Help: How do you choose

Thanks. That gives me some idea of what to look for.

shred is good if you are just starting out, i have done it twice now and just started insanity yesterday...it seriously kicked my butt....not a fan of p90x since i am pretty sure that you need a chin up bar and that wont fly in my apartment....but insanity needs no weights or anything he just makes you use the sh** out of your body i am also hearing great things about turbofire as well.

I like to rent my work out dvds from the library so I pretty much just do what they have. One of the major differences between them is the time. Boot camp is 28 days and has circuits from 10-30 minutes. Shred is 30 days. P90X is 90 days. Jillian Michaels has some that are for beginners. I personally love the frontside/backside for beginners from JM. It's easy enough that I don't feel like I'm being left behind, but tough enough that I can feel it working.

Hey Brian, replied to your email but ill post here too. The Beachbody programs typically have different focuses. Insanity is pure cardio and not alot of focus on muscle development, so if you depend on the scale for motivation...Insanity will be your new best friend. It is intense, but just keep moving, even if your walking in a circle for the rest of the reps and you will get there! You will be doing alot of jumping around with insanity so may be a downstairs neighbor issue. I have seen folks put the videos on an ipad and do them at the gym or at the park...may be an option for ya.

P90x (and more so in p90x2) are more of a muscle development focus, your going to be building muscle while slimming so the scale wont give you the same feedback but you may find yourself liking the mirror more (muscle is heavy) There is some gear required such as dumbells or bands, chin up bar, and a ball for x2... its the pulling movements...just need some resistance to do it. I cant say enough good things about the bodylastics bands for resistance... you can use them in place of a bar for pullups as well if you have the door anchor. (im 6'2" the door bar doesnt work well for me. The thing about those bands is that you can clip them all together for a good amount of resistance. I think that's the biggest bang for the buck for a home gym accessory. With the large kit it comes with the anchor, ancle straps and a few hundred pounds of possible resistance.

I also have the TRX, its great for muscle building and you can sling that thing anywhere...my favorite place is around a tree in the woods or off a piece of driftwood at the beach. You can make those workouts at intense as you like by moving further or closer to the anchor point...the foot cradles add alot of opportunity to push your core to the limit. (look up some utube vids on "trx pike" oh that hurts good!) It is possible to do cadio with them, but its going to have you jumping around a bit too.. The crosscore 360 takes the trx concept to a new level by adding a pulley in the middle that you can lock or leave free... I was doing some chest presses on one of those this am... its challenging I think i like the crosscore 360 more due to the dimension that the pully adds, but the TRX is perhaps more durable (no metal assembly in the middle). Stay away from the TRX knock offs, you really get what you pay for there, cheap plastic handles, foot cradles you slip out of or that break, lack of adjust-ability or they slip while you workout etc.

Oh another option for the beachbody stuff are "fit clubs", this is where a coach sets up a space and leads a workout along with the program..they are typically free and may be one in the area for you.

Netflix instant and Hulu have tons of free videos. I do Bob Harper Kettlebell (Love it!) and I started 30 Day Shred today. I also do Zumba and my elliptical. I like to mix it up so I don't get bored.