New Workouts: R.I.P.P.E.D. Total Body Challenge

Title: R.I.P.P.E.D. Total Body Challenge (Acacia)

What’s the promise? A high-intensity aerobic and strength workout for every fitness level that will burn 700 calories in 48 minutes.

Is that baloney? Chances are somebody will burn 700 calories doing this high-energy program, but different bodies burn calories at significantly different rates.

Your mileage might vary. A lot.

Also, although it’s true that one demonstrator in the small crowd that’s eagerly bouncing around workout creators Terry and Tina Shorter does bounce less and demonstrates less-taxing motions than the rest, she’s still moving lickety-split - and she’s only center-stage now and then.

Beginners will struggle.

On the other hand, the workout playback options allow a viewer to watch helpful tutorials before each section of this six-part workout (not counting warm-up and cool-down).

Who will be disappointed?

People who don’t approve of bouncing; people who know it’s a bad idea to stretch your neck quickly; and disgruntled English majors who assume the word “R.I.P.P.E.D.” has been interrupted by all those periods for no good reason in yet another incidence of barbarians breaching the gates.

But no, it’s an acronym, Terry Shorter says, and the letters stand for Resistance, Intervals, Power, Plyometrics, Endurance and Diet.

Format: First comes the introduction, in which the Shorters explain that their “fitness formula” is franchised across the nation and “approved” by the American Council on Exercise, National Academy for Sports Medicine and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. Generally that means certified instructors get credits toward re-certification by learning to teach a program.

Three playback options will give you the 48-minute workout (from the 6-minute warm-up to the 5-minute, standing-stretch cool-down) either as an uninterrupted sequence or in stages with each segment introduced by a tutorial. Or you can play any of the segments by itself.

The exercise includes seven minutes of standing and seated weightlifting using dumbbells (for the arms and shoulders), five minutes of aerobics intervals, 10 minutes of “power” (fancy push-ups, dumbbell flys, 128 squats), five minutes of “plyometrics” (read: quick jumping hither and yon); and 10 minutes of kickboxing-inspired endurance.

“Diet and nutrition” appears in the list of individual workout segments, but it’s just a text ad for a website chapter with diet advice and recipes. There’s also a bonus five-minute abdominal sequence, an ad for other Acacia programs and then video credits in which each backup dancer gets a moment in the sun.

Gear needed: light dumbbells

Floor space required: You’ll jog forward and back and do 8 to 10 feet of cross steps to either side.

Can I do it barefoot? Please don’t.

Anything especially good? The focus is on athletic movements, not on looking cute. And the Shorters wrote and performed their own lyric-heavy, techno-pep soundtrack. If the exercise doesn’t raise your heart rate, the music might.

Distractions? In the intervals, you have to circle your arms at a breathless pace while holding an invisible jump-rope.

Price: $16.99