toned, but I don't really believe her (she's my mom, she has to say that, right??). I was an athlete for years and cross-trained and therefore I'm thinking I need to add some serious weight training to all this cardio. I think if I did the Turbo Sculpt routine over and over I'd start seeing some figure-changing results. As it stands today, that's not the case.

:: This isn't to say I think the Turbo Jam series doesn't work. On the contrary, it does work! I'm a lot stronger, pain free, and I feel better over all. And I really stand by this statement: I just bought the ChaLEAN Extreme program and will be starting tomorrow. I'll link up to this post at the end of Week 1 (June 8th).