Saundra

Lower Body Foam Rolling Bonus from Lift, Move, & Restore's Functional Pilates Fusion clocks in at just under 18-minutes.   Cathe starts the workout using the foam roller to massage and warm up the lower body. She mostly does this by rolling various body parts across and on the foam roller. After the warm up, Cathe uses the foam roller as a support prop to work the lower body. There are standing and floor based exercises. The rep count varied by the exercise.   There is a brief workout at the end. A mat and foam roller are used in this workout. I could hear the music more in this workout than I could in the Upper Body workout. I did these two workouts back to back which is why I noticed.      I thought parts of this workout challenging. I could see me doing this one again. 3 & 3/4 stars

Upper Body Foam Rolling Bonus from Lift, Move, & Restore's Functional Barre Fusion workout clocks in at just over fifteen minutes.   Cathe starts this workouts by using the foam roller to massage and warm up the different upper body muscle groups.  You are doing about four reps per exercise move in the warm up.  After the warm up, she takes you through a mini workout using the foam roller (sometimes as a prop and other times as resistance).  On average, you are doing 8 reps per exercises in the mini workout.    The workout concludes with a super quick stretch. Along with Cathe, there are 4 other cast members.  Along with the foam roller, a mat is also used.  The music in this workout seemed very faint.   The workout was just okay for me. I am not sure how often I will do this one.   3 stars

STS 2.0 Foam Rolling Upper Body + Foam Rolling Lower Body Not really a workout. More like, Cathe is just showing us the way we can use the foam roller. She does introduce exercises and gives tips on how to use the foam roller and what to do during a particular exercise, but she tells you, she wants you to come back and concentrate on the muscle groups that are tight for your particular body. Everyone is different she says. Foam Rolling Upper Body is approximately 20 minutes in length. In the upper body session, Cathe uses the foam roller as a prop or tool to assist with stretching in many of the exercises. Only the back and lat rolls are used to roll out tightness in the muscle.   Cathe introduces the following exercises: Chest Expansion Back Roll Lat Roll Side Reaching Side Bend Thoracic Rotation Side tilted saddle stretch Posture Muscles /Arms Prayer stretch upward arc Thoracic Open Book Foam Rolling Lower Body is approximately 14 minutes in length.  In the lower body...

Sleek Essentials by Karen Voight focuses on the three essentials of fitness: cardio, strength, and flexibility to deliver a “fit, firm, and flexible” body.  Karen calls it her triple effect training system.  It is a 3 in 1 program. In this system you have three main workouts, Sweat Effect, Strength Effect, and Sleek Effect.  All workouts are around 22 minutes. Sweat Effect is the cardio workout. Karen uses a fitness roller to warm up the body. She then takes you through a series of athletic, kickboxing inspired moves. The majority of the cardio workout is low impact.  Karen does include some high impact modifications.  However you can always follow the modifier who keeps the moves low impact.  The workout contains minimum choreography and it is easy to follow. It is not drill base. Karen teaches the move on one side and then have you repeat on the other side.  This workout is about getting your heart rate up.  The music was very uninspiring...

Karen Voight's Sleek Essential consist of three 50 minute workouts.  In the set that I have, each 50 minute workout came on its own DVD. Sweat Effect is your cardio workout. The cardio is mostly kickboxing inspired and it takes up the first 35 minutes of the workout. The choreography in the kick box segment is easy to follow.  Karen teaches you the pattern on the right and then she repeats on the left. Following the kick box segment are a butt/thigh segment, abdominal segment and cool down stretch. When Karen went into the butt segment which is floor based, I wasn't expecting it because I knew there was another DVD focused on Strength and Toning. Plus I was enjoying the kickboxing and I would  have like to see the kick box portion extended. The different sections of the workout are: Warm up Twist & Punch Bob & Weave Lunge & Lift Jump & Kick Butt & Thighs Abs with foam roler Stretch Strength Effect is your sculpting workout.  I...