Keri Russell is the cover girl for the May issue of Women's Health Magazine. She is so, so super fit in this article and it is shocking that she is 37 years old. Seriously, I would be happy to have her body, and I am in my mid-twenties. Oh, and did I mention she has a one-year-old and a three-year-old? Well, she does. Thank goodness, she gave lots of her personal health and fitness rules in her interview and was very open about training for her role as a spy in the FX show, The Americans. Although she does not actually do the workout in this article (the article itself is a bit sparse, really), she does give a run-down of her usual workout routine.
Honestly, the first time I read the routine I was a bit let down. It was quite confusing and I did not know if I would be able to do it in general, let alone review it for you. So, I gave it a few days, then went back for one more look. The how-to for the actual workout is still a bit confusing, but the moves themselves were more clear after the second go around. Maybe it is just me.
Keri's trainer, Avital Zeisler, is a hand-to-hand combat instructor and uses a great deal of her combat training during this workout. The instructions say to do three sets of twelve reps for each exercise. I am still unsure if this means do everything once, then two more times like a circuit, or if you do three set of one before moving on to the next exercise. Because it does not say anything about taking breaks or circuits, I opted for the three sets in a row track. Something different.
The Review
Oh goodness, I so wanted to love this workout. Too bad, it was one of my least favorite routines in a long while. The workout was much more confusing than I originally thought, and a quick how-to was just not enough. Maybe if there were pictures describing the exercises or if I had a trainer showing me how it would have been better. But, I do not think pictures would have have saved me from thinking this workout was extremely boring. I actually considered stopping half way through and making that my review of the workout.
Once I got to the push-ups with rolls and kicks, I was lost. Any way I tried it, this move hurt my spine and left me flopping on the ground like a fish out of water. Needless to say, I opted for plain old push-ups instead. With my flopping and minor changes, the workout took me about seventeen minutes and burnt 116 calories. The calorie burn was great, but the workout was just too boring for me to consider doing it again.
If you already know how to do these moves or are working with a trainer in self defense, it could be fun and completely worth a try. Otherwise, I would say to pass. There are tons of great workouts in the May issue of Women's Health Magazine, but I would consider this one a fail. Too bad.