Saundra

Defined Lines is a 50 minute workout that Tracie introduces as mostly a cardio workout. I really didn't think it a mostly cardio workout at all. If I had to characterized the workout I would call it a "total body functional fitness style workout" that uses lots of range of motion. The segments are long but within the segments you are moving quickly from multi joint compound exercise to multi joint compound exercise. Defined Lines uses a medicine ball, a pair of dumbbells (Tracie's pair is 5lbs), a rag (or paper plate if you are on carpet), your own body weight and a mat. There are roughly 10 segments or songs in this workout. Each segment with the exception of Song 4 is roughly 5 minutes. Song 4 is about 3 minutes. The breakdown and some of the moves in each segment are : Song 1 - medicine ball warm up, v-steps, shoulder serves, halos, weaves, lunge-dips with pullovers Song 2 - dumbbells, side lunges, french press, kick backs with leg lifts, delt raise, shoulder r...

Leaning Out is Volume 5 in Tracie Long's Longevity Series of workouts. The workout is approximately 50 minutes in length and it is predominantly a muscle shaping and strength workout with some cardio thrown in. Workout Breakdown Segment 1 - warm up functional ~4 1/2 minutes Segment 2 - sculpting, lat rows, squats, side lunge, overhead press, biceps ~5 minutes Segment 3 - more sculpting, dead lifts, lateral raise, ~ 3 minutes Segment 4 - cardio, basic low and high impact aerobics, athletic ~7 1/2 minutes Segment 5 - lower body, side lunge, dip, squats ~ 5 minutes Segment 6 - functional fitness ~2 1/2 minutes Segment 7 - sculpting, plies, bicep curls, triceps work, overhead rotations ~5 minutes Segment 8 - floor work, bomb diver push ups, plank into one arm row, superman ~4 minute Segment 9 - lower body, ankle weights, leg lifts, shoot outs, bridge, single leg press, ~5 minutes Segment 10 - abdominal work ~5 minutes Segment 11 - stretch- 5 minutes. There is not much that I do not...

This is my second time doing Staying Power . Before I go and read what I wrote before I am going to say this is a 3 1/2 star workout. My biggest gripe was that I really couldn't hear the music. I could hear Tracie just fine. This is an interval style workout that used light to medium weights and the medicine ball. I like the intervals and the exercises that Tracie selected. Tracie is always so precise to me. Each move is distinct and identifiable. Going to go and check out my last review...... In my last review I gave it 3 1/2 stars. So that is very consistent. This is a solid workout.

Last workout for 2009 was Tracie Long's Back Up , the fourth workout from the Longevity series. Tracie keeps it consistent in that the workout is also right around the 50 minute mark, 52 minutes to be exact. Like Staying Power this too is mostly a interval style workout. The individual segments in this workout were long and the moves repeated a lot. The cardio segments were functional fitness/sports drill related (i.e soccer, tennis, baseball). The sculpting segments were compound in nature with many exercises working the small muscle groups. Tracie used light, medium and heavy weights for sculpting and she used the medicine ball in the cardio segments. Like the other three workouts, this workout also includes push ups and a core/abs segment. Overall I like this workout. I did think Tracie's face appeared out of focus almost throughout the whole workout. just very fuzzy. The music was good and fit the exercise that Tracie was performing. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Step Forward is a 50 minute plus step workout and it is Volume 3 in the Longevity series that features Tracie Long. Mmmmmm. Where do I start? My first impression is that found it highly repetitious and boring. The step patterns/combinations were very basic. So there was no learning curve at all. (this is not a negative) Tracie takes you through 5 step combinations with the step in the horizontal position and 3 step combinations with the step in the vertical position. As she went through each combination, she showed you varying levels that you could use. Step Forward really works the legs. There were several times throughout the workout I felt my legs fatigue. This is mostly a result of doing the moves over and over again which for me translated into boredom. Within the combinations, there were moves in the workout that I liked, but after the 10th time doing them, I was ready to move on. The last 10 minute of the workout, Tracie took you to the floor for tricep dips, pus...

Coming in at around 52 minutes, Staying Power , the second workout from Tracie Long's Longevity series is an interval style workout. That is the first 30 minutes, after the warm up, is interval style. Then Tracie takes you to the floor for the last 15 minutes of the workout. This workout reminded me of TLT (Tracie Long Training) workouts. Although, I will say it didn't have as much functional fitness exercises as the previous series. This interval workout alternated cardio sets with sculpting sets. Many of the cardio sets used a medicine ball and the sculpting sets used light to medium weights. The only time you really needed to grab a heavy weight was during the one arm row exercise. My least favorite sections was the floor work section. This section was loosely divided into three sections, push ups/core, hips and stretch. In the push up section, Tracie takes you through a series of push up/plank exercises. The hip section consisted of doing long lever side hip raises...

Finally, we have new workouts and a new series from Tracie Long. The series is called Longevity and the first workout in the series is called Defining Shape . Defining Shape is a 50 minute sculpting/weight and balance workout. I say balance because there were lots of balance moves used in this workout. The sculpting moves are a cross between traditional exercises and functional fitness exercises. Everything flowed really well and the exercise were completed right in tune with the music. The workout itself moved fast. Before I knew it, Tracie was saying let's stretch. Before that, you had a floor section in which you work the lower body doing traditional leg floor work. Prior to going down to the floor, you had as series of standing toning sections that work the legs (i.e. squats, dead lifts and lunges) and upper body (i.e shoulder presses, bicep curls, rows etc). There were also push ups. Tracie is phenomenal. She really has to be one of the top 5 video lead instructors out ...