Saundra

 ZipTrainer by The FIRM Cycle 1 Rev! comes with four workouts. This is a review of Sculpt 1 and Amp Reps 1. REV Sculpt 1 is led by Stephanie Huckabee.  Along with Stephanie, are Annie and Alison. Alison is performing modifications. Including the warm up and stretch, the workout is about 20 minutes. The main workout, however, is just 15 minutes.  Twice within the span of 30 seconds, Stephanie tells us "we only have 15 minutes". I remember thinking, "I hope she is not going to keep saying this for the whole workout."  Thankfully she did not. So the main workout includes 4 short burst training (SBT) that are 30 seconds in length.  Along with using the ZipTrainer and core ball, this workout also uses a set of light/medium and heavy dumbbells.   The exercises are performed at a steady (non-fast) tempo. The music seemed faster than the tempo in which Stephanie was performing each exercise.  The exercises did move from one to the next. The onl...

Weight Watchers Punch! is one of those workouts I have had for awhile but I am just now getting around to doing it. I had to look at the back of the DVD cover to see when it came out. I could not remember if it was earlier this year or last year. It was last year. So this DVD features Stephanie Huckabee and it contains three kickbox inspired workouts. Beginner (30 minutes) Intermediate (35 minutes) Advanced (45 minutes) I previewed the Beginner workout but I did both the Intermediate and Advance Workouts. Essentially the three workouts are the same which annoyed me greatly. First the three workouts feature the same warm up and cool down. That was no big deal. But once you got into the workout, they pretty much resembled each other except for slight and I do mean slight variations. The intermediate workout has a little more content than the beginner and the advance workout a little more content than the intermediate mostly in the form of repetition. Jab, Cross repeater knee - in al...

N ote: I have not done this workout. Nor am I planning to do it. I got this workout for a friend and I was looking it over before I sent it off to her . So this is just for informational purposes only if anyone is interested it the workout. As far as I know, you can only get Weight Watchers 10-Minute Time Crunch Training with resistance cord from a Weight Watchers center. The workout cost $24.95 and comes in a big box. The only think in the box is the workout, the resistance cord, and 10-Week Exercise Tracker. The rest of the box is filled with the plastic bubble paper. The box was very light to pick up. When I first grabbed it, I remember thinking it was light for its size. The DVD includes five 10-minute workouts. There workouts are: Upper Body Lower Body Total Body Core Interval Training The DVD is programmable. No star rating as I have not done this workout.

Jiggle Free Arms is a 30 minute workout led by Stephanie Huckabee. The workout uses the TransFIRMer and it alternates upper body exercises with aerobics for an interval style workouts. The sculpting sets are much shorter in Jiggle Free Arms than there were in Jiggle Free Buns, but then there are more of them. All 5 muscle groups are hit in some faction. The sequencing and the exercises do allow you to go heavy with this workout. Jiggle Free Arms is also a workout that gets in and gets out. Stephanie is an extremely good at cuing and she is very easy to follow. Again, you are using the TransFIRMer in a variety of position. Moving the TransFIRMer in and out of the workout space can be a workout in and of itself. I was very very please that the FIRM put this DVD out. So often you just see the industry coming out with separate lower body workouts but no upper body workouts. I swear I think for every upper body workout that is out there, there is 4 lower body workouts. 3 1/2 stars...

Finally, a somewhat challenging workout from the Powerfit Harmony series is Core Express . I felt the moves were slightly more advance or I probably should say slightly less beginner than the previous PowerFit workouts I have done. With Core Express, I felt that I at least got my 20 minutes worth. I think the difference with this workout was there were more reps within each set. This particular workout seemed to work the obliques and lower abs the most. Stephanie uses the band on several of the exercises to increase the intensity. The core was worked mostly in a standing and lying down position. Thus far, my favorite of the PowerFit Harmony workouts. 3 stars out of 5

Core - Pure Power , I think is the sixth workout in the PowerFit Harmony series. It is a 20 minute workout. It uses a resistance band and a mat throughout the workout. Stephanie works the core in a variety of position to include standing, kneeling, and lying down. This was a very easy workout. The best part of the workout was using the resistance band to stretch the muscle during the stretching exercises. I was hoping for a little bit more intensity in the core exercises. The balance exercises I would classify as slightly challenging as I was wobbling on a couple of those exercises. All in all, I was not impressed. I am giving it 2 1/2 stars. 2 stars for Core and 3 for Stretch. Stephanie as almost always gets high marks. Her cuing is impeccable.

Core Fusion is 1 of 5 20 minute workouts on Stephanie Huckbee's PowerFit 5 day workout system. I bought this set, sold it because I felt the workouts were too "beginner" , and just recently purchase it again because of the core workout it included. I don't know if that was such a good idea. I was looking for an intermediate core workout. I wanted a dedicated core/ab workout that wasn't advanced (i.e. Cathe) but I didn't want one that was very beginner. I felt that Core Fusion was very beginner. Core Fusion combined very basic abdominal core exercises with very basic stretching. It lack intensity on all levels. What was nice about the workout was Stephanie. Her cuing is superb. Although it is a very easy workout to follow. It does use the stretchy band that comes with the DVDs on some exercises. I will say that the band was very good for stretching. A nice workout but not what I was look for. 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

From The FIRM's Body Sculpting System 3 is Express Cardio , a 30 minute workout led by Stephanie Huckabee. Overall I like this workout; and unlike the majority of the public, I actually like the FIRM's blue box. I like it better than the TransFIRMer because it is easier to maneuver around. What bugged me about this workout is that it is really a Cardio Sculpt workout and not a cardio workout. That's not to say I didn't get my heart rate up, I just felt for a 30 minute workout titled Express Cardio, it had too much sculpting. For instance, not only does the workout include a set of Tall Box Climbs, which the FIRM often includes in their cardio workouts, but it also includes a set of leg presses. My favorite part is the incline cardio box work. I really like doing step on the incline. All the various box positions were used (incline, full 14 inch step height, and 6 inch step height) and there were two floor aerobic combinations. Stephanie does an excellent job with cuin...