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Oh Cha cha cha cha. Salsa Blast is 45 minutes in length and feature a warm up, the Cha Cha rhythm and the Salsa rhythm. Rumba is the rhythm for the cool down. I love the Core Rhythm workouts. What I like most about the workouts are how all the moves are precisely synchronized to the music. Jaana and Julia continue to do a good job in showing off and explaining the steps. The moves are becoming easier for me to do as well. Although I still have a long way to go. I can hip circle in one direction but I still need lots of work in hip circling in the opposite direction, but I am having fun in trying to get it. The music used in Salsa Blast is music you can really groove too. Jaana always references moves that you can take out to "the club". The moves and music used in this workout, I can see that happening. This workout features intensifiers that Jaana and Julia called sprints. The Cha Cha sprint was particularly a challenge. Jaana has you doing Cha Cha jumping jac...

The FIRM's Jiggle Free Abs is a 25 minute workout that is part of the TransFIRMer series of workouts. It uses the TranFIRMer as a bench to work the waist in a sitting position. This workout is led by Allie Del Rio. Allie's cuing is superb as she leads you through a series of standing, sitting, and floor ab and core work. Jiggle Free Abs contains dynamic movement that works all aspects of the core, particularly the lower abdominal and obliques. The most challenging of the exercises for me were the sitting double leg crunches. The workout also contain side plank work which was also challenging. Overall, I really like this workout a lot, especially the fluid core movements of the standing section. 4 stars out of 5.

I like. I like. I like. 10 Minutes Solution Pilates stars Lara Hudson. The five 10 minutes workouts in this DVD are: Pilates for the Abs - 5 Stars Pilates for the Buns & Thighs - 5 Stars Sculpting Pilates - 4 Stars (Works Upper Body and uses light weight) Pilates Burn - 3 Stars Pilates for Flexibility - 3 Stars This is definitely an above average workouts. I felt the majority of the pilates moves doable with a slight challenge. This is a good workout for the beginner. Lara's instruction is very clear and easy to follow. A couple of times she first ask you to watch and then join her on the next rep. My favorite sections were the Abs and Buns & Thigh sections. I just really like the way these two sections flowed. The other sections were okay and the music was mostly used as background music; really a non-entity. Overally 4 out of 5 stars

This is a 30 minute cardio workout led by Lisa Kay. It uses the FIRM's blue box in the 6 inch and incline position. Light weights (3 to 5lbs) are also used. I found this workout to be easy. The last couple of times I have done this workout it has been easy. This is a far cry from when this workout first came out, I found it challenging. Lisa does do a good job in cuing the workout. The music is above average, but I did find some of the combinations monotonous. I mostly like the work on the incline and the 4-limb combinations. Overall I found the workout to be average. 3 stars out of 5.

Solid Upper Body Workout. The FIRM Upper Body Sculpt is part of the Body Sculpting System 2 series. It features Janet Brooks as the lead and is a 39 minute upper body and core workout. Janet takes you through some traditional and so not-so- traditional upper body exercise moves. The workout uses the fanny lifter, sculpting stick and various weighted dumbbells . I like this workout because it is all upper body work and you work the entire upper body in under 40 minutes. Lately it seems that most of the upper body workouts that are coming out are only doing split systems - working only 1 to 2 body parts at a time. The FIRM's Upper Body Sculpt is one workout that actually does maximize your time and therefore is efficient. 4 out of 5 stars.

A FIRM oldie. The workouts comes from the FIRM Parts series. FIRM Parts are a series of compilation workouts that Anna Benson created from existing workout. This particular workout, Floor Legs, is hosted by Kathy Derry and is a 29 minute workout mostly done on the floor and as the name implies - works the lower body. It takes segments from Body Sculpting Basics (Vol 1), Low Impact Aerobics (Vol 2), Aerobic Interval Training (Vol 3), Abs, Hip, Thigh Workout (Vol 5) and Complete Aerobic Weight Training (Vol 6). You do bridge work, shootouts, inner thigh lift, pulls and swing-outs, outer thigh lifts, table work, and pelvic floor contractions. I personally prefer this workout to Standing Legs. It has been quite some time since I did this workout and I found it to be easier than I remembered it being. Ankle weights, toe weights and dumbbells are added for resistance. 3 stars out of 5.

Pilates Power Ball Sculpt is a 52 minute workout that uses a sculpting/medicine ball. This is the last of the three workouts that I brought with me to Las Vegas; and this one was probably the most challenging of the lot. Bernadette does most exercises 10 times each. Some exercises use the ball and some do not. At anytime you like, you can release the ball and do the exercise without. I did this for more than a few of the exercises because I found most of the exercises challenging without the ball. What I really like about the workout is that Bernadette actually included about a 5 minute warmup. I do find that in too many Pilates classes. Giving this workout 4 out of 5 stars.

One of the 3 workouts I brought with me on my trip to Las Vegas was Power Body Jules Benson Total Core Pilates . This is a 56 minute workout that sculpts and tones your body using your body. I like this workout. I found it so easy to follow. Jules cuing was dead-on and the modifier (her name is Lisa) did an excellent job modifying and showing less advance variations of the moves. This is a pilates workout where you can really work on form. For the most part Jules alternates the exercise between the left and right side of the body. Most exercises are performed 8 times each. Some moves, Jules will layer the complexity by adding a component and making it a compound move. While I found the workout easy to follow, it still provided a challenge. I had reach failure or was near failure on several of the exercises. This was especially true for the the leg sequence. Only thing that was a little off was that sometimes the camera was on the modifier when it probably should have been o...

Well I am in Las Vegas this week and I brought 3 workouts with me to workout in my hotel room. The first workout I did was Bernadette Giorgi's Pilates Circle Challenge. And it definitely was a challenge keeping the Pilates Circle where it was suppose to be. The circle had a mind of its own because unless I had it in my hands and was holding it, the circle was popping out everywhere. Beside loosing the circle from time to time and time, I enjoyed the workout. The moves were quite challenging. A couple of times I did an exercise without using the circle. Bernadette performed most exercises in reps of 10 each. Her cuing was precise and clear. The music was pretty non- descript , mostly background music. The DVD cover touts 4 lower body sculpting challenges. I did the full workout and really couldn't tell that there were 4 separate sections. Bernadette does use the circle to work the upper body especially the shoulders. The workout clocks in a 46 minutes. Right now I...

I did this workout for the second time this past Sunday. Below is a cut and paste from my original review: " Okay Today was a pilates day and the pilates workout I chose to do today was Shape Pilates Workout: Firm Up From Head to Toe with Lizbeth Garcia.Overall, this was a tough workout. I thought I was getting better with pilates. This workout showed me I still have a long way to do. The workout was about 30 minutes and all of it was mat work. The thing I did not like but notice this with other pilates workouts is that there really is no warm up to speak of. It is like they just jump into doing the exercises. I didn't care for the music at all in this workout. It was basically background that wasn't really background. I just didn't find it very motivating. Lizbeth did have some different variation on the moves that I had not seen in other workouts. Besides the lack of no warm up and the music, I like the workout very much and it is going in the keep pile." Sec...

One of the great FIRM classic workouts. Better Body & Buns is a 45 minutes workout led by FIRM Master Instructors Jen Peluso, Jen Carmen and Taber Bruner. I was very happy that Anna Benson put this workout on DVD. It is a very good sculpting workout that primarily focuses on the lower body but does include one set of upper body work. Better Body & Buns uses the tall box for leg presses and tall box climbs. Many of the exercises are synchronize to the beat of the music (a signature of the older FIRM workouts). In this workout, you can go as heavy as you are able to because none of the exercises are compound in nature. However, the workout does move from one exercise to the next at a steady pace. The abdominal set is done at the beginning of the workout; and several of the lower body floor moves are pilates inspired moves. The only thing I really didn't care for was the switching in and out that occured between the different instructors but other than that I really like this ...

Okay. I love love love this workout. The music is the best I have heard in a workout in a long time. Carlos is fun and charismatic . As far as Latin style workouts go, I put no others above it. But this is a critique and a review, so let me be objective for a moment. This is a 63 minute workout that includes a core abdominal section. Carlos takes you through various Latin rhythms ( cha cha , salsa, mamba, soca , samba, merengue, rhumba ) and he does it all with an athletic flair; and what he calls stylizing the move. Stylizing is really just adding your own interpretation or "flavor" to the exercise. Carlos' cuing is not very precise. Several times the right side doesn't match up with the left side. Meaning he will do something on one side and not do it on the other side. I didn't mind this so much because I felt it was more like a dance routine even though the workout included squats, lunges and a chest press. Also, he cues several moves by telling y...

The FIRM's Get Chisel'd is a 41 minute compound exercise workout. It is led by FIRM instructor Rebekah Sturkie. The workout is a sculpting workout with power burst moves included throughout the workout. I probably like the power burst moves the best. The sculpting exercises (because of their compound nature and layering the moves) don't really lend themselves to going heavy. The heaviest weight I used throughout the workout was 10lb dumbells; and even with those I had to quickly switch out to a lower weight as Rebekah layered on the exercises (or as she calls it -"adding a component"). The workout does include a brief abs and core sections. I am giving the workout 3 1/2 to 4 out of 5 stars. This is only my second time doing this workout. The first time was December 08. In December 08, this is what I wrote about this workout: I liked this workout. Rebekah queued very well and with the exception of two music tunes, I thought the music was pretty good too, particu...

The FIRM's Ultimate Calorie Blaster is a TransFIRMer workout. It is led by Stephanie Huckabee and is approximately 45 minutes in length. Ultimate Calorie Blaster is a cardio workout that does include the use of light weights to keep the heart rate up. Stephanie takes you through a series of cardio segments that include step work, low impact floor aerobics, incline step work and tall box climbs. In fact there are two sets of Tall Box Climbs, one done in the horizontal position and one done in the vertical position. This is definately the most challenging part of the whole workout. Take these two segments out and the workout would not be as intense. Stephanie concludes the workout with some plank work for the core region. Solid workout. As mentioned before about the TransFIRMer it is a bit cumbersome to move the equipment in and out of the workspace, but as this is a cardio workout, you can look at it as being part of the workout. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Supercharged Sculpting is one of the TransFIRMer workouts by The FIRM. It is a solid 35 minute weight workout led by Pam Cauthen Meriwether. It uses the TransFIRMer which is a two piece box system. One piece is six inches and the other eight. You can use the TransFIRMer in 5 different position including an incline position. The workout is broken down as follows: -warmup -lower body set -upper body set -core -lower body set -upper body set -abdominals -cooldown. One of the lower body sets does include Tall Box Climbs. This is when the TRansFIRMer is in the 14 inch (full height) position. You can expect the heart rate to rise with this move. All in all, I like this workout. The workout gets in, does it's job and gets out. The TransFIRMer is a bit cumbersome to move in and out of the workspace. Pam's cueing is excellent. I give it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.