Supreme 90 - Program review

Someone recently asked for opinions on various exercise DVD programs so I thought I'd start to write reviews of ones I've tried; starting with 'Supreme 90';

First off, I have to say I'm amazed at the price you can pick this up for. I paid $20 from 'Bed, Bath and Beyond' but I've seen it NEW on E Bay for as little as $9.99 - for a 10 DVD set! When I was in the market for a home exercise program all I could think of were the celebrity style videos from way back; you know the sort - you watch and follow it twice and you're bored of it. So I was looking for something cheap that wouldn't really matter if it spent the rest of its life gathering dust on a shelf. 'Supreme 90' seemed to me like it may have been a cheap 'copy' of some of the more well known DVD sets out there and I was prepared for it to show in its quality but how wrong I was!

Like the title suggests it's a 90 day program, but who was I kidding? It must have taken me nearly double that time to work my way through the whole program but I must say, I was impressed with the results over time. I wasn't looking to change my weight but I did want more muscle tone and like most people, particularly tighten up around the middle - both of which I achieved!

You don't even need a whole bunch of equipment either; some floor space, a stability ball and a few dumbbells is all you need (and in the early days, even those you could manage without!)

The program is based around the theory of 'muscle shock', in the sense that if you do the same thing over and over, you'll stay the same. "The definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting different results". So following the routines, even taking days out for lame excuses and other such procrastination, that was exactly what happened; I'd start to get used to a routine and BAM - things would get switched around and new muscles would start to ache.

There's a great variety of workouts too; from all cardio, through just core work and 'Tabata' style routines to concentrated muscle group exercises i.e. back and biceps or just legs. The shortest workout, not including the warm up and cool down is only around 20 minutes and the longest about 45 which again, kept the boredom at bay.

So you're probably thinking it's all good news with nothing to criticize, and you'd be almost right however... there are a couple of things I would have liked to see done differently. The first of which is the speed some of the exercises are done, particularly when a number of 'reps' are called for. The people they use in the DVDs obviously know their stuff and can bang out a dozen reps a lot quicker than most can, especially someone new to exercising. The answer to this is don't get carried along - hit the pause button and take your time; correct form is far more important than speed! the other, admittedly small, issue was the warm ups and cool downs; apart from one slightly different warm up, each DVD started and finished the same. So you spend as much time warming up the upper body for the leg workout as you do for chest, shoulders and triceps! This is really getting pedantic now I know but I'm just telling it like it is.

Overall though, and particularly for the price, this 10 DVD set has to be one of the best value for money exercise programs out there. And did I mention the eye candy...;-) Seriously, I'd have to give it 10 out of 10!