Essentrics Stretch Series Vol. 1 - Thoughts

Essentrics Stretch Series Vol. 1 DVD includes three 30-minute workouts. Each of these workouts are slow moving workouts. Super slow. My biggest gripe about them is that the music in each of them is very faint. I could hear each of the instructors just fine but to hear the music I had to really increase the volume which in turn made the instructor super loud.

The first workout is Tension Release and it is lead by Meg Feeney.  Meg does a lot of upper body full body range of motion movement.  She also does windmills, lunges, and plies that included shin and ankle work.  This workout uses a chair and in the chair segment, you are doing heel and calf work, as well as hamstring, quads, outer and inner thigh stretches.  This workout clocks in at 31:17.

Joint Pain Relief clocks in just over 30 minutes and is lead by Gail Garceau.  In this workout, we do quite a bit of work for the back that includes standing back stretches and spine rotations.  Gail also includes hip, groin and lunge stretches as well as windmills and stretches for the feet.  In this workout, the emphasis is definitely on stretching and not strengthening as the moves are perform with very slow moment and it felt as if we were holding each pose a little bit longer. There is a chair segment.  In this segment Gail has you exercises for the back of the foot, the calf, the quads, the hamstrings, outer thigh and lower back.

Full Body Deep Stretch is around 33 minutes in length and is lead by Amanda Cyr.   Amanda tells  you that this is a feeling workout meaning you want to move far enough into the stretch where you feel the exercise.  This workout starts with upper body stretches. It next moves into stretches for the inner thigh with a series of lunges. Amanda includes front lunges with a hinge to work the front and back of the leg. She also does toe, ankle, spine, triceps, shoulder, and hamstring stretches.
There is a floor segment which includes mobility work for the hip joint.  You also do a lying quad stretch and the workout ends with seated stretching.


Tension Release - 3 & 1/4 stars
Joint Pain Relief - 3 & 1/4 stars
Full Body Deep Stretch - 3 & 1/2 stars

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