Saundra

2011 Lots of change occurred with me in 2011. I changed jobs again and I moved. So far both are going well. Lots also stayed the same. I once again went to New York in December. Again it was too cold and too crowded. I made it to the Cathe Road Trip, my fourth time. Next year, I might try a different fitness trip. I need to look and see what else is out there. And I bought more exercise DVDs than I should have. So speaking of exercise DVDs, let talk favorites Top 10 Michelle Dozois takes the top two spots. These two workouts are part of her Peak Fit Challenge System. I really like the whole system of workouts, a couple of more could have easily made the top ten as well. Two spots are also claimed by Core Rhythms (love those) and two by The FIRM with their FIRM Express System. Overall, I rate the FIRM Express System above average with the two on my list of top ten being the standouts (at least for me) in the group. The surprise on this list for me is Andrea Rogers Lean & ...

My last workout for 2011 is KCM's Start Here from her 30 Minute To Fitness Series. Start Here consist of two workouts, Workout 1 (Cardio) and Workout 2 (Toning). Workout 1 is actually cardio and toning. The first half (about 12 minutes) is cardio . The second half (also about 12 minutes) is toning. I did the Workout 2 yesterday evening and Workout 1 this morning. Both workouts use the same warm up. I really like the music in the Warm Up. It had vocals and the words are about "feeling sexy". So I will start with Workout 2, since I did that workout first. So the Start Here DVD is touted as being beginner workouts. I agree with that in that the moves are basic and straight forward. There is not a lot , if any, compound multi-exercises going on. You are doing one exercise at a time. So this is the type of workout you can go really heavy if you want. There is nothing rushed about the workout. The tempo is fairly steady. I like this one. Workout 1 (Cardio). I kind o...

Dance Off The Inches Latin Party Pack ! was a Christmas Gift. In the box came 4 workouts on three DVDs, a 30-Day rotational calendar and Salsa Sculpting Bars. The bars are pink and solid. They do not shake or rattle. So the workouts are : Red Hot Cardio Party Sizzling Salsa Total Body Tone with a Twist Slim & Sexy Dancer's Abs. I will start in the order I did the workouts Total Body Tone with a Twist . This DVD consist of two workouts. Both workouts are led by Desiree Bartlett. Toning with a Twist is 21 minutes and Slim & Sexy Dancer's Abs is 17 minutes. If you select play all, it will play both back to back and that clock in at around 36 minutes. Both of these workouts have a warm up and cool down and both used the Salsa Sculpting Bars. In Toning with a Twist, you are doing plies, lunges, dips, squats, biceps, triceps, overhead press. This workout is very basic. In between the different sculpting sets you do basic dance movement, merengue or cha cha. I did not pa...

Calorie Blasting Party is a 41 minute working starring Juliane Arney. This Dance Off The Inches workout is a bit different than the other DOTI workouts I have done. First it does not have a step guide. Juliane teaches the moves in what she calls progressive Tempos. There are three tempo variations - 1, 2, and 3. As you go up in numbers, you go up in speed and movements. The workout breaks down as follows: Warm Up Michelle's Favorite Cat's Dance All About Abby Nicole's Favorite Cool Down. Michelle, Cat, Abby and Nicole are all cast members. I like the 4 combinations. Most of the DOTI workouts only have 3 combos and the workout length is relatively the same. So this one moves a little more quickly than most. There is repetition. You are repeating each move at each tempo at least four times (usually two on the left and two on the right). Also each dance is composed of 4 moves each. So after teaching each section (i.e. Michelle's Favorite, Cat's Dance etc) Ju...

Weight Watchers Punch! is one of those workouts I have had for awhile but I am just now getting around to doing it. I had to look at the back of the DVD cover to see when it came out. I could not remember if it was earlier this year or last year. It was last year. So this DVD features Stephanie Huckabee and it contains three kickbox inspired workouts. Beginner (30 minutes) Intermediate (35 minutes) Advanced (45 minutes) I previewed the Beginner workout but I did both the Intermediate and Advance Workouts. Essentially the three workouts are the same which annoyed me greatly. First the three workouts feature the same warm up and cool down. That was no big deal. But once you got into the workout, they pretty much resembled each other except for slight and I do mean slight variations. The intermediate workout has a little more content than the beginner and the advance workout a little more content than the intermediate mostly in the form of repetition. Jab, Cross repeater knee - in al...

Dance It Off & Firm Up! features Bethany Lyons as the lead. The workout is about 41 minutes and follows the same patterns as all the other Dance Off the Inches workouts. There is a step guide. I didn't use it. The moves are very basic and easy to follow The workout breaks down as follows: Warm up Rock It Own It Tone It Cool Down The Rock It and Own It sections are the mini dance combos. Tone It is not really a mini combo. It is a bunch of toning moves done with a dancer's flair. Plie , tondu , lunges, squats, calf raises, and posse are some of the moves in this section. In the two mini routines, Bethany has this swivel hip move that she uses as her base move. So instead of marching it out you do this swivel move before taking it from the top or adding on. There seemed to be a lot of taking it from the top in this workout. Although, I don't think it is any more or less repetitive than any of the other Dance Off the Inches workouts. I just wasn't in the mood fo...

N ote: I have not done this workout. Nor am I planning to do it. I got this workout for a friend and I was looking it over before I sent it off to her . So this is just for informational purposes only if anyone is interested it the workout. As far as I know, you can only get Weight Watchers 10-Minute Time Crunch Training with resistance cord from a Weight Watchers center. The workout cost $24.95 and comes in a big box. The only think in the box is the workout, the resistance cord, and 10-Week Exercise Tracker. The rest of the box is filled with the plastic bubble paper. The box was very light to pick up. When I first grabbed it, I remember thinking it was light for its size. The DVD includes five 10-minute workouts. There workouts are: Upper Body Lower Body Total Body Core Interval Training The DVD is programmable. No star rating as I have not done this workout.

Originally a part of the The FIRM CardioWeight System, Hi-Def Sculpt is currently sold as a standalone workout. It features Annie Lee as the lead and it is about 45 minutes in length. When this workout first came out, it was not a favorite of mine. I still wouldn't call it a favorite, but I appreciate the workout much more than the first one and half times I did the workout. I would add it into a rotation and then take it out when I remember I didn't like it. With weight workouts you can generally increase the weights to make the workout harder or easier. This workout, however, really has the elements of a beginner's workouts. First Annie and the cast members (there are four) are using only light and medium weights. Light being 3lbs and medium being 5 lbs. I went much heavier than this depending on the exercise. This workout is part of the system that came with the Pink Adjustable Cardio Weights. I have only used the weights a couple of times because they are cumber...

Hip Hop Body Blast is Jennifer Gilardi's third hip hop dance workout for Dance Off the Inches. This workout is about 45 minutes in length and like all Dance Off the Inches workouts or the ones I have, this workout has a Step Guide to teach you the moves. I never or rarely used the Step Guide. I will do the workout first and if I have trouble picking up a step, I will go to the step guide. I didn't have any trouble picking up the steps in this workouts. The steps are basic and Jen repeats them enough so by the time we were moving on, I had picked up the move. The DVD is chaptered. The sections of the workout are: Warm Up Dance 1: In The Club Dance 2: Groovin Dance 3: Kick It Up Cool Down Out of the three Jennifer Gilardi DOTI workouts, this one is my favorite. With the exception of the first tune in Dance 1, the music was really good and worked well with the choreography. I wasn't feeling the Hip Hop in that first tune of Dance 1. There are two cast members in the wor...

Well, if you can't tell, I am pretty much ignoring my December Rotation. I decided to plug in some workouts that I have never done or haven't reviewed. One such work is Ilaria Montagnani Abs & Pushups Plus . I have had this workout forever. Probably since it was release. I am not a big push ups fan and I have enough other workouts that work the abdominals. Because of the pushups this workout had a real dread factor for me, but it wasn't that bad. I did most, actually all the push ups on my knees. The only part of the push ups section I did on my toes were the Plank type exercises. Ilaria starts the workout with Plank variations. So I really consider this workout an add on because you really do just hop into the workout. The workout alternates push up sets with ab sets. In the push ups sets, you are doing about 3 sets of pushups and Ilaria gives you a rest and brief stretch between the push ups sets. Whereas during the ab sets, you are going form exercise to exe...

Criss-Cross Cardio is a reacquired workout for me. I bought this workout a few years back when Advanced Workouts was having a huge sell on CIA Video workouts. When I got the workout and previewed it, it didn't appeal to me, so when I was off-loading workouts trying to wean my collection, this went by the wayside. So why do I own this workout now. I think it was a review, somebody had mentioned how much they like this workout. I started thinking to myself "that I really didn't give it a fair chance". Plus, CIA workouts are getting harder to find. So I decided to get this one again while I had the chance. And, I am glad I did. The workout is about 64 minutes and stars Sherri Jacquelyn. I don't know much about her. Reading the back of the DVD cover she has been in previous CIA workouts. Criss-Cross Cardio is predominately a kickboxing workout with some mixed martial arts. The mixed martial arts comes in the form of Capoeira which is a Brazilian form of martia...

Time Crunch Cardio consist of three 20 minute workouts featuring Allie Del Rio as the lead. The three 20 minute workouts are self contain workouts in that they each contain their on warm up and cool down. There are two other cast members. Jen does advance moves. Rebekah does the beginner modification and she is truly modifying the moves. She doesn't use weight and she does all of the blast with virtually no impact. The three workouts are : Cardio + Sculpt Combo Fat Blasting Bursts Calorie Burning Cardio I have included break downs for both Cardio + Sculpt Combo and Fat Blasting Bursts. Both of these workouts use weights and they have cardio burst/blast. Also, both workouts use a lot of multi-joint compound exercises. Lots of layering. So at any one point you could be doing 4 exercises in combination. If I had to differentiate between the two, I would say Cardio + Sculpt Combos lean towards being slow and heavy whereas Fat Blasting Burst is more fast and light. (Heavy and Lig...

First off Fitness Favorites and FitPrime workouts are one-in-the-same. There was a name change mid-way through where FitPrime became Fitness Favorites. G-Force 2 features Carol Miller as the lead and it is a 49 minute rebounder workout. Along with Carol, there are three additional cast members. Carol and cast workout barefoot. The workout is also shot in a "live" classroom format. G-Force 2 breaks down as follows : Warm up - approximately 5 minutes and it uses the rebounder. Cardio Phase using the rebounder - about 35 minutes Lower Body Sculpt section - about 7 minutes Core and ending stretches - about 7 minutes There is not a lot of upper body work unless you count the plyo handstands done off the frame of the rebounder. Carole does use a pair of weighted gloves through out the workout and that adds extra intensity in the cardio phase. During the cardio phase, you are doing back to back sets (tunes) on the rebounder. The moves are simple. Some of the moves are samba...

This was my first rebounder workout and I really liked it. G-Force is a 53 minute Cardio & Weights workouts. It stars Tracie Long as the lead. In fact, Tracie does the whole workout by herself. There are no cast members. If you think about old time FIRM AWT workouts, this is what G-Force reminds me of. However, instead of using the box step (fanny lifter) or floor for cardio, you use the rebounder. On average, you are doing about 3 cardio tunes on the rebounder and then a sculpt set. Several of the sculpt sets use the rebounder as a prop or exercise tools. For instance, you do the leg press off the rebounder. The workout even includes floor work. The floor being the surface of your rebounder. The set is okay - perhaps a bit busy. The music I like. Most of the workout is choreograph to the music and it flows well with the rebounder and sculpt sets. As this was my first time really using my rebounder, I had to adjust to some of the movements. Tracie started off teaching...

I thought Max 30 , featuring Toby Massenburg an interesting collection of workouts. There are three workouts on this DVD. However, the workouts are not chaptered. If you want to skip ahead to a different block, you can't unless you use the fast-forward option. The workouts are : ---Max Sculpt (~35 minutes) ---Max Cardio (~35 minutes) ---Max Core (~ 10 minutes) I did Max Sculpt and Max Cardio. Both of these are complete workouts meaning they contain their own warm up and cool down. On Max Sculpt's equipment list, you will find dumbbells and on Max Cardio, you will find the club step. Both workouts are set up in the same pattern. Within each block you have three drills and two exercises per drill. Within a drill you have a basic exercise and then you have a more advanced exercise which Toby calls "Max". You follow this with another drill in which you have a basic and max exercise. Then the third drill (which Toby call "the combo drill") combines the two ...

December is here. Wow, this year has really flown by fast. I am starting off the month with a new workout, Max 30 by Toby Massenburg. The DVD has three workouts (Max Sculpt, Max Cardio, and Max Core /Abs). I will do Max Sculpt December 1st and Max Cardio December 2nd. The rest of the month looks like: Sunday - Fitness Favorites Rebounding/Treadmill Monday - CIA Kickbox Workouts Tuesday - Fitness Favorites Cardio Sculpt Wednesday - CIA Step Workouts Thursday - Fitness Favorites Cardio Sculpt Friday - Tracie Long Fitness 30 Minute Focus Series Saturday - Rest Looking at my rotation, I have three totally brand new to me workouts. Max 30 is one. The other two are G-Force 1 and G-Force 2.

Low Impact Challenge is a 50 minute step workout. It is part of Cathe's Low Impact Series of workout. The 50 minutes breaks down as follows: Warm up Step Combo #1 Step Combo #2 Step Combo #3 Step Combo #4 All Combos Cardio Blast Stretch If you are at all familiar with Cathe's step workouts, you should have absolutely no problem in picking up the choreography and routine in this workout. In fact, I was put off by the clip and save this workout to near last because everything in the clip look so old and reused. So I was mildly surprised that I enjoyed all the combos. I think the combos flow well. My only complaint within the combos is that there is a lot of repeaters and sculpt 7s. I was enjoying the workout up until I got to blast. The blast is about 10 minutes long, and it is mostly just lots of repetitions of various leg sculpting moves. Up to this point, this workout was on its way to being a 4 or 4 1/2 star workout. I even liked the music. Next time I do this workout I ...

This workout annoyed me. F at-Burning Cardio Toning is 30 minute workout featuring Tina Smalley as the lead. It a cardio-sculpt workout that uses the resistant cord/tubing as resistance and to sculpt the muscles. It was the resistance cord that was annoying. It kept slipping from my feet. Also many of the moves are compound in nature, so while the resistance of the cord would be fine for one part of the exercise, the next part of the exercise the resistance would be too light or too heavy. So I was constantly changing the cords depending on the exercise. The pattern of the work is: Warm up Standing Sculpting Section using the Resistance Cord. Standing Cardio Section using the Resistance Cord More standing sculpting, including work for the core. Floor Sculpting using the Resistance Cord. Ending stretch using the Resistance Cord. I did enjoy the floor sculpting and ending stretch segments. If it wasn't for those two sections I would be giving this workout 2 1/2 stars instead o...

The FIRM's Fat-Burning Sculpting Ball Workout continues my week of revisiting some older workouts. It is a 30 minute workout featuring Tina Smalley as the lead. I like Tina. I have had the opportunity to take a live class with her and found her to be an awesome instructor. This workout is a kit workout. It comes or came with a 4, 6 or 8 inch sculpting ball. The workout starts with a 6 minute warm up. The first 3 minutes is without the ball and the second 3 minutes you are doing pretty much the same exercise but this time adding the ball. After the warm up, you go into the first standing sculpting set that is broken up by a series of push ups using the ball. I felt my heart rate get up on some of the standing work. A lot of the exercises are compound in nature. Before you go into a second standing sculpting set that is broken up by a series of plank moves using the ball, you have a rather extended ball cardio section. I thought this section a tad bit long or rather it became ...