The May edition of Shape Magazine is on the stands and I am so excited. This issue is bubbling with fantastic workouts, one being a new Jillian Michaels 90-day plan. To kick-off Michaels' new Hardbody workout DVD, she has done a beach body workout for Shape Magazine- and just in time!

The workout is part of a three month plan that I can only assume will be continued in the next two issues of Shape Magazine. There is also a complete diet to go along with the workout and it seems pretty simple. Although I am not doing the diet plan, it seems pretty great with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a few snacks. I was pretty surprised that the diet is not low on calories either! But, back to the workout... The whole workout is comprised of six exercises done in a circuit three times. Jillian Michaels recommends doing this workout three times a week with two days of cardio mixed in.

The Review

The workout was fantastic! The entire workout took about twenty minutes including a one minute warm-up and cool down. This is a circuit workout, but the directions did not say anything about a break between circuits. Jillian does not do too many breaks between circuits when the workout is so short, and I love it. The circuits feel more intense and if the entire exercise is so much more entertaining without breaking every six minutes.

I would completely recommend doing this workout. In fact, I enjoyed the workout so much that I will be purchasing the Hard Body DVD. The only downside I can see to this workout is the weights. I do not have weights at home and know very few people that do. Because of this, I tried using a resistance band for the exercises that called for weights. It did not work. The weights are definitely needed to get everything you can out of the workout.

My bum, lower legs, and abs were quite sore the next day and I burnt a total of 138 calories. Although I do not see myself doing this workout twice a week for the next four weeks, I did enjoy it and will be trying it again!