Kelly Coffey-Meyer's Home Gym Intervals

If you haven't heard about Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 Minutes to Fitness workouts, let me be the one to tell you!

Kelly is a fitness trainer/instructor in New Jersey and is the owner and creator of a series of tough 30 minute workouts that are outstanding!  (Would I be telling you about them if they weren't?)  Kelly started this dvd series about 5 years ago and has 22 as of yesterday (well, that's when I received her latest two in the mail).

Her most recent are Home Gym Intervals and Muscle Up.  I was excited to try each of them, but opted for Home Gym Intervals first this morning because I have a spin bike and a treadmill and the idea of getting to break up the gym equipment cardio with weight circuits sounded great!

I don't think I've been on my treadmill since last summer.  It's lost its appeal for me.  I have, however, been riding my spin bike 2 or 3x a week lately to try to build up my leg strength and it's tough!  The idea of getting breaks after each minute and a half sounded like heaven!

Each 30 Minutes to Fitness dvd comes with two 30 minute workouts.  There are premixes that allow for variety, including combining the 2 workouts (without having to do double warm-ups and cool-downs).  I thought of doing the whole thing today (mainly out of curiosity), but I needed to get my son to school 45 minutes from when I was starting, so I decided to do Workout 1 and call it good. Besides, it's a challenging, metabolic boosting workout all on its own.  No guilt in "just" doing one of the workouts!

You can watch Kelly's video clip below to get a glimpse of what the workout is like, but I want to tell you my impressions, too!

Oh, before I tell you some specifics, I have to tell you that I loved Workout 1 so much, that I wanted to try more!  When I got back from taking my son to school, I thought I'd try out the 10 Minute Waistline Bonus (after all, there were ZERO crunches -- I'd previewed it a bit as I was putting away my weights earlier), so I figured I could fit 10 minutes in.  Well, the ab work was so unique (mostly standing, some plank work) and amazing that I got the urge to try out Workout 2 after all.  But I didn't know if I could have the muscle endurance to get back on that spin bike again.  Maybe I could have, but what were my other options?  Oh, the treadmill . . . eh?  Didn't know if my excitement were up enough to pull that out from behind the big chair.  THEN I remembered that I have my rebounder!  Not technically a fitness machine, but it IS a piece of home gym equipment used for cardio.  That could work!



In each 30 minute workout, Kelly has you warm-up on the home gym equipment of your choice.  I guess if you had more than one in the room, you could switch around, but I just got on my spin bike (which I bought myself for Mother's Day last year) for Workout 1.  I really LOVE how great of a workout the spin bike gives me and how I feel like I'm running with resistance when I ride standing, -- tough stuff!  (Cathe in Xtrain Ride telling us that spinning it's not a cakewalk comes to mind often!  ☺ )  

Back to Home Gym Intervals, I really loved that Kelly explains from the start that we only have 30 minutes and to make the most of it.  Don't take breaks unless you really need to.  Keep going!  It felt like Kelly was my personal trainer because during the cardio intervals, she didn't have as much cuing to do as she usually does, so she could motivate me to work hard ("not hardly work" ☺ )  The warm-up is longer than the cardio segments (just ran and timed it -- a little over 5 ½ minutes long).  The warm-up is long enough to gradually get your heart-rate up and to prepare your muscles to work.

The weight work is fantastic!  Most of the weight work are innovative compound exercises using dumbbells that work upper and lower body together and/or multiple muscle groups.  I've literally done hundreds of fitness dvds and with the exception of push-ups and the triceps work, the weight exercises were in combinations I'd never done before and had a functional fitness / metabolic training feel to them (which I love!) Every once in awhile we'd just work one side with weights, get back on the cardio equipment, then do the other side after.  The weight intervals are only about a minute long each, which seemed to fly!

In fact, the cardio intervals went by so quickly, too!  Once I realized that, I wasn't afraid to work hard and then think I wouldn't be able to maintain it, because it was only 90 seconds!  There are 8 cardio/weight intervals in all (plus nice warm-up and cool-down).  Lots of variety, for sure.

The only big difference overall between Workout 1 and 2 was that Workout 1 just used 1 dumbbell for each strength training movement. Workout 2 used a pair of dumbbells.  So that was fun to have that variety in the approach.  But the over all feel was the same.  It would blend well for the combined workout pre-mix.  You'll need at least one set of dumbbells for the weight work.  Kelly used 10s and 12s, I believe.  And the crew in the back used either 8s or 12s.  I used 10s most of the time; some moves with 8s, and 5s for the rear fly's (shoulder issue).

Doing Workout 2 on the rebounder was a ton of fun!  I did a variety of jacks and plyo jumps and a ton of running.  My heart-rate was up plenty! (I have the Reboundair like the pic to the right, but I can't vouch for that claim about jogging).

I have a feeling that I'll dust off that treadmill the next time I do Home Gym Intervals though.  Kelly is so light-footed on hers, that she skips (as in skipping as a child -- so cute!) and does side shuffles from time to time.  I want to learn to do that!  I'll be sure to follow her direction to hold onto the sides when doing it, so I can be safe.  Be sure you do, too!

Kelly ends each workout with a nice soothing cool-down (each workout has it's own -- nice to know the stretches are tailored for the muscles you just worked and are about 3 minutes long).  Kelly gives you plenty of motivation (with a bit of humor at times) up until the end.  Her crew, Samantha, Lori, and Marcus are stellar, too.  I've seen them in other 30 Minutes to Fitness workouts.  I can always sense the bond they all have with Kelly (as well as their expertise with fitness). Marcus rode a spin bike, Sam was on a treadmill like Kelly (but took it at a slower pace), and Lori was on the elliptical.  I can't wait to see what Muscle Up is like tomorrow!  TTFN!