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The FIRM Cardo Overdrive is a workout that is included as part of The FIRM's CardioWeight System. Yes. I have had this workout forever and probably have done it 1/2 a dozen or so times but when I search my blog, I could not find that I reviewed it. So here it goes. This workout is led by Alison Davis. Alison is one of my favorite FIRM Instructors. The workout is made up of roughly 5-minute segments.  Most of the segments are cardio base. In two of the segments, you use light weights for some targeted toning. These were my least favorite segments.   Along with Alison, there are four other cast members. One of the cast members does show beginner modifications. The workout clocks in at 47 minutes and the workout is chaptered. You can skip ahead or back while in the workout. Overall, I thought the music was pretty good. DVD Menu Workout  Express Workout FIRM Moves The FIRM Believer's Club Language Selection Express workout is a 25 minute workout and it is made up of seg...

Cycle 2:  Peak! is the second DVD in The FIRM's ZipTrainer System.  This systems comes with three workouts. The first workout on the Peak! disc is Cardio 2 .  Cardio 2 is lead by Alison Davis.  Alison's workouts is a 15 minute high energy workout. You are constantly moving and going from one sequence right into the next without much of a break. There are two other cast members, Annie and Stephanie. Annie is performing the advance moves which are often high impact and Stephanie is performing the beginner modifications. This workout features 4 SBT's or Short Burst Training Cycles.  You do two rounds of each SBT. During each round you work for 30 seconds and rest for 15 seconds. The SBTs in Cardio 2 are: Front/back Squat with an overhead raise with the ZipTrainer Step, Skip, or Jump over the Zip Trainers (Dome Positions) with an alternating kickback Hitchkick Football Shuffle into three alternating rows. There are burpees in this workout but they are not...

Barefoot Abs is a "bonus" workout that comes with The FIRM's Zip Trainer System.  This workout is lead by Alison Davis.  Alison is joined by Stephanie and Allie.  Allie performs beginner modifications and Stephanie performs the more advance movements. This workout clocks in right at 15 minutes.  Alison does give you a brief warm up. In the warm up you are doing these side bends where you are alternating four fast and two slow while holding the ZipTrainer.  I was getting dizzy doing this move. Once you are out of the warm up, you moved into standing core workout using the ZipTrainer in the fully zipped position.  There are a lot of moves where you are extending the ZipTrainer, reaching it out from the body. This workout does contain Short Burst Training (SBT).  The first SBT is a burpee into an overhead press with the ZipTrainer. Standing Core continuous but now you are using the  ZipTrainer in the dome position.   This sections ...

From the Wave system, The FIRM's Rock It Off is a 40 minute cardio sculpt workout featuring Alison Davis as the instructor. The Wave is a piece of exercise equipment that contains two workable sides. The stable side can be used just as you would use a normal step. It is different from a normal step in that the middle of the step is higher than the ends. Alison calls the middle portion of the step (when on its stable side) the crest. The unstable side is the rocking side of the wave. This is this side where you can really work your balance, your core and your legs. Depending on the position of the wave, you can rock side to side or front to back. Rock It Off Contains typical FIRM cardio sculpt sequences. The sculpting sets are more traditional and less functional. Segment 1 - warm up - stable side of the Wave. Wave in vertical position Segment 2 - total body sculpting using weights, Wave on stable side in vertical position Segment 3 - cardio (step) Wave on stable side in vertical ...

Cycle 3 of the FIRM Express system is TurboCharge . The three workouts in this phase is led by Master Instructor Alison Davis McClain. This cycle is suppose to "lean out your physique with the best in cardio coupled with muscle toning exercises". TurboCharge Cardio Sculpt by far is my favorite (so far) of the Cardio Sculpt workouts. This one had great flow between the cardio, the sculpting moves, and the burst. And yes I am thinking the "hinge move at the waist" is the FIRM's new signature move because it appears again in all three workouts. I will have to see next week if Kelsie includes this move. The Burst are: Burst 1: Power Step Touch Burst 2: High knee side to side Burst 3: Single leg lunge run Burst 4: Tire Run TurboCharge Cardio I am lukewarm on. I am usually a fan of Alison's cardio choreography and I while I think some moves are innovative, much of it I found repetitive. Also she uses a weight to get increase the intensity in some combin...

Okay. This was good and the title, Calorie Explosion , is very apt. I burned over 500 calories with this workout and I was even going all out as this was my first time through and I was learning the moves. That is not to say the moves are complicated because they are not. The moves are very basic. Alison cues well and you go through each set at least twice. The workout contains a warm up, 4 express workouts which are about 12 minutes each, and a cool down. What is cool about this, or I think so, is that you can do the whole workout which is about 55 minutes or you can select to do a particular section which includes the warm up and cool down for about at 18 to 20 minute workout. The DVD is chapter so it is easy to move around. You can tell someone put some thought into the functionality of this workout. The 4 different workouts are: Kick-Butt Athletic Drills - uses hand weights Explosive Power Moves - uses hand weights Cardio Kickboxing High Intensity Moves - uses hand weights On...

Oh it was a gorgeous morning for running. Practically no humidity at all. I was up and out of the house at 7am. It felt good to be working out after taking a full week off. I did develop a crap towards the end but I didn't loose much time as a result of being off for a week. 37:37:99 was my time. I followed the run with a stretch workout: the FIRM's Yoga Express 15 minute workout led by Alison Davis.

The FIRM Core Solution is an abdominal and core workout that features 3 ten minute workouts led by FIRM instructor Alison Davis. The first section is standing abs, the second section is functional abs, and the third is traditional ab work. I did all three sections back to back and really enjoyed the workout. My favorite is probably standing abs. I like the lengthening and strengthening of the moves in the workout. The workout also had exercises to work the shoulder for a more define look and for an increase perception of a smaller waistline. The functional section contain lots of plank, balance and stabilization work; and the traditional routine contain a tough set of oblique work. Alison moves through the three workouts quickly and efficiently. I felt the workouts were sufficiently challenging without killing you. All three workouts feature the use of weights/dumbbells for added resistance. The set is my least favorite of the FIRM sets. Very blah, drab and uninspiring. 4 stars o...

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...

Cardio Dance Express This workout is previously titled Cardio Dance Fusion. It is a 45 minute aerobic dance workout led by Alison Davis. This workout is one of my all time favorite FIRM workouts. I think Alison did a magnificent job with the choreography and she gives lots of energy throughout the workout. The music is excellent and motivating, and I think the sound quality is good as well. The workout is broken down into four sections. Each section represents a different type of dance and different type of music. The four sections are: (1) Club Dance, (2) Latin Dance, (3) The Jive, and (4) Modern I pretty much liked all four section and Alison does a wonderful job of cueing the steps. I like dance based workouts and I don't find it particulary difficult to pick up choreography. So I had no problem picking up the steps in this workout. If you aren't use to dance choreography, it may take you a few times through to get the moves down. This workout may be difficult to d...