By 

Danie' 

I'm a Turbo junkie but when I saw the informercial for Turbo Fire, I was a bit intimidated. I blasted out my knee when I was a kid and still feel the effects at times. I was able to follow (and for some moves, make my own) modifications with the original Turbo Jam. Even so, I only bought a single Fire class (55 EZ) on Ebay just to give it a try. My initial reaction was pretty much the same as when I first started TJ, I tossed it to the side and thought that it just wasn't for me. But I gave it another chance, and another, and another and that single class turned out to be nothing more than a tease. I broke down and bought the whole set.

HEADS UP, BEGINNERS TO TURBO!!: If you are unfamiliar with Chalene's style, you might get a little frustrated. You have to learn the moves first! With this set, there are "New to Class" options that serves as a tutorial for some of the moves but there are no break downs during the actual workouts. You just jump in and go, go, go. Also, Chalene's cueing takes some getting used to (although it has improved a bit with this set).

HEADS UP, BEGINNERS TO FITNESS!!: DON'T! JUST DON'T!! Start with TJ Learn and Burn.

"Beginners with Determination", Intermediates (that's me), and those with knee problems (me again!--check with your doctor, of course), follow the super cute Alee for modifications. No worries, you will still get a major workout! Everyone else, just go for what you know. ;-D

Ok, now that my little "FBI" warning it out of the way, here's the cream:

Turbo in a combination of kickboxing and dance. For those who are familiar with Turbo Jam, TF is basically TJ on crack. The Fire classes (2 DVDs) are faster paced TJ workouts with a couple of Fire Drills (or 1 min HIITs) thrown in. The HIIT classes (3 DVDs) are more like TJ Fat Blaster or the "Turbos" in the regular TJ workouts, just a little more amped up. You also have 2 Fire EZ classes which allegedly are "less intense" than a regular Fire class. Personally, I think one type is just as insane as the other. Lastly, there is a 40 minute Stretch class and the same 10 minute stretch on all the DVDs except the Sculpt and Tone DVD.

For those who haven't done HIIT classes before, there is a prep schedule that you can follow to get you prepared for doing the HIIT workouts. There are also two others: a regular schedule and a hybrid schedule that incorporates Chalene Extreme. My set came with a bonus workout: Chalene Extreme Burn Circuit 1 (I'm not sure about the Amazon set, I bought mine elsewhere--hey, I like Chalene. I love a deal.). I also got the 5-day plan, two guides, a tape measure and a lower body band. What you will need that doesn't seem to be included with the Amazon set though, is a set of resistance tubes for the Core 20, Sculpt 30, and Tone 30 classes. Beware on those toning classes: Chalene favors push-ups! ;-D

The moves are pretty much the same as with TJ: you got your four standand punches (jab, cross, hook, uppercut), roundhouse and push kicks, pump it, zigzag, clock work, ski, etc. There are new combinations, variations and even a few new moves (sumo burpees, fire throws). Also, we get to see the elusive 7-step, which I hadn't seen since the TJ Learn and Burn (I don't own TJ Get on the Ball--maybe it was there??), so that was fun to see. There's quite a bit of plyometrics (a.k.a. jumping) so as I mentioned before, use caution but you can also follow Alee for no-jump options.

Music wise, I noticed a lot of familiar tracks: Salt 'N Pepa's "Push It," "Get Down on It" (Hall and Oates??), "Play that Funky Music" (Wild Cherry), Duice's "Dazzey Dukes", "Le Freak" by Chic, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang, Donna Summer's "Bad Girls", "Give Up the Funk" by Parliment Funkadelic, Flo Rida's "In the Ayer", some bootleg version of Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" (plays during a HIIT while performing a hilarious move called "The Tina") and lots more.

Chalene is still Chalene. Fun and energetic as always. As I mentioned earlier, her cueing has improved sliiiightly (if you Turbo all the time, you can tell) and the combos have a bit more variety.

All in all, a really great workout.  

By 

By 

LC24 

This product came the next day even though I did not pay for one-day shipping! Definitely beats ordering it through beachbody! The packaging for this product was great and very high quality! It includes 12 workouts on 10 DVD's, the 5-day inferno plan, fitness guide, lower body band, tape measure, nutrition guide, and 3 different workout schedules, one is the normal schedule, one is a "prep" schedule(in case you're not sure if you are ready for the normal workouts) and one is a "turbofire & chalean extreme hybrid" schedule. The only thing I would caution people on is that there is a lot of jumping and kicking, so they advise that if you have knee, back or neck problems, this may not be the right program for you.