2008-10-28 Not what it says on the tin!

Be very careful before buying this product. If you are an absolute beginner to the martial arts (indeed maybe even to any sort of physical exercise), Buddhism, positive thinking, meditation etc, then this could well be for you. But if you have any prior martial arts experience, this (despite being cheap) would be a waste of money.
It is not a daily workout for anyone other than a sloth until you're into the final week, and even then it's not much of a workout. The first nine days are basic stretches that most people who've ever done any form of sport will have been doing since junior school. And these are done one stretch at a time, so day one, all you do is warm up your wrists and ankles! Each day you're supposed to repeat the previous stuff you've learnt so it builds up every day. And that's fine in weeks three and four but in one and two, you're not doing a whole lot. After the stretches, the punches and kicks are all very basic. There are a few interesting moves near the end but there are far better products out there for example the Shaolin Workout DVDs by Shifu Yan Lei.
This is only for absolute beginners, and even then, it's a matter of taste. There's also a meditation section at the end of each day, only it's not a meditation, it's just some of Sifu Shi Yan Ming's ramblings about how to be positive and improve your life. Quite frankly, the 28 days of supposed meditations could be summed up in a few lines. And you'd be better off simply reading a few inspiring quotes from the Dalai Llama, more concise and more wisdom. There's also a bizarre 'whooping' element to the book. It's VERY American! Every so often it congratulates you, which is bizarre because maybe you haven't actually done what you're reading (I personally only tried a few things near the back of the boook). The writer has this American 'rock on', 'way to go' 'yeah'! style of writing, which I personally find very strange in a book that I was hoping would teach me some King Fu. It's an attractive book with lots of pictures and some of the introduction is interesting but unless you're really at ground zero when it comes to physical aptitude, this book is not for you.