Lifetiquing Reviews

Equipment needed: 5-12 lb dumbbells (at least one light and one heavy pair), step (optional)

Level: Advanced

Bottom line: A very high repetition, superset approach to strength training that will literally leave you shaking with fatigue by the end.

I make it a point to push myself to my limit on a regular basis, and I’m no stranger to a good exercise burn. But man, I did not truly appreciate the meaning of the word “burn” until I did this workout. The very high repetition supersets mean that your muscles are worked within an inch of their lives. The lactic acid build up is so great that I found myself literally shaking haflway through each set, and it took all my mental discipline to finish.

This workout contained a different type of intensity from my usual workouts, and I enjoyed that. Because the intensity is so high, and because this workout contains such a variety of exercises and technique, I think it would deliver excellent results.

However, for the most part, it just seemed like a disproportionate amount of physical agony and boredom. The sets were unendurably long for me, with literally hundreds of repetitions. I would have rather lifted slightly higher weights and decreased the repetitions, such as in the other Get Ripped workouts. I question whether these hundreds of repetitions and supersets are really necessary for building muscle endurance.

I have been very satisfied with my results from the other Get Ripped workouts, but I’d rather work out less painfully, with a workout that keeps me engaged throughout, and have to take take slightly longer to achieve results. That is really saying something coming from me, since I have a good deal of endurance and do many high-intensity workouts.

Overall: I respect this workout for being extremely tough, and I think it would deliver superb results. However, I found it too repetitive to want to incorporate it into my routine. This is a workout for advanced exercisers who want to endurance train their upper bodies.