The Art of Strength: Newport

I have waited for over nine months to write this review because I wanted to ensure that I was able to provide feedback that was not based on the excitement of starting a new workout routine. I was first introduced to Anthony Diluglio's Firepower DVD by a coworker. I watched the DVD and wrote down the workout routine and started doing it once a week at my local gym. I worked for six months eventually building up to working the Firepower routine two to three times per week. I then branched out and purchased his Providence DVD. This shocked my system because it moved from working each exercise for one minute each, as in Firepower, to two minutes per exercise. However, I was able to get through it nonstop the first go around even though it was challenging; I attribute getting through Providence on day one to having taken six months to build a solid base with Firepower. After working Providence for three months I again branched out and purchased Newport. Newport is awesome! Talk about a shock to the system. Each workout set is four to five minutes including a one minute set of abs; thankfully I had that strong base built through Firepower. Getting through Newport is still a struggle and requires a little more mental toughness than Firepower and Providence. I do have to use a lighter KB for some of the Newport exercise but I know eventually I'll build to where I'm using the same weight KB for all of Newport. The above method is what worked for me and I provide it to hopefully encourage others interested in pursuing KB workouts a good starting point. I cannot emphasize enough though the importance of starting out slowly, working at your own pace, and building a solid base focusing primarily on developing your core strength. Of note is that I also lost 35 pounds during that first six months (245 to 210; I'm 6 ft. 4 in. for height/weight reference purposes); I'm still dropping weight too. This is in part due to three major lifestyle changes: (1) I quit drinking alcohol; (2) I reduced my sugar intake, to include natural sugars, to less than 20 grams per day (if you think this is hard the book `The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System and Lose 4 to 9 lbs. Every Week' by Jorge Cruise can help); (3) I started working out five days per week (Mon - cardio, Tue - strength training, Wed - cardio, Thur - cross training, Fri - cardio). As far as Anthony Diluglio is concerned, I could not ask for a better virtual personal trainer. He does go through some tutorials for some of his exercises which I do recommend watching as it will help with form and prevent injury; all-in-all though he expects that you will come with some sort of knowledge of KB strength training on how to do exercises properly. Even if you are just starting out, as long as you take it slow and at your own pace, you can easily follow along with him during each routine and the changing camera angles really help capture the nuances of each exercise. Again, start out slow and build that solid base focusing on keeping your core tight during each exercise! Currently, my workout rhythm for strength training in general is on a monthly cycle with one hard strength training workout each week. Week one is the Providence followed up with a run through Firepower. Week two is the Newport routine again followed up with a run through Firepower. Week three is the Firepower routine walking up the five set pyramid and then working down through the same pyramid taking my rest at the pyramid's top. Week four is a rest from KBs and I do the CrossFit Filthy Fifty (or Dirty Thirty if I'm not feeling up to par; Dirty Thirty is the same thing as Filthy Fifty but just 30 sets of each exercise). Recall that I spent over six months building a solid base, focusing on core strength, before being able to get to this point of regular, injury free strength training. Take it slow folks and build that core! I hope that Anthony Diluglio keeps making workout DVDs. I will buy them every time over any other workout DVD out there. They might be a little pricey but it is worth every penny if you are willing to invest your time in improving your physical fitness and your body in general.

I will not do a thorough break down of this workout, because the previous poster did an excellent job breaking down this workout. This workout is from a female's perspective: Anthony's Art of Strength workouts are by far the best kettlebell workouts on the market to date. The production, music, and format of his workouts are all excellent. The music options, practice chapter, and out takes, add to the quality of these DVDs. I have all three of Anthony's workouts, and all of them have blown me away. I'll break them down from the easiest to the hardest. Easiest-AOS Providence. For me personally, this is the near perfect workout. I'm so glad that I did this workout first, because I fell in love with Anthony's training style. AOS Firepower-I find this workout to be between Providence and Newport. This workout does require two kettlebells during some of the exercises, so if you don't have pairs, this might not be doable for you. AOS Newport-The first time I did this workout I was shocked at how hard this workout is. I work out at home, and I have a VAST collection of workouts. This is by far the most difficult workout in my collection. I'm just happy that this wasn't my first workout by Anthony. If it had been, I never would have done another workout, which would have been a shame, because I'm telling all of you, the AOS workouts are the best. Kettlebell DVDs are extremely expensive, and I have a few that are not worth their price tag. The AOS DVDs are worth every single penny!

I own all three Art of Strength DVD workouts but this one is by far the most challenging. There are a total of 8 rounds in the workout with an optional bonus round at the end of the workout. The entire workout takes around 45 minutes to complete. There is no formal warm up or cool down but the first and last rounds include some warm up and cool down type exercises. The workout shows the time left in each exercise and the instructor completes the entire workout. The instructor isn't annoying or overbearing and the production is decent. This is the most difficult of the Art of Strength workouts. The Art of Strength Firepower falls somewhere in the middle as far as difficulty but its also the shortest and it requires 2 kettle bells. The Art of Strength Providence is the easiest of the three but it's also the longest at about 1 hour. I rotate this workout into my workout schedule every other week which I've done for around 1 year now. I can definitely tell that my strength and endurance have increased though I can't keep up with the instructor on every exercise and I rarely have enough energy to complete the bonus round at the end. It's a great workout that I would easily recommend.

As several other reviewers have mentioned, this is a harder workout than Art of Strength's Providence and Firepower workouts. If you're new to KB training, you should probably start with Providence (which was re-filmed with soap opera star Beth Chamberlin as The Kettlebell Way, Vol. 1; Providence and The KB Way are the same workout) and eventually work your way up to this one. While Anthony does break the moves down and there is an instructional segment that you can watch before doing the workout, it would be helpful to already know proper form for things like windmills, snatches, etc. Whereas Providence doesn't get my heart rate up too much, this one does in most of the segments. I also like how each round is followed by one minute of ab work. By the time you finish this workout, you'll feel as if every muscle group has been worked! This one kicks my rear end every time I do it, but I also feel so accomplished afterwards. It's fun and has great music, and Anthony is a terrific instructor. Highly recommended!