Workout DVDs - Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred

Okay, we've all tried the Rosemary Conley's and the Davina McCall's, haven't we? We've tried dancing our way to fitness, pilates-ing our way to flexibility, and boxercising ourselves to a stress-free life. And has it worked? Well, yes, in some cases, I expect. Not in mine, however.

Rosemary was too easy, Davina was boring and boxercise - well, as a karate student of ten years, boxercise was laughably bad. But that's just me.

Step forward, Ms Jillian Michaels.

In America she does the TV's Biggest Loser programme, taking overweight people and putting them on intensive diet and exercise programmes. I've never seen the programme (being a Brit), but if it's anything like this DVD, those fatties will be thinnies in no time.

The 30 Day Shred workout is made up of 3 levels, each, naturally, more difficult than their predecessor.

Each workout itself is made up of 3 six-minute circuits, which break down into three minutes of strength training, two minutes of cardio and one minute of abs, plus a short warm up and cool down.

Each workout is only twenty minutes long, therefore, so you can easily fit this into your day. That's the point - it's so intense because it's so short - there is no time to rest, no time to catch your breath. Without allowing your heartrate to drop, calorie burn and muscle development are continuous, giving maximum results in minimum time.

The workouts really are very challenging. Each level incorporates progressions of fairly standard exercises: static lunges become walking lunges become jumping lunges, for example; and crunches become plank moves become Rocky-style full sit ups. Moving through the levels provides a challange: hell, finishing the levels provides a challenge.

And the best part? Jillian talks to you. Right at the point in each workout where you think you've got to stop or die, she says something like "I know you want to stop right now, but keep on pushing, I know it's not easy but just keep it up" - and, daft as it sounds, it's just enough of a spur that you do keep going.

And then, at the end of the workout, Jillian looks into the camera, right at me, and says: "See you tomorrow". For some reason, I can't let her down.

I have also recently bought Jillian's weight loss book, Making The Cut, which can be used in conjunction with the DVD in order to optimise health and weight loss by following her diet plan.

The book is an excellent read and also asks you to take a comprehensive test first, asking all sorts of questions, and then gives you a list of allowed foods based on your results. There are also fitness tests and tables against which you measure yourself, so that you have an accurate start point from which to gauge progress. Of course, you can avoid any foods which don't work for you or to which you have an intolerence, but this does not significantly detract from the efficacy of the plan.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in health and nutrition, or looking for a new way to kickstart their healthy way of life.

Jillian is tough, but she gets results.