About.com Rating

Updated May 01, 2014.

The Bottom Line

This is a great choice for women who want to get into shape after having a baby. The workout is short, but manages to target everything from cardio endurance to upper and lower body strength. The fact that it requires no equipment and stays low-impact will appeal to women who want to get back to exercise without a fuss.

Visit Their Website

Pros

• This straightforward routine targets endurance and strength with low-impact exercises

• You don't need any equipment and can do this workout anywhere
• The workout is challenging but easy on the joints with a focus on building endurance

Cons

• None

Description

• A 30-minute postnatal workout that includes cardio and strength exercises for the abs, hips, thighs and upper body
• Cardio includes low-impact kickboxing moves like knee lifts, front kicks, side kicks and back kicks
• Strength exercises include body-weight moves such as squats, lunges, plie squats, pushups, leg lifts and crunches

Guide Review - Sara Holliday's Postnatal Total Body Toning Workout

You might get mad when you see the Total Body Toning Workout and see a tiny Sara mention she's had two babies...she certainly doesn't look like it. But, new moms will be motivated by her own progress after pregnancy as well as her gentle encouragement in this total body workout.

This 30-minute total body routine requires no equipment - a plus for people trying to fit exercise into a busy schedule. The work begins with a short warm up and moves into low-impact cardio mixed with lower body exercises.

The cardio focuses on kickboxing moves like knee lifts, front kicks, side kicks and back kicks. You repeat these moves several times and alternate them with lower body moves like squats, lunges and plie squats. You don't use any weight, but Sara changes up the tempo, adding short pulses, to add intensity.

After 20 minutes of cardio and standing exercises, you move to the floor for pushups (and these include pulses as well) and an interesting compound move where you rest on one knee for side leg lifts and front kicks to work the abs and the thighs. After this you do simple abdominal moves like crunches, oblique crunches and reverse crunches. The workout ends with a soothing stretch for the entire body.

Like many of her other videos, this one is filmed on the beach with a great view of the ocean behind her. There are no other exercisers, just Sara demonstrating the moves with quiet background music.

Overall, this is a solid workout and a good choice for women who've had a baby or even people coming back from an exercise break. The low-impact moves keep the joints comfortable, but she keeps the intensity at a moderate level with a fairly fast pace.

Visit Their Website