Customer Reviews

Firm for Life

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This book is infamous in some circles. The black thong underwear reference has brought many an online chuckle. I had heard so much about this that I HAD to buy it when I saw it.

Honestly, I did not think the book was as bad as it has been made out to be. It gives some solid references to the origins of the Firm, how the original Volume 1 was produced and a glimpse into what their workout philosophy is. Also, although they fall kind of flat with their prescriptions about diet and appearance, there is nothing in there that hasn't been said by many diet and appearance books in the last few years. FYI- the recommendation for black thong underwear is based on 1) their statement that you should wear black year-round (this has been in MANY appearance guides) and 2) the fact that a lot of women complain about panty lines. It's not that controversial.

I was put off by the bashing of Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda, and frankly, a little residual jealousy seemed to motivate it. Also, I was shaking my head at the full page of Oprah references- yes, she is a classic yo-yo dieter, but they could have been a little bit more charitable. That is perhaps the biggest problem in their book: they have a number of good points to make, but their biased and undiplomatic delivery makes it hard to take them seriously. Finally, I was very disappointed at the small number of exercises in the book (12 strength, 12 stretches, 4 "cardio minute" moves). Of all of the information they put in, this is what I would have liked to have seen the most of.

Regarding the new Firm Direct website, the Benson sisters are, supposedly, no longer directly affiliated with the Firm.

After reading all of the negative reviews on this site I was very hesitant to purchase this book. I figured I'd look it over for a half hour, say "Yep, they were right, it [stinks]" and put it with my pile of never read books. Fortunatly, when the book arrived I was very interested in the content. I carried this book with me for 3 days straight and read it cover to cover, and some sections, such as Firm Fuel, I read through several times.
I found it to be very motivating, and while some concepts presented were not new(the benefits of eating whole foods over refined) the information was put forth in such a way as to make it seem real to me, and something that would be of grave consequences to my health if I were to ignore it. Some things however were new, such as eating small amounts of lean protien throughout the day coupled with complex-carbs, (every 2-3 hours)so that the muscles can rebuild effectively.
I thought the method bashing was minimal, considering how built up other reviewers made it. I was very impressed with the Benson sisters' and also many instructors' insistance that your lifestyle be balanced and exercise not be out of porportion in it's importance.They say to "Be well rounded: Make time for work, play, family, healthy eating and exercise" It was an overall great investment, and really motivated me to take it a step further, though the videos alone were very effective. This book just may motivate me to be FIRM FOR LIFE.

I'd already been working out with the FIRM Body Sculpting Systems 1 & 2 for a year when I ran across this book. So I was already convinced of the FIRM's awesome track record. At first, I thought the negativity toward other workouts was in poor taste, but then I thought about how we're reading the book in a different time than when it was written. When it was written, in teh mid-to-late '90s, it probably still took some convincing on the part of the Bensons to get people to listen to their workout philosophy. I know I didn't even hear of the FIRM until 1999 or 2000. Until then, I was plugging away with Kathy Smith's workouts and getting admirable results, but nothing like I get with the FIRM. So when you read the part of the book when the Bensons go off on other workout gurus, just let the negativity go. It's not relevant anymore. Research has proven what the Bensons were barking about back then. Don't let it turn you off from the rest of the book, or from the FIRM workouts.
There is some solid nutrition advice, such as if you want defined muscles, eat lots of protein and have a protein "survival kit" that you take with you every day. Then they have more extreme nutrition advice like pretending that there's no such thing as cheese and dessert. Okay. So just take the advice that you know will work for you and chalk the rest up to the Benson Sisters being on their soapbox. And as other reviewers have pointed out, there is more than one instance where the Bensons do get up on their sassy horse about all things from spirituality to thong underwear to what you should be reading.
Remember that the Bensons built their empire, the FIRM, on these serious, awesome cardio + weight training workouts, not on being experts on etiquette or fashion or literature or spirituality. If you're searching for a workout that works, give the FIRM vids a whirl (there absolutely are not enough exercises in the back of this book), get this book to supplement what you learn from the workouts and the firmbelievers club(should you choose to become a member of that), and let the rest just filter through your brain like so much plankton.
One feature of the book that I loved was seeing the profiles of some of my favorite instructors and reading about their roads to fitness and why the FIRM works for them. They're real women, not fitness celebrities. They're all heights, ages, and body types. One instructor is an English teacher in real life. Another is a courtroom lawyer. Some instructors started with the FIRM in their 20s and are now in their 30s and they look even more fabulous in the new videos than they did in earlier ones. It's awesome to read about their struggles and how the FIRM helped them to overcome.
I would definitely recommend Firm for Life to anyone who is searching for a workout program that works and won't bore them in the process. But this book isn't enough on its own. Get yourself a Fanny Lifter and a Body Sculpting System and give the workouts a try, because when it comes to fitness, a video is worth a shelf full of books.

I can understand the bashing that goes on about other fitness programs at the beginning of this book, because I have all those videos too and they never showed me the results that The Firm has. Until The Firm, I was working out and getting little to no results and I was about 90 pounds overweight. Now I am at my goal weight of 125 and I can't wait to exercise. No other program has done that for me. I love how this book explains that this type of living, working out aerobically with weights will change your life in every way. It has for me. It really is a lifestyle. Another thing, this will really interest the women more than anything-the back of my legs looked like they had "hail damage" you know, the cottage cheese look, well I am proud to say that I am now Cellulite Free and this is because of my working out with The Firm and eating exactly the way they described in the book. I highly recommend this book.

I've found many of The Firm's excercise videos to be terrific. When I saw this book at the library I checked it out, hoping it would be as well done as their excercise tapes. Boy, am I glad I didn't buy it! It shocked me how much time they spent criticizing other people's excercise tapes. They obviously have some serious resentments against Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons (Kathy Smith was also criticized.) They were even putting down eighty-two year old Jack LaLane (they admired his muscles, but basically said they thought he was gross looking! They said his skin was too crepey and he should probably wear more clothes. I mean the guy is 82!) The diet information for vegetarians was way off. They were actually telling vegetarians they have to make sure to combine certain foods (i.e. beans and rice) to get complete protein in the diet. Wrong! This is a myth that was dispelled about thirty years ago. I've been a vegetarian for fifteen years now, and believe me, I NEVER worry about food combining and I'm in excellent health. The one good thing I will say about the book was that I thought the excercise information was interesting. Unfortunately, this is only a small portion of the overall content (and there are better books out there try "Strong Women, Stay Young"). So, I would tell people to just stick with The Firm's tapes, and ignore this book. Or do what I did and just get it from the library.

Let me begin by saying that I love the Firm. I've been using their workouts since 1992 and the old Firm tapes by the Bensons (pre-1999)truly are the best on the market. The book, however, leaves much to be desired.

While the chapter on nutrition is somewhat helpful and interesting, the rest of the book is a total disappointment. As many other reviewers have said, the Bensons are SHAMELESS in their bashing of other fitness instructors. They are even quite mean about it, which flies in the face of the later chapters on manners and politeness. (The reference to celebrity instructors was particularly rich, since their second tape featured Janet Jones Gretzky. There is no mention of her, nor the other 'actress/dancer' leads from the classic tapes.) You have a great product, ladies! There is no need to be bitter and defensive.

Much of the extraneous, out-of-place information on grooming, dress and reading material seemed trite and silly in a book, not to mention constricting. It's ok to leave the house with a few grey hairs and without manicured nails! Not all of us want to look like Barbie. Their attitude seems to be, 'this is how we are, thus all of you should be like us,' right down to their particular interest in Ancient Greece. Perhaps the Bensons would have been better served by skipping the book and starting up a magazine. A lot of this material would have been better presented in that type of forum. I am sure many dedicated Firm Believers would have subscribed willingly.

The Bensons sold the Firm a few years ago and the new workouts are a SAD follow-up to the great ones of the past. The new Firm is now glutting the market with cheap, plastic 'must-have' gizmos, while Anna Benson is making new, interesting workouts under the name 'Fitprime'. This book is the only blight on what has been a great contribution by the Bensons.

I agree with the other reviewers that they spent way too much time on bashing other fitness gurus and debating on who invented what first--the point is their workouts work and are fun! I think the chapter FIRM Spirits was meant to be helpful, but I think they should leave stuff like that out in subsequent books (if any). They explained why their technique works quite effectively and the exercises. I was disappointed that they didn't include bios of the Susan Harris and the other instructors from the Classic series as that is/was the foundation IMHO of the FIRM. I would recommend this book for any diehard FIRM believer or someone who wants a good introduction to the FIRM; but, if you have 20 Questions About Fitness, you may want to save your money.

I love the Firm tapes. I have almost all of them. But the Bensons are SO nasty about other instructors! They're successful, why do they have to put other people/methods down? I also didn't care for many of their comments about manners, etc. I found the statement they made about feminists "believing a woman must be perfect at everything she does" (huh?) ridiculous. Also, they make much of a weights/aerobics combo being most effective for fat loss; but I don't think the research was necessarily recommending it be done simultaneously in one workout; clearly people can do weights and aerobics separately and get good results. So I think they're being disingenuous on that score. And they just come off snobby. As a longtime fan of the tapes, let me also echo others' comments about Susan Harris not being in the book. She is my alltime fave instructor, absolutely the best, and should've gotten at least a bio. But everything the Firm does lately seems to involve Tracie Long; whom I like, but S Harris has charisma. She deserved more attention, absolutely. So on the whole, this book is goofy, self-serving, patronizing, and an advertisement for the company. And the "we" voice through the book irritated me, don't know why. Oh yeah one more comment - in the instructor bios they had to make a comment in each one about the woman being "engaged" or about her engagement ring. Give me a break. They didn't mention the marital status of the one mail instructor.

If it weren't for the bashing of other fitness experts, I would have given it a 5. I agree with some of the other readers, they spent too much time gloating and bashing. Great minds often think alike, some a little slower than others. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Firm Bodies, Stretches and Sweating, they were most beneficial.

I was a Firm believer two years ago and got very lazy and stopped. Now I am back to working out with the firm and feel better than ever. I picked up this book the other day and could not put it down.

I did not feel as thought the book slammed competitors, rather it laughed back in the faces of those who laughed first!

I liked the diet tips, success stories, and even the grooming tips.

One thing, I think only Firm Believers or those who are considering a Firm style of life would be interested in this book!