Customer Reviews

Kathy Smith: Peel off the Pounds Pilates

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I absolutely love Kathy Smith's workout videos and bought this one and was not disappointed. She does a short workout (about 4-5 minutes), and then comes a 20 minute cardio workout, then a 10 minute upper, 10 minute lower and a 5 minute cooldown. I am used to doing much 'harder' cardio workouts from her but this one concentrated on working your core, which is meant to strengthen your core and abs, not just give you a sweat. By the end of the 20 minute cardio, I was sweating (just not as much as I'm used to). Her upper and lowers were 10 minutes each and that was a little on the short side for me. I'm used to doing a 20 minute upper and 20 minute lower, which I feel is more beneficial.

If you have 50 minutes to spare, this is a great all-over body workout that does cardio, upper and lower along with a warmup and cooldown. My favourite DVD from Kathy Smith is her "Lift Weights to Lose Weight Volume 2".

I would recommend this DVD to anyone that is looking for an all-in-one workout. If you're looking for more of a complete workout, then go for her aerobics and do 40 minutes of that along with one of the workouts on Lift Weights to Lose Weight Volume 2.

This workout is fun but not very intense. The pilates standing and mat sections are much better than the cardio section. It is good for a day when your muscles are tired but you still want to work out. It is hard not to like Kathy Smith no matter what she does.

She is a little dancy in the aerobics part, which i am not into, but it is a good aerobic workout for me. The pilates part is good, but not spectacular.

I do a lot of Leslie Sansone workouts, so the cardio on Peel Off the Pounds was a really nice change -- low impact, no complexity, nice jazzy music. You can make it as dancey or athletic as you like. Kathy follows up the cardio with some nice muscle conditioning pilates moves for the entire body -- again, nothing too difficult, but definitely enough to know you've been worked. Highly recommended for beginners, beginner/intermediates, or intermediates (like me!)

The first "Cardio" portion is sort of dance routine. Not pilates, which I feel is misleading as it was not mentioned in the product description. The second half is pilates but they are short segments. I did not want a dance routine with this DVD and I feel kind of ripped off. I am really glad that I did not pay full retail price.

At first I thought this DVD would be too "easy" for me. I was surprised at how much I felt the muscle fatique the next day.
It seems innocent enough..starting out with knee bends then waving the arms side to side to engage the obliques...it gets harder from there.
The "dance" part is a series of leg lifts, plies, lunges, gravevines with leg lifts, and always arm movements to go with them. I did sweat a bit--not a lot, but I did get pretty warm. (Say a 6 1/2 out 10)
The mat work was perfect for me. I liked the leg and ab section especially. I felt it the next day.
I only do this DVD every few weeks, but I am enjoying it more each time I do it ;-)

I really like both the workouts and the format of the DVD. My previous workout videos had all been on VHS, so I was happy to see that with this DVD, you can pick and choose from the warm up, cardio, upper/lower body pilates and cool down to make as lengthy or as brief a workout as you would like. For someone who had not worked out for almost 4 years (pregnancy, baby, etc.), I found the cardio to be more than adequate. I would say that newbies (or those as out of shape as I am!), this will be a challenging workout that you can grow into. I agree with the reviewer who said that the cardio was "dancey" because it was, and I find it challenging to do mambo type dance steps. That's the only reason I've given it a 4 instead of 5.

I'm not normally a big Pilates fan, but I do like Kathy and thought I'd give this a go to mix up my current routine. It's a good solid workout and is good for a pilates beginner (me) to intermediate.
I found this very easy to follow and as always, Kathy is a great instructor who cues well and is great to listen to. You almost don't need to look at the screen to see what she's talking about because she describes in detail all the moves ahead of time. There is an aerobic segment to begin, and you engage your core throughout that. With the toning, there is classic dumbbell type exercises and pilates floorwork (use a mat). I really like how you can play this in any order. Doing that keeps it fresh and interesting.
Overall, this workout is really quite good - I think it's perfect for beginners to intermediate and I'm sure that if done consistantly, then you'll see results. I certainly felt this for a day or two afterwards. Can't wait to try this for my second time.

I agree that the cardio is a lttle dancey, but it is easy to follow and a good workout. The pilates was intense, but not too intense. I felt the burn afterwards.

The aerobic section was not as good as her older ones, Fat Burning. The pilates demos' I found difficult to follow since she moved around to the staff to model moves. It is best when she demos.