BurstFit DVD Fitness System review by Dr. Josh Axe

I’ve had the opportunity the last 2 weeks to do an exercise program called “burstfit” by Dr. Josh Axe that was sent to me complimentary for blog review. I found out about Dr. Axe’s program from my Suzanne Bowen Barre facebook group page.

These workouts are OUTSTANDING!!! I really really enjoyed them!! I’m going to share some pictures and some information about the program, and then my final thoughts at the end of the review.

This is what the dvd program looks like-front and back. You only need good shoes and hand weights for these dvds. One of the dvds doesn’t use any weights, but the other 5 dvds do. It also comes with a bonus workout that you can do on day 7 according to the calendar.

You can read more about BurstFit and

purchase the program here:

http://burstfit.com/fullbody/

Q: What is BurstFIT?

BurstFIT is a home fitness program, led by Dr. Josh Axe. It combines interval (short ‘bursts’) training with strength conditioning. Each session is 20 minutes.

Q: Why is it called BurstFit?

Science is showing that it’s more effective for fat loss to train like a sprinter, rather than a marathoner, exercising in short intervals of high intensity, or ‘bursts’.

Q: Is it similar to HIIT?

Yes. There are many forms of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), which can be executed in varying amounts of time intervals. The difference with Burstfit is the combination of strength training with the high intensity intervals, to give you the fullest workout possible in just 20 minutes.

Q: Why is strength training involved?

Strength/Resistance training elevates your levels of Human Growth Hormone. This hormone is essential for fat mobilization. It also signals fat burning enzymes and aids in muscle mass development. HGH levels are raised most during sleep, in direct proportion to exercise intensity during your workout.

Strength training can also improve your glucose tolerance and increase insulin receptor sensitivity. This helps your body become a fat burner, rather than a sugar burner. This type of exercise also creates a greater metabolic after-burn than aerobic training, while also increasing fat free muscle, bone density and metabolism.

Q: Can I just do cardio or aerobic training?

No. There are many benefits associated with cardio and aerobic training, but also some negatives. The benefits of cardio is that it can lower your resting heart rate, lower blood pressure, keep your brain young by increasing circulation to the brain and aids in detoxification by stimulating the lymphatic system.

But traditional, long distance cardio training decreases testosterone levels, decreases the immune system post exercise, and raises stress hormone levels (cortisol). Increased levels of cortisol stimulate the appetite, can increase fat storing and slow down or inhibit exercise recovery.

Q: So how do I get the benefits without the negatives?

Burst train to burn fat. Burst training involves exercising at 90%-100% of your maximum effort for 30-60 seconds in order to burn your body’s stored sugar (glycogen), followed by 30-60 seconds of low impact for recovery. This causes your body to burn fat for the next 36 hours to replace your body’s vital energy (glycogen) stores.

You only need to do 4-6 sets of 30-60 second bursts 3 times a week to see marked changes and improvements. More is not always better–make sure you have days of rest.

The Burstfit program takes all the guesswork out and guides you through the best burst training workouts.

This is what each DVD menu looks like. There are 3 workouts on each disc. Each workout is 22 minutes long. There is NO warm up or cool down, so make sure you do your own. They repeat a circuit 3 times with some breaks in between. The last 1-2 minutes is a cardio 20 seconds on/10 seconds off circuit, which brings you to your 22 minutes.

Day 1 picture collage I posted on my Instagram page (rdevaughn4)

Day 2 picture collage

Day 3-4 picture collage

Day 5-6 picture collage

Each workout has 3 people plus Dr. Axe in it. A girl on the far left who is beginner Level 1 workout. The girl in the middle back row is doing moderate Level 2 moves. And the Guy on the right is doing advanced Level 3. I mostly followed the level 2 girl. Dr. Axe does all the workouts breifly but mostly focuses on showing the different levels of form, as well as showing proper form and what not to do. That helped me alot and I’m glad he did that!! I liked the timer clock on the bottom left so I knew how much time was left for each circuit. The bottom right would show a pop up on what the next exercise would be coming up, which was also helpful!!

MY THOUGHTS:

Love that its a short workout- 22 minutes!! It’s not super intense, which I like, but I still felt like I got an outstanding workout in such a short time. I wish there was a brief warm up and stretch but I did do those on my own. I liked their gym atmosphere set up and it was easy to hear and see the moves.
I really liked Dr. Axe’s personality. He was calm and very exact and informative about each move and each circuit. He didn’t hesitate to correct someone’s form and said it it was more important to have good form than to try to keep up the pace with them.
5 out of the 6 dvds use hand weights, which I LOVE because I’m trying to do more strength training. I used 3 and 5 pound handweights. I especially loved the leg and shoulder workout dvds. I was surprised how sore I felt the next day after the leg workout, but it was a “good, I accomplished something and I’m proud of myself” sore, not a painful sore. 🙂
This will be a program that I definitely will do again and again!!
They also released a new BurstFit dvd system called FIRE, which I will also be reviewing soon! I believe that dvd is more cardio based and does include a warm up and cool down.
The link is here if you’re interested: http://burstfit.com/fire/