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Fitness Training For Functional Aging with Jessica Smith contains two workouts.   DVD Menu Introduction ABC Routine (running time 29:46) Functional Strength (running time 29:30) End Credits Play All  

RAW Workouts.  A few RAW workouts I have recently done. MegaMix 1 - similar to MegaMix 2 in that you do circuits consisting of a kettlebell exercise, egg weights, loop band and resistance tubing.  Workout clocks in at around 45-minutes   Travel Tubing is a 30 minute workouts that uses a resistance cord to strengthen the body. It consist of 10-exercises all performed in the standing position. Just Lift is a 42-minute workouts that uses a weights to strengthen the body. It consist of 9exercises performed for three sets.

FitTower Advanced Boot Camp is a 49 minute workout. This workout follows a similar pattern in Cathe's other boot camp style workouts in that you work in rounds. Each round includes four to five exercises with a particular emphasis.  In this boot camp workout, the exercise groups are: power cardio cardio legs targeted muscle group 2nd and/or 3rd exercise targeting a  muscle group There are a total of six rounds plus the warm up and cool down. You are typically running through several sets and many reps of the particular exercise as you change leads and work around the FitTower barre. Depending on the exercise, Cathe will have you raise or lower the exercise barre. Along with the FitTower, Cathe also use a stretch band, a band loop, and a mat.  Cathe shows you modifications throughout the workout for certain exercise.  Of the three new FitTower Advanced workouts, this is the only workout I thought truly advanced but I think that is because this is the worko...

Lean and Mean is a 34 minute workout. It is part of Cathe's Fit Tower workout series. This is the advance workout. The workout is broken up into three segments. There is a lower body segment, an upper body segment and a core segment. Cathe uses the Fit Tower mostly as a prop. She adjust the bar of the Fit Tower throughout depending on the exercise.  Cathe also uses the loop and the band in many of the exercises. This workout did seem a little bit more challenging than the intermediate workout. Rest are kept to a minimum as you are moving from one exercise to the next. Along with Cathe, there is one other cast participant. 3 & 3/4 stars

FitTower Long and Strong is the intermediate workout.It is set up similarly to the beginner workout in that you have a warm up, lower body, upper body, core, and cool down. The exercises are also similar. Cathe varies the rep count and how many sets you are doing from the first workout. Also the rest are shorter. Many of the exercise patterns have you do four reps followed by seven pulses. You are adjusting the FitTower bar throughout. There were a couple of times when Cathe had adjusted her FitTower bar off camera and I was scrambling to get mine in place to start the exercises. That was  annoying. I thought the music included in this workout also very good.  The workout uses a loop and a band on some exercises.  Workout clocks in at 34 minutes. 3 & 3/4 stars

Slim & Trim   is Cathe's beginner workout for the Fit Tower system. It clocks in at around 36 minutes. In 36 minutes, Cathe gives you a total body workout sans cardio. After the warm up, you move into a lower body segment, an upper body segment, a core segment and then a final stretch. Throughout the workout, Cathe uses the FitTower and she adjust the bar of the FitTower depending on the exercises.  The pattern that Cathe uses is she will do a single count series of reps, then she will follow it by a series of  pulse. The pulses are either 3 pulses or 7 pulses.  Cathe gives you rest between the various exercises. Cathe also uses a band in the upper body and core exercises. The DVD Menu offers the following options: Introduction Play Chapters Audio Settings I love the soundtrack on this workout DVD. Overall I thought this a nice workout, even though ti was beginner, I did feel it on some exercises. 3 & 3/4 stars

The FIRM Sculpt-ilates is a 50-minute workout and it is lead by Robyn Johnson.  The workout uses a thera-band and it  is divided into four section.  The workout starts with a slow moving warm up.  Robyn then moves into a standing Pilates segment without the band. In the standing segment, in addition to sculpting, there is balance work. Some of the  standing Pilates move include saw, spine twist, and mermaid. 12 minutes into the workout, Robyn moves into the band sculpt segment.This segment starts with a series of alternating plie work.  Standing exercises that use the band include heel press shoulder press, dip curl tap backs, shave the head, upright row and double arm rows.  This segment also included walkout push ups. The next segment is mat work. This segment uses the band and a mat.  Seated double arm rows, roll backs with arm press outs, seated shoulder press, and a side plank series are a few of the exercises in the mat segment....

Build Balance + Inner Strength is part of Jessica Smith's Walk Strong series.  This DVD comes with three fusion style 30 minute plus workouts.  The fusion style is a mixture of pilates, dance, yoga and light sculpting.  Jessica performs all workouts shoeless. Along with Jessica, the other cast member is Jessica's mom Debbie. Debbie is the modifier.  There is a countdown clock in each workout. The first workout is Core Control. This workout clocks in at 31:18. In this workout you are moving to music. This is a body weight only workout. There are lots of arm movements as well as balance style moves.  Some of the exercises in this workout are:    ball changes chasse, switch arabesque, side steps side taps,  knee      raise, leg extensions, cross over crunches, thread the needles, and  standing 100s. You are doing approximately 16 reps of each move. The second workout on this DVD is Poise and Grace . It is a 3...

To the Mat is part of Cathe's ICE series. The ICE series are workouts that are geared towards the intermediate exercises. To the Mat clocks in just over 49 minutes.  It is a lower body core workout that is done completely on the floor. Even the warm up is floor base (performed seated).  I never care for these types of warm up because I never feel truly warm up.  I did this workout in the evening.  Had I did this workout in the morning then the warm would not have been enough. Lots of reps.  Most of the exercises you are performing 4, 6, or 8 sets of 8 in the rep count. Cathe does offer some variations as she does the exercises. For instance you might do the first four sets with the foot pointed followed by another four sets with the foot flex. Besides the tons of reps on some of the exercises I like the workout.  Cathe uses the stability part is the first part of the workout. In the second part she uses the band and loop and in the last part you u...

Tracy Anderson Slim + Sculpt Cardio DVD contains three 20-minute workouts. Two workouts are cardio based and one workout is sculpt based. The sculpt base workout uses a band. The band comes with the DVD. Cardio 1 is the first workout.  Tracy states this is an easier choreograph workout and one in which you should follow along.  It is a mixture of low and high impact moves.  So expect some jumping.  The moves are relatively simple to follow. The problem is that you do not know what is coming next.  The note I put next to workout was "that was a mess". At one point Tracy states that "you are not doing the same move over and over and that you have to focus". Well it would kind help to know what is coming next so that you are able to keep it.  The music was decent.  2 & 3/4 stars Cardio 2 is the second workout. .  Like the first workout it contain both high and low impact moves but Cardio 2 is more of a routine.  There is a lot of...

The second Shape Pilates workout featuring Lizbeth Garcia - Makeover your abs, butt and thighs FAST!. This workout comes with a resistance band.   The resistance band is used throughout the workout to add more intensity to the moves. As Lizbeth moves through the workout, she will point out how a particular exercise resemble one of the pilates equipments such as the reformer or cadillac pilates machines. Sculpt without Bulk, is how Lizbeth describes this workout.  It is similar to the Lizbeth other workout in that she takes you through a series of flowing pilates moves that build on one another to create a challenging sequence. The difference in this workout is that there is a standing component as well as the sitting lying and kneeling that is included the first DVD. This workout is also a few years. The music is up tempo. The set - looks like another great room transformed into a dance studio. The band definitely adds an additional challenge. 3 & 1...

Your Best Body Circuit is the third workout in Michelle's Your Body Breakthru series. The other two are Rockin Body Cardio Jam and Slim, Strong, Sexy Body Sculpt. This series is like a intro to Michelle's Peak Fit Challenge Series. There are a lot of similarities with perhaps the Peak Fit Challenge series being more refined. This workout, Your Best Body Circuit ( YBBC ), would be like one of her Cardio Strength workouts, except she includes what I consider to be a true warm up in YBBC . YBBC is about 58 minutes in length. The DVD does contain a 35 minute express option. Also you can select individual chapter points and make up your own/mix and match the sections. If you do the workout as designed, which is what I did, it breaks down as follows: Warm up Circuit 1 (Back & Biceps 1) Circuit 2 (Chest & Triceps 1) Circuit 3 (Back & Biceps 2) Circuit 4 (Chest & Triceps 2) Circuit 5 (Shoulders with Legs) Circuit 6 (Legs) Circuit 7 ( Abdominals ) Cool Down. E...

Slim, Strong, & Sexy Body Sculpt - This is a long title. The workout - well it is not short if you do both portions, clocking in at just over 60 minutes. There really is two separate 30 minute + a few seconds workouts. The first workout is called Upper Body and Core. The second workout is called Lower Body and Core. Each workout is broken up into 4 blocks. The DVD is chaptered in a way that you can select individual blocks to do. Both workouts contain their on warm up and a brief stretch at the end. Michelle uses a band and dumbbells in both workouts. The workout comes with a band - it is blue. It looks similar to what Michelle is using in the workout. I am not a big fan of band workout, although quite a few of the band exercises she chose I like. Sometimes she has you using the band and dumbbell at the same time - wrapping the band around the dumbbell for even more resistance. Quite a few of the exercises I found challenging. Also I felt that I had enough time to set up t...

Cathe's Muscle Max is a 68 minute total body workout. This is my preferred method of doing weight training - total body workouts. With Muscle Max, Cathe works your large muscle groups first and then your smaller muscle groups. So you start with legs (squats and then lunges). You move on to chest (pushups and chest flys) and then back (barbell rows, 1 arm rows, and pullovers). I believe shoulders were next (lat rows, front raise delt squeeze). She then inserted legs exercises (plie squats, leg press) again. Following that, were bicep (barbell curls, dumbbell curls), triceps (overhead press, dips) and the workout concluded with core/abdominals. I probably miss something or got the order wrong but that was the gist of it. The workout moved at a nice pace. It is a workout that you can go heavy if you like. The music was nice with an upbeat tempo. It seemed to mostly be used to pace with the rep count. Along with an assortment of weights, you also used a band and the club step. ...