Saundra

It is the last month of the year, so I am going for workout that I find fun. Which for me, means dance workouts. To give it some balance, I have thrown in some sculpting workouts in the form of Kelly Coffey Meyer 30 Minute To Fitness workouts and also Angie Miller Kettlebell Boot camp. It will be the first time for me doing Angie's KB workout. Also I haven't done any of Lisa Rinna's Dance Body Beautiful workouts. So I am looking forward to trying those. Other new workouts showing up for me this month are Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders Dance Workouts, as well as Dance with Julianne and Pussycat Dolls workouts. The last two workout are on pre-order and should arrive around December 15. I have rounded out the rotation by adding in Fitness Favorites (Anna Benson) workouts from her WHFN FitPrime series.

Calorie Killer was part of the Body Sculpting System 2 set of workouts. Of all the FIRM systems BSS2 is probably my favorite. Calorie Killer features Nancy Tucker (also one of my favorites) in a 39 minute workout. The workout is cardio based and it contains the FIRM's signature 4 limb movement. It uses the fanny lifter and the sculpting stick. There are two sets of tall box climbs (not my favorites) and one set Nancy has you disassemble the sculpting stick and use the twigs to work the upper body as you climb the tall box. I love the floor and step aerobics segments. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

From the Body Sculpting System 3, Total Muscle Shaping is a 45 minute Cardio and Sculpt workout featuring Stephanie Huckabee and the FIRM Blue Box. Love this workout. This is one of my favorite FIRM workouts. Stephanie combines upper and lower body moves so you are working extra hard during those sections and she adds cardio in between the weight sets to give the body a break. All three positions of the blue box is used. This is a workout that you can go heavy with. The upper body work done when the box is in the incline position is just killer. Only thing I really didn't care for was the abdominal work that was done on the blue box - working the lower abs in this position was just tough. Great music. 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

This workout - Maximum Cardio Burn - is a 55 minute workout featuring Allie Del Rio. My biggest gripe is that of the 55 minutes only about 35 minutes of it is cardio. So in a nutshell I was wishing for more cardio. This workout is from the Body Sculpting System 2. It uses the fanny lifter and sculpting stick. The sculpting stick is a three piece unit that can be taken apart and used separated. The middle part of the stick is 4 lbs and the end parts - which are called twigs are two pounds each. Allie uses the twigs in an arm sculpting segment. I personally felt the twigs were two light for the sculpting work. My favorite part of the workout was the floor aerobics. Allie came up with some cool and high energy combination. I also like the step combos. The section that I really didn't care for was the four limb sections that used the sculpting bar. Those sections were slow and awkward. Maximum Cardio Burn also features a standing leg toning section and a very tough abdominal se

Complete Body Sculpting is a 45 minute workout featuring FIRM Master Instructor Christa Suggs. This workout is from the Body Sculpting System 3 set of workouts featuring the blue box. Some call the blue box the "death box". I actually like the blue box because it is less cumbersome to move around than the TransFIRMer. The workout is a slower pace workout that alternate lower body with upper body weight work and there are cardio burst throughout. You can go heavy with this workout. The blue box can be and is used in an incline position, six inch position or the full 14 inch position. The set is dark but that didn't bother me. I thought the music was good. When this workout came out several years ago, one of the things that bothered me was that you couldn't always see the beginner because the set was so big and spread out. Great workout. 4 out of 5 stars

One of my favorite FIRM "Pink" workouts is Bootcamp Maximum Calorie Burn. This workout is a 52 minute workout led by Alison Davis. It is done in a circuit style. You have plyometrics sets and cardio sets. The plyo sets contain sculpting/weight exercises that alternate with plyometric type exercises. Some of the plyo moves are ski jumps, burpees, and lunge switches (alternating lunges). The cardio segments are kickboxing and athletic in nature. I thought the workout moved at a really good pace. It wasn't slow, but it wasn't so fast that you couldn't properly execute the move. The music was good and fit with the workout. My one gripe other than the lackluster set was the camera angle/work. The camera angle was focus too much on the beginner modifier, which would have been fine except, Alison was layering moves and often the beginner wasn't adding on the next component of the move, so you would sometimes miss a rep or too until the camera focused back on Ali

The FIRM Power Half Hour is a 30 minute interval (sculpting and cardio) workout led by FIRM Master Instructor Emily Welsh. Not sure about this one. This is my second time doing this workout. The first time I did it was when it was release in December of 2008. I think a person would need to do this workout more than a couple of times to become really familiar with and get the most out of the moves and exercises. That is because the workout moves really fast and has lots of choreograph changes. So to be able to work the move, you really need to know what is coming. The choreograph isn't hard to pick up. It is just by the time you have picked it up, Emily has moved on. I felt that my left side got a much better workout than the right because Emily taught the right first and then the left. I knew what was coming when I got to the left so I was able to execute the exercise more efficiently and effectively. I really like the music in this workout; and as what seems to be the cas

Another week of FIRM workouts. Sunday - Treadmill, The FIRM Power Half Hour Monday - The FIRM Boot Camp Maximum Calorie Burn Tuesday - The FIRM Complete Body Sculpting Wednesday - The FIRM Maximum Cardio Burn Thursday - The FIRM Total Muscle Shaping Friday - The FIRM Calorie Killer Saturday - Rest

The FIRM FIRM Cardio Maximum Cardio is a 45 minute "Hare" workout led by Carissa Foster. Repetitive. That is what I felt when I did this workout. Each of the cardio segments were approximately 5 to 6 minutes in length and you kept repeating the same three or four moves for the entire 5 to 6 minutes. I didn't like that at all. The workout uses a med ball, light hand weights, barbell, short and tall box step. The cardio segments consisted of doing low and hi impact floor aerobics and small box aerobics. The workout does include a set of Tall Box Climbs. Out of the three FIRM Cardio workouts, I like the sculpting segments in this workout the best. I didn't like the warm up however. The warm up used the med ball. The music was good in some spots and in others in was just so so. I remember liking this workout much better than I did this time around. 3 stars out of 5.

The FIRM FIRM Cardio - Power Cardio . This workout has also been re-released as Calorie Killer 2. It is a 45 minute "Hare" workout featuring Dale Brabham. Out of the three videos that came out at FIRM Cardio workouts, this is probably my least favorite. I just did not like the way the workout was constructed; and that started with the warm up. The warm up used dumbbells and the flow of the warm up just was not there. I think the warm up was supposed to be an active stretch warm up. It moved really fast. Sculpting was scattered throughout the workout instead of being just at the end. I felt this really killed the momentum of the cardio. You did have to use a lot of power because you were jumping, plyoing, and hopping in the workout. In one segment you were hopping on one leg. The workout also contained step sequences, floor aerobics and an abdominal set. Weights, a med ball, barbell, and hand weights were used throughout. Giving this workout a lukewarm 3 stars

Sunday - Treadmill Monday - The FIRM Cardio Burn - Tamela Hastie Tuesday - The FIRM Maximum Body Shaping - Tracie Long Wednesday - The FIRM Power Cardio - Dale Brabham Thursday - The FIRM Better Body and Buns- Jen Carman, Jen Peluso, Taber Bruner Friday - The FIRM Maximum Cardio - Carissa Foster Saturday - Rest Sometime this week I am going to try to add The FIRM Power Half Hour with Emily Welsh. We will see if I get to it. I have already reviewed Maximum Body Shaping and Better Body and Buns. So I won't review those again this week. If anyone is interested, they can do a search for those two workouts.

The FIRM's FIRM Cardio - Cardio Burn workout is a 45 minutes cardio sculpt workout. It is what is called a "Hare" workout - heavy on the cardio and light on the sculpting. Personally I wish it was just a straight cardio workout. The first 30 minutes of the video is a mixture of four limb, plyo using the ball and light weights, step and floor aerobics. The last 15 minutes of the workout you are using moderate dumbbells or the barbell for various sculpting exercises. Abdominal work is also included. This workout is lead by Tamela Hastie whom I happen to like. I mentioned this because when you read reviews about this workout - she gets heavily criticized for her performance. One of the main annoyances voiced is that she would say "Isn't this fun" or something similar all throughout the workout. I counted that she said this six times. Although it didn't bother me at all. This workout contains tall box climbs - just a variation on the leg press.

FIRM Parts Tough Aerobic Mix is one of my favorite FIRM parts and compilation workouts. It is comprised of five of the six original FIRM volume workouts (also know as "The Classics"). The volume that was left out was Volume 5. The aerobics in this workout is mostly high impact and the four limb movements that use light weights move at a faster pace and the sets are longer. The workout also uses a short box for step work. Jennifer Lane hosts this workout which clocks in right around 48 minutes. I used to think this workout was so tough. I still broke a good sweat but it wasn't as challenging as I remembered it being. I like the fast pace of the workout and how it moved from segment to segment. There was just enough time in between segments to grab some water. 4 out of 5 stars

FIRM Parts: Light Aerobic Mix or Not-So-Tough Aerobics Mix is a compilation workout compose from material of the original six FIRM workouts. The FIRM Parts series is how I started with the FIRM. I bought the parts series first (I believe there were 7 workouts) and then I went back and bought all the classics. The classics were expensive. The FIRM started their "name change" game with this workout. The original title was Light Aerobic Mix and I think many felt, myself included, that it wasn't so "light". Doing this workout some 15 years later it did feel pretty light and not so tough. It clocks in at approximately 39 minutes and it takes you through a series of low impact, short box step, and 4-limb movements. The workout is hosted by Karen Taylor. Karen ties the different segments together. This is nice in that you get a breather but not so nice when it slow your heart rate. I still like this workout and give it 3 stars out of 5.

In September 2008, The FIRM release three workouts that they filmed in New York. My big griped about these three workouts is that you couldn't hear the music in any of the three. The sound quality is just terrible. If you turn up your volume, then the instructor is super loud. I really feel that this undermines which overall are a great set of workouts. That brings me to my favorite of the three and that is Slim & Trim lead by the FIRM's Tina Smalley. This 40 minute workout uses a 4lb medicine ball or power ball. It still uses the FIRM formula of interspersing floor aerobics with toning sets. This workouts moves. You really don't get a break from once segment to the next. In some spots it was difficult for me to tell when one segment ended and another one began. The aerobics is high and low impact. Also, you are constantly using the ball. Only a couple times were we not doing anything without the ball. My one gripe about the ball is that it is hard. One set,

TransFIRM your Trouble zones is a 45 minute Kettlebell workout. It uses a 5lb kettlebell in what is becoming the FIRM's typical floor aerobics/toning workouts. I am not a fan of the Kettlebell and didn't particularly care for this workout, but I do like Kelsie Daniels. I think she is an awesome instructor and lead. Kelsie takes you through many basic and elementary kettlebell movements. Every once in awhile, you put the KB down for cardio intensity burst. For the most part though, even during some of the cardio work, you are always using the KB. This is not a bad workout. I am just lukewarm about it. Like Dangerous Curves Ahead, this workout had terrible sound quality. 3 stars out of 5

The FIRM's Dangerous Curves Ahead is a 57 minute interval type workout. It mixes cardio and sculpting sets. The cardio contains low and high impact moves. The sculpting sets uses a resistance loop and the FIRM "cardio weights" to tone the body. The majority of the moves are functional fitness and compound movements. The loop is challenging on some of the moves; on other moves it is just simply awkward. I particularly felt the resistance of loop during the hamstring and glute work. Where I felt the loop was cumbersome was during the abdominal section of the workout. Alison is terrific. She is one of my favorite FIRM instructors. My favorite saying of hers is when she says "Let's Dig In". I enjoyed this workout except for one thing. The music. I couldn't hear it. I could hear Alison just fine. When I turned up my volume trying to make the music louder, then Alison became too loud. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

The FIRM 500 calorie workout is a long workout that felt long. Clocking in around 62 minutes or so, it features interval training that alternates between cardio and sculpting sets. I believe that Kelsie, the instructor used 5lb dumbbells. I used my FIRM sculpting balls that came with Cardio Core Fusion workout since I am still working out in my hotel room. While I didn't have a lot of room to move and go full out on the cardio, I did work up a good sweat. I think that what makes this workout challenging is the length of the workout and the functional training moves incorporated. I am also happy to report there were no burpees - well unless you include "the side lunge, then you turn and go down and do 4 push ups". I guess that could be considered a modified burpee. This is my second time doing this workout and like the first time, I was either a 1/2 beat ahead of Kelsie on the cardio combos or a 1/2 beat behind. I don't too often have that problem. Solid wor